AllElectronics “Mystery Infrared Device” with LIRC 3 Aug 2013 | 01:59 am

NOTE: This device is no longer sold; rescuing this information before it disappears from various caches. Description of the device from AllElectronics: Our best guess is this is an infrared receiver/ ...

Refraction Fail 28 Jun 2013 | 09:44 am

Fun expression of the day: “flip a coil” 9 May 2013 | 10:06 am

There is supposedly an Afrikaans expression that translates as “flipping a coil” or “flipping the cone”, etc. Kind of a more evocative equivalent to “shitting a brick”. It refers to the act of turning...

Rez Trance Vibrator mystery LEDs, and how to control them 17 Mar 2013 | 12:47 am

So, a friend of a friend recently managed to buy the original Rez, complete with new-in-box Trance Vibrator. But the peripheral didn’t work – it would be detected, but otherwise not do anything. Knowi...

Solar seed warmer to get a jump on spring 25 Feb 2013 | 06:14 am

Spring is coming… here is a tiny little hacklet from the bench of Tim. I live in New England. I don’t mind it here, but the growing season is a bit short. So here is a scheme to give outdoor direct-se...

So, it appears MakerBot have gone full evil now… 22 Feb 2013 | 06:52 pm

We shuddered when it was announced that MakerBot were taking the next version of their RepRap-based printer design closed-source. We crossed our fingers when the CEO responded to the flap saying they’...

CNC milling custom 40DP timing belt “gears”/pulleys 29 Oct 2012 | 09:31 am

Woo, it’s been a long time since I messed with pick & place stuff. Bad Tim. An irritation I have been having is making everything work using reliably sourceable, off-the-shelf parts (not lucky eBay/su...

Fun with cheap TV-tuner dongles and Software Defined Radio (SDR) 16 Aug 2012 | 12:28 pm

So, last week I joined the bandwagon of exploring software-defined radio (SDR) via one of those super-cheap Chinese TV tuner USB sticks. In a nutshell, the idea of SDR is that, rather than the traditi...

Notes to myself: Using EnergyMicro EFM32 with GCC open-source toolchain 1 Aug 2012 | 06:25 am

The EFMs can be used with many different toolchains after installing EnergyMicro’s “Simplicity Studio” package, which includes board/chip support packages and some code examples. EnergyMicro’s applica...

The IOC, Trademark Law and You 28 Jul 2012 | 02:05 pm

Yes, it’s true! With the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 (UK), and similar laws pushed through in other countries as a condition of hosting a certain large quadrennial event (US- Am...