Tindie

Ambilight is a system developed by Philips that attempts to create a more immersive experience by supplementing colors on TV with an ambient glow. While this technology hasn’t taken off in the mainstream, with the advent of cheap microcontrollers and single-board computers, hackers have devised ways to emulate this type of system to add a similar effect to TVs and even computer monitors.

One such method is Ambipi.tv. You can find code for the setup on GitHub, and the hardware that you’ll need is available here. You’ll need to provide your own Raspberry Pi, but the kit includes everything else that you’ll need to get started. Several options are available, so you can customize it to your needs.

Notably, the kit includes a remote and IR receiver for XBMC control. While gamepads and remote keyboards may work well to control Pis, sometimes it’s hard to beat the convenience of an invisible light beam.

Keep Reading ›

While the LAMEBOY may look similar to a handheld emulator, seller Davedarko makes no bones about the fact that it is, in fact, not an emulator. There are no games, and it has no sound. On the other hand, if you’d like to create your own games, log data from sensors, or display and interact with Internet-based information, this just might be the “console” for you.

It features 6 buttons arranged in a D-pad, A/B button setup, along with a Nokia LCD panel for user feedback. It also features an RGB backlight, which could work as an in-game display, or could work well as some sort of notification device. For example, you might set up a red light for when someone tweets at you, or a green light to show when your connected toaster and coffee maker have produced breakfast.

The device comes as a DIY kit shown above, and features a 3D-printed case that can be had in several colors. You’ll need to provide tools, patience, and your own battery for assembly but it’s worth it!

If Davedarko sounds vaguely familiar, you might have seen his Spacehuhn Blinky Badge that was profiled here not too long ago.

Keep Reading ›

It’s Pi Day! That’s 3.14 for those of you counting. It has become a tradition to geek out about Raspberry Pi each year on this date. Let’s take a look at some of the unique Raspberry Pi hardware that Tindarians have designed.

Untethered Pi Power

Working out portable power for the Pi usually means a portable cellphone battery and a USB cable. It’s easy, but not very tidy. Here’s a hardware add-on that uses an LiFePO4 cell and includes all of charging and tending circuit necessary. Tindie seller Silicongnition designed this hardware and has a few other offerings like the version meant for applications other than Pi.

That’s a Lot of Blinky!

Driving LED strips and multi-color matrices gets a lot easier with a little hardware help. The PiPixel hat takes care of level shifting for the logic, and has both a screw terminal and barrel jack for feeding power to all of those pixels.

Tracking Ships with Your Pi

If you live near a major waterway, this hardware will be a delight to have on hand. The dAISy Hat listens for and decodes Automatic Identification System (AIS) messages carried by all large vessels. From the same seller we’ve seen standalone modules but this one is specifically for Raspberry Pi.

Going Long with Pi Camera

A surprising number of people have purchased this clever hardware that lets you put the Raspberry Pi Camera module much further from the board. It’s called the Pi Camera HDMI Cable Extension and it does just like it says. As Jeremy described in his post yesterday, two adapter boards allow you to use an HDMI cable between the Pi and the Camera.

What is Your Favorite Raspberry Pi Hardware?

We want to hear about your favorite hardware add-ons for Raspberry Pi. Send a Tweet and remember to include @Tindie and #PiDay.

Keep Reading ›

Raspberry Pi boards are incredible computing devices, able to capture—and even process—video or still images with an optional camera module. The V2 camera that replaced the original version in 2016 features an 8-megapixel sensor, and can capture 1080p video at 30 FPS, or 702p at 60 FPS if you’d like to slow things down.

Like the Pi itself, this camera has good specs at a reasonable price, but it doesn’t come with such niceties as a case or a standard cabling. Instead, it uses a small ribbon cable; good if you’d like to stuff everything in your own enclosure, but not so great if you’d like to use it in a remote sensing application.

For this purpose, Petit Studio has come up with an adapter that lets you use an HDMI cable as an extension. It uses short ribbon cables to connect to the ‘Pi and camera, and adapters route the signal through an HDMI cable. The system works with both V1 and V2 cameras, opening up remote use possibilities where the cable might have to endure some light abuse.

If this seems interesting, you’re not alone. As seen here it was actually ranked #3 on Tindie’s list of top-selling products in terms of sales as of August!

Keep Reading ›

https://youtu.be/c8LM4IMILuw

The 2018 Hackaday Prize launches today. The Hackaday Prize is asking you to Build Something That Matters.  This is the fifth year of the Hackaday Prize, and this time we’re challenging you to Build Hope through your designs and projects — show the world all the good that can come from creative use of technology.

Between now and October 8, there will be five challenge rounds that focus on Open Hardware Design, Robotics Modules, Power Harvesting, Human-Computer Interface, and Musical Instruments. There is over $200,000 in cash prizes with 20 finalists from each of these rounds winning $1,000 and a chance at the top prizes, including the Grand Prize of $50,000. Individuals or teams can enter by building a prototype and documenting progress on Hackaday.io. You can find all the details on the official Prize page.

Tindie Project to Product Program

Tindie is excited to be participating in this year’s Hackaday Prize by offering an add-on challenge. Finalists will be invited to enter ‘Project to Product’. We’ll give two selected projects a budget of  $5,000 to fund the run and cover the warehousing and logistics costs to become Tindie sellers and get these projects into the hands of makers around the world. We’ll also provide additional support like mentorship to advise on the Design for Manufacturing process, help sourcing parts, and sorting out a production run. The Tindie team will also assist with listing and promoting your item on Tindie. More details will be released in the coming weeks.

You can design your project from scratch or find hardware shortcuts on Tindie to build your proof of concept. We’re proud that last year’s finalists included projects from the Tindie community including sellers: Radomir Dopieralski, Yang Han, Luc Jonveaux, Toshiro Kodera, Radu Motisan, Nick Sayer,  Pepjin de Vos, and Ashwin Whitchurch. We look forward to seeing Tindarians projects for this year’s Hackaday Prize!

Keep Reading ›

As smartphones and other smart devices have advanced, some might say that companies have chosen small size over battery life. While size reduction is good (none of us really want to lug around bag phones, as interesting as they were 25 years ago), many would gladly give up a tiny bit of pocket space for a few more hours of talk time texting and surfing the web.

If this sounds like you, the  Tactical Cell wearable battery presents an interesting solution. It consists of a 3D-printed battery holder with a clip, and has a replaceable USB battery pack with a capacity of 2600mAh. The most obvious use for this power pack is to maintain a charge on your phone while in your pocket, but it was originally designed with the Google Glass in mind.

These external battery banks find a surprising number of uses once you have one in hand. But that’s part of the problem too. Being able to clip it onto a belt or a bag gets it out of your hand and sidesteps the problem of having both a phone and backup battery in your pocket while recharging.

Beyond causal use, it’s handy for charging or keeping a flashlight running in an emergency situation. If you do find yourself without power, you might also consult the Tindie Guide to Emergency Lighting for a few creative power solutions.

Keep Reading ›

With the advent of inexpensive computing power, car diagnostic computers that were once the purview of professional automotive shops can now be had for $50 or less. Some of these diagnostic devices are even “headless,” transferring information to your smartphone via Bluetooth.

It’s really a marvel of standardization that the ODB-II type of interface has stayed constant on vehicles made in the US since 1996. It provides access to the CAN bus, allowing consumers and shops alike to tell what’s going on with multiple car models with just one interface. This port doesn’t just tell you if something is going wrong, it can also output stats such as engine speed and throttle position.

It should come as no surprise that car hackers and established businesses alike have been producing hardware for the ODB-II interface for some time now. But how does a hardware developer test a new OBD2 gadget during development? You’d rather not get into your car with every change and start revving the engine. The solution is to use an ODB-II simulator!

As a solution to this problem, Tindarian Kevinliang has come up with an OBD-II simulator that produces signals that would normally come from your car’s computer. It features a software interface that allows you to modify system settings, as well as six physical knobs to conveniently modify parameters. The interface for the simulator is shown off in the video below.

Keep Reading ›

Here’s an interesting concept: a hackerspace passport. While a passport’s most basic purpose is to identify yourself while moving from country to country, it also provides a great record of where you’ve been in the form of a stamp unique to the country you’re visiting.

This passport, while it won’t provide you access to other countries, can provide a great record of hackerspaces that you’ve visited. The first 2600 of these were released at the Chaos Communication camp in 2011, and hackerspaces and hacker cons around the world have made their own stamps that can be used with it. If a particular space/event doesn’t have one, you could always have a member sign and date it, or perhaps note the most interesting thing you saw there.

The book itself is emblazoned with the Spanish words: “PASAPORTE HACKERSPACE,” and the inside does indeed look like what you would use to cross borders. While electronics provide a great record of where you’ve been, having a physical memento is much cooler!

On the other hand, if you’re dissatisfied with your own country’s passports, you could just establish your own domain on an abandoned defensive platform. It’s an entertaining idea, but it does look like a lot of work. Perhaps with the proper resources you could establish a stateless hackerspace without the “pesky” rules that keep society functioning in an orderly fashion.

Keep Reading ›

After being called upon to do quite a bit of soldering work in the field, folks at the Innove Workshop Company decided that they needed something made specifically for this application. While you could drag a heavy soldering station into the field, or use a cheap iron that just plugs in, what if there’s not an adequate wall outlet nearby? That means also dragging along another extension cord, or perhaps even a generator in extreme cases.

Their solution comes in the form of the PortaStation, a soldering station that weights just 340g, and accepts a Hakko 907-style iron. Importantly, it can accept power input from a lithium battery pack which is perfect for remote work, but can also use a 24 volt power supply when you’re close to an outlet.

The device also features an LCD for pertinent information, and comes in a nice enclosure. Iron temperatures can be reported in Celsius, Fahrenheit, or even Kelvin. Rankine temperatures are omitted, however, the station’s code is open source, so you could add this in or even come up with your own unit system!

For another portable soldering iron alternative, you might also consider the TS100, reviewed here on Hackaday. While it’s hard to imagine that it works as well as the more expensive setups, it’s an excellent upgrade from the really cheap irons that simply plug in with no temperature control.

Keep Reading ›

The Raspberry Pi has been an amazing innovation for hackers, educators, and home automation enthusiasts alike. Unlike dev boards like the Arduino Uno, it functions as a computer that’s able to generate graphics and surf the web. Its IO capabilities, however, can be a very limiting factor when designing with this system.

One excellent option for extra IO is the Mega-IO Expansion Card by seller Mbeffa. Most prominently, it features eight on-board relays, complete with screw terminals to handle higher voltage needs. Additionally, it features eight ADC channels, one DAC output, along with several other IO options, giving it a total of over 60 additional IO on a single card.

If that wasn’t enough, you can stack up to 4 of these on top of each other, while still passing the Pi’s header pins through. This means that in theory you can use these cards with another expansion card or with a ribbon cable attached on top as needed. Be sure to check out what these cards are capable of in the video below, including how these boards can be configured via a browser-based interface.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO-pTtDkZUg

Keep Reading ›