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• Amp Hour interviews [Joe Grand]
  The Amp Hour, a podcast of electronics enthusiasts and professionals alike, just did an epic interview with [Joe Grand]. Along with hosts [Chris Gammell] and [Dave Jones], the discussion runs the gamut of points of interest in the hardware hacking world. The first vignette explores the rise, run, and fall of Prototype This, an engineering-centric TV [...]
• CheapStat: an open-source potentiostat
  A commercial potentiostat can cost several thousand dollars, but the CheapStat is an open source project that makes it possible to build your own at a tiny fraction of that cost. It is possible to build one for less than $80, breaking down the cost barrier faced by many labs that would like to have [...]
• Video – Eagle CAD’s CAM processor
  Here is the next installment in our series of Eagle CAD videos. In this video we skip ahead a bit and show off the CAM processor that you use to create the files necessary to have your circuit boards be manufactured. After watching this video, you will know how create a new CAM program, load [...]
• Making better CNC halftone pictures
  [Jason] was messing around with CNC machines and came up with his own halftone CNC picture that might be an improvement over previous attempts we’ve seen. [Jason] was inspired by this Hack a Day post that converted a image halftone like the default Photoshop plugin or the rasterbator. The results were very nice, but once [...]

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• Get the lead out of the Arduino compile process
  Relief is here from long compile times when developing firmware for your Arduino project. [Paul] was puzzled by the fact that every file used in a sketch is fully recompiled every time you hit upload–even if that file didn’t change. To make things more confusing, this behavior isn’t consistent across all Arduino compatible hardware. The [...]
• Android phone serves as Arduino terminal
  Looking to use his Arduino when on-the-go, [Oleg] has been working on a way to use the Android ADK terminal emulator with the Arduino. The Android side uses ADK features along with a custom application. [Oleg] received help from his friend [Victor] when developing the program for Android (you can check out our own Android [...]
• Upload firmware over Ethernet
  The team at Wicked Device has been working on working on a way to upload Arduino sketches over Ethernet for the Nanode and Arduino Ethernet boards. The team has gotten far enough along to show the world, and the new boot loader shows a lot of promise. A new boot loader was needed to perform this magic. The [...]
• Recycled clock spins round and round to tell time
  [duckcrazy] recently shared the details on a clock he built, using recycled components to tell time. He began his project by dismantling a handful of carefully selected pop bottles and an old clock. The bottom and midsection of the bottles were saved, and he verified that they could be easily inserted within one another. The [...]

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• Chumby’s new NeTV makes almost ‘any TV’ into an Internet connected device
  Check out the new set-top box on the block, the NeTV from Chumby Industries. That link will take you to their video demonstration of the device, which is a humble-looking black box with no apparent user interface. You’ll see a few cool tricks that may impress you, like pairing the device with an Android phone [...]
• Super Pixel Bros now with manufactured PCB and rewritten software
  [Retro Brad] has come a long way with his 8×8 gaming device which he calls Super Pixel Bros. The newest rendition has a fab house PCB and freshly rewritten code. The game is still played on an 8×8 LED matrix, but it looks like he’s sourced a version with square pixels, which is a nice [...]
• [Dino's] JFET guitar preamp with piezo pickup
  This week, with a little help from a Roomba, [Dino] built a guitar pickup and preamp that sounds marvelous. A pickup takes vibrations from the guitar and turns them into an electrical signal which can then be amplified and broadcast. He grabbed a long-dead Roomba which has slowly but surely been donating its organs for [...]
• Inkjet print head driver shield
  [Nicolas C Lewis] is churning out inkjet print head shield kits for Arduino. If you’ve always wanted to label or brand objects as part of a project this greatly simplifies the process. Using his all through-hole design, an Arduino can print at 96 dpi. At first we had trouble figuring out what we could use [...]

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• Update: Bluetooth Super Nintendo controller for Android
  [Rich's] newest version of a Bluetooth connected Super Nintendo controller takes what was already good and makes it better. We looked at the original version back in May, which is built into a knockoff controller  – [Rich] mentions that he got a lot of flack for defacing retro equipment and wants to set the record [...]
• Dippy Bird binary clock
  This Dippy Bird clock display is simple to build and it’s just waiting to be scaled up for use as a full clock. As shown there are only enough birds in this rendition to read out the hours. More tiers can be added for minutes and you could even add your own temperature readout function [...]
• Laser trip wire in an easy-to-use form factor
  [Rul] built a nice laser trip wire alarm for use in Airsoft matches. Just place the enclosure so that the beam crosses a doorway and it will sound an alarm when the beam is broken. The only problem with this setup is that you need a reflective surface on the opposite side that can be [...]
• Bluetooth cassette adapter
  Today, with iPods that can hold entire music collections and cell phones that stream music from the Internet, the lowly cassette seems like an anachronism. [Matt] still has a cassette deck in his truck, but wanted Bluetooth connectivity for his stereo. The obvious solution was to stuff Bluetooth headphones into a cassette adapter. Audio cassette [...]

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• The weighted companion cube will never threaten to stab you and, in fact, is a subwoofer
  From the techPowerUp! forums comes an awesome weighted companion cube subwoofer built by the metonymical user named [Cube]. This build started off as a coffee table that was to have an oval glass top (no word if the edges were going to be blue or orange). The guts of the cube are taken from a [...]
• Improving your welder without a microcontroller
  We’re always impressed when a piece of hardware is torn apart, rebuilt and ends up exceeding the capabilities of the original device. [Dave] and [Will]‘s home-built TIG welder is no exception to that rule. When [Dave] and [Will] started working on converting a simple AC stick welder to a welder with every function imaginable, they [...]
• Adding Fluke 54 II features to a 51 II thermometer
  The difference between Fluke’s 54 II and 51 II thermometers is the addition of a second channel for dual temperature sensing, and buttons which control data logging. Oh, and an additional $150 in price for the higher model. [TiN] was poking around inside and with the help of some forum members he figured out how [...]
• A No-touchscreen Picture Frame?
  Many people have touch-screen devices, however, this hack claims to be the first picture frame to feature a “no-touch” interface. Although someone somewhere certainly has a digital picture frame hooked up to a “Clapper”, we’re going to give [Wasabi] the benefit of the doubt. After buying a Microtouch kit from Adafruit several months ago with [...]

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• Program an Arduino using your sound card
  [Chris] wrote us to share a neat technique he has been using to program the Arduinos he uses in his projects. He likes to build bare bones Arduino clones rather than sacrifice full dev boards, and instead of programming them via traditional means, he is using his computer’s sound card. He builds a simple dead [...]
• Spinning UV light writer
  [David] has always wanted use UV LEDs to write on a phosphorescent surface ever since saw an article about it on Make. He accidentally purchased UV LEDs when he meant to buy purple ones, so he figured that his mistake was all the reason he needed to give UV light writing a try. He built [...]
• No quarters required for this sidescrolling game in a box
  [Adam] from Teague Labs wrote in to share a new gadget they built to help demonstrate the capabilities of the Teagueduino. Their table top video game in a box was made with a bunch of electronic components they had sitting around, as well as soda straws, plenty of painter’s tape, and some popscicle sticks. When [...]
• Laser etched PCB production
  Like most of us, [reonarudo] isn’t satisfied with the current methods of homebrew PCBs, so he put a laser on a reprap and started burning some boards. The basic procedure is to cover a copper clad board with matte black spray paint. A laser was installed on the X carriage of the reprap. [reonarudo] used [...]

Zombie games — a very popular genre now adays it seems. There’s Left 4 Dead, the Resident Evil series, Dead Rising, and a bunch more. Now that Dead Island is out, it allows users who are fans of this genre to do what they favor most — killing zombies! To help you on your way though, you may need to kill or fix some if the Dead Island Errors before you get started. Just FYI this game allows for a total of 4 players to play in a co-op mode so that they can help kill zombies with you while also having a nice RPG element added for gaining EXP / Experience for zombies and humans that you kill. How rewarding, huh? It’s available on the PC (Windows), Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 (PS3). So now…troubleshoot away! Click the links below to get to the guide just FYI.

Dead Island Mouse Too Sensitive
Fix for FoV / Field of Vision
Dead Island Long Load Times
Textures Bleeding / Look Weird
No Menu Text On Main Menu
Dead Island Crackling / Static Audio Noise
Fix Dead Island Lagging / Stuttering / Microstuttering
Game Sound Not Working
Dead Island Game Crashing
Crash to Desktop / Black Screen on Launch

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• Anthropomorphizing an Ikea lamp (like Pixar but in real life)
  ArduinoArts is animating an inexpensive Ikea lamp as a contest entry. Seeed Studio’s Toy Hacking Contest calls for the competitors to work their magic using the Grove Toy Kit, which is an extensible sensor connection system for the Arduino. Most of the items in the kit were used to add interactivity to the lamp. Check [...]
• Huge DIY 3D printer predictably prints huge 3D items
  Well, if we ever need something huge built on a RepRap, now we know who to call. [Jim] over at Grass Roots Engineering wrote in to share a large 3D print he just finished, which was extruded by an equally impressive home-built 3D printer. The part he built consists of a bunch of hollow green tubing [...]
• DIY portable charger/generator
  [Glenn] from The Back Shed has built a lot of windmills and stationary generators over the years, but recently decided to try his hand at building something a bit more portable. The charger is based of a relatively simple design, employing a 5.2 HP Kubota 4 stroke motor and a 12v car alternator to provide [...]
• TSC230 Color Light-to-Frequency Module
  ElecFreaks is selling a new color sensing module based on the TSC230 sensor. They’ve posted a demonstration using an Arduino that shows off what this sensor is capable of. The module includes four white LEDs which give a baseline of light to help normalize readings when reflected off of differently colored surfaces. The white balance [...]

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• Light up your workshop with this arcade button light switch
  [Pete Mills] was browsing around online when he came across an arcade button light switch and immediately wanted one. He didn’t however want to pay the $35 asking price for the switch, so he decided to build it himself. He says that his solitary arcade machine doesn’t warrant its own room, so he figured he [...]
• Cookie projector uses that dusty film camera of yours
  This hack is not for photographers with weak hearts. We’re going to be talking about destroying the body of a Single-Lens Reflex camera. But out of destruction comes something new. A broken camera paired with a flash and functional optics can be used to project light patterns for picture backgrounds. The hardware is often referred to as [...]
• Beginner Concepts: MOSFETs
  [Moser's] introductory guide to MOSFETs serves as a quick introduction for those unfamiliar with the parts. They fill a similar role as a bipolar junction transistor like the 2N2222, making it possible to switch large loads. But fundamentally they are different. Metal Oxide Field Effect Transistors have three pins for Drain, Source, and Gate instead [...]
• Defusable alarm clock – wastes wire but fun for the kids
  Nothing makes you feel the pressure of getting out of bed in the morning like a ticking-time-bomb on the bedside table. It may look like it came in the mail from ACME, but all that went into this is some wooden dowels covered in craft paper and an Arduino-compatible board. The 7-segment display can act [...]

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• GPS audio tour brought to you by surface speakers
  The team at Eschelle Inconnue wanted to “trace a sound cartography of Islam” in Marseilles, France, so they came up with a clever little GPS walking tour powered by an Arduino, MP3 playback module, and a surface transducer speaker. The team used a Processing app to define geographic areas where each MP3 file would play. [...]
• Fallout brought to life with this working PIP-Boy 3000
  [MyMagicPudding] wanted to try his hand at hobby electronics, so he decided to go all-in and build himself a PIP-Boy 3000. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, the PIP-Boy 3000 is a wrist-mounted computer from the popular Fallout video game series. The PIP-Boy is based around an HTC Desire HD mobile phone, which [MyMagicPudding] [...]
• TV retrofit… because flatscreens just don’t take up enough space
  [Igor] helped his friend’s family out by retrofitting an old Philco television with a newer flat panel (translated). The original conked out over thirty years ago, but the look of it still held quite a bit of nostalgia for his girlfriend’s Grandmother. She showed it to him on a recent visit and asked if it could [...]
• Controlling samplers and sequencers with multitouch
  When we see artists like Daft Punk or Madeon working their magic in a live setting, we’re always impressed with their controllers. Sample-based artist use controllers like the Monome and Kaoss Pad a lot, but these devices are fairly expensive. Thankfully, we live in an age of multitouch displays, so [Graham Comerford] came up with [...]