RhinoWolf 2.0 all-in-one lightweight tent maintains the modularity

Two years after the first RhinoWolf delivered a fascinating lightweight tent system that could merge together single units into a large, tunnel-like tent community, we now find the RhinoWolf 2.0 – a new, improved model with a few small change… Continue reading RhinoWolf 2.0 all-in-one lightweight tent maintains the modularity

The Thrill of Building Space Hardware to Exceptionally High Standards

It’s fair to say that the majority of Hackaday readers have not built any hardware that’s slipped the surly bonds of Earth and ventured out into space proper. Sure we might see the occasional high altitude balloon go up under the control of some particularly enterprising hackers, but that’s still a far cry from a window seat on the International Space Station. Granted the rapid commercialization of space has certainly added to that exclusive group of space engineers over the last decade or so, but something tells us it’s still going to be quite some time before we’re running space-themed …read more

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Open Source Synthesizers Hack Chat

Matt Bradshaw is a musician, maker, and programmer with a degree in physics and a love for making new musical instruments. You may remember his PolyMod modular digital synthesizer from the 2018 Hackaday Prize, where it made the semifinals of the Musical Instrument Challenge. PolyMod is a customizable, modular synthesizer that uses digital rather than analog circuitry. That seemingly simple change results in a powerful ability to create polyphonic patches, something that traditional analog modular synths have a hard time with.

Please join us for this Hack Chat, in which we’ll cover:

  • The hardware behind the PolyMod, and the design

…read more

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Modular Violin Takes A Bow

They say the only difference between a violin and a fiddle is the way you play it. If that’s so, this modular violin will need a new name, since it can be broken apart and changed in ways that make it sound completely different, all within a few minutes.

The fiddle is the work of [David Perry] and has 3D printed body, neck, pegbox, and bridge. While it might seem useful on the surface as a way to get less expensive instruments out in the world where virtually anyone has access to them, the real interesting qualities are shown when …read more

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Report: Modular ‘Marap’ malware campaign sets the table for bigger hacks

A newly discovered malware campaign that currently conducts simple reconnaissance has the versatility to download additional capabilities onto a victim’s system, according to a report published Thursday by Proofpoint. Researchers say the malware, which is named “Marap” after a detail in its command and control (C&C) server, bears similarity to other campaigns associated with a threat actor known as TA505. Proofpoint says it has observed “millions of messages” in a malicious email campaign earlier this month. Emails tend to have various types of attachments, such as PDF files and Microsoft Word documents, laced with the Marap malware. Some of the phishing documents co-opt the name of a major U.S. bank in their fake communications, Proofpoint says. So far, the researchers say that the only functionality they’ve observed in Marap is to fingerprint systems it infects. The malware gathers basic information — usernames, domain names, IP addresses, country, anti-virus software detected […]

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Ease Rover Development With These Self-Contained Track Units

Tracked drive systems are great, but implementation isn’t always easy. That’s what [nahueltaibo] found every time he tried to use open sourced track designs for his own rovers. The problem is that a tracked drive system is normally closely integrated with a vehicle’s chassis, mixing and matching between designs is impractical because the tracks and treads aren’t easily separated from the rest of the vehicle.

To solve this, [nahueltaibo] designed a modular, 3D printable rover track system. It contains both a motor driver and a common DC gearmotor in order to make a standalone unit that can be more easily …read more

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Friday Hack Chat: Making Modular Hardware

The future of wireless is decentralized. Mesh-type networks are slowly making their way into the WiFi standard, and soon enough we’ll be dealing with decentralized phones. That’s wireless, but what about electronics? For most embedded work, we’re dealing with masters and slaves, but what if we didn’t have to deal with that? This is the challenge of modular electronics, and this week’s Hack Chat is going to be talking all about that.

Our guest for this week’s Hack Chat is [Asaad Kaadan], an electronics engineer from Seattle. [Asaad] holds a Masters and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of …read more

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