Happy Halloween everyone. This Devil’s Brain in Blood Sauce is something you can make to creep out some of your Halloween guests! Thanks to our friend Rick Crammond for making it.

“Ingredients:

Cauliflower “Brain”:
1 Med-Large Cauliflower

“Blood” Sauce:
2 Beets
Onion
1 Tbsp curry powder
garlic (lots!)
dash of Hot sauce
Cayenne
Paprika
Basil
Oregano
Veg Salt
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
3 Tbsp Coconut Oil
1 Quart of Water”

This Hot Glue Climbing Robot from the Bio-Inspired Robotics Laboratory at ETH Zurich isn’t exactly practical but it is an interesting concept. The robot can climb almost any surface by attaching itself by using glue. The biggest disadvantage of this method is that hot glue takes a long time to dry where it can support the weight of the robot.

Via: ieee Spectrum

A noisy fan inside a AC Ryan Media Player caused Gerrit van Donk to use the PWM Fan Controller Chip from the PWM Fan Controller Project. This will allow the fan to remain off when the unit is cool inside and only turn on when the system generates some heat. There is a hard drive inside so I would assume this will be the main source of heat but they remain cool under infrequent use and take a while to warm up even under constant use.

“I just cut some wires, grabbed some of the (bulky) connectors I had lying around, soldered them in between and ductaped everything together .”

Thanks to ideasbynet.com for sponsoring the contest this week. They will be providing a cool What?Gravity Mobile Phone Holders to the winner. This is one great looking cell phone holder that is sure to enhance the desk of anyone who needs to access their smart phone throughout the day. There is a video below so you can see it in action.

“It features a soft-touch silicone panel that grips and holds in place any modern phone… even Sir Isaac’s ‘apple’  (iPhone). Without using magnets, grippers, catches or a ledge, it seemingly defies gravity, hence its name.  Its contemporary ultra-slim styling and discreet presence make it an essential desk accessory.”

This contest will run for one week (October 29 – November 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.

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 November 20, 2011

The item to guess was a Tesla Battery Bank

The winner is Per J. (there were 87 entries, must have been a hard one)

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Below is a picture of the prize.

Who says a lawn ornament is only for sticking on your lawn? If you are Brian Dougherty from SubBass100 this is just the beginning of a cool costume! This Costume made from Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Inflatable Lawn Ornament looks great and could be used for lots of occasions. He will be scaring unsuspecting kids on Halloween, that is sure to make some great video.

If you are looking for a fun LED project why not try your hand at building a Larsen Scanner. You might not recognize the name but you have seen them before. Remember the sweeping lights on the front of the Knight Rider car called Kitt? The project will take you through the process step by step and has all the details you need to make your own.

“In order to get the fading effect I need to use Pulse-Width Modulation. This is a fancy way of saying that we need to turn the LEDs on and off very fast. The percentage of on and off time account for different levels of brightness. I’m going to use an internal timer for this. Here’s how I plan to make it work:

1. Timer overflows and Interrupt Service Routine starts
2. All outputs are updated from buffer set during the last interrupt
3. Software counter is incremented.
4. Buffer is set for next interrupt by comparing the software counter to each LED’s PWM value. If the counter is higher than that value, the LED should be off, otherwise it should be on.”

I got this call a few days ago. It was from the Technical Department of my Windows Computer called Global IT. As he puts it they are the “job workers of the Windows”. An Indian guy calling himself Sam informed me that my computer has been sending them errors and warnings.

I was just going to have a few minutes of fun with the guy but when he asked if I was the owner of the computer it gave me some time to start a recording and start from the beginning with the guy. They have you open the Event Viewer and look at the errors and warnings. I guess this is enough of a convincer to some that backs up their bogus claims.

I was using my laptop computer so I went along with his requests until they wanted to remotely log onto my machine. I said that my internet wasn’t working and he should call back, when they called back I had them play with a fresh copy of Windows XP running in a virtual machine. I let them go through the entire scam until they got to the pitch where they say they can provide a new Windows maintenance warranty for a fee. They wanted immediate payment so I simply told him that I didn’t have a cent. I am wondering what type of phone service they are using to direct their calls from their 646-867-3751 number? I would think the scammers could be tracked down by the person paying for this number.

The video is quite long, here are the highlights.

• 1:00 Initial description of problem.
• 6:20 Explanation of problems.
• 19:55 Funny accent by same guy calling himself Jack Morris, the senior supervisor.
• 35:05 Phone call from Jack Morris.
• 35:30 Virtual Machine setup shown.
• 36:15 Call back to Global IT.
• 39:20 The remotely log onto the computer.
• 47:30 The diagnosis of their full system check. It sounds like it might disconnect from the Microsoft Mother Server soon!
• 49:20 What their warranty covers.
• 50:45 Cost of the warranty options.
• 52:25 Their 15 year warranty seems to be interchangeable with a lifetime warranty.
• 52:45 Online request for payment.
• 1:01:00 Alternative payment option request.
• 1:06:20 The extended warranty that ends today is extended.