Portable Audio & Video

MAKE Challenge: Auto gain amplifier

AmpCharles is looking for some help with a project, read the challenge and post up in the comments if you have ideas! “When you listen to music or speech in a noisy environment you have to constantly, continuously adjust the volume control: boost the gain when the sound level is low, reduce the gain when the level is high. For example trying to listen to a movie in an airplane, or to a program in a car. What’s needed is a gadget that automatically changes the gain of the amplifier, as a function of the average sound level, to reduce the dynamic range of the sound source — an audio compressor.”

The PEZ MP3 player is here!

The PEZ MP3 player is here!

Pezhead
Pat Misterovich is a stay at home dad with a one-person company, he had a dream – make a MP3 player that looked like a PEZ dispenser. We’ve been covering Pat’s PEZ MP3 player throughout the year, reading his progress and milestones, anxiously awaiting the arrival of this dream turned PEZ MP3 player, and now it’s here! Here are the photos!

Yahoo! Music Engine review

Yahoo! Music Engine review

Image7
Here’s a look through my DIY goggles of the new Yahoo! Music Engine. It’s not really a review, I didn’t buy a song (and may never) but was interested in using it as a music manager on my PC since I get asked about which ones work the “least worst”. It’s pretty good- supports OGG and FLAC and plays nice with all the wacky devices I have for the most part. The thing I was most interested in was the Plug ins. I downloaded the Podcasting / Slurp one, the Line In recorder, Unix style shell and Alarm Clock- there are many more and anyone can develop additional ones. Here are some screenshots.

Touchkeyer on Altoids-based HF radio

Touchkeyer on Altoids-based HF radio

Check out this nifty touchkeyer (for CW or “continuous wave” Morse code) ham operator Jonathan Haynes ( KC7FYS) built into his Altoids-housed ATS-3b high-frequency CW radio transceiver: I put whiteboard marker on my fingers and pressed them on a piece of paper to get this footprint. The idea of sculpting them from PCB material came […]