s1axter posted on Fri. October 5th 2007 at 03:45 PM PST
Alright, so now I'm back in the US of A and it's time to start something I've been planning for a while.
Starting today, October 5th, to November 1st, Geeksinside.com is running a Tip Contest. Send us a tip on a site, or project, leave your email address and if we post a link from your tip, you will be entered to win a Olimex PIC-MT development board with a PIC16F872. This is same development board we reviewed at the end of August, we got two and we are giving this one away.
Here's a few pics of the board.
So find those cool projects you did, site you have, or project page you frequent, submit a tip and get this cool development board (PIC included).
s1axter posted on Wed. October 3rd 2007 at 07:37 AM PST
I have to say it’s been a crazy nine days. As some might have noticed, it’s been kinda dead around here. The reason for that is for the past week and a half I have been in Nagoya Japan for work. It’s been an awesome trip, Japan is really cool!
Now I’ve seen a lot of posts on other sites about crazy technology and gizmos from Japan, but I never thought it permeated so far into the normal lives of the people here. Almost everything is more advanced than what I would find in the US. Everything from the vending machines everywhere (And yes they are everywhere), to the displays on the train saying what stop is next and what door will open, to the tools used in food service to speed your meal.
I thought that some GI readers might like to see some of the technology in Japan accessible to the general public.
These shots are of standard vending machines. These drink ones really are everywhere, complete with over 40 selections to choose from! They usually contain tea, soda, water, canned coffee, and even beer, all available 24/7! Also, in the second shot Japan still has cigarette machines, also with 40 selections.
I was also impressed with the rail system’s ticket machines. Now a ton of major cities, including in the US, have automatic ticket machines but these are quick and so easy to use, even an American who knows 4 phrases in Japanese can get around no problem. I snapped a shot of a ticket machine for your viewing pleasure.
Now the most impressive technology of the entire trip was most definitely the restaurant ordering devices in the last picture. Every place I went to had these things. When you order the server types in the order on these small hand-held units and it wirelessly (I think) transmits the order to the base station/kitchen. This is a fan-damn-tastic idea and if it were up to me, every single place everywhere in the world would have this. I hope in the near future this is implemented in the US. Brilliant!
Well, that’s it for me, nice 10 hour flight back tomorrow so enjoy the pics.
firewire posted on Thu. September 27th 2007 at 01:13 PM PST
Yah I know I am obsessed with keyboard mods. It's probably because I have a keyboard fetish but I didn't say that outloud. I found a easy EL wire mod tutorial for those who would like to add a little flash to their boring keyboards. It doesn't take much time and is very inexpensive. The only problem with this tutorial is the fact that the guy runs another wire off of his keyboard to the main pc for the power. I would try to pull the power off of a usb bus if that is what your keyboard is using. That would take a little more effort doing the conversions etc.
s1axter posted on Fri. September 21st 2007 at 09:10 AM PST
This was posted on Make today and it really caught my eye. I remember when I was younger finding some wooden staves and spray painting them to look like lightsabers. I'm sure tons of other people have cobbled together 'lightsabers' and ended up beating the crap out of friends or younger brothers in the back yard. This DIY lightsaber setup is cheap, cool looking, and since it's made of plastic probably won't hurt as much as 1inch wooden staves :-P.
doomerz posted on Wed. September 19th 2007 at 04:20 AM PST
I stumbled upon this project while I was looking around for some neat projects to plan for in the future. This Talking time and temperature alarm clocks core is a PIC16F876A programmed in C (with the CSS compiler), the EMIC text-to-speech module and a 4 digit SLED4C serial seven-segment display module. This would be a great project to get back into the some small scale PIC or Microcontroller applications, and will teach you some handy C functions that can be used later down the road.
s1axter posted on Mon. September 17th 2007 at 08:56 AM PST
Looks like airport security thinks a microcontroller programmer is dangerous to domestic US flights. This guy was flying out of South Dakota and was not allowed to take his modified microcontroller programmer on the flight with him. I find this slightly ridiculous, it's a tool, not powered, not plugged in, not capable of anything. To be fair the blog post says that it wasn't the programmer that was the problem but the added resistor and RC circuit on the device that made security concerned. Sometimes I do forget that most people look at electric circuits as voodoo but come on, if someone is an embedded designer/technician on a business trip, can explain what the addition is and why it is there (with all supporting math) why not let them pack it in cargo. Isn't it great when some lay person gets to say 'I don't know what it is so it must be bad'?
It does a decent job of looking at the pros and cons of PICs and AVRs from a hobbyist view. I have a friend who is doing research with ARM and TI chips and every time we talk he always gets into the power available to PICs and AVRs compared to others. I think anyone looking for some hardcore number crunching or signal processing shouldn't be looking at these two at all, lol.
Anyway, it's a good read and if you feel so inclined, leave a comment on your personal favorite.
s1axter posted on Mon. September 10th 2007 at 09:16 AM PST
This el-cheap-o multi-tiouch interface was posted today on HackedGadgets. It uses a plastic bag, blue dye and a web cam. The web cam is used to differentiate between normal blue color and the bright spots created when the top of the bag is deflected. This deflection is translate that to an X-Y coordinate on the screen.
It looks like the setup has to be used in bright sun light so the pressure on the bag will create a bright spot. Some LEDs on the edge of the bag might work, give it a try!
Very cool and interesting way to get a multi-touch interface for a PC.
October Tip Contest - PIC Dev Board
S1axter's Tech Log of Crazy Stuff
Alright, so now I'm back in the US of A and it's time to start something I've been planning for a while.
Yah I know I am obsessed with keyboard mods. It's probably because I have a keyboard fetish but I didn't say that outloud. I found a easy EL wire mod tutorial for those who would like to add a little flash to their boring keyboards. It doesn't take much time and is very inexpensive. The only problem with this tutorial is the fact that the guy runs another wire off of his keyboard to the main pc for the power. I would try to pull the power off of a usb bus if that is what your keyboard is using. That would take a little more effort doing the conversions etc. 
This was posted on Make today and it really caught my eye. I remember when I was younger finding some wooden staves and spray painting them to look like lightsabers. I'm sure tons of other people have cobbled together 'lightsabers' and ended up beating the crap out of friends or younger brothers in the back yard. This DIY lightsaber setup is cheap, cool looking, and since it's made of plastic probably won't hurt as much as 1inch wooden staves :-P.
I stumbled upon this project while I was looking around for some neat projects to plan for in the future. This Talking time and temperature alarm clocks core is a PIC16F876A programmed in C (with the CSS compiler), the EMIC text-to-speech module and a 4 digit SLED4C serial seven-segment display module. This would be a great project to get back into the some small scale PIC or Microcontroller applications, and will teach you some handy C functions that can be used later down the road. 
Looks like airport security thinks a microcontroller programmer is dangerous to domestic US flights. This guy was flying out of South Dakota and was not allowed to take his modified microcontroller programmer on the flight with him. I find this slightly ridiculous, it's a tool, not powered, not plugged in, not capable of anything. To be fair the blog post says that it wasn't the programmer that was the problem but the added resistor and RC circuit on the device that made security concerned. Sometimes I do forget that most people look at electric circuits as voodoo but come on, if someone is an embedded designer/technician on a business trip, can explain what the addition is and why it is there (with all supporting math) why not let them pack it in cargo. Isn't it great when some lay person gets to say 'I don't know what it is so it must be bad'?
It looks like a tie on the poll between PIC and AVR. There are strong supporters on both sides as a quick Google search with show.
