Brian sent this one in – might be good for projects “Never heard of it, but at $35, it sounds like a good buy for any wacky projects that need a cheap GPS. There’s probably a USB/Serial converter in the cable, which you could rip out and then hook the GPS device itself up to a regular serial port, if you are messing with an embedded system that doesn’t have USB.” Link.
AntonOlsen writes “This is an easy to build dc-dc switcher that can drive quite a few LEDs at 3.3V with a single AA battery. Version 1 is going in a mini mag light and I’m thinking version two will make a very light weight bike light.” [via & instructions] Link to photos.
CMPalmer writes “This may be old hat to most, but I’ve posted an example of using GPS tracklogs and Google Earth to virtually recreate vacation trips. I uploaded the GPS tracks into Google Earth so I could visualize them. One of the coolest tricks that Google Earth does is to let you “fly” along the tracks at any speed and altitude that you wish, so I can virtually recreate each drive over 3D scenery overlayed with satellite photos. This would have been great to do real time while I was there, because I was extremely frustrated to find that I had missed wonderful things that I drove right by or were just a few blocks away from.” Link.
This is from earlier this year, but I didn’t see how it was done – so here it is. Ever want to make your own TRON lightcycle game? But not a video game, real life! Here’s a page that details how a group of racers hacked up gear and software to make a real life TRON racing game. Ingredients: “gps-receiver, backpack with laptop(Tatonka Serverpack with Gateway Solo 2500), keyboard, trackball (from old broken laptop), helmet (giro switchblade) with display (old viewfinder)” Link.
El Hombre writes “The Vista is a nice unit and I quite like it (mainly for biking and hiking) but it must be said that Garmin’s service and repair policy stinks. There is a default warranty of one year, and after the warranty has expired, you are charged a flat rate for any repair. The flat rate depends on the model and for the Vista it will set you back about $150. Right, that’s half the price of a new unit.”… Here the how to on a DIY fix for a bad electrical contact on the Garmin Etrex Vista. Thanks Tom! Link.
Amazing, a GPS mod for the PSP …“this is the first version of a program for the PSP that provides a practical GPS Graphic User Interface (GUI). The GPSP software for Sony PSP runs under LUAplayer 0.11 or later. LUAplayer is free. If you haven’t downloaded it, you will need to get it running on your 1.50 firmware PSP in order to try this out for yourself.” Link. Wifi + GPS on a PSP, this is great! The homebrew PSP community is the only reason many haven’t Ebay’ed their PSPs.
Pretec compactGPS serial modification – a description of how to modify the compactGPS to work with a standard serial port. This mod will allow you to use the device using your PDA serial port, a PC serial port, and a PDA/GPS car kit. [