If you need a super cheap scope and have a very tight budget this scope is for you. Nothing special but is sure to get the job done.

"It has 2 analog inputs and can supply 5V ont the 4 pins header on the right. One of the inputs can be scaled down with the trim pot. The firmware in the Tiny45 is written in C and compiled with Winavr and usb source code from obdev. As you can see, there is no crystal , the software sync the internal 16.5Mhz pll clock with the USB clock. The cost with a home made pcb is around 5€. Of course, do not expect 1Gs/s HID does not alow that data rate ! But it is using a 10bits AD."

This is a cool Braitenberg Vehicle, they are so bug like that they are almost spooky, watch the video to see what I mean. Full build details are provided so that you can build your own.

"This one is even smaller, than the previous one and comes on a custom PCB. It weighs 17 gramms, is driven by two pager motors, powered by a small lipo cell and controlled by an 8-pin ATtiny25V.
Braitenberg vehicles are conceived in a thought experiment by the Italian-Austrian cyberneticist Valentino Braitenberg to illustrate in an evolutive way the abilities of simple agents. The vehicles represent the simplest form of behavior based artificial intelligence or embodied cognition, i.e. intelligent behavior that emerges from sensorimotor interaction between the agent and its environment, without any need for an internal memory, representation of the environment, or inference."

Tiny Braitenberg Vehicle from tinkerlog on Vimeo.

This Rubber Band Machine Gun reminds me of a small version of this one. It seems that the rubber bands could have been a bit more powerful but there is still lots of fun packed in the small unit. The firing mechanism is very elegant and simple.

Finkbuilt has a cool article up that shows a lithophane being created. One of these days I would like to put the Fireball V90 through its paces and also make one of these.

"Lithophanes were a popular way to hide girlie pictures in the bottom a of gentleman’s tea cup around the end of the 19th century. An image would be molded into the porcelain in the cup so that only when held up to a light would the picture be visible."

What is better than a plain old huge TV? One that is huge and mobile! Watch the video that shows this mobile unit being setup. I totally want to rent this Big TV Truck to watch a movie in my back yard. Only problem is that the truck would not fit! This is a perfect example of build it and hope there is demand for it. I might have to settle for this one.

This is a great electronic candle that allows you to light it with a match and then extinguish it by pressing it between your fingers. There is additional information in the Elektronika dla Wszystkich magazine which I unfortunately don’t have. I am thinking that the system is using the LED as a light sensor and detecting the bright flame from the match and the darkness that is produced when it is squeezed between the fingers but am not exactly sure. Does anyone get that magazine? If so I would like to know if that is indeed how it works.

Above is an electronic board, the source will not be given to add to the challenge. This contest will run for one week (Aug 15 – 21, 2009). Ending time is based on central standard time. To enter, leave a comment with your best guess of the item price.

If you know the source of the ad please do not provide it in the comments.

The winner will the guess that is the closest to the actual price, if there is more than one correct guess a random selection will be used to decide on which of the correct guesses will win.

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Added Sept 4, 2009

The item to guess was the Breakout Board for VS1103 MIDI Decoder

The winner is B0SC0

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Below is a picture of the prize.

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