Oyvind from Build Electronic Circuits sent in his latest project. It’s a 1937 Philips AM Radio Hacked into an iPhone Dock, the project is basically using the nice old housing since all of the internals were discarded. He is using a module that the iPhone plugs into to grab the audio line out from the phone which is fed into the a small amp. A newer speaker was installed since the original one was not working well anymore. He build a custom display module which is controlled by an Arduino and displays the source selected and volume of the system. The result looks much better than a plastic docking box from the store and from what I can tell from the video it also sounds great.

 If you are tied to your cell phone to monitor weather, calendar events and stocks, the Alert Tube could be the next gadget you need. Michael Watson built is around a Raspberry Pi, it monitors the net for events that you choose and alerts you by light patterns, text to speech or sounds. You can see the entire project build details here.

“The Alert Tube is an open source information appliance that connects wirelessly to the Internet of Things in the cloud. The user interface is dead simple, it communicates data via customized colored light sequences, sounds and text to speech.

The idea for the Alert Tube came from something simple, a clock. You don’t have to turn it on, or boot it up and request information, it simply tells you the time, all the time, without you having to ask. That’s the idea behind the Alert Tube. You tell it what you want and then it continuously displays and/or emits audible information, without you having to ask. Simply walk by and take a glance at it or listen for any important alerts. Set it and forget it!”

If you have some old donated scanners and printers chances are you have most of the stuff needed to make your own DIY Laser Engraver. The main thing that all laser engravers have in common is a method of moving a laser or set of mirrors in an X Y pattern. Scanners and printers have motors and rails that can allow for accurate motion so all that is needed to be added into the mix is a control system, some motor drivers and the laser system. ianmcmill shows us how he did it using an Arduino and 90 € of other various parts.

With this setup you can see below what it is able to do.

“It is able to cut :

• foam rubber
• tape
• vinyl
• paper (nearly every color but white/red)
• several plastics (could require several runs depending on thickness)

It can engrave:

• light wood (Balsawood/Poplar)
• leather
• bone
• horn
• plastics
• some varnishes
• blank cds/dvds (purple/blue)”

Our friend Bob Davis has hacked another LED sign, you can see it above connected to an Arduino. Check out his article to have a look at the code to see how it works. There are lots of these LED panels available on Ebay that are ready to be repurposed for your next project.

Red Bull has selected their finalists in their latest competition. Have a look at the cool entry above by North Street Labs, it is a huge tic tac toe game. You stomp on large buttons in the center of the game board to register your space selection. The buttons are great, they are made from plumbing parts and some old bed springs. The use of RGB LED strips really makes the game stand out. Be sure to check out all of the other entries at the Red Bull Creation site and see them in person at the Northside Festive in June.

Our friend Max from Zedomax has introduced a new wireless mic to his video recording setup. If you make videos and need some distance from the camera his review of his new mic is sure to be of interest. He picked up a Sennheiser EW122PG3 which isn’t cheap but check out his video at the 10:20 mark where he demonstrates the range and clarity during a tarp board demo. If you hadn’t heard of tarp boarding before I was in the same boat…

This Magic Wand project can be used to get someone young interested in electronics since instead of simply doing something practical this project appears to be magic. The project uses a magnetic reed switch and a magnet embedded into a magic wand to turn things on just by bringing the wand close to them. There are a ton of possibilities here such as hiding the magnet between your fingers and amaze your friends that you have the ability to turn on the items just by the force of your hand and they don’t.

Thanks for the tip Jason.