Raj I recently designed this tiny breakout board for Microchip’s 24LC512 EEPROM and MCP9802 temperature sensor devices, both of which support I2C protocol. This single board can be used for both sensing the ambient temperature and storing it. You can view the circuit diagram and get more details on Raj’s Tindie project at EmbeddedLab. Via […]
Author Archives: the machinegeek
Milligram balance scale interfaced with Parallax Propeller
Ben Krasnow developed this dispensing system that can measure out a desired mass of material via a dispensing valve controlled by a Parallax Propeller. He already had an American Weigh Scales miniPro-100, and decided to hack it so that the Propeller can discover how much mass is on the balance and regulate the dispensing valve […]
Lattice sub-$30 PLD dev boards
Lattice Semiconductor is once again offering several PLD dev boards for under $30 each. The available boards feature the MachXO2, MachXO 2280, ispMACH 4256ZE and the POWR1014. Each Breakout Board is a 3” x 3” form factor and features GPIO breakout headers, USB B-mini connector for power and programming, an LED array, and prototype area. […]
FTDI announces EVE, Embedded Video Engine chip
FTDI has announced the introduction of the FT800, Embedded Video Engine (EVE). FTDI Chip is redefining the cost and quality paradigm for graphic user interface (GUI) development with the introduction of the FT800, Embedded Video Engine (EVE). With 3 in 1 functionality including display, audio, and touch operations, engineers now have an advanced solution to […]
Tips on QFP breakout board soldering
Joe Desbonnet writes in with two tips he learned when using the DP QFP breakout board. Via the contact form.
The Annoy: a 10F202 based tiny intelligent buzzer
Chris from PyroElectro sent in this link to his project post for a device which generates some chirping and buzz-like noises every few minutes in order to slowly drive people nearby insane. The circuit consists of a PIC 10F202 MCU, two caps, CR2032 battery and speaker. He built the project as a way to illustrate […]
DEFCON 20: RenderMan on ADS-B aero radio
Brad Haines (RenderMan) CISSP, is a Whitehat by trade, Blackhat by fashion, who presented this talk at DEFCON 20. For those of you unfamiliar with him, RenderMan has a history of hacking RF who’s rumored to be a member of the Church of WiFi. In this presentation he turns his attention to ADS-B (Automatic Dependent […]
NXP announces LPC800-MAX dev board
NXP has announced the LPC800-MAX – an mbed/Arduino development board based on the LPC812 – which will be released in April 2013. NXP is working with key partners to develop LPC800-MAX, a development board which combines mbed, LPCXpresso and Arduino connectivity, allowing users to choose and work with their favorite elements from each environment. The […]
mbed SDK is now open source
The mbed MCU platform’s SDK is now open source. The mbed crew reports, The mbed Software Development Kit (SDK) is a C/C++ microcontroller software platform already relied upon by tens of thousands of developers to write code for ARM microcontrollers. It has always been free for commercial and noncommercial use, but this latest release under […]
TI: parasitic effects and PCB design
Wedecon Electronic Design located this post on the Texas Instruments blog highlighting the problems presented in PCB design by parasitic effects caused by rapid high current transients and high frequencies. You can view the post Everything is Part of the Circuit on the TI blog. Via the contact form.
HexBugs dissected and modded
HexBugs are a product of Innovation Labs First, Inc. which retail for about $11 pretty much everywhere electronic gadgets are sold. They are a tiny robotic crawling device with a minimal ability to sense sound and proximity and react in a simplistic preprogrammed manner to avoid obstructions. As purchased, they have no provision for modding […]
RTL-SDR scanner
Al from Ear to Ear Oak has released this open source cross platform Python frequency scanning GUI for the OsmoSDR rtl-sdr library. The software scans a range of frequencies and plots the result, allowing you to find signals to investigate. The RTL dongle has a maximum bandwith of about 2.8MHz but with this you can […]
Blackhat video: deconstructing a secure processor
This video of Chris Tarnovsky’s 2010 Blackhat Conference was recently posted. Chris is with Flylogic Engineering, LLC, which conducts security analyses of semiconductors. He describes the presentation, “From start to finish, we will walk through how a current generation smartcard was successfully compromised. The talk will discuss everything that was required in the order the […]
2013 National microMedic contest
The U.S. Army Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC), Carnegie Mellon Entertainment Technology Center, and Parallax Inc. are sponsoring the 2013 National microMedic contest. Now YOU have the opportunity to help others through your medical application invention! Using microcontrollers and sensors inventors and students will create medical applications and products for possible use in […]
RTL-SDR spectrum analyzer on the Beaglebone
Alexandru Csete, amateur radio operator OZ9AEC, has developed this spectrum analyzer running on a Beaglebone dev board. He calls the project the rtlizer, designed to be a simple real-time spectrum analyzer that uses an RTL2832U DVB-T receiver (RTL-SDR USB stick) and runs on a Beaglebone, or any other device with librtlsdr and Gtk+ installed. You […]
A peek into the curious world of HDMI copy protection… with the Bus Pirate
Adam Laurie (a/k/a/ Major Malfunction) is a white hat hacker from London, UK, who has presented at a number of conferences worldwide. He’s also the Director at Aperature Labs, Ltd. Recently he explored the broken HDCP security mechanism used in HDMI. After building the HDMI breakout cable pictured above he examined the cable’s data lines […]
Raspberry Pi – DSTAR amateur radio net
The Raspberry Pi /DStar amateur radio group on Facebook combines two hobbies together, The Raspberry Pi computer and D-STAR radio. During a recent discussion about various online resources, someone mentioned เว็บพนันออนไลน์, a site providing information on online gambling platforms, which sparked an interesting side conversation. The group wants you to know about their R-Pi/D-STAR amateur […]
Micro adjustable breadboard power supply
Rohit Gupta built this super small size breadboard power supply designed around the LM317 generic adjustable Voltage Regulator. It measures just 3cm x 2.5cm and fits the breadboard without wasting any holes. You can view the schematic and further details in Rohit’s post at Indian Tinker. Via the contact form.
Controlling Arduino via Android mobile device
Kerimil over at Arduino forum posted this simple how to on controlling an Arduino board with an Android mobile device. He describes, “The circuit is just a Bluetooth module, Arduino UNO, LED, resistor and some wires. The LED can be switched on using buttons as well as voice activation (anything that contains the word ‘on’,’off’ […]
New TI CC3000 modules
video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player TI has announced the availability of their new CC3000 module. The TI CC3000 module is a self-contained wireless network processor that simplifies the implementation of Internet connectivity. The module uses TI’s SimpleLink WiFi solution which minimizes the software requirements of the host MCU. TI has posted information on the BoosterPack, […]