X-mini sent in a few speakers for review. I have been kicking the X-mini II and X-mini MAX II Capsule Speakers around for a few weeks now. The X-mini II is shown above, it’s a single speaker mono device, the X-mini MAX II is the one shown below and is a stereo speaker set. Both speakers come with a USB charging cable, audio input jacks and a carrying bag.

The X-mini II is quite well designed, it has a smooth rubberized feel that provides a nice anti slip surface. There is an integrated audio input jack that snaps into the bottom of the unit which means that after it is charged up you can just un-clip the audio input wire and jack it right into your MP3 player. What makes this little speaker stand out is the cool accordion center which expands the internal speaker volume and enhances the bass sound quite a bit. The speaker is expanded by giving the two halves a twist. The sound level of this small speaker is limited, I would describe the volume being comparable  to a full size laptop speaker system however the sound quality is much better. The included bag makes this perfect to bring some tunes down to the river when doing some fishing with a few friends or to lunch when you want to share some tunes.

The X-mini MAX II is a set of stereo speakers. Just like the X-mini II these speakers also twist open and have an accordion center. They also snap together into their compact egg shape with the help of some magnets built into the underside of each speaker. I have been using these speakers with my laptop and I am impressed with the sound level and quality that these small speakers can produce. They are much better than my built in laptop speakers as long as they are being used in the expanded air volume configuration. The size of the speaker is a bit too big to stuff into a laptop bag easily so I think they would be ideal as a stationary set of speakers that are used when your laptop is in a set location. As I type this I am unfortunately not listening to them since my 10 year old daughter fell in love with them and has swiped them to use with her iPod. The internal battery lasts a long time between charges so you don’t need to be concerned too much about that.

Overall the build quality of the two speakers are great, they are not going to replace your home stereo but they can make listening to music on your laptop or portable music player very enjoyable.

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You may have seen the circuit board that is built into the headphones of the Apple iPod Shuffle. David Carne did a great job of reverse engineering what the iPod Shuffle Headphone circuit actually does. He also went as far as to emulate the circuit using a microcontroller on a bread board. There is an interesting frequency that is used at startup so that the iPod can determine what type of head phones are connected.

Via: Hack a Day

“After digging around a bunch, and building an amplified current sensor, I found the power-on detection was actually a 100mV/10uA ultrasonic chirp occurring 8.1 msec after power up. This would seem to coincide with the mention of “ultrasonic” by iLounge. Figure 9 has a blown up view of the chirp. In figure 9, the upper signal is voltage, and the lower is current. The current signal, measured with a 1k resistor, was run through a 5x preamp made from a precision op-amp to bring it up to the level seen in the figure. The ultrasonic chirp is actually a dual-frequency chirp, consisting of 1.5msec of 280khz, followed by 4.6msec of 244khz. [Doing a binary-search by hand using the scope trigger to find the transition point is no fun].”

I have taken a few speakers apart over the years to see what makes them tick but I have never rebuilt one. Keith Neufeld goes over the details of how to perform a DIY Speaker Rebuild Kit Installation on his Keith’s Electronics Blog. The process doesn’t look all that bad but it isn’t something you can knock off in an afternoon. There is some serious glue drying periods that drag out the procedure. Sure looks like the effort was worth it though! I am jealous of your sub Keith, it would sure kick my Velodyne.

“After running some tests, I put the cabinet into position behind the couch and fired up the DVD player. I’ve decided to call the speaker “Mr. Adequate.” Mr. Adequate is a massive improvement over my previous 150W 15″ subwoofer. From anywhere in the room it kicks me right in the base of the spine … which makes me eager to recone drivers for the CW218V dual subwoofer, because I really want it to kick me in the chest.”

Thanks to Screwpop for sponsoring the contest this week. They will be providing 8 of their cool Screwpop Tools to some lucky winners (2 winners will each get 4 tools). They sent me a few to try out and they work quite well, it isn’t going to replace my conventional screw drivers but it does a good job when all you need to do is tighten a screw a bit. The bottle opener works nicely also, with it around I have gone back to popping the tops of cold beverages instead of screwing off the tops. They need to make a Canadian version though, I could use a Robertson #2 bit more than the Phillips #2, but that’s just a Canadian thing…

Thanks to Steve who sent in the item to guess this week, both of us don’t have a clue what it is so you will need to back up your answer. If there are no correct guesses around mid week I will remove the obscuration marks over the part numbers to hopefully make it a bit easier.

“The Screwpop™ is great for championing all types of random do-it-yourself projects right from the palm of your hand and conveniently offers the following tools:

• Phillips Screwdriver #2
• Flathead Screwdriver #2
• 1/4” Hex. Nut Driver
• Bottle Pop-Top Opener”

This contest will run for one week (February 13, 2010 - February 19, 2010) . 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 (with proof)
• 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 Mar 10, 2010

The item to guess was a Wafer Probe Card (there are other names for it also)

The winners are Andrew A. and Steve B. (there were 28 entries)

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Below are a few pictures of the prize.

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The team over at Noisebridge just launched a Near Space Balloon with some gear on board. They got some very nice pictures along the way! It sure seems that this type of project is totally within reach these days. I think my next challenge will be to round up a team of people in Winnipeg who want to attempt this up here. Might have to wait till the snow goes away though.

Via: Make

“The plan was simple: a ham radio broadcasting an APRS position beacon, a GPS that was known to work at high altitudes, a camera hacked for time-lapse photography, and an Android cellphone that we’d program to scream out its own GPS co-ordinates via SMS whenever it caught a glimpse of a cellphone network.”

Here is a nice DIY Single-Ended Tube Amplifier design with a bit of Transformer inspired artwork made from some painted copper clad board.

Thanks Gio.

“For the circuit I used home made (hand etched) circuit boards, but the tube amplifier is so simple it can be easily connected with point-to-point wiring, especially if you choose to heat the tubes using AC. The LM338K is mounted (with electrical isolation) to an aluminum angle which is in turn attached to the aluminum chassis which makes for an adequate heat-sink. The OPT cover box is also built using the copper clad board and held together using solder and glue. By soldering small copper legs to the OPT cover the copper cladding is “grounded” and used to shield the output transformers. The finish on the OPT covers is a metalic-silver spray paint and then baked in hot sunlight. “

Anna Ceguerra has just completed work on Arkanoid which can be played on the uOLED-128-G1 display. If you want to have a look and give it a try all the code has been provided.

“The ball bounces off walls, rectangles and the platform. The code and images work on the uOLED-128-G1(GFX). This is not meant to be a faithful replication of the original game.”