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chip posted on Sat. October 27th 2007 at 08:18 PM PST
"The Essential Blender is a 362 page informational how to, rather than a complete composition of tutorials on how to create 3D models and animations. The book comes with an informational disk that includes tutorials and Blender installation files. The book also does not focus specifically on step by step examples of how to create, skin, and animate specific models; instead the author describes how to use the tools and functions built into Blender. He includes a few tutorials throughout the text to help aid in the learning process. This allows Roosendaal to be more personable."
Read the rest of Firewire's review
chip posted on Fri. October 26th 2007 at 01:20 PM PST
Who is your favorite geek movie character out of the five listed? Let us know!
s1axter posted on Thu. October 25th 2007 at 02:53 PM PST
If we need power for a device, most of us will place it near a power outlet in a building. When we want power on the move, we charge a storage battery and run the device until the battery is depleted, then charge it back up again. But what do you do when you want to run hundreds of devices, for decades, with no power outlet, in the frigid cold of upper New York state? You build your device with its own unlimited power generator. This is exactly what two graduate students have done at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY.
"Clarkson University researchers have developed technology that uses the vibrations caused by passing traffic to power wireless bridge monitoring sensors."
Power harvesting is not a new technology, however it has been extremely inefficient. Grabbing small amounts of solar, heat or vibrations and converting that into useable, noise free electricity has never before been combined into a small PCB mountable form factor. The solution developed by the researchers uses small vibrations to drive a magnetic generator, producing electricity. The sensor board uses only micro-watts of power and when paired up with the generator, can run an indefinite time and broadcast data to a more conveniently located base station over 75 meters away.
"'We have completely eliminated the battery from the equation,' says Assistant Professor Edward S. Sazonov, .... 'Hermetically sealed wireless sensors powered by bridge vibration can remain on the bridge without need of maintenance for decades, providing continuous monitoring of such parameters as ice conditions, traffic flows and health status.' "
The two professors and two graduate students at Clarkson have been working on their energy harvesting technology for over two years and have applied for a patent with the US Patent Office. Recently the technology has been license to startup Ambio Systems to provide low-maintenance, small footprint wireless sensors for remote data collection. Ambio Systems plans to release a development kit by the end of 2007.
Original Article: http://www.clarkson.edu/news/view.php?id=1884
Ambio Systems: http://www.ambiosystems.com/
Research page: http://www.intelligent-systems.info/energy_harvesting/bridge_experiments/bridge_energy_harvesting.htm
s1axter posted on Thu. October 25th 2007 at 11:31 AM PST
Well the fires have receded, my apartment has been spared and I am back at work. Time to post.
On Monday Mike S dropped us a line for Keith's Electronics Blog. The blog has a bunch of cool stuff including scavenging vacuum tubes from an old organ. I went through the archives and got a laugh out of this post on using iron-on printer transfers for pcb etching. Ferric Chloride stains EVERYTHING including porcelain sinks and toilets. I like the Lesson: lines in the post, I can just see etchant running all over the sink, not to mention how peeved his wife probably was. If you are looking for some digital, analog, CNC projects, check out Keiths's Blog.
Also, while not an official entry, my friend Spanky reminded me why it's always better to overclock naked
Enjoy!
Mike S is in the running for the Olimex PIC-MT Dev Board
doomerz posted on Wed. October 24th 2007 at 07:24 PM PST
With Halloween coming up just around the corner, I've been in setup mode getting LEDs in pumpkins and all sorts of other special effects, so I figured I'd share a little project I found while jumping around today called "Cave Eyes" according to them:
"This is a little microcontroller circuit that has 15 pairs of L.E.D.'s that look like rodent eyes. The pairs of eyes blink in a semi-random fashion. So, what you end up with is 15 pairs of eyes staring out at you with one pair blinking (looks like the animal had to close their eyes briefly) at a time. The pairs of eyes are on wires so that they can be placed around the cave, bushes, etc. Runs off of 4 AA batteries."
Their site has complete schematics and looks to be a project you could complete in a few hours
Check it out
http://www.cowlacious.com/CaveEyes.htm
doomerz posted on Mon. October 22nd 2007 at 08:36 PM PST
While we are on the topic of USB devices, I happen to come across an interesting USB project which is a thermometer, pressure-sensor and relative humidity sensor dubbed the USBTenki. The device is made using a MCP9803 sensor for temperature or a Sensirion SHT75 sensor for temperature and humidity.
The tutorial comes complete with a full set of schematics, hardware list and firmware. This seems like the perfect little project to get back into the lab. Check it out yourself http://www.raphnet.net/electronique/usbtenki/index_en.php
s1axter posted on Mon. October 22nd 2007 at 11:23 AM PST
Well updates here on GI might be a little sparse the next few days, San Diego is ablaze with wildfires and my apartment is on the edge of the evacuation zone. So sounds like a good time to visit my friend in Vegas :-P.
We had a few tips this weekend and I promise when I get some time to sit and make a real post I will mention them.
This seems like a good time to post this little article on making a disaster USB drive. Enjoy the read: http://www.randomn3ss.com/2007/03/08/create-a-disaster-ready-backup-of-important-information-on-a-usb-drive/
s1axter posted on Thu. October 18th 2007 at 10:05 AM PST
Check out these cool DIY Noise-Canceling Headphones found on Electronics-lab.com. The article has a schematic and theory of operation for the project but be warned, it deals with scary analog signals (oh no!).
There are also some other cool projects listed on Electronics-lab.com including a G-force meter project and a circuit that can dim lights using any remote control
Enjoy
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