Turn your Smartphone into a Thermal Camera [DIY]

It seems to good to be true... While our smartphones have evolved a lot in the last couple of years, there are still things we wish they could do... but (still) can't. For instance: night-vision is still a no-show... and let's not even talk about thermal imaging! Those cameras still cost many thousands of dollars, which make it impossible for anyone to use them to check their homes for hot/cold spots that might be inflating their energy costs.

But things might be about to change, as a projecte popped up promising to turn your smarpthone in a thermal camera for $150.

The thermal image is overlaid on the real image - and having just 64 pixels (16x4 thermal "areas") we're still a long way off those high-resolution thermal images we all know and love.

But... at least its a step in the right direction. Maybe 10 years from now our smartphones (or digital glasses) will be capable of sifting through thermal/nightvision/other visual modes... but until then, at least we can get 64 pixels of thermal imaging on the cheap.

Dotklok LED Clock

If there's a LED clock worth displaying in your living room, this is it. The Dotklok turns passing time into much more than simple numbers passing by.
Now, every minute will pass by with a cute transition/animation inspired in games like Pong, Tetris, Pacman, and Space Invaders.

You can build your own dotklok, as everything you need is publicly available. But, if you don't have the time/patience to spare, you can also buy a fully assembled one.
Of course, in that case, you'll be missing most of the enjoyment of building it yourself and saying to your friends (and yourself): "I made it!"


DOTKLOK: Game Time from The Latest Artists on Vimeo.


DOTKOK rev. 1.0 from The Latest Artists on Vimeo.

PIC24F with Ethernet, USB and SD

It's no secret most people will use an Arduino for their electronics project. But, it's no secret Microchip's PIC range of microcontrollers are also quite common and popular.
When you start toying around with it, sooner or later you'll be wishing for more... and that includes things like an SD card to load/store data; a USB port to interact with a PC; or even an ethernet connection for networking. So, I present you this WEBSD.

Some of thing you can do with it:

1. An Touch keyboard, usable as a standard USB keyboard.
2. A Video Game ( pong and snake games) , with TV output, and connection to a PC Keyboard ( the old PS/2 ) for control.
3. Picture frame,  reads pictures form the SD card and show them on the TV.
4. Controling a 5 volt LCD and some leds, with just 3 wires ( the MCU is 3.3V)
5. Web server, where you can see some status of the board as temperature, the position of a Pot and a Button,  control some leds and the LCD ( all this from the internet)

I'm sure you'll be able to come up with some pretty cool ideas of your own to take it even further.

Time Stretching Lunch Clock

Ever wished your lunch hour to pass slower, so you could calmly eat and enjoy your meal?
Other than having to deal with relativistic theories of time stretching, a much easier solution is to replace your work clock by one of these lunch time clock that allows you to add an extra 12 minutes of lunch time to your lunch hour!

How does it work? It's quite simple: in the hour preceding your lunch hour (11 to 12h) it speeds up time by 20% so that during your actua lunch hour (12-13h) it can slow down time by the same amount. Meaning, you'll have a 20% longer lunch hour (12 minutes).

What are you waiting for? Even if you use it just as a prank to your colleagues and co-workers, I'm sure no one will complain about it! :)

Low Cost CNC Machine

I've already talked about interesting 3D Printer projects that are trying to make this technology affordable enough for everyone to use (and initiate a new revolution in the way we use/make things).
This project is similar, and aims to create a fully functioning CNC machine for under $400.

Their goal is to gather $15,000 in order to get funded, and everyone is encouraged to contribute even if with just a single dollar.
As you pledge higher amounts, you'll also get better treatment, including a complete CNC machine when you pledge $390 (ready to work for those donating $520) - and for $2,500 you'll get the full VIP treatment with everything you could ever hoped for.

Cardboard Hydraulic Robot Arm

If you're into robotics, and want to introduce the basics of hydraulic robot arms to children, here's a project you won't be able to resist!

This cardboard hydraulic robot arm doesn't even give you the chance to say: "oh, it's too hard to find the metal pieces to build it!" as it is assembled entirely out of cardboard and duct tape.

Definitely a project to keep you entertained (as well as your kids) for a while.

How to Make Glow Sticks

There's only one thing I like better than LEDs... the amazingly beautiful and mesmerizing light from glow sticks!

The following video shows you how to create your own glowsticks, and in several different colors!

Build your Simple Stirling Engine

What if someone asked you to build an engine using nothing but stuff you had laying around your house?

Well... here's an excellent guide everyone should be encouraged to try (great way to get your kids off the playstation for a while) on how to build a simple Sterling engine.

Unlike our well known internal combuston engines, a Sterling engine is an external combustion engine... and can reach up to an amazing 40% efficiency (not that this model will be such a case, of course)

Do your own iPad Stand (for Free)

Just got your iPad and have no way to make it stand?
How about using its own packaging to create an iPad stand?

Considering you can make up to four stands per iPad package, you can even sell the remaining 3 on eBay and get rich with it (or not! :)

So not sure if you should get an ipad? Then maybe you should pick up an iphone, it's like a smaller ipad at the end of the day!

Do It Yourself LED LCD Projector

When you talk about home cinema, no one can deny that: the bigger the screen the better!

Unfortunately, big screen TVs aren't usually within our desired price range; but, what if you could build your own LCD LED video projector?

That's exactly what you can find, with detailed step-by-step instructions at Instructables. A really creative project that will surely appeal to everyone you invite to see a movie with. :)

Upgrade your Laptop drive with an SSD

If you have a new (or aging) laptop and won't stand any longer for the hard drive spinning around while you wait for an application to launch: why not replace it for an SSD?

That's what I convinced one more friend to do, and the chosen model was the 80GB Intel X25-M. If cost is an issue, you can find cheaper models (like the new 64GB Kingston SSDs that show around for under 120 euros.)

If you want a detailed analysis, check out this Anandtech article about the X25-M.

... but it's time to get back to work:

Replacing your laptop hard drive is often just a matter of flipping it over and accessing the hard drive compartment. But as always, in my case, my friend's Sony Vaio forced us to dissamble the case and keyboard in order to gain access to it.

He also took the chance to upgrade to Windows 7. Win7 is the first OS from Microsoft that properly recognizes SSD and configures itself accordingly. Unneeded services like automatic defrag and indexing are automatically disabled (if you're using an older Windows version, be sure to disable it yourself.)
There are also some other advanced issues like partition alignment; but you can google around for it - I'll assume that if you're willing to spend money on an SSD, you'll also be running the latest OS version you can get.

Once installed, you can immediately notice the difference. Booting up the OS takes under 20 seconds. All the tiny pauses we grew accustomed to endure are now gone (making us notice just how much time we had to wait before.)
You can actually continue to work on your laptop while a virus scan or other disk intensive operation is running!

The only issue was that his Sony Vaio comes with two graphic cards: one Intel for "low power operation", and one Nvidia Go 7600 for "performance".) Sony doesn't seem to have Windows 7 64bits drivers... and trying to install either drivers results in failure - so, I'm yet to figure out to solve this issue (and once again leaving me with a really bad impression of Sony.)

But, even with just a generica graphic card, the SSD benefits can be seen and felt at every key stroke, at every mouse click. Thing just "happen" without any delays.
This is indeed one of the things everyone should experience to see the difference.

What about your old hard drive? Well... my suggestion is buying an external USB HDD case (around 10 euros) and using it as a backup drive for your data.

Kitchen Cabinet LED Lighting

I've been looking for alternatives to replace my fluorescent lighting in "under-cabinet" kitchen lighting, and I wanted to share what I've been doing. My option of choice were -of course - LEDs, and I finally seem to have found just the right ones to do it. :)

Here's some photos.

They come covered with a flexible rubbery-like plastic that keeps it safe from moisture and dirt, and makes it easier to clean.

And last, the first test to assess its lighting prowess (as I wanted it to indeed light up the kitchen, instead of using it just for "decorative lighting".)

It sure provides more light than I was expecting - no doubt due to the 600 leds strip (120 leds per meter) twice as much the regular LED strips.

It uses less than 5W per meter, which is less than I was expecting.

And I'll keep you updated once I make a final installation and take some more photos.

Building a Lego Computer Case

Although some people think Legos are suitable for repairing walls...

... I think they're better suited to building a Lego computer case.

Haven't you ever felt you haven't found the exact computer case you're looking for? So... why not build it yourself?

Here's a time lapse making-of video:

Build your Multitouch Surface for $350

Everyone has already seen some sort of demo video of MS Surface - or similar - but the question remains: how long till we can have something like that in our own homes?

According to Maximum PC, you can have it right now, and all you need is some spare parts and $350 to build your own multitouch "Surface", using open-source software (Touchlib, AMCap, FlashOSC.)


Maximum PC's Multitouch Surface Computer from Maximum PC on Vimeo.

You can find all details you'll ever need and a step-by-step tutorial at MaximumPC.

Multitouch RPTV - DIY

Do you have a Mac? Do you have a Rearprojection TV laying around? Are you willing to do what it taked to impress your friends when they come over?

If you answered yes to all three questions then this is definitely the project you've been waiting for: transform your RPTV set into a multitouch monitor.


2 Camera tbeta from IDEO Labs on Vimeo.


Hacked Rear Projection TV into Multitouch from IDEO Labs on Vimeo.

Using inexpensive material such as PS3 eye cameras and lasers, you can enjoy all the multitouch experience in all its glory (the most exepensive part is, as you'd might exepect, the RPTV set itself.)

Vacuum Tube DIY

Sometimes it's hard to believe how things evolve so fast.
Just "recently", before the appearance of the solid-state transistor, the king of electronic was the vacuum tube triode.

Today those tubes are still widely used, from HAM radio to Hi-Fi components, and when the time comes for you to replace one of them, it can be hard to find a suitable one. That's why some people decide to make their own vacuum tube triodes.

Let's take a trip down memory lane, as we watch a french amateur radio operator creating a triode from scratch:



Just try to image how you'd stick millions of these things in a few square millimeters, as it happens with modern computer chips. :)