TechCrunch is asking its readers to help them design a web tablet costing just under $200. They claim that there does not yet exist a cheap and usable web tablet designed for things like browsing, web conferencing, mail, chat, and VoIP. Here are some of the specs they are asking for:
thin as possible
touch screen (except for power button)
WiFi
video camera and low-end speakers
4 Gigabyte hard drive
1/2 Gigabyte of RAM
Linux and Firefox (in kiosk mode)
no desktop interface
We are not completely sure that this device does not exist in some form. Tablets have been around for a while and many cover most of these features. Consider the Nokia N800 or the Pepper Pad.
We also think the TechCrunch readers, who generally concern themselves with what they can buy rather than what they can make, are not really the best crowd for this job. Considering our reader's abilities to do things on the cheap, we thought we would pose the question ourselves with our own spin. What old and cheap hardware could you re-purpose to create this product?
A recent report from Futuresource Consulting states that just under 1/3 of Americans and just over 1/3 of UK residents have engaged in some form of DVD ripping in the last 6 months. Though [Jacqui Cheng] of Ars Technica was unphased, we were very surprised to learn that one of the most common methods is possibly the most low-tech, yet certainly cross-platform: hooking a DVD player to a DVD recorder via coaxial cable or composite. Our toolbelt is somewhat different, as we imagine yours is.
With each passing day the rate we acquire digital media increases (we don't even bother unpacking our CDs when we move anymore). Large publishers have started moving away from DRM, which means we'll be buying even more digital media in the future. Acquiring all of this nonphysical property puts importance on not just making it easily accessible, but also protecting it from destruction. Slashdot asked for reader suggestions of what NAS to buy; we've compiled some of the options below and want to know what you use.
While attending LA SIGGRAPH Maker Night, we got to talk to [Brett Doar] about his Bronco Table. The table is meant to make life more difficult by bucking off anything that's set on top of it. Right now, it uses a tiny piezo mic to listen for the impact and then drives three leg motors in a random pattern. He envisions later generations either running away or following you intently when something is set on them.
The main problem with the current design is that you have to hit the table hard enough to make a noise the mic can pick up. The ideal solution would be able to detect anything, no matter what the material or how forcefully it was set down. How would you detect objects being placed on the surface (table doesn't have to be wood)?
There's a new iPhone 3G coming out in July. If that statement shocks you, you might want to check your connection. We love new shiny hardware, but what we're really interested in is the number of "old" iPhones that are going to be hitting the market. Many people will be ditching their 1st generation iPhones just to get GPS and 3G. This abundance plus the new $200 price tag is bound to depress the price for used phones.
A used 1st generation iPhone is actually a pretty attractive device. It's already been laid wide open by hackers so you can run pretty much anything you want on it instead of waiting for the App Store to tell you what you can and can't do. You could use it as a WiFi Voip phone, a simple web pad, run an NES emulator, use it as a musical instrument, or build an army of robots.
What will you do when the price of used iPhones bottoms out?
We're often asked what a simple way to add a display to a project is and we even hinted at this yesterday with the HMD comparison. The answer is: we're not really sure. In the past, the go to was PSOne add on displays. They accept composite input which means you can painlessly attach almost any other consumer device with video out. The problem is they're a little large. Then there's the spy video car HMD. It's black and white and accepts composite video too. It's a little small though, which makes it difficult to work with outside of the original application. So, Hack-a-Day readers, what have you used as a simple palm sized portable display in your projects?
I got a chance to see the new Ironman movie last night, and it's exactly the kind of film that kick-starts my brain into considering new projects. I'm opening up today's hackit in a few directions: 1) Get any project ideas from Ironman? 2) Got any projects that were inspired by movie/tv/comic tech? 3) What's your favorite source of inspiration?
I'm going to have a special guest in my workshop for a while: an Epilog Mini 24 45 watt laser cutter. This is entirely thanks to Epilog Laser down in Golden Colorado. Here's today's hackit: If you had access to your own 45 watt laser cutter - with a 12" x 24" work surface, what would you make with it?
Oh, and there's a prize on this one. Whoever comes up with the best idea will get a free laptop engraving session. (You can always just ship me the display cover.) You can have your own art put on, or we can always tattoo your machine with the Hack-A-Day logo.
(Pictured is Ladyada's laser cutter. Mine's coming tomorrow!)
I've built a few CNC controllers, and I've been a bit disappointed by the state of the control interfaces. Most diy systems rely on a parallel port interface, while a few use a serial connection. Just one that I've seen has an actual USB interface, but it's limited to use with the fab@home software for now. So what's the hackit of the day? I think that the hardware hacking, home fabrication community could really benefit from a standardized I/O interface for driving CNC machines, robotics or anything else along those lines. For CNC work, it'll need a serial or parallel port emulation scheme to allow existing software to take advantage of it. For quicker home development, some simple API's for controlling the device would be excellent. Imagine using perl to develop robot logic with just a few easy function calls...
Hackit is really your show, so lets hear your ideas.
[atrain] wants to know if we've got any thoughts on things to do with old CRT displays instead of giving them away or recycling them. We've seen pic programmers and oscilloscope projects, but even I'm curious to see what you guys have to say.
Today's hackit is devoted to everyone who enjoys a good project write-up. I'm on the verge of upgrading my photo gear (Digital Rebel XTi) with some new lighting and a better lens to improve my work and found myself wondering what the community likes to see in a good how-to. What can be done to make them better for the community. Decent photography? Better parts lists? I prefer good photos and reproducible work.
By popular request, I've added a hackit category. Today's hackit is one of my coffee shop creations. Considering the quality of work we've seen, I can't help but wonder... If the Hack-A-Day community were to come together and produce a joint collaborative hardware project, what could it build? A modular robotics platform? A digital I/O platform for other projects? If you could harness the power of thousands of hardware hacking geeks, what would you ask them to do?
This isn't quite a traditional Hackit, but I think you guys will dig it. Here's the challenge: Given a budget of $600, put together the best hacking workbench you can. Don't include computers or the actual bench in your budget. Oh, and you have to spend it all.
By the way, the best five submissions will get a chance to win a secret prize that I'll be announcing around the end of next month.
One of our recent posts took an interesting tangent: physical hard drive destruction. First, [wolf] wanted to use a 20ga shotgun shell on his hard drive. [brk] suggests an electromagnet applied to the drive while it's still spinning. Everyone thought thermite might be interesting... Finally, [wolf] noted this commercial auto destruction drive that floods itself with an acid mist. I'll suggest a few ideas and let you guys take it from there.
I'd suggest pneumatic injection of two part epoxy into the drive mechanism. Remove the top of the casing using the diy clean room method, add a port for the epoxy and use a cheap CO2 bike injector to force the liquid into the drive on demand. So, got a better idea? Let's hear it.
Here is a special edition Hackit in honor of Roboexotica. Ever since making the decision to attend Roboexotica we've been speculating on the type of machines we'd like to see at such an event. Here are a handful of ideas:
Iceware via rapid prototyping: As we type this post, [Bre] is in the background attempting to build a RepRap style rapid prototyping machine that will construct shot glasses on demand. We were thinking it would be neat to cut beverage glasses out of blocks of ice using a milling machine, but why stick with normal milling equipment? It's ice right; you could be doing something stupid like using a butane torch for your working tool. We then began to wonder "Has anyone built an ice based rapid prototyping machine?" You could just deposit water on a frozen surface to create your glassware. A group at the University of Missouri has been investigating "rapid freeze prototyping". Since they're using water, they only have to create the frozen shell of the part and then fill in the empty cavity with water to create a solid.
