In the latest Electronic Design magazine there is a great article about the latest small projector chips from Syndiant. If you are interested in how the technology works Syndiant has a write up about that here. Subscribing to the Electronic Design magazine is free as long as you are in USA, Canada or Mexico. If you are in Europe, there is a special European version or Electronic Design. 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.

“Syndiant’s VueG8 technology is found in Aiptek’s PocketCinema T25 Pico Projector. It uses a panel like Syndiant’s SYL2030. The PocketCinema T25 delivers a 25 lumen with 800 by 600 resolution. It has a 400:1 contrast ratio. It can project an image up to 185 cm (73-in) diagonal. An RGB LED lamp system is key to the bright display and low power operation. It is rated at 20,000 hours.”

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Dave from the EEVblog has a great video about measuring battery capacity. Most of us will create a product or project one day that will run from batteries and this video will help you determine a good battery match. Check out the cool Gossen Metrawatt Metrahit Energy multimeter that Dave uses to get the battery readings! I don’t feel sorry for Dave sweating in the Australian heat since I froze my n**s off when I spent hours snow blowing just to get my car on the road.

Martin Hubacek took a TI Stellaris EVALBOT and interfaced it to a Nintendo Nunchuck. This lets the robot drive around using the accelerometer or the joystick.  If you’re interested in interfacing a Nunchuck to your TI EVALBOT have a look at the code and details that Martin has provided.

I remember spending way too much time doodling on my Etch a Sketch when I was younger. Martin Raynsford from NortHACKton wanted to bring something cool to Maker Faire UK next month and came up with this Etch a Sketch Computer, we have seen similar creations before but this one gets props for how simple it has been hacked together.

“Two water bottle caps act as the knobs for the etch a sketch and the guts of an old roller ball USB mouse have been re purposed to control the PC. An old mouse already has two sets of rollers, one for left-right and one for up-down. These normally press against the ball to detect the mouse movement. A slotted disk on the roller spins between an LED and opto sensor pair to detect the rotation of the knob. I have extracted these roller and sensor arrangements and put them on the left and right of the screen. The left and right clicks have also been extended and put behind each knob.”

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The prize this week is a cable tester, this will help you keep your home network working smoothly. This contest will run for one week (January 29 – February 4, 2011). 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 (more pictures below the prize images).

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 March 5, 2011

The item to guess was Antique Ballantine Labs 300 Electronic Voltmeter

The winner is Chuck B. (there were 48 entries)

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Below are two pictures of the prize.

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DIY Electric Vehicles are catching on, Instructables member MPaulHolmes has designed and built this 100 HP DIY Electric Car Motor Controller. You normally see the technique that Paul used when you make a circuit board on a CNC machine. But the reason so much copper was left on the board is because the board is used as power distribution within the controller instead of bundles of wires. So what sort of juice flows through a 100 HP electric car motor controller? According to Paul it needs about 500A at 144 volts! If you are interested in purchasing one of these in kit form have a look at the Paul and Sabrina’s EV Stuff web site.

Via: Embedds

John from Crazy but Able built one of those Smokey Guitar Amps and demonstrates how it sounds with his guitar. The Smokey Amp plans are from Dirtbox and is designed to use those strip proto boards. With only a few components you could build it and be playing it in a few hours. Chances are you have all of the parts you need in your junk box. John modified the circuit a bit until it sounded good to him.