The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for digital gadgetry, open code, smart hacks, and more. Processing power to the people!
If you’ve ever been in a situation where you wanted to make an iPad available to the public, but didn’t want it to walk away when you weren’t looking, you know that your options are pretty limited if you’d rather not attach something permanently to your iPad. That’s where Seattle area Etsy user modgrain’s Secure iPad Stand come in.
Which is something that I’ve been wanting for years, and not because I harbor any kind of weird anti-Simon resentment. I just think it would make bag workouts way more interesting. The project has an Arduino for brains, and has been pretty well-documented by its creator Lior Elazary. Next: Spice it up a bit, add more striking zones, different color LEDs, maybe some screaming, groaning, grunting, and/or Steven-Seagal-style bone-breaking sound FX. Nice work, Lior! [via Hacked Gadgets]
Adafruit’s most recent Part Finder Friday column featured these cool no-nonsense BUD USB 7201-C polycarbonate USB dongle cases, available at Digi-Key and Mouser and probably other places. They cost about $2 apiece if you’re only buying a couple and come in three pieces—two snap-together clamshell halves plus a connector cap—and take a 19x45mm circuit board, which seems to be a pretty common PCB size among commercial USB keys. I just ordered two to re-skin some generic thumb drives I own with bulky cases that won’t fit into the back port of my Xbox 360.. Good find, guys!
When it comes to mounting a smartphone on your dash there are plenty of commercial solutions out there for you to choose from. The unfortunate thing about trying to find the right mount for your device is that you’ve probably also put it in a case. If you can’t seem to find the right commercial solution you might consider checking out this low profile DIY gadget mount from Instructables user Mike73. It’s minimalist construction accepts the extra bulk from the case while supplying an unencumbered view.
This week in the MAKE Flickr pool we saw:
Well, “open source electronics” vending machine might be more accurate, as only three of the eighteen stocked items, by my count, are actually Arduino variants. The rest are shields and various other kits. Plus the obligatory Ramen. The vending machine is located at MakerBot headquarters in Brooklyn, and the photo is by our own Matt Mets. You know you’ve been doing this too long when you can identify all these products on sight. For the rest of us, Matt’s Flickr stream has a handy legend.
This project is called Take A Picture, by Toronto artists Brad Blucher and Kyle Clements. Though described as “paintings,” it appears that their pieces are in fact IR LED mosaics assembled behind blank canvases. Invisible to the unaided human eye, the IR light is detectable by the CCD in your digital camera and/or smart phone. [via Hack a Day]
