Next time you need a mental break at work why not setup a DIY drum machine on your desk.

Via: Gearfuse

"The d-touch drum machine is a drum machine with a tangible user interface: it is controlled by placing and arranging physical objects on an A4 piece of paper, which we call the interactive area. The interactive area is arranged in 11 rows, each row corresponds to a different sound, as indicated by the text labels. The horizontal position of the blocks on the interactive area determines the timing of the sound trigger within the loop."

Rensselaer Polytechnic has entered the Formula Hybrid Competition.Their Rensselaer Formula Hybrid entry is sure to be a strong contender. Best of all to us, they are documenting the build process in a blog for all of us to enjoy. The electronic control seems to be very impressive, I can’t wait to read and see some more details as it progresses. The huge team effort reminds me of the Shell Eco Marathon that we mentioned a few months ago.

"Our car will be controlled by three discrete microcontrollers, one exclusively used to control the battery charging and regulation circutry. This chip will sense the battery reserve voltage, voltage output of the alternator(s), read engine RPM, control the engine throttle, temperature of the battery, and control the safety relay. (There will also be a hardwired (active when high) wire connected to this relay which can be used to shut the car down if the microcontroller circuit fails. We will use a circuit resembling an AND gate MOSFET to keep the relay on (and hence the car battery connected) as long as inputs from the hardwire button in the dashboard and the microcontroller are high.)
A second microcontroller will be dedicated to measuring and regulating the drivetrain. The speed of one of the front wheels needs to be sensed, along with speed of the drivetrain (rear wheels), and temperature of the motor and Curtiss speed controller. This chip will also interface with the 5K-ohm variable resistor in the accelerator pedal, and connect to the speed controller with a digital variable resistor. This device will compare the speed of both drive wheels with the actual static speed of the car, and carry out the critical task of determining slipping during heavy acceleration. The output to the speed controller will be backed off momentarily until traction is gained and speed of each wheel is matched. A smaller task of this device will also serve to sense the brake pedal, and light up the brake light through a logic-level high voltage transistor."

Thanks to Protostack. for sponsoring the contest this week. They will be providing a ATMEGA8 Development Kit and a USBASP AVR Programmer to the winner. The development kit contains everything you need to start building ATMEGA8 circuits. The core components are the Atmega8 microcontroller and their popular 28 pin AVR development board. There are also a number of smaller components which assist in getting the Atmega8 working. The AVR programmer is based on the Thomas Fischl’s USBasp design and connects to your computer’s USB port. The USB interface is achieved by using an atmega processor and the rest is done in firmware.

This contest will run for one week (July 18 – 24, 2009) . Ending time is based on central standard time. Things are a bit different this time since I don’t even know what the tool is used for. A friend of mine owns this tool and doesn’t know what it’s called or how it’s used. Since I have no idea what the name of it is or its specific purpose you will need to also provide a Website or other documented proof that it is what you think it is.

Additional pictures can be seen on page 2, if you need a closer look full size images can be found here.

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
• Website or other documentation showing the device purpose

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

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Added Aug 10, 2009

The item to guess was a Hollow Auger

The winner is Almost T. (There were 27 entries)

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Below is a picture of the the prize product.

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You are looking at the first step of making a Light Bulb Aquarium. You need to gut a normal light bulb taking care to keep all of your fingers attached. Have a look at the full article to see the remainder of the steps to install this into a lamp stand to create a cool conversation piece.

Thanks for the tip Andrew.

"The first test with a filled bulb was….horrifying. Apparently the pump is made for a much larger fishbowl (go figure). When I turned on the pump, bubbles violently filled the bulb with foam, and nearly all the water ended up on the basement floor. A knot in the tubing. It worked wonders, I wish I had a picture of the overly simplistic approach, but camera batteries only last so long."

In the latest Nasa Tech Briefs magazine there is a great article about the latest technology in creating energy from our surroundings. The Oyster is a machine that has been developed by Aquamarine Power to harness the power of the sea to generate electricity.
Subscribing to the Nasa Tech Briefs magazine is free as long as you are in USA, Canada and Mexico. Hacked Gadgets does receive a small payment for each subscription to any of our Free Magazine Subscriptions so we appreciate the support from all who subscribe to the free magazines that we offer.

"Of the several forms of hydropower, wave and tidal power are rising in popularity. Wave motion might yield more energy than tides, and its feasibility has been particularly investigated in Scotland and in the UK. Wave and tidal power plant developer Aquamarine Power of Edinburg, Scotland plans to develop 1 gigawatt of wave and tidal power by 2020.

Aquamarine’s Oyster® wave power device is meant to be deployed at short depths of 10-12 meters, and is designed to capture the energy found in amplified surge forces in near-shore ocean waves. The system consists of a simple oscillating wave surge converter, or pump, fitted with double-acting water pistons. Each passing wave activates the pump, which delivers high-pressure water via a subsea pipeline to the shore. Its offshore component is a simple, highly reliable mechanical flap with minimal submerged moving parts. Onshore, the high-pressure water is converted to electrical power using conventional hydroelectric generators. Any excess energy is spilled over the top of the device’s flap — its rotational capacity allowing it to duck under the waves. Oyster is unique in that it starts generating electricity in almost calm sea conditions and can continue generating during storms."

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Most business cards are boring, this Augmented Reality Business Card is anything but boring! I think it even tops the Planetary Gear Business Card, only issue is that you need a computer to see how cool it is.

Via: Hack a Day

"Inspired by this guy, I just got a fresh batch of business cards from moo.com. There’s not really enough space on a business card to explain yourself in any detail so I thought I’d extend it using augmented reality. I recorded a short video bio and created a 3D grid of coloured planes. These planes are updated with the colours from the video and extruded depending on the level of brightness."

Are you are tired of the basic router boxes that you stash in your computer room and forget about? These Goldsmiths University Future Routers are about to make an end to that type of thinking. If these routers become common place we will see our routers become part of our everyday furniture.

Thanks Rachel.

"This router is essentially a twenty-four hour clock divided into half hourly segments. As a reaction to the broadband signal, a different traffic light colour indicates bandwidth strength at each interval."