This LED Dragon looks fantastic. If having it multi-color wasn’t enough it is even animated!

"Two white leds on the bottom will light up the Dragon. For each flame layer I reserved a single red led. After getting the proper resistor values from the LedCalc I was ready to light the design up. The lighting sequence is the same as with the Intel Inside logo. First the small flame will light up, then the middle one will fade in and after that the large one. This makes the flame seem to grow bigger and bigger. I did test lighting up the layers one at the time but the end result wasn’t that great. The next photo is taken from that test as the largest flame is the only one lit."

Aonomus over at Procrastinatus has a LM3915 Based Spectrum Analyzer project in development that has been described step by step. The schematic is almost done and will be released soon.

"I have schematics mostly drawn up for a LM3915 based spectrum analyzer using Fliege bandpass filters to give me bands at 60Hz, 150Hz, 400Hz, 1kHz, 2.5kHz, 6kHz, and 15kHz."

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This 10 Meter Morse Code Beacon is a nice simple project, all the source code and schematics are provided. Below is a description of the board process that was used.

"After I have etched the board and rinsed any excess Ammonium Persulfate off, I then use Mineral Turpentine and a rag to remove all the blue paint or blue plastic and the laser printer toner off the boards when using the blue “press & peel” iron on paper transfer technique. This exposes the shiny copper. I then use a metal scribe tool with a very fine point and basically center punch and indent in the “center” of each pad and or location to be drilled. (Not with a hammer! Just center punching using pure pressure on the scribe to pre-punch the hole locations.) Then drill every location with a .8mm drill using my super cheapy 99 dollar drill press. Then drill any component locations which require larger holes with a 1mm or even a 1.5mm bit. De-bur all the holes. One last rub down with alcohol to get any oils or Turpentine off the copper and you’re ready to solder! Nice shinny copper = no flux required!"

If you have ever thought about taking some arial photographs this site describes two versions that is sure to give you some ideas for your own.

"The outputs from Air Pressure, Temperature, Wind Speed, and Battery Voltage Sensors are feed in to the inputs of a PicAxe 18X. It Processes the raw sensor inputs, and then triggers the Camera (using a Servo) and Transmits the Raw Data. A Receiver captures the Data, converting it to a RS-232 Data Stream. The Data Stream is feed in to a Laptop that Archives the Raw Data, Filters and Decodes the Data, Archives the Decoded Data, and Displays the Decoded Data on the Screen."

The prize will help you out on your next camping trip, you can never have enough flashlights (speaking from experience).
This contest will run for one week (July 27 - Aug1, 2008) . 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.

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 9, 2008 

The item to guess was a Arc Lamp Tube

The winner is Steve K.

Thanks to all who entered.

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Below is a picture of the prize.

I haven’t seen anything like this Mossalibra, Interactive Dance Game before. It is an interesting concept that could catch on if some venues think out of the box and try it out.

"Mossalibra is an interactive game installation, operated solely by intuitive human gestures. While dancing to surrounding music, the user (represented in pixelated form as a pure gesture) can mimic a given set of gestures in order to gain points. These gestures are actually pixelated snapshots of previous players. The game is therefore constantly generated by the players and constantly represents the current musical vibe."

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If you like laser projects this one looks quite well done.

"This is one of my experimental Dance/Trance songs from 2000. I build laser systems for fun so I have put together pictures and clips from assembly to a full working system to go with the song. I know the song gets really annoying after awhile sorry. Iv’e been getting a lot of email asking how the projector works and what parts are in it.
Here’s how the projector works:
The green laser bounces off a mirror then through a green beam splitter, the beam is then separated (The reason for this is later I added a second beam turret projector which did not work well so I removed it and also the beam splitter  The Green beam then bounces off a red dichroic filter and into the Scanners. The red laser passes through the red dichroic filter this allows you to mix the two colors into one beam or into dual images if the alignment is off.
(Most all of the video uses the red laser because the green was too bright for the video camera)
Here is some information on my laser system and where you can find the parts.

Laser controller and software I use is from
http://www.laserillusions.com/
This is a great package and costs a fraction of any other laser software about $400.00"