Gadget Freak

Fun and entertaining projects for the gadget freaks among us

Cool Motor Kits for Future Engineers

Posted by The Gadgeteer on October 30, 2009

Greetings fellow gadgeteers! In this blog post, I will take a look at some electronics projects for kids. Like many of you, I have kids that are at that impressionable age where they can hopefully be steered towards an honorable life spent in a field such engineering, science, or plumbing, and away from such disreputable activities as ticket scalping or lawyering. To that end I present some proj ...... Read More

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MBED - Embedded for the Rest of Us

Posted by The Gadgeteer on October 23, 2009

In a previous post I mentioned the MBED ARM powered development board. This board is such a neat product I thought I’d write a column giving more details about it. In the interest of full disclosure, I am currently an ARM employee and have been for the past 11 years, in ARM’s Processor Division. During this time I have worked on parts such as ARM 1026, 926, 968, Cortex A8, and othe ...... Read More

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Industries: Software/Hardware

Behind Billy's New Brain

Posted by The Gadgeteer on October 20, 2009

Don’t be ashamed Go ahead, admit it. In the back of your closet, up on a shelf in the garage, or in a box where it got packed away but never unpacked, lies one of the most popular novelty gifts of the 21st century: Big Mouth Billy Bass. Billy was introduced to the world in April 2000, and was an immediate hit. Many stores sold out inventory in days and had to put customers on waiting li ...... Read More

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Unique Tesla Coil Operates on Low Voltage

Posted by The Gadgeteer on August 20, 2009

Ken Herrick’s unique Tesla coil operated on the “tickle principle,” a patented circuit he designed that produces a relatively gradual build-up of secondary voltage to produce awesome sparks a bit more safety. By Ken Herrick, Contributing Writer Though sadly no longer operational, Ken Herrick’s novel Tesla Coil (aka “entertainment machine”) produced some s ...... Read More

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Tiny server robot

Posted by The Gadgeteer on June 26, 2009

Here’s another cool tiny robot from MiddleCreekMerchants. This is a very small all-analog real working robot. It walks forward a little less than 1 inch per Second. The robot moves in psuedo-organic behavior. Two Servos twist left then right in a pattern which places each foot on the ground at different times in order to give him a forward stride. The robot has a NiMh battery which runs fo ...... Read More

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Tiny caterpillar robot

Posted by The Gadgeteer on June 15, 2009

This weird little “bugbot” from Middle Creek Merchants is a a bicore pulling five slavecores. It oscillates and follows light. The whole tiny train is only a couple inches long. ...... Read More

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Weird gadget converts sun to sound

Posted by The Gadgeteer on May 4, 2009

Here’s a strange electronic gadget that takes sun rays and converts them to sound. My parakeets love this thing. ...... Read More

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A gadget that parallel parks

Posted by The Gadgeteer on March 28, 2009

Here’s a gadget that does a better job of parallel parking than I do. Give me one for my minivan! ...... Read More

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Build a homemade iPod touch dock

Posted by The Gadgeteer on March 16, 2009

This video shows you how to build a homemade docking station for an iPod touch. ...... Read More

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Look out Lego -- Here comes Uberstix

Posted by The Gadgeteer on February 26, 2009

These Uberstix pieces mate with recycled household items such as Popsicle sticks, paper clips and straws. ...... Read More

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Weird gadgets at CES

Posted by The Gadgeteer on February 19, 2009

This year’s Consumer Electronics Show offered a number of strange gadgets, including a Gumby-like toy that eats coins, a tiny turntable for hip-hop, ultra-thin HD-TV screens, and illuminated clothing. ...... Read More

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Washing machine flood gadget

Posted by The Gadgeteer on February 5, 2009

Gadget Freak, Edward Nauman, has created a device that shuts off the washing machine if it starts to flood. As Nauman says, “It doesn’t spill on ounce of water once it hits the sensor.” And, “It’s pretty simple.” Check our Gadget Freak section for build instructions and a part list. ...... Read More

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