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Thanks to Electronics Weekly’s Technology Editor for sending us this gadget.
The super flashlight, from the CandlePower Forums, received rave reviews from visitors to the website. Link includes parts list and build instructions.
Continue reading "Super flashlight: When the humble torch just isn't enough" »
Looking to paint the town red (or his friends at any rate), Nathan Loden devised this simple device to detect if the paintballs are travelling at a safe speed. Consisting of sensor circuitry and a microcontroller with a three digit, seven segment display driver, it detects the presence or absence of a ball by measuring the amount of IR energy striking the sensor, causing a voltage swing detectable by the micro. A timer is set to overload if the number of instruction cycles exceeds the limit, indicating safe shooting.
Mechanical creepy crawlies and a life-size model of the board game Mouse Trap were just a couple of the creations on show at the third annual Maker Faire in California last weekend.
Tens of thousands of people convened at the world’s biggest engineering festival to display their designs and trade hints and tips.
Run by the extremely popular Make Magazine, it has been growing since 2006 and last year introduced a second event in Texas.
In an age where high street stores are saturated with expensive gadgets that bombard every consumer that wanders in, clever electrical engineers know there’s always a better and cheaper way to make your home a better and safer place to live, rest and play in.
Here, Gadget Freak presents 7 DIY designs that your home can’t be without.
Made by Monkeys Editor Karen Field shares with us a unique spin on the good old quartz clock:
“While there’s some evidence low-cost lighting products made in China are of dubious quality, I have no data, anecdotal or otherwise, on quartz clocks manufactured there.
“Though if a clock costs you only $1, I suppose you can expect to get what your pay for."
Continue reading "Broken quartz clock hack produces Timebase generator" »
If you're a fan of the Mannerisms blog but don't want to fuss with RSS feeds to get the latest entries, why not easily sign up for the Mannerisms eNewsletter today?
Signing up for the eNewsletter only takes a second and the best of the Mannerisms blog will feature in the eNewsletter, which is set to launch on May 13.
The eNewsletter will be dedicated to Mannerisms, written by our legendary colleague, David Manners.
Under My Emails, tick the box for Semiconductors: Authoritative and frank industry analysis and comment from the David Manners blog, Mannerisms.
With new posts appearing twice a day, it's simply the best way to stay on top of the semiconductor industry.
Electronics Weekly’s An Engineer in Wonderland blog recently asked if there was a more humane way of sorting out little pests in the garden.
The Engineer in Wonderland wrote, “As I am not keen on the lingering death induced by slug pellets, or their effect on the food chain, an electronic slug-o-cutor had to be the answer."
A special Gadget Freak feature highlighting the best of LED designs led the way for the most popular entries for the month of April. Neuroti-Kart, the home-made electric go-kart – which is an oldie but a goodie – came a respectable second, still drawing in the crowds months after it made its debut on Gadget Freak.
Continue reading "LEDs, Neuroti-Kart in top 10 Gadget Freaks" »
Congratulations to Samantha Stevens, who is now the proud owner of the Freeplay EyeMax Radio.
Continue reading "Freeplay EyeMax Competition winner announced " »
Plant watcher ensures your plants won’t go thirsty
This is the gadget green thumbs across the globe have been waiting for. Italian designer Flavio Dellepiane put together a plant watering watcher that flashes an LED at a low rate when the soil in the pot plant becomes too dry. Adjusting the 50k 10mm cermet trimmer allows the plant watering watcher the flexibility to adapt to different soil and pot combinations. With extremely low 3V power consumption, there’s really no reason for your plants to get anything less than five-star treatment. Put your feet up this summer and let the watering watcher take the guess work out of your plant’s next drink.
This little gem from gizmodo.com:
“Seekway has put together this spectacular 3D LED display, which is capable of displaying images in full 3D at an amazing 30 fps."
More inspiration for designing your own circuits - the three latest Circuit Design Ideas that have been added to the site. They involve harvesting energy using a piezoelectric buzzer, a retriggerable monostable multivibrator, and analog voltage controlling a digital potentiometer through the device's I2C interface.
Harvest energy using a piezoelectric buzzer, courtesy of Carlos Cossio, Santander, Spain
Retriggerable monostable multivibrator quickly discharges power-supply capacitor, courtesy of Jordan Dimitrov, Tradeport Electronics, Vaughan, Canada
Analogue voltage controls digital potentiometer, courtesy of Hrishikesh Shinde, Maxim Integrated Products, Dallas, USA
Continue reading "Harvesting energy and other ingenious Design Ideas" »
There have been 65 entries so far for the Gadget Freak competition, and we are still counting, so make sure you have a go!
All you have to do is answer a question based on the use of an RGB LED controller in one of our Gadget Freak blog posts.
Enter the competition (see the Terms and Conditions)
Pictured is the prize - a wind-up, solar-powered Freeplay EyeMax Self-Sufficient AM/FM Radio, which also includes a (small) integrated flashlight.
A book that has crossed our radar, one that could be at home on the shelves of a Gadget Freak...
Make magazine is a friend of this blog, so we are quite happy to pass on details of a publication recently announced by O'Reilly in the UK (though it has been out in the States before) - The Best of MAKE!
According to the promotion for the book:
"The Best of MAKE features projects of all types, from 'kitchen table quickies' like LED Throwies and Vibrobot, to 'afternoon long-builds' like Cigar Box Guitar and Two-Can Sterling Engine, to 'weekend projects' like Rocket-Launched Camcorder and Mousey the Junkbot. And to help the reader easily find what they enjoy most, the projects are organized into convenient categories including: Tools, Electronics, Microcontrollers, Toys & Games, Robots, Music, Flight & Projectiles, Photography & Video and Cars & Engines."
Check out three new Circuit Design Ideas that have been added to the site - examples to give you inspiration for designing your own circuits. And they have an international flavour...
Looking at the most popular Gadget Freaks this month, we realised there must have been a Star Wars convention this month we didn’t hear about, because the most popular entry was the remarkable LED lightsaber. May the force be with you.
Closely following behind was the rotating LED display gadget, and Andrew’s headphone amp snapping at the LED gadget’s heels.
Without further ado, may we present the 10 most popular Gadget Freaks for March. Enjoy.
Test your knowledge of electronic gadgets for a chance to win a Freeplay EyeMax Radio!
The EyeMax Self-Sufficient AM/FM Radio has both a solar panel and the ability to power it yourself when needed. It also includes an integrated flashlight.
All you have to do to enter is correctly answer the questions below. It’s based on the use of LEDs in one of the Gadget Freaks that have appeared somewhere in these pages.
The competition closes Friday April 18 2008 with the winner drawn Monday April 21 2008.
Good luck!
Take down the house with this gadget. William’s handheld controller provides the display of a monitored process deviation – but after hours it doubles as a card counter (In either case, the algorithm is identical). It works by adding or subtracting manually entered “event” counts to a common 8-bit counter register. The value is subtracted from a predefined mean to generate the error or variation around the mean. This error “index” selects a display state sequence, continuously scheduled in an LED display.
From their humble beginnings as little red dots that let the user know if household appliances are switched on, LEDs can now be ultra bright light sources capable of lighting up a room or illuminating the road ahead of a vehicle.
High performance LEDs are now being churned out from many manufacturers around the world like they’re going out of fashion.
Here is a collection of the best LED gadgets that have made themselves home in Gadget Freak.
Continue reading "Trip the Light Fantastic with LED Gadget Freaks" »
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