Congratulation to winner of the last contest.

The prize this week is a LAN and USB cable tester, no more wondering if the cable is the problem. Just plug it in and give it a test…

This contest will run for this weekend only (August 25 – 26, 2007) . Ending time is based on central standard time. To enter, identify the item pictured above and give an example of what can be done with it. Please do not give the answer in the comments.

Please note that the picture may have some areas defaced to prevent obvious identification.

Send an email to contest @ hackedgadgets.com with “Name the Thing Contest” as the subject, and the message body consisting of:
* The name of the item in the above picture
* An example of what the item pictured above can be used for

The winner will be chosen at random from all of the correct entries.

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Added August 30, 2007

Thanks to all who entered.
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Below is a picture of the prize.

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Ronald Dekker put together an LED clock using a PIC 16F84 microcontroller. Some people would wonder why a $5.00 clock from the store couldn’t be used. It could be, but where would the fun be in that?

“The 16F84 processor used here is a little bit out dated and no longer in production. I used it because of the simple fact that I had it lying around. The more modern 16F628 is pin compatible and will perform equally well. The 16F84 has too few I/Os to address all the anode and cathode drivers directly (Fig. 3). A 74HC563 8 bits latch was used to extend the number of outputs by another 8 bits at the expense of a latch enable signal taken from port A. The eight outputs from the latch, together with the lowest 4 bits of port B from the PIC drive address the cathode drivers. Since only one of the anode rows is switched on at any given moment, a HEF4028 1-of-10 decoder could be used to activate one of the six rows using only 3 bits (A0…A2). These bits are connected to the higher 4 bits of port B. To prevent unwanted illumination of LEDs during the multiplexing of data to the 74HC563, I/O bit A3 from port A is used to completely disable all the anode drivers. ”

Youtube user Starcross42 has posted a number of interesting Laser Effects. The Galvanometer laser show is the most complex and is my favorite.

Lots more videos after the jump.

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Here is a gamer that installed some new gauges into his rig. The gauges are controlled by an AVR mega microcontroller which has been programmed in C++ and AVR GNU-GCC.

“Here’s a quick video of me running no-plate daytona with 100% tape so the motor blows up. The gauge on the left is setup as a fuel gauge since I haven’t gotten a fuel gauge yet. The warning light above the oil temp gauge is actually the yellow flag light, since I haven’t gotten a light for that yet, like the ARCA cars have. The oil temp light isn’t used by NR2003. Everything but the warning lights work so far with rFactor. In rFactor, i have the fuel gauge setup as 20 gallons or more reading maximum.

My DIY racing simulator, works with NR2003 & rFactor. There is no “off the shelf” control solution used to drive the gauges. Created using telemetry examples by Papyrus & ISI, powered by an AVR mega microcontroller. Programmed in C++ and AVR GNU-GCC. The sunpro gauge on the left is set as a fuel gauge. None of the gauges have been altered in any way.”

Via: Hack 24/7

Reverend Jones from the Hacked Gadgets Forum has posted a creative way of making an old wall-wart (plug in power supply) into a useful USB power supply.

“Here is a quick and easy way to make an USB charger/power supply powered by the wall outlet. This can be used to charge/power a PSP, iPod or any other USB device.
First you need to acquire a regulated 5 vdc wallwart rated at 500ma or higher. The one I used is from an IoMega Zip drive. It has a switching regulator with an output of 5vdc @ 1amp.

Other parts needed:

1) 330 ohm 1/4 watt resister
1) 10k ohm 1/4 watt resister
1) 3mm LED (red, green or yellow)
1) USB-A jack, female ”

Check out this Western Digital Hard Drive Oscilloscope. The Google translator didn’t do much with the text so other than the pictures the page may be hard to follow… Anyone want to do a short English translation?

Bill from DSE GLOBAL has created a tool called the Case Light that will ensure you don’t forget to remove power from your motherboard before you work in the case. Modern motherboards are still live when your computer is shut down and some don’t have any LED indication of the lurking power…

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“In the picture you can see a modified ATX extension cord that reroutes two ATX signal wires into a box containing an LED circuit. The LED is lit when the ATX extension cord is plugged into an ATX power supply and an ATX motherboard.”