Author Archives: Brian Benchoff

Tindie Chat: All About Certifications

Posted on by

The chat functionality on Hackaday.io is quickly turning into the nexus of all things awesome. This Tuesday, February 28th, everyone’s favorite robotic dog is talking certifications. Everything from FCC to UL to OSH to CE and the other CE is on the table. If you want to build hardware, and especially if you want to build a product, this is the talk for you. Join us for the next Tindie Chat on Hackaday.io.

Every month or so, we round up Tindie sellers, buyers, and the Tindie curious to talk about the issues facing hardware creators. We meet up in …read more

Continue reading Tindie Chat: All About Certifications→

A Mess Of Wires Turned Into An Analog Synth

Posted on by

Over on YouTube, [GumpherDM3] built one of the greatest musical projects we’ve seen in a long time. It’s an analog synthesizer that is one of a kind. It’s going to stay one of a kind, too: no one would ever want to copy this mess of wires and perfboard that was successfully turned into a complete musical instrument.

The design of this synth is what you would expect from something that draws its inspiration from semimodular synths such as the Minimoog and Korg MS20. There are four VCOs on this synth, two audio and two used for the LFOs. A …read more

Continue reading A Mess Of Wires Turned Into An Analog Synth→

A Mess Of Wires Turned Into An Analog Synth

Posted on by

Over on YouTube, [GumpherDM3] built one of the greatest musical projects we’ve seen in a long time. It’s an analog synthesizer that is one of a kind. It’s going to stay one of a kind, too: no one would ever want to copy this mess of wires and perfboard that was successfully turned into a complete musical instrument.

The design of this synth is what you would expect from something that draws its inspiration from semimodular synths such as the Minimoog and Korg MS20. There are four VCOs on this synth, two audio and two used for the LFOs. A …read more

Continue reading A Mess Of Wires Turned Into An Analog Synth→

Join Hackaday And Tindie At The Southern California Linux Expo

Posted on by

Do you like Open Source? Join Hackaday and Tindie at the largest community-run Open Source conference in North America. We’ll be at the Southern California Linux Expo next week, and we want to see you there.

What’s happening at SCALE this year? Amateur radio license exams, a PGP signing party, Bad Voltage Live and The Spazmatics, and a ton of great talks.

Hackaday and Tindie will be at SCALE Friday through Sunday, showing off the coolest parts of Hackaday, Hackaday.io, and our lovable robotic dog, Tindie. We’ll be handing out t-shirts and stickers, and we’ll be giving tours of the …read more

Continue reading Join Hackaday And Tindie At The Southern California Linux Expo→

Suddenly, Wireless Power Transmission Is Everywhere

Posted on by

Wireless power transfer exists right now, but it’s not as cool as Tesla’s Wardenclyffe tower and it’s not as stupid as an OSHA-unapproved ultrasonic power transfer system. Wireless power transfer today is a Qi charger for your phone. It’s low power – just a few amps — and very short range. This makes sense; after all, we’re dealing with the inverse square law here, and wireless power transfer isn’t very efficient.

Now, suddenly, we can transfer nearly two kilowatts wirelessly to electronic baubles scattered all over a room. It’s a project from Disney Research, it’s coming out of Columbia University,  …read more

Continue reading Suddenly, Wireless Power Transmission Is Everywhere→

Friday Hack Chat: Security for IoT

Posted on by

Over the last few weeks, our weekly Hack Chats on hackaday.io have gathered a crowd. This week, we’re talking about the greatest threat humanity has ever faced: toasters with web browsers.

The topic of this week’s Hack Chat is Security for IoT, because someone shut down the Internet with improperly configured webcams.

This chat is hosted by the Big Crypto Team at the University of Pittsburgh. [Wenchen Wang], [Ziyue Sun], [Brandon Contino], and [Nick Albanese] will be taking questions about lightweight devices connected to the Internet. Discussion will include building things that connect to larger networks securely.

The Big …read more

Continue reading Friday Hack Chat: Security for IoT→

Microchip Launches New Family Of PICs

Posted on by

Over the last few years, we’ve seen projects and products slowly move from 8-bit microcontrollers to more powerful ARM microcontrollers. The reason for this is simple — if you want to do more stuff, like an Internet-connected toaster, you need more bits, more Flash, and more processing power. This doesn’t mean 8-bit microcontrollers are dead, though. Eight bit micros are still going strong, and this week Microchip announced their latest family of 8-bit microcontrollers.

The PIC16F15386 family of microcontrollers is Microchip’s latest addition to their portfolio of 8-bit chips. This family of microcontrollers is Microchip’s ‘everything and the kitchen sink’ …read more

Continue reading Microchip Launches New Family Of PICs→

Ask Hackaday: Is Owning A 3D Printer Worth It?

Posted on by

3D printers are the single best example of what Open Hardware can be. They’re useful for prototyping, building jigs for other tools, and Lulzbot has proven desktop 3D printers can be used in industrial production. We endorse 3D printing as a viable tool as a matter of course around here, but that doesn’t mean we think every house should have a 3D printer.

Back when Bre was on Colbert and manufacturing was the next thing to be ‘disrupted’, the value proposition of 3D printing was this: everyone would want a 3D printer at home because you could print plastic trinkets. …read more

Continue reading Ask Hackaday: Is Owning A 3D Printer Worth It?→

Ask Hackaday: Is Owning A 3D Printer Worth It?

Posted on by

3D printers are the single best example of what Open Hardware can be. They’re useful for prototyping, building jigs for other tools, and Lulzbot has proven desktop 3D printers can be used in industrial production. We endorse 3D printing as a viable tool as a matter of course around here, but that doesn’t mean we think every house should have a 3D printer.

Back when Bre was on Colbert and manufacturing was the next thing to be ‘disrupted’, the value proposition of 3D printing was this: everyone would want a 3D printer at home because you could print plastic trinkets. …read more

Continue reading Ask Hackaday: Is Owning A 3D Printer Worth It?→

A Full Speed, Portable Apple //e

Posted on by

A while back, [Jorj] caught wind of a Hackaday post from December. It was a handheld Apple IIe, emulated on an ATMega1284p. An impressive feat, no doubt, but it’s all wrong. This ATapple only has 12k of RAM and only runs at 70% of the correct speed. The ATapple is impressive, but [Jorj] knew he could do better. He set out to create the ultimate portable Apple IIe. By all accounts, he succeeded.

This project and its inspiration have a few things in common. They’re both assembled on perfboard, using tiny tact switches for the keyboard. The display is …read more

Continue reading A Full Speed, Portable Apple //e→