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Continue reading "Solio solar-powered device charger competition - the winner" »
Last week we wrote about the PicoCube, a PC housed inside the shell of an old Nintendo GAMECUBE. I liked the concept, it looked far more funky than most PCs on the market today, it was far more practical in its size and was a really original project. 
I surveyed my trusty junk box and found a few CMOS chips, a 55-button keypad and a couple of 5-segment LED displays. My first thought was to use a touch-tone encoder IC since a telephone keypad also has 55 buttons, and a tone decoder to identify the key press in the remote display.
Continue reading "KeyCom - Communicating the key of music" »
Here's a Circuit Design Idea fresh to the site - Locked-sync sine generator covers three decades with low distortion (click on the circuit diagram to expand it).Analogue applications, such as testing, calibration, and general system operation, often require a sine waveform of accurate amplitude and frequency, with low THD (total harmonic distortion). Some applications demand that the generator of such waveforms have the ability to accurately synchronize the output with an external timing signal.
Continue reading "Circuit Design Idea - Locked-sync sine generator" »
Continue reading "Star Wars merchandising: What will they do next?" »
A quick roundup of the most popular posts in September, with the Solio solar power charger competition, helping drive Antiques Roadshow to the top (the answer to the compo question lies buried somewhere in the past)... Home-made electric go-karts also prove their enduring appeal.
Continue reading "Solio charger competition - keep the entries coming" »
Here's another newly-uploaded Circuit Design Idea designed to give circuit building inspiration (click on the circuit diagram to expand it).You can easily add margining capability - that is, the ability to digitally adjust the output voltage - to a dc/dc converter by making a single connection to the circuit. The dashed line in Figure 1 shows the connection. The extra IC is a two- or four-channel, I2C (inter-integrated-circuit)-adjustable-current DS4402 or DS4404 DAC. Because each DAC output is 0 mA at power-up, the extra circuitry is essentially transparent to the system until you write a command using the I2C bus.
Continue reading "Circuit Design Idea - Add margining capability to a dc/dc converter" »
If you've designed and built a gadget that features electronics as a core component and meets our criteria below, we'd like to feature it here on these pages!Continue reading "How to submit your Gadget and earn £££!" »
It's not a new concept taking an existing object and modifying it into something new, particularly with games consoles. For instance it didn't people long to channel the power of the PS3 into a Linux based PC or, more recently, an old NES into an alarm clock. Continue reading "Modding the Nintendo GAMECUBE into a PC" »
Continue reading "Parallel powered robotic paintgun produces a Mona Lisa" »
September's Gadget Freak project features Italian designer Flavio Dellepiane and his design for power sockets that can be switched automatically by an embedded Control Socket. Continue reading "Flavio plugs into smart extension sockets" »
UPDATED: competition now closed.Continue reading "Competition - Win a Solio solar-powered universal device charger" »
Electronics Weekly has launched a search for the best Electronics blogs, with its first ever Electronics Blog Awards. There are three categories: Mobile Comms, Electronic Hardware and Electronic Gadgets.Continue reading "Electronic Gadgets - Electronics Blog Awards 08" »
Cool Stuff Exploded. Maybe one for the younger generation, but the latest book from Dorling Kindersley is definitely one for budding Gadget Freaks or people who like to delve inside devices."Widescreen TVs, mobile phones, even space rockets have turned what was once outlandish into the everyday. But how do they actually function? What are the secrets behind this science? And what would they look like if you could delve right into the heart of their insides?
With our recent Antiques Roadshow we highlighted Gadget Freak posts with a retro feel. 
Thanks to the hundreds who entered our LED Jellyfish Mood Lamp competition, but there can only be one winner.
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