Congratulation to the last contest winner.

The prize this week is a remote control watch. Have fun flipping channels and turning off TVs everywhere!

This contest will run for this weekend only (December 1 - 2, 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. A hint is that the device is home made by a Hacked Gadgets reader and was posted in the forum and featured on the main site. Please do not give the answer in the comments.

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 December 6, 2007

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

Andreas Jakl developed the software and Stephan Selinger developed the hardware for the Shaker Racer at Symbian Resources. It reminds me of this RC Car Wiimote hack.

Stephan sent in some pictures of the car hardware and some additional details. Thanks Stephan!
“We are using an MSP430 microcontroller by Texas instruments on a board by www.olimex.com and the BlueNiceCom IV Bluetooth module. The microcontroller software is written in C.”

Video and some under the hood pictures after the jump.

“The car that we used is based on a standard €90 RC car bought from a toy shop. We modded it to accept Bluetooth instead of the proprietary wireless module that it was shipped with. A small microcontroller and a Bluetooth module replace the original wireless components. On the side of the mobile phone, a Python script translates the input of the acceleration sensor to commands that the microcontroller can understand in order to manage the steering servo as well as the main motor.

It turned out that this is a very intuitive and natural way to control the car. You do not need any practice as the concept can be understood instantly. So there’s nothing that can block your way to fun!”

Via: Hackszine

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In most cases when you hear about circuit bending it refers to bending of the audio signal of various hardware devices.

I ran across this web site that deals with the bending of video devices.

This web site is packed full of stuff. The author displays sequential images of bending a device and provides video links of bent output.

When possible he provides links to manufacture documentation and schematics.

In some cases he even walks you through the bending process.

Follow the blue links. There are tons of links buried on this web site.

What a treasure of video stuff!

Video Circuit Bending

Yes Yes, I know, there are many good sites out there that tell you how to build your own CNC router.

Here is a site that walks you through the whole process of building a CNC router, from the ground up, with videos.

The web site covers 36 steps to build a CNC router, 35 of the steps are documented by video.

The whole router is built with basic hand tools right in the author’s bedroom.

A basic router can be built for around $350.00

A bill of materials is provided and includes a standard bill of materials and an upgraded bill of materials if you want to buy new or upgraded components.

Get Ready to CNC!

Max Cornelisse from the Netherlands has done some incredible hacks. He is a 24 year old science grad who likes to poke fun at how insecure some systems are. I guess they could be staged but most of them look very real. Let me know what you think… Anyone able to translate what is going on in the train video?

Thanks to Rutger B. for sending in this translation.
“We are stuck in traffic. Of course, didn’t expect anything else. But uhm, since that last time I try to avoid the train. ( trains are a tad unreliable in the Netherlands ). I have here a live connection to the ANWB ( Dutch traffic org.) That is over an ‘open channel’ And with that I can influence the traffic signs. They are set to 50, but we never reach 50, so i`m going to make it 5 (kilometers an hour ). People wont like that. So to make them happy, a smily if that doesn’t cheer them up…

We got out of the car and we are standing at the highway. Here we spotted some matrix signs
I can put more text on these. yeah yeah yeah, here it comes, here it comes I think I earned some credits and we are going to do so as follows:
“Max is king”
“Big traffic jam, Go home!!!!”
It would be awesome if I got my picture on there. Thats me. is it there? is it there?”

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This Eggstractor works quite well. I don’t eat lots of hard boiled eggs but when I do I usually end up picking tiny pieces of shell off the egg for a minute or two. I think this idea is good enough for Dragons Den (one of my favorite shows)!

“Very useful way to peel an boiled egg. With this homemade gadget you can peeling over 50 eggs per minutes . Very Very Fast and Easy. Great for introducing kid to the science”

Have you ever wondered about all of the different batteries on the market these days?

Urban legends about batteries?? Are you suppose to drain them completely before you charge them or charge them after every use?

Would you like to build a smart battery charger to charge the your batteries just enough so you will not fry them?

When would you use nickel-cadmium over nickel-metal-hydride? Why would you want to power your robot with lithium-ion?

Well then boys and girls it is time to go to Battery University!