Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

While we of course rock oh-so-very-hard on Rock Band's drums, the pedal just never felt right under our weakling calves. The problem is naturally exacerbated for folks in wheelchairs, since there's no way to avoid the kick drum or re-route it to another button -- at least out of the box. Some folks at Kinetic Communications modded up a doorbell to work as the kick drum button and screwed it to a drum stick. Not the prettiest mod in the world, but it got their wheelchair-bound buddy drumming for about $20, and it shouldn't be hard to replicate their instructions.

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

While we of course rock oh-so-very-hard on Rock Band's drums, the pedal just never felt right under our weakling calves. The problem is naturally exacerbated for folks in wheelchairs, since there's no way to avoid the kick drum or re-route it to another button -- at least out of the box. Some folks at Kinetic Communications modded up a doorbell to work as the kick drum button and screwed it to a drum stick. Not the prettiest mod in the world, but it got their wheelchair-bound buddy drumming for about $20, and it shouldn't be hard to replicate their instructions.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Chalk another one up for Sharp. The company has landed yet another partner willing to utilize its solar panels in order to make news, wow onlookers and give Mother Earth a modicum of a break. Napa Valley winery Far Niente has flipped on its self-coined Floatovoltaic installation, which was developed by Thompson Technology Industries and installed by SPG Solar. Nearly 2,300 Sharp solar panels were secured for the job, and we're told that the array generates 400 kWs at peak output, which "significantly offsets the winery's annual power usage and provides a net-zero energy bill." Don't expect that coveted bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon to be any cheaper as a result, though.

[Via CNET]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Chalk another one up for Sharp. The company has landed yet another partner willing to utilize its solar panels in order to make news, wow onlookers and give Mother Earth a modicum of a break. Napa Valley winery Far Niente has flipped on its self-coined Floatovoltaic installation, which was developed by Thompson Technology Industries and installed by SPG Solar. Nearly 2,300 Sharp solar panels were secured for the job, and we're told that the array generates 400 kWs at peak output, which "significantly offsets the winery's annual power usage and provides a net-zero energy bill." Don't expect that coveted bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon to be any cheaper as a result, though.

[Via CNET]

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Filed under: transportation hacks, daily

It might seem like we're on a vehicle hacking kick this weekend, but [Rex] built an excellent custom digital tach for his race car. It uses the classic seven segment displays, a PICAXE microcontroller and works with most engines. He's released full source and PC board designs to boot. This looks like a great little tachometer project for you microcontoller fiends out there.

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• UltimateDefrag Moves Apps and Files for Quicker Access (Windows)
  "Put your high-priority programs and files in the most easily-accessed parts of your hard drive with UltimateDefrag, a free Windows utility."
• vmcNetFlix Streams Watch Now Videos to Your Xbox 360 (Windows Vista)
  "Freeware Vista Media Center plug-in vmcNetFlix streams Netflix Watch Now videos to Windows Media Center extenders, including the Xbox 360."
• Banshee 1.0 Beta 2 Organizes Your Linux Media (Linux)
  "Organize your music, videos, podcasts, and other media through a slick-looking portal with Banshee, a free download for Linux systems."
• Status Screen Saver Brings Desktop Notifications to Your Screen Saver (Mac)
  "Donationware application Status Screen Saver adds status notification badges for popular Mac apps like Mail, NetNewsWire, and Twitteriffic, to the bottom of your monitor while your screensaver is playing."
• iSlsk Soulseek Client Downloads Music to Your iPhone and iPod Touch (iPhone and iPod touch)
  "Freeware application iSlsk is a Soulseek peer-to-peer client for the iPhone and iPod touch which can download MP3s from the Soulseek network directly to your device."
• Always Show Gmail's CC: Field User Script (Firefox with Greasemonkey)
  "If you often use the CC or BCC field in Gmail but you're sick of clicking on the 'Add CC' and 'Add BCC' link to do so, we've got a pair of user scripts for you."
• BrowserPlus Offers Drag and Drop Uploads and More (Windows and Mac)
  "Yahoo unveils a "sneak peek" of a new product that aims to bridge the gap between your web browser and desktop—BrowserPlus, a desktop utility that enables richer browser interaction, like drag and drop file uploads."
• Senuti Copies Music from Your iPhone or iPod Touch to Your Mac (Mac)
  "The newest beta release of previously mentioned Senuti—a utility that copies music from your iPod to your computer—now supports the iPhone and iPod touch."
• Ophcrack Live CD Cracks Windows Passwords (Windows)
  "All systems with access to a Windows partition: The free, open source Windows password cracker, Ophcrack Live CD, has updated to version 3.0 with faster cracking, a better interface, and an all-new Vista version."

Filed under: misc hacks

Wired recently posted an article and video detailing our friend [Chris Tarnovsky]'s process for hacking smart cards. In the video, [Chris] shows how he strips away physical components of the chips inside the smartcards using various gadgets and chemicals.

The first step is to remove the chip from its plastic frame. After soaking it in acid for about 10 minutes, the epoxy is removed and the chip is exposed. After that the outer layer is loosened by soaking the chip in two solutions of acetone, the second being the "clean" one. Then the chip is placed on a hotplate where a drop of fuming nitric acid is applied with a dropper; the chip is washed again in an ultrasonic cleaner, removing any residue left.

[Chris] then returns the chip to the card. He will apply nail polish to act as a masking material. He scratches a hole through the polish with a needle held by a micro positioner in the area of interest. The hole is treated with hydrofluoric acid and then etched in short intervals until the desired layer of silicon is exposed. At this point, the card is fully prepped.

Now by powering the chip with the needle resting on the bus, [Chris] can read the code on the chip by sending it various commands and watching how it reacts. To see more of [Chris]'s reverse engineering work, check out Flylogic Engineering's Analytical Blog. It's a enjoyable read even if you're new to silicon hacking.

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Filed under: Wearables

This day and age, there's really no excuse to have too little room in your average pair of cargo shorts for all the gadgets needed in a day. Convergence and shrinking PCBs have left us with do-it-all handhelds that can fit in the rear pockets of size 2 jeans on a size 4 gal, so really, you have exactly zero reasons to actually buy that abomination pictured above. If you must know, the FreeHand is a wearable neoprene pocket that keeps your keys, flash drives, RSA token and chump change within easy reach, and if you're lucky, you may be able to convince the boss it's being worn to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome. Folks who haven't listened to a word we just said can ignite a Jackson right now -- or spend $19.95 on this, same difference.

[Via Coolest-Gadgets]

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Dallas' Southern Methodist University is now recycling energy with one of the first commercial electricity generators that use thermoelectricity—the act of drawing power from waste heat. The machine operates by using heat given off by other processes (such as manufacturing) to boil liquids, which then turn into steam, which then turns an electricity-generating turbine.

ElectraTherm's Waste Heat Generators recover heat from various sources without any specialized electronics or hard-to-maintain components. By boiling water up to 200°F, the generator can produce from 25kW to 1MW of fuel-free, emission-free electricity.

About 50% of all fuel burned by industrial sources becomes "waste heat." Though businesses can try to use fuel as efficiently as possible, nearly seven quadrillion Btu of waste heat still escapes to do nothing but warm the atmosphere. But ElectraTherm says that its products, if used widely, could recover the equivalent electric output of 92 500MW gas-fired power plants.

The company says that the university will recoup its purchase cost in three to four years, with electricity costing about three to four cents per kwH during that time. After the payback period, the cost per kWH will drop to less than a penny. If only ElectraTherm's machines could be hooked up to the hot air our politicians will spew come election day, then all our nation's energy problems would be solved. [Electratherm via Cnet]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Frighteningly enough, this isn't the first (or second) time that we've seen scientists pat themselves on the back for creating a mind-reading machine, but a dedicated team from Carnegie Mellon has just announced a computer that "has been trained to read people's minds by looking at scans of their brains as they thought about specific words." In a completely unsurprising move, gurus familiar with the development are suggesting that the breakthrough could be used to better understand how the brain organizes knowledge, and eventually, treat language disorders and learning disabilities more effectively. That's all gravy from here, but when this stuff starts passing as evidence in court, you'll know it's time to seriously investigate a relocation to Mars.

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