Have a look at the video below for a cool tour of the Google Zurich Office. You can get three gourmet meals a day, have a workout with a personal trainer, play a game of pool, get a message and slip into a theme meeting room to learn about project updates. There may even be a bit of time left to get a bit of work done. I wonder how long it will be before the global economic slow down effects Google? Could Google be recession proof?

Via: TechEBlog

You may remember the Paintball Sentry Gun that we featured last year. Well the team over at The Sentry Project has not been resting, the new version of the gun software is now available on Ebay and it looks very impressive. It was very sensitive and precise before but have a look at the videos, it has been tweaked to improve the results! I wish I owned a junkyard, I would get rid of the dog and purchase a few of these.

"The software kit is an inexpensive solution for building your own Automated Sentry. It is ideal for those of you who are mechanically inclined or have custom applications in mind.   

The Software Kit will consist of the software and the servo controller. They cannot be separated because the software only works with the that specific servo controller. They will be auctioned off on eBay to eliminate the possibility of me charging too much or too little.

The kit can be used for anything from a harmless video surveillance system that tracks and zooms in on moving objects, to a full fledged, heavy duty, gun platform (for area denial or force multiplication) or anything in between."

This Puff Robotic Fire Fighter is a nice mix of sensors and motors. The sticker job does a great job in making the robot look like something out of a toy box. The panic mode is cool, just like a human it has a fight or flight instinct!

"Puff is able to Put out Fires – He Scans his Head to find the Flames – he orientates towards the Flame – and Blows it out. If he fails to blow out the Fire within 2 sweeps then the "PANIC" mode switches in and he backs away to save himself from frying his "Chips". Puff is an Arduino based tracked autonomous Robotic Vehicle with "Cliff" and "Obstacle" detection.

Basic Setup

Custom Dragon Cut and Paste Skin.
Arduino Processor      Motor Shield
2 Motors 224:1 (Track drive)
1 Servo (Head scanning)
1 Motor with Propellor fan
2 Light sensitive Probes"

I did some looking around after posting about this cool Bottle Cap Tripod and found a DIY Bottle Cap Tripod version that is right along the lines of what I would make.

"Master parts list:

• 1 1/4-inch Stainless steel washer
• 1 1/4-20×1 1/2-inch stainless steel pan head machine screw
• 1 1/4-20 Bar Knob
• 1 1/4-20 stainless steel lock nut
• 1 lid from a 20oz bottle

Tools required:

• Drill with 1/4-inch bit
• Screwdriver
• Wrench

All parts for the project were purchased at Lowes. Total cost is $3.37, not including the Pepsi."

This is a great camera tripod idea. I don’t think I would buy one for $11 but for about $0.50 I could get a nut and bolt from Home Depot and screw it into an old screw cap and throw that into my camera bag. It wouldn’t have the nice swivel capability but a few napkins under the pop bottle could get the elevation that you are looking for. 

Via: The Bachelor Guy

"This convenient bottle cap tripod has a universal camera mount with an adjustable angular design. The cap mounts to any standard bottle top and can easily be dismounted and unscrewed quickly to store in your bag."

The world is a big place and we often see similar projects come up. This RFID Cat Tracking Project called CATaLOG (get it ) is very similar to the RFID cat tracking project that we saw recently. You can now track real time activities of two households of cats on the internet using Twitter! To see the Twitter results for Bobbin and Tuffin go here, for the simply status have a look at this page.

"The CATaLOG project aims to track our two cats Bobbin and Tuffin as they go in and out of the house so we can see which cat spends more time outside, what their favourite time to go out is, and also get sent SMS messages if a cat goes missing for a certain amount of time. "

The prize this week is a cable tester. This contest will run for one week (April 11 – April 16, 2009) . 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 May 2, 2009

The item to guess was a reflective sensor

The winner is Blair F. (There were 78 entries)

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Below is a picture of the prize.

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