While the world of tech is clearly digital, it interfaces with a decidedly analog world. If you are servicing or building anything analog like an amplifier, and oscilloscope is indispensable. You can buy a terrific new ’scope for around $400 or scour swap meets and Ebay for an oldie that probably needs work for a bit less. A third alternative is to use a PC and a few of cheap parts to do the same job.
At the center, an ATtiny45 microcontroller uses its ADC capabilities for the two traces and also handles the USB connectivity. The internal oscillator is used and trimmed up for accuracy by referencing the USB clock. On the PC side of things, a program written in C# displays the data coming over the serial bus. Quick, small, and useful; a schematic, board layout, firmware, and PC software sources are all available for download. (Hack a Day)
Most IT workers hold a dim view of outsourcing. The same Internet that has made knowledge work possible from any place on the planet and enables outsourcing for the corporate suits is also making it available to the rest of us. A world exchange of skills is rapidly developing on the Micro scale.
Do you have some small tasks outside of you skill set? How about paying someone else to do them a few dollars to do them for you? In addition more established marketplaces like Elance and Craigs List, you can hire out micro tasks on marketplaces like Fiverr and Mechanical Turk.
While this case is intended for a server, if you think a bit outside of the box, you’ll find it’s a perfect enclosure for many other projects. At $17.99 the price is unbeatable!
Geeks is a Tightwad Technica affiliate. Using our links to purchase from Geeks helps support Tightwad Technica.
Sure, walled garden packages like iTunes can organize the media you buy from the fruit farm, but what about programs from other sources like Amazon or physical DVDs and maybe even tapes? We’ve got a free fix, and it doesn’t even have a hitchhiking player that acts like a worm hijacking all media on you computer.Ant movie catalog will even find catalog data on your movies for you.
User-customizable links to do a search on movie websites
Import information from various media files (audio and video codec, bitrates, resolution, framerate, size, etc.)
Scripting technology, using Object Pascal language, allowing to modify catalog: Find and replace, moving field values, …
Printing, using customizable templates
Export to other formats: HTML (based on a template that you can modify or create yourself), SQL commands (to re-import data in a DBMS such as MySQL), CSV (text files, can be used as tables with Microsoft Excel for example), Origons.com
Import from other formats: CSV (Microsoft Excel can create such files, but a plain text file can be used too), Divx Manager, BaseDVDivx, Origons.com
Can store pictures inside catalog or link to external files (recommended for large pictures)
Supports PNG, JPEG and GIF
Loans management
Statistics with chart and pies
Can display the list as a tree, where movies are grouped by a specified field
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
Get ready for more affordable, more portable computing. While Intel and AMD talk systems on a chip, Freescale is delivering. Several flavors of Linux as well as Andriod are already running on the core ARM processor, so complete working sytems with apps should be available in months rather than years.
The I.MX508 is intended for next generation use on e-reader panels and supports panel resolutions up to 2048×1536 pixels at 106Hz. The ARM Cortex A8 engine has a clock speed of 800MHz to enable it to cope with complex image manipulations and colour processing. Freescale believes that it has enough power under the hood to handle features like advanced touch technology.
Bernd Lienhard, vice president and general manager of Freescale’s multimedia applications division said, “Working closely with E Ink and our customers, we are able to offer an integrated silicon solution to facilitate lower e-reader retail prices and enable the next phase of growth in the ebook market.” (The Inquirer)
The ability to spot weld metal will surely extend your range as a devoted DIY’er. Whether it’s reparing sheet metal parts or modifying a case, spot welds can take your project to the next level.
If you can salvage a working transformer from a dead microwave oven, you’ve got the most expensive component for this project. Read the rest on Hack a Day.
Unbuntu has given another OS option to manufacturers of the coming wave of cheap ARM based netbooks. The company has relesed an ARM version of its popular Linux distribution. That makes the most popular desktop Linux the likely champ in the ARM netbook OS sweepstakes.
An ARM-based netbook running Ubuntu could be in your future with the newest version of Ubuntu Netbook Edition. Much like Windows, the popular Linux distro did not previously have support for ARM processors. This meant you’d only see Ubuntu on Atom-based netbooks, a category dominated by Windows. With the anticipated flood of ARM packing “smartbooks” expected to materialize, the devs got to work rewriting Ubuntu. (Maximum PC)
Its a hexacopter. (Yeah, 2 more than a quadcopter.) On it is mounted a HD streaming camera that feeds its image to a base station. The camera is also used for flight control as well. The parts for this device are off the shelf and yes you could build one if you are inclined.
So what’s the great shucks? Cost. Generally if a director wanted a high shot s/he would hire a pilot, cameraman and chopper for such a thing. Refine what this Hexacopter can do and the chopper setup is gone. A chopper is a probably $3-400/hr to run. Add the crew and equipment and you might be on the light side of $1k/hr.
A guy shows up with a hexacopter, sets up, makes the runs. Passes the video to the director. Anything a miss they just run it again. Quicker, cheaper, less hazard. The operator might charge for a days use what the chopper guy charged for a single hour.
More here for those interested. Sorry only available in German and French. Also check out the other videos on the site as well.
Or why we believe that Apple reliability and consequent pricing is out of whack. –
Apple has extended the warranty on certain MacBooks from 2006 and 2007 whose hard drive failed, while offering free replacements for defective drives.
Look out your window and you might observe porcine aerobatics - and that red-tailed gent donning the toasty overcoat might well be Lucifer.
Of course, in a support note announcing the “Repair Extension Program,” Cupertino was careful not to concede mass failures. “Apple has determined that a very small percentage of hard drives that were used in MacBook systems, sold between approximately May 2006 and December 2007,” the note reads, “may fail under certain conditions.”
Again another case of reliability being an issue. Of course the subcomponent is from a VAR, but that does not let Apple off the hook. How many MacBook owners have done the Customer Care Tango only to be denied?
While the world of tech is clearly digital, it interfaces with a decidedly analog world. If you are servicing or building anything analog like an amplifier, and oscilloscope is indispensable. You can buy a terrific new ’scope for around $400 or scour swap meets and Ebay for an oldie that probably needs work for a bit less. A third alternative is to use a PC and a few of cheap parts to do the same job.
Or why we believe that Apple reliability and consequent pricing is out of whack. –
