Entries from November 2008
gmail notifier project (for dummies)
November 25th, 2008 · 7 Comments
I've been really interested in doing J4mie's Physical Gmail Notifier ever since it came out in February. I only recently dropped into the project and got to learn a lot about python, plists, and arduino auto-reset functionality. I'm going to share what I've learned because I think there are lots of other people out there [...]
2008 Arduino Holiday Gift Guide
November 19th, 2008 · No Comments
In making my list annual of goodies I usually look for other people who have compiled "gift guides" aimed specifically at geeks like me. Usually they are written for the wrong kind of geek, and are full of things like star trek stuff, D&D, LEGO, or model airplane parts. All of those things are definitely [...]
Tags: arduino · general geek
DIY CNC router build update
November 14th, 2008 · 1 Comment
It's been quite a while since my router arrived in the mail. It came in mid winter and essentially stopped all cnc progress. It was much heavier than I had expected, and the gantry I had built wasn't up to the task. The x and y axes were finished, but needed to be rebuilt stronger. [...]
Tags: cnc router · robots
Looking for more project blogs?
November 13th, 2008 · No Comments
Yesterday I discovered that looking at the list of TGIBOEJ hopefuls is a great way to find new geeky-project blogs. There are a lot of flickr and twitter links, but there are also a lot of other interesting links. It's good to hear that there are plenty of other people tinkering away in their basements [...]
Tags: general geek
The Great Internet Migratory Box of Electronics Junk (or TGIMBOEJ to his friends)
November 12th, 2008 · No Comments
I put myself on a list over at tgimboej.org to try to get a big box of junk to show up at my door! I'm super excited about the idea, because it combines my love of looking at geeky stuff with a strict one in / one out policy. It'll be cool to swap some [...]
Tags: general geek
Removing the auto reset in Bare Bones Board Arduino
November 8th, 2008 · 3 Comments
I'm currently working on a project that requires the Arduino to accept serial input from my mac. This would ordinarily be fine, but the auto-reset function means that the arduino resets whenever I send it data, and then it forgets the data!
I emailed Paul at Modern Device company to ask if there was an easy [...]
Tags: arduino
Just a tease
November 4th, 2008 · 1 Comment
Here's my newest project. It's not yet ready to drop, but I'll give you a lil taste to see if you can figure it out.
Tags: general geek · photography
Freeduino Bare Bones Board Build (w/Macro shots!)
November 4th, 2008 · 1 Comment
Last night I built two Freeduino Bare Bones Boards. I had two kits. One was from Moderndevice, and one was from MAKE. They were essentially the same kit, but different versions. There was one resistor difference I believe. The first kit took me quite a while to put together - probably about an hour. The [...]
Tags: arduino · photography
Print contact sheets / thumbnails from video footage
November 3rd, 2008 · No Comments
This is a task I don't like doing, but it is certainly useful if you have a lot of footage to sort through and not everyone is very technically inclined. It allows you to print a contact sheet from every x frames/seconds/minutes of a video file. That helps when you are looking for a specific [...]
Tags: Final Cut Pro · video
Nuclear Missile Silo
November 3rd, 2008 · No Comments
a few weeks ago I got the opportunity to go check out a nuclear missile silo in the area that had been decommissioned and converted into a private residence. The owner's name is Alex and he's nothing like what you would expect (considering he owns a nuclear missile silo.) His website is siloboy.com and is [...]
Tags: general geek · photography