Digital logic is at the foundation of modern electronics and computing. Therefore, it’s not a stretch to say that every aspiring maker should become familiar with it. This low frequency clock generator kit offers a perfect gateway into the subject.
The kit uses a 555 timer and CD4516BE 4-bit counter IC. The components themselves are all through-hole which makes assembly easy for beginners as well. Multiple LEDs output the clock signal, so you won’t need to include an oscilloscope.
While the kit comes with 6 500 MOhm resistors, you can replace them with others to change the frequency range. The PCB and silkscreen also lend a nice color and look to the device. It’s not all looks, however, as the silkscreen also offers some insight into the components and how they function.
It all comes together into a kit that’s both functional and easy to display when you’re finished.
Designed for accessibility, the SHOUTBOX is a switch which is activated by any sound (of sufficient volume) to trigger a button press for a range of functions. This compact battery-operated device can control games, applications, and equipment which are controlled by a more conventional accessibility switch.
The SHOUTBOX has 3 play modes: Momentary (a button press for the duration of the sound), Pulse (a quick button press for each time a sound is heard) and Toggle (where the state changes from being on or off with each sound). It doesn’t need any fancy speech recognition, just a sound to operate; which can be verbal or tapped, even blowing on it will activate the switch.
The knob allows for changes to the trigger threshold (how loud you need to be to make it work) and it features LEDs to show the power, trigger and output of the switch. It has an extra input for a conventional PC microphone and is powered by 3 x AAA batteries and weighs in at around 150g.
It was designed in association with OneSwitch as an assistive technology for accessible gaming. The SHOUTBOX is available from the SixtyFourPixels Tindie store and is shipping now from the UK!
Decades ago the doorbell would ring and you’d trip over yourself to see who it was that had come to visit. Now, people rarely ring your bell unannounced, and if they do there’s a good chance you won’t even be home.
In our connected world, smart doorbells are a great upgrade to your home, letting you know someone’s at your door even when you’re not. Unfortunately, they’re often expensive or require you to replace the doorbell (which isn’t possible if you live in an apartment).
Firefly Electronics has come to the rescue with a WiFi smart doorbell kit that doesn’t require you to replace the current doorbell you use. You can install the kit near your transformer or the chime box, so it works behind the scenes.
You can pair it with any existing security camera as well to set up a photo or live feed straight to your smartphone. It’s compatible with third-party apps like IFTTT and Home Assistant, so you won’t need a subscription either.
Those who want to turn off the doorbell sound can do so as well, that way it doesn’t send your dogs into a fury every time a package arrives. This is perhaps my favorite feature.
E-paper has been around for quite a few years now, and has been most famously used in e-readers and the odd smartwatch. If you’d like an understated timepiece that doesn’t emit a glow itself, it’d be hard to beat the e-paper-based Agora clock.
This device is part of the Agora Watch Project, described as an “open source, open hardware platform for wrist watch and table watch with e-paper displays.” The project uses an Atmega328 processor to power its black and white screen, and more hardware info is found here.
A neat feature of this clock, and e-paper in general, is nicely illustrated below, where it’s shown as clearly visible in a variety of lighting conditions. Granted, you won’t be able to read it during total darkness, but at least you don’t have to endure red light attempting to penetrate your eyelids while sleeping!
For another take on e-paper displays, be sure to check out the Papyr BLE module discussed here. It displays photos and doodles from your phone in not just black and white, but red as well!
Food and sauce are a match made in heaven. If you were to build a hall of fame for the greatest sauces, you would be remiss to not include the pure gold that is Chick-fil-A sauce. I don’t know what’s in it, and I probably don’t want to know, but it tastes amazing.
Frequent patrons of their local Chick-fil-A will know the struggle of keeping the sauce still in the car. A maker took it upon themselves to remedy this issue by creating a cupholder mold for the unique shape of Chick-fil-A sauce. This design made the rounds on Reddit.
A fellow Tindarian decided to put their own spin on the design and make it available to the masses. Using their own Prusa MK3S printer, they designed and printed these cup holders out of PLA.
With several colors available, this one is a no-brainer. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I suddenly have an unrelenting urge to eat Chick-fil-A.
Modular systems are supremely diverse, often bringing together a number of formats to create their rich and lurid tapestry of sounds. The Betweener is a utility based-device in a customizable and hackable format, mediating between messages, converting signals and providing a central brain for a complex musical system.
The Betweener expands your control capabilities, translating MIDI to control voltages, converting input triggers to MIDI notes and allowing for communication between modular systems and DAWs – amongst many other things! It utilizes a Teensy 3.2, which can be programmed using the Arduino IDE, and has four on-board CV (control voltage) inputs, four trigger inputs, four knobs, and four CV outputs which can be assigned to suit your setup. You can even convert MIDI-to-CV and CV-to-MIDI via USB MIDI or an add-on DIN MIDI breakout.
Being Teensy-powered, you’ll be able to control your modular with compatible external sensors (such as motion/light sensors) for extreme musical expression. The Betweener can be programmed to modulate any CV-controlled or MIDI-controlled instrument, which opens up so many doors to making new and interesting composition methods!
The Betweener is available from Voidpulse and ships from the USA – read up on the full Documentation here, and see the limitless capabilities it will bring!
The popular platform If This Then That (IFTTT) allows you to automate all kinds of things by setting up recipes for how you want the process to play out. There’s even a maker channel called Webhooks to integrate the platform into your DIY projects.
The AButton is a WiFi enabled push button that supports the IFTTT platform, giving you the chance to hack it and add all kinds of functionality. It’s actually a spin-off of a smart button project from Noel Portugal.
You can use the ESP8266 Flasher for programming the APixel board stashed inside the button, giving you everything you need to make this button do your bidding.
It seems like just yesterday that I was standing in the audience at the 2018 Hackaday Superconference. The Los Angeles College of Music was packed, it was standing room only. Mike Szczys, Hackaday’s Editor-in-Chief, stood on the stage and opened the final envelope. The grand prize went to Dexter, an open-source robotic arm. The team won $50,000 to continue their journey.
If you’ve never been to the Hackaday Supercon, you should absolutely attend this year’s event. Similarly, if you’ve never entered your project into The Hackaday Prize, now is the time. The 2019 iteration of this annual event is officially underway!
The Hackaday Prize 2019: Build Great Products
The theme this year is taking your product across the finish line. We want to help the winners go from concepts and ideas, to working prototypes and manufacturing designs. The team that builds the Best Product will take home the grand prize of $125,000.
The winner of each of five sub-categories will also take home $10,000. While the winning announcements are still a ways off, $10,000 in seed funding will be awarded early on. This means that the top 20 entries with the most likes before June 1st will receive up to $500 in seed money each.
As if that’s not enough we are also setting aside $3,000 for each category as a prize for an honorable mention. These are the topics you should focus on as you develop your projects:
Concept: be creative and original
Design: work with the user in mind
Production: ensure it can be manufactured
Benchmark: develop a viable idea that will have an impact
Communication: clearly tell the story of your product
Altogether, we’re looking at $200,000 in prize money this year. All it takes is one great idea to change the world. We want to see your ideas, so head on over to the 2019 Hackaday Prize website to submit your project!
LoRaWAN wireless technology is incredibly useful if you’re looking to connect devices across large distances and still obtain low power consumption. Those looking to create their own Node should look no further than this Arduino Pro Mini LoRaWAN kit.
The kit is easy to assemble and program using the Arduino IDE. For the settings, choose Arduino Pro Mini for the board and the processor as 3.3 V at 8 Mhz. You can also connect to the TTN (The Things Network) via ABP or OTAA authentication.
The Tindie page for this kit also includes information on generating source code and links to various LMIC libraries for Arduino or the ATmega MCU Platform. If you haven’t tried your hand at LoRaWAN, this is a great opportunity to check it out.
The original Piezoelectric micro air Blower had a good run on Tindie, but now microwavemont is back with version 2.0. The new version has a built-in LDO for more stability in the supply voltage variation.
Since this Piezoelectric Micro Air Blower V2.0 doesn’t have a motor or fan, it instead uses an ultrasonic 26kHz signal and acts as a tiny air pump. Some use cases include water aeration, kinetic actuation, making small items hover, or even using it as a notification for the hearing-impaired (by using air flow).
The lightweight design and small form factor makes it easy to implement into your projects. There’s also no need for a high voltage source or an oscillator circuit. You only need to provide a 3.4V-5V power supply.
Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn more.
Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn More.
The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.
