tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109313522024-02-20T21:54:00.773-05:00pillowblogbroadcasting over a series of tubes.pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-4005675788082786362011-02-04T22:44:00.000-05:002011-02-04T22:44:13.394-05:00Cheapest LCD wall mount<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NIcyZf5xBfU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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<font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-69711433463212265532010-08-21T02:01:00.002-04:002010-08-21T02:02:25.743-04:00Instant Dance Party<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/J-syOsFH_ls?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/J-syOsFH_ls?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br />
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So much fun - Do want.<br />
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It looks like the cheaper ones are around $150 on ebay.<br />
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This one has DMX (whuuuuut!) control and can also use sound-activation mode to act like a good ol' light organ.<br />
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- appillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-42307861949268957792010-08-20T03:13:00.003-04:002010-08-20T03:18:41.354-04:00Shitty Bike BMX<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lobp2KHc9Sg?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lobp2KHc9Sg?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><div><br /></div><div>Hitting up Union square with a shitty bike and sick moves.</div><div><br /></div><div>Shot with a Nikon D90 and Tokina 11-16 2.8 AT-X</div><div><br /></div><div>The handlebar cam is a Kodak ZX1 clamped to the bike with a Manfrotto superclamp.</div><div><br /></div><div>I was surprised at how well the D90 performed in low light - also how well the ultra-wide angle lens kept down the camera shake (no wonder the skater kids use super wide fish-eyes)</div><div><br /></div><div>A lot of fun to make</div><div><br /></div><div>-ap</div>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-18580194717201565432008-04-27T23:45:00.003-04:002008-04-27T23:53:59.107-04:00the 90º wavelan hack<!-- name --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum79.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/35.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br />no updates for a while eh?<br /><br />Well here's a simple little hack... getting an Orinoco Wavelan Silver to fit in a G4 Quicksilver. If you've ever tried - the wavelan card works nicely as a natively supported Airport card in the OS... but the way the G4's motherboard is laid out, the antenna end of the card gets in the way of the case closing! <br /><br />So after using the machine for a while with its side flipped down, I tried to find an <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum79.html">answer</a>...<br /><br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-61066288190771632622007-11-23T13:30:00.000-05:002007-11-23T13:43:24.182-05:00Remote control lights<!-- name --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum78.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/34.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br />So this week I did another little hack around the home - its a remote controlled light. Basically its just this <a href="www.kitsrus.com/pdf/k82.pdf">kit for a 2 channel wireless remote</a>, and the receiver has two little relays to switch a circuit, and its just switching the lights on and off. Nothing super special. <br /><br />A couple cool things is that the receiver runs off the same 12V that the lights do, which is very convenient - it doesn't need a separate power supply. And well the remote looks kinda cool too - I made it into something that looks not unlike an explosives detonator or perhaps a freight elevator button or something. <br /><br />Thats pretty much it.<br /><br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-13828294359120177812007-11-08T11:32:00.000-05:002007-11-09T00:22:27.518-05:00frankenstein light switch<!-- name --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum77.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/33.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br />So for a little home-improvement hacking this time, I installed a sweet knife switch to turn on/off the ikea lights i put up in my kitchen.<br /><br />You can use a switch that has bare contacts like a knife switch as long as the power that is running through the circuit is SAFE - 12 volts or so - and even then, don't short the contacts with a fork or what have you, because it will still make a big spark and scare the children.<br /><br />Anyhow if you click the button above for the photo gallery, or watch the video below you'll see how I did it - though I didn't explain too clearly exactly how the switch is wired up - all you gotta do is make it so that the switch connects and disconnects the power from the lights. And if you're not familiar enough to do that, DONT TRY, because you probably also won't know if the power you're using is 12 volts or not :P<br /><br />By the way, did I mention how you should NOT use this kind of switch on anything but a safe voltage like 12 volts? TWELVE VOLTS OR LESS PLEASE.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4766BMCkeck&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4766BMCkeck&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/11/frankensteinian_knife_swi.html" title="featured on make:blog"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/make.png" align="right"></a><a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2007/11/08/frankenstein-light-s.html" title="featured on boingboing"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/boingboing.png" align="right"></a><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-46997282249768219812007-03-03T23:38:00.001-05:002007-03-17T22:44:45.380-04:00chocolatey os X<!-- chocolate and os x --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum74.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/31.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br />I recently got a LG Chocolate (vx 8500) with Telus, and phew... I like this phone. Out of the box it has no connectivity with OS X through iSync, and I couldn't find any third party application that provides elegant support for the vx8500. Anyhow... after searching around the net a bit I found out how to (somewhat inelegantly) connect with my iBook over Bluetooth and back up the contact list files from the phone, as well as upload mp3 ringtones, and otherwise fiddle with the filesystem.<br /><br />I have made you a <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum74.html">fancy graphical tutorial</a>.<br /><br />The software to connect to the phone is called BitPim (0.9.11 to be specific) - the version I used is from <a href="http://appleology.com/">Appleology</a> and is <a href="http://appleology.com/files/BitPim.dmg">here</a>.<br /><br />A note on making ringtones... I used <a href="http://audacity.sourceforge.net/">Audacity</a> to: <br />1. crop the files to 15 seconds <br />2. fade out the end of the sound file <br />3. amplify the clip to make it loud enough <br />4. use the equalizer to cut out the lower frequencies to keep the phone's little speaker from going clunk clunk clunk.<br /><br />So yea, so far I found the following folders on the filesystem:<br /><br />/pim (seems to be phonebook information and call log)<br />/brew/16452/ms (my sounds - midi files)<br />/brew/16452/mp (my pictures)<br />/brew/16452/mds (mp3 ringtones)<br />/mmc1 (the microSD card (if installed?))<br /><br />update: I got a USB cable off ebay (appears to be a simple straight through cable, labeled as a cable for the LG KG800 - guess its the same plug.) Anyhow its much faster than bluetooth, which is good when transferring mp3 files. To use the USB cable instead, in bitpim prefs click the "browse..." button beside the com port field, and <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/usbChocolate.png">select the entry for the chocolate. (click for screenshot.)</a><br /><br />oh and here is a:<br /><br /><font color="ff0000">disclaimer!!!<br /><font size=1> this information is provided without guarantee nor warranty nor confidence that it will not kill your cat. if you mess up your phone and it blinks black and white and makes crying noises when you sleep, or anything else unpleasant happens, i take no responsibility for it. </font></font><br /><br />Now if only OS X would support <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Distribution_Profile">A2DP</a> so that my <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/19/plantronics-pulsar-590-headphones-reviewed/">sweet ass BT headphones</a> would work satisfactorily for music.<br /><br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1172976716010170502007-03-03T21:46:00.000-05:002007-03-03T21:51:56.010-05:00dvorak iBook<!-- dvorak ibook --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum73.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/30.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br />I did it quite a while ago - but I switched around the keys on my iBook to dvorak... I didn't think it was that interesting, but a dvorak thinkpad made it as a <a href="http://www.hackaday.com/2007/03/01/diy-dvorak-keyboards/">feature on hackaday</a>... so whatever, thought I'd post about it.<br /><br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1165209776327209462006-12-04T00:13:00.000-05:002007-01-03T05:56:44.226-05:00bluetooth to rca<!-- bluetooth to rca --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum69.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/29.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br />Tired of looking like you're talking to yourself walking while down the street? Turn your bluetooth headset into a wireless audio interface!<br /><br />I had this bluetooth headset from goodwill for $5 which had a dead battery (see bluetooth starset project below) and I had nothing better to do with it than make it connect to my hi-fi for some <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum69.html">wireless audio fun</a>...<br /><br />Though the single-channel (mono) and very low sample rate (8kHz) makes for far from audiophile quality sound... the thing does work and I might find it useful some day. Maybe with skype/gizmo or something. Possible other cool things about it can be using it as a speakerphone with a bluetooth cell phone, or pocket pc... Any other ideas?<br /><br />Update:<br /><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum70.html">now it has</a> a switch for pairing and on/off, as well as a 3.5mm jack and access to the LEDs...<br /><a href="http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/12/bluetooth_to_rc.html" title="featured on makezine"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/make.png" align="right"></a><a href="http://www.hackaday.com/2006/12/07/late-night-mini-extra/" title="featured on hackaday"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/hackaday.png" align="right"></a> <br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1163836696430222222006-11-18T02:52:00.000-05:002006-11-18T03:04:04.416-05:00wall player<!-- wall player --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum68.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/28.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br />I dropped my cheapo mp3 cd player and broke the hinge and volume button etc... so I tore it all apart and figured i'd make something with it.<br /><br />The hi-fi I have in my bedroom lacks mp3 playback... so if I hooked it up there it would be of some use.<br /><br />Now how to house the unit... hmmm. Maybe I'll use the house! hahah... you'll get the homonymic joke when you <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum68.html">see the pictures</a>.<br /><br />Looks kinda like something from B&O in my humble opinion.<br /><br /> <font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1163620899147899012006-11-15T14:54:00.001-05:002007-01-03T05:57:13.263-05:00shower button<!-- shower button --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum66.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/27.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br />Don't you just hate it when you're rocking out <a href="http://pillowcase1.blogspot.com/2006/03/singing-in-shower.html">in the shower</a> with your itunes on shuffle and then that track you hate comes on and you have to just wait for it to end because you're too wet to go out to your computer? I know I did...<br /><br />Anyhow I made this button that solves the problem. Its really easy to make with stuff you probably have lying around. (an old mouse, wire, couple little boxes, a switch...) <br /><br /><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum66.html">Click here to see it</a><br /><br />Just to note, for the wire that runs from the box to the switch, I used a cheap 20' audio cable which i split into the two cables and cut off the ends... it looks neat and tidy especially when its stapled to the wall, and won't look twisted because both wires are in one tube. <br /><br />oh yea and its mac/win/linux compatible :)<br /><br />oh and a bit of a <font color="ff0000">warning</font> - though the voltage through the circuit couldn't exceed 5v during normal circumstances... its possible for lighting to find its way through your computer and into into your shower and shock you to death... so thats not my fault if you make something like this and you die or get hurt in any way. because i warned you. <br /><a href="http://www.hackaday.com/2006/11/15/design-challenge-mini-extra/" title="featured on hackaday"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/hackaday.png" align="right"></a> <br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1147927883909942502006-05-18T00:32:00.000-04:002007-01-03T13:21:15.406-05:00282 240 000 pixels<!-- 147 screens --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum60.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/24.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br />update: It seems the gallery page got slashdotted or something... I came home and I was getting like 10 hits a second - was at <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/12593_2.png">over 12000</a> when I killed the page. Anyhow I didn't want it to be a broad public thing, so I took it offline for the sake of the guys I made it for. Thanks for the interest, though :D<br /><br />update: Yea I got <a href="http://digg.com/hardware/282%2C240%2C000_pixels_..._Truly_awesome_monitor_setup">digged</a>. I didn't sign an NDA about the job or anything, but I really wouldn't want to get sued... so I took the gallery down. Again, thanks for your interest<br /><a href="http://digg.com/hardware/282%2C240%2C000_pixels_..._Truly_awesome_monitor_setup" title="frontpage digg"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/digg.png" align="right"></a><br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1142053181950294952006-03-10T23:42:00.000-05:002006-03-11T00:07:31.100-05:00Singing in the shower<!-- A/V --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum58.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/23.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br />Haven't done any real special hacks - but thought y'all might like my A/V system I just did up at my flat. I always wanted to have good sound when I'm in the shower, so I put a speaker in the bathroom. I figure it doesn't get _that_ humid in there, and the speaker I'm using has plastic and aluminum drivers with rubber seals, so its not going to deteriorate like a paper one would. And since I had another I put it in the kitchen - which helps keep the sound quality consistent as one roams the apartment.<br /><br />I have two amps hooked up to the one computer which plays the music. One amp drives the two speakers on either side of the monitor as well as the subwoofer under the shelf - and then the other amp is daisy chained to the first amp, and goes to the speaker in the bathroom and kitchen. <br /><br />So yea, all it takes is some long wire, couple shelf brackets and a staple gun to run the wire and keep it neat<br /><br />The next thing I'm planning is a security system... But we'll see.<br /><br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1136921639857693252006-01-10T14:22:00.000-05:002007-01-03T05:58:57.510-05:00emate clock<!-- emate clock --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum56.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/22.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br />So yea a while back I bought a bunch of <a href="http://www.apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=emate&performa=off&sort=date&order=ASC">emates</a> on ebay, and fixed them up etc. I have a box of parts left over - and I realized they'd make a very quick and sweet little computer-on-the-wall like my <a href="http://pillowcase1.blogspot.com/2005/12/after-dark-machine.html">afterdark machine</a>. So I made one into a nice big clock, which is nice because I wanted a big clock too. This time I spent no time mounting the parts in a case, I just have one screw holding the screen to the board, and tape holds the rest of the weight of the screen. And then there's two screws into the wall to hold it up. You can see it all in the <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum56.html">gallery</a>.<br /><br />The software that is drawing the big digital clock is <a href="http://cs.gmu.edu/~sean/">Sean Luke's</a> <a href="http://cs.gmu.edu/~sean/projects/newton/BigCountdown/">BigCountdown</a> which draws a very spiffy big timeometer. (mad props to Sean)<br /><br />Oh yea and because the thing has a battery pack, I can unplug it without loosing the time right away -- unlike those damn clock radios!!! w000.<br /><a href="http://www.hackaday.com/" title="featured on hackaday"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/hackaday.png" align="right"></a><a href="http://www.tuaw.com/2006/01/12/wall-clock-from-newton-emate-spare-parts/" title="featured on the unofficial apple weblog"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/tuaw.png" align="right"></a><br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1135566842463212132005-12-25T22:09:00.000-05:002007-01-29T10:40:30.903-05:00the after dark machine<!-- after dark --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum55.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/21.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br />So I found my <a href="http://pillowcase1.blogspot.com/2005/03/boxmac-mk2.html">boxmac</a> sitting in a box - and thought I should do something with it. Also, I found a copy of AfterDark at a used book store for $2 and wanted to make some dedicated box that would run flying toasters all teh time. I was thinking of using a Mac SE or something, but the boxmac does it <i>in color</i>. So yea now its on my wall doing flying toasters - I might make a nicer mounting for it, but probably not. Check out the <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/flyingtoasters.mov">movie</a> I made of it, too.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zGczLGyA0rE"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zGczLGyA0rE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br /><br />update: I like how its silent. Makes it kinda creepy.<br /><br />update: I removed the tape that held the box in place - I made it mount better, now it has a hole in the back of the box which hooks onto the screw in the wall. And I updated the gallery with the much nicer box.<br /><br />update: Hasn't crashed once in the last 5 months - and my friend Jon took a new really <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/afterdarkmachine.jpg">nice picture of it</a>.<br /><br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1135277359047012362005-12-22T13:46:00.000-05:002005-12-22T13:52:20.166-05:00fastest CLI evar<!-- glterm --><a href="http://www.pollet.net/GLterm/"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/20.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for site]</font><br /><br />I have only ever paid for two shareware programs - <br /><br />The first one I bought was called <a href="http://www.mrollins.com/newtsys.html">Barkeep</a>; A little program for Newton that lets you customize the button bar to make it smaller and stuff - fit more icons, etc.<br /><br />And just recently I paid for <a href="http://www.pollet.net/GLterm/">GLterm</a>: a terminal application for OS X that renders in OpenGL. Why is that good? You should try it to see why, but basically - its many times faster than OS X's built in term, and the other terminal I tried <a href="http://iterm.sourceforge.net/">iTerm</a>. Why does the speed of a text interface matter? It doesn't really matter a whole lot but I sure like it. Also, the fact that I am using extremely advanced graphic processing hardware to render text... is just - well - so awesome.<br /><br />If you want to see what I mean by faster - go download GLterm. Then in your default OS X terminal, run the command <br /><br /><font face="courier">cat /dev/random</font> <br /><br />and then do the same thing in GLterm.<br /><br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1131650737778531932005-11-10T14:13:00.000-05:002005-11-17T11:54:30.700-05:00Hack the planet<!-- Amanah --><a href="http://www.amanah.com"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/19.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for site]</font><br /><br />I haven't updated in a while because I just recently got a job and <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum53.html">moved out</a>. I'm still <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/hack_the_planet.jpg">hacking the planet</a>, but yea, only from 9-5. :)<br /><br />I'm managing racks of servers at a <a href="http://www.amanah.com">webhost</a> at <a href="http://www.151frontstreet.com/">151 Front st</a>. So if you need some colocation or dedicated hosting, give me a ring.<br /><br />Anyhow an upshot is I gots me a <a href="http://pillownet.ath.cx/">sweet server</a> set up. Its <a href="http://pillownet.ath.cx/grapefruit/JFDS/JFDSwpweb.mov">not doing much</a> right now, but it my Dual P3 866 on a 100Mb net link. <br /><br />But I'll be needing to hack together some cool stuff for my apartment... I'll definitely blog it up.<br /><br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1121968738776679342005-07-21T13:49:00.000-04:002005-07-21T14:01:43.166-04:00In-Case sound<!-- in case sound --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum52.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/18.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br />I got really tired of not having sound coming from my PC when it didnt have any headphones plugged in, so I put a small audio amp and speaker inside the case.<br /><br />I tried running it off the 12V line off the ATX powersupply, but for some reason the sound output would be all noisy with ticks and buzzes from the hard drive and motherboard and stuff... I don't know much about audio electronics so I don't know what I can do about it. So instead its running off a powersupply thats outside the case... much less elegant but it works. If anyone knows why it isn't working with the ATX power supply, let me know.<br /><br />The next step is to make a front panel volume knob, as well as a plate in the back of the case with a jack that will pass through the line out if I plug in headphones instead.<br /><br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1120754493848242542005-07-07T12:17:00.000-04:002007-01-13T08:53:34.626-05:00Ethernet LED<!--Ethernet LED --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum51.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/17.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br />I found this freaking cool package yesterday called <a href="http://users.tkk.fi/~jlohikos/tleds_orig.html">tleds</a> which blinks the keyboard LED's when there's ethernet traffic. It blinks the Num lock for traffic down, and the Scroll lock for traffic up. Anyhow, I like this thing a whole lot... but I thought... what about the resources! This package is taking a whole like .03% of my CPU at least! So I needed a hardware solution...<br /><br />It costs a whole $.25: All you need is a pair of wires (a twisted pair from a cat 5 cable works nicely), and a piece of <a href="http://www.shinning.com.cn/products/serial_pic/1201L.jpg">1 row pin header</a> (click for an example of what that is). And some shrink tube if you're feeling professional. Oh and soldering skill... and a soldering iron +1.<br /><br />I took <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum51.html">pictures</a> so you could see how you do it, but basically, wire the led on your ethernet card to the pins, and plug the pins into the Turbo LED plug. And some pointers: The ethernet card will have one LED that tells you that it's plugged in at all, and the other one blinks when there's some data going through... You'd want to use the one that blinks, because its far more interesting than just a solid light. Polarity isn't a big deal, if it doesn't work when plugged in one way, just turn the plug around and it should work. Oh yes... and a disclaimer:<br /><br /><font size=1>Disclaimer: This information is provided with NO WARRANTY. The author takes no responsibility for the actions of other persons who may attempt to execute the described actions. So if you misinterpret Turbo LED for 220v power line and ethernet card for mom, and hurt your mom, or hurt anything else including your self, or feel sad because you broke your ethernet card, or burn yourself soldering, or whatever else that you might want to blame me for, It is not my fault.</font><br /><a href="http://www.hackaday.com/2005/07/08/hackaday-lazy-afternoons/" title="featured on hackaday"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/hackaday.png" align="right"></a><a href="http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2005/07/how_to_make_an.html" title="featured on makeblog"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/make.png" align="right"></a><a href="http://digg.com/mods/Ethernet_LED" title="digg it"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/digg.png" align="right"></a> <br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1119974524282142982005-06-28T12:01:00.000-04:002005-12-25T22:08:58.660-05:00On teh air<!-- radio --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum50.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/16.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br />I set up my internet radio broadcast down at <a href="http://www.linuxcaffe.com/">Linux Caffe</a>. They were lacking in 8bit musical goodness, so I had to fill the void with <a href="http://creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons</a> (a license for media that makes it free to distribute) music from the <a href="http://www.8bitpeoples.com">8 bit peoples</a>. But people got tired of the 8 bit real fast so I eventually killed the broadcast and played my normal playlist (the Hackers soundtrack).<br /><br />The setup allowed people to tune in over the internet using winamp, or itunes, or xmms (linux mp3 player), and listen. As well there was an amp and speakers so people in the cafe could hear. I drew a <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/model%20m%20radio/radio_diagram.gif">diagram</a> so you can see the setup. The way it worked was that I had my iBook playing the music with iTunes, and it was hooked up to a normal audio mixer. Also into the mixer was a microphone, and I've also had an acoustic pickup attached to my model M keyboard so that you could hear the clicking of typing in the background. Then the mixer was plugged into both the audio amplifier, so people could listen in the cafe, and also went into the line in of the audio card on the linux box. And the linux box would encode (encode means to translate data... in this case it would encode the normal audio data into mp3) the audio from the sound card into mp3, and then broadcast the mp3 stream. It was then broadcast to my buddy Troy's server, and he was rebroadcasting to all the listeners, so we wouldn't use up the cafe's bandwidth.<br /><br />Its easy to set up your own mp3 stream. If your on a Mac, <a href="http://www.rogueamoeba.com/nicecast/">Nicecast</a> is an awesome piece of software, and worth the $$$ if you have it. If you're an a Linux or Win box, you can use <a href="http://www.shoutcast.com/download/broadcast.phtml">Shoutcast</a>. With Shoutcast you need to be running a Shoutcast server, and a Shoutcast source plugin for either Winamp or Xmms.<br /><br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1117331045636374212005-05-28T21:38:00.000-04:002005-07-06T11:57:08.556-04:00Model M<!-- Model M --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum4.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/15.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br /><br /><I><Center>You and your machine <br />Command input positive <br />Affirmative click</Center></I><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_M">Model M</a> at Wikipedia<br /><a href="http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=IBM%20Model%20M%20Keyboard">Model M</a> @ everything2<br />Type hard or go home: <a href="http://www.modelm.org/">modelm.org</a><br /><a href="http://ohlandl.kev009.com/keyboard/Keyboard.html">MCA Militia's PS/2 KB page</a><br /><a href="http://www.geocities.com/jszybowski/keyboard/">Model M resistor mod</a><br /><a href="http://groups.myspace.com/modelm">Model M gang</a><br /><br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1116399673093984682005-05-18T02:25:00.001-04:002005-05-18T12:53:44.566-04:00Dish Testing<!-- Dish testing --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum5.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/14.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br />I've been playing with WiFi lately and one of the things I want to know how to do is improve the range of network. Well there are a few ways to do this. You can get an amplifier... which will make the signal stronger through electronics (like a guitar amp makes a guitar louder.) But amplifiers for WiFi are damn expensive. You can also buy antenna's which will improve range... but they're also expensive. Antennas can also be made... but they're pretty tricky... I've tried a couple and they haven't been effective. Finally, there is a solution that is by far the easiest and cheapest... using a <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/primerun.gif">parabolic reflector</a> to focus the signal at a plain old WiFi adaptor. Like a satellite dish. In fact. We used a satellite dish.<br /><br />(Skip to the next paragraph if you're not a techie.) It started when I picked up a very nice little USB WiFi adaptor, the <a href="http://www.dlink.com/images/products/DWL-122/DWL-122_view.jpg">DWL 122</a>. USB adaptors are ideal for using with reflectors because they can be easily mounted, and the only line you have running any long distance is USB... which has no loss. If instead you used an external antenna connected to a WiFi card or some such, the loss from the coax cable and plugs can be very great (so I've learned from the 2600 radio guys :D ). <br /><br />So anyhow <a href="http://projectprime.com/~jonoid/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi">Jon</a> and I tested out using a satellite dish to extend the range a WiFi connection. Using an iBook on one end, and an Airport base station in the back of a tricycle for the other point, we check the signal of the connection at various distances. First we tried without the dish, then we tried using the dish. And the results were quite suprising! The dish made the long distance connections far stronger... heres a <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/dishgraph.png">graph of the results</a>.<br /><br />Now the satellite dish we used (I know there's no good picture of it, sorry :P ) its quite large and not very portable. Could be good for mounting on a roof for a link between buildings, but its not practical for wardriving or the like. So in search of smaller dishes I came across <a href="http://www.usbwifi.orcon.net.nz/">this site</a> on using inexpensive chinese cookware as parabolic reflectors. They seemed to be getting good results from using these things so off to china town it was and I picked up a <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-05-16%2023.51.31%20-0700/Image-344334DCC69E11D9.jpg">skimmer thing</a> and made a <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum37.html">neat little dish</a> from it. I haven't tested it yet, but next time Jon's around we'll set up the tricycle again.<br /><br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1116300657286848712005-05-16T22:53:00.000-04:002007-01-04T01:29:46.026-05:00Carriage of War<!-- carriage of war--><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum2.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/13.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br />Back in the day, before the internet provided plenty of computers to talk to; hackers would find find computers to connect to by wardialing. Wardialing is getting your computer with a modem to dial every number... 555 5551, 555 5552, 555 5553, 555 5554 etc. until it would find a computer on the other end to connect to. From there you could try various ways of getting into that system. Now with the internet, theres millions of machines that are an internet address away and theres no need to dial...<br /><br />But the name and idea of wardialing has been used with the newer form of networking computers - Wireless networking (WiFi). You can find wireless networks by driving down your street with your laptop looking for and logging down all the wireless networks in range. This is wardriving. There's also been warflying is small airplanes etc etc. And also warwalking... just walking down the street with your pocketpc or more awkwardly, a laptop. <br /><br />So I made the Carriage of War... its a baby-carriage with the payload of <br />A) my iBook <br />B) a USB WiFi adaptor <br />C) a car battery<br />D) a power inverter (for turning the 12V car battery into a 115V AC supply)<br />E) a boombox<br /><br />Now the iBook and the USB WiFi adaptor are for finding networks, but why the car battery, power inverter and boombox? Well because the wifi sniffing software I use called <a href="http://binaervarianz.de/projekte/programmieren/kismac/">Kismac</a> has an awesome feature that it can play a noise when it finds a network, and it can also speak the info about what network it found using the Macintalk text-to-speech. So car battery and power inverter is for powering the boombox which would amplify Kismac's sound output for all to enjoy :D<br /><br />So anyhow I brought it to the last midmeet of <a href="http://www.to2600.org/">toronto 2600</a> and we walked it around the neighborhood which happened to be full of technology and media companies... <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=toronto+canada&ll=43.637449,-79.422795&spn=0.005890,0.006137&t=k&hl=en">[Google Map]</a> It was tonnes of fun... there were lots of networks and the sound of Ralph (a mac voice) and the fight club soundtrack in the background got people to stick their heads out of their offices.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HEc1-b4Ijnw"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HEc1-b4Ijnw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object><br /><br />The next thing I want to do is rig up my <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-05-16%2021.33.35%20-0700/Image-16E1C0D7C68B11D9.jpg">tricycle</a> as the tricycle of war... with like an extra seat in the back and a Yagi on a turret... That would ROCK.<br /><a href="http://www.digg.com/mods/Baby_Carriage_modded_for_Wardriving(walking)" title="digg it"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/digg.png" align="right"></a><a href="http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/06/carriage_of_war.html" title="featured on make:blog"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/make.png" align="right"></a><a href="http://www.tuaw.com/2007/01/03/wartoddling-the-next-generation-of-wardriving/" title="featured on tuaw"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/tuaw.png" align="right"></a><br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1116289847585289452005-05-16T20:23:00.000-04:002005-07-21T14:04:02.370-04:00Desktop iPod<!-- ipod --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum1.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/12.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br /><br />So firstly I got this first generation iPod and it had a dead hard drive and battery. And since a hard drive for one of these units is costs about as much as a whole other iPod, I decided it must be hacked! Someone figured out that the pinout for the iPod hard drive was exactly the same as standard IDE and hooked up a full size 3.5" drive. The details are <a href="http://www.command-tab.com/index.php/ipod-super">here</a>. So I did just that... Many hours of soldering tiny wires later, it <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-05-16%2016.50.18%20-0700/Image-201F0240C66411D9.jpg">worked</a>! Sorta... The thing loads the firmware and starts up like an iPod, and runs the interface fine, which is good because it needs to read the hard drive to do that. But... for some reason it konks out when I try and play an Mp3. otherwise its fine :/<br /><br />I don't feel like doing anything with it now, but some day I might hack together a box with the iPod and some bigo harddrive and it can be a stereo component.<br /><br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10931352.post-1111625164905890062005-03-23T19:42:00.000-05:002005-05-18T02:01:26.643-04:00Boxmac Mk2<!-- boxmac --><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbumold29.html"><img src="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/thumbs/10.jpg"></a><br /><font size=1>[click photo for gallery]</font><br />So here's what I was hinting at... its my <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-03-23%2016.24.42%20-0800/Image-1708A39B9BFA11D9.jpg">Rev A iBook</a> in an <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-03-23%2016.24.42%20-0800/Image-1708D4EC9BFA11D9.jpg">aluminum box</a>.<br /><br />Its together and working in a sort of temporary setup... I gotta give it final stuff... like a proper power jack, powerbutton, ethernet port... stand... vent... etc. But it has basic functionality now. Oh... it would be nice to give it airport too... could have an external whip antenna coming out the back. Hmmm.<br /><br />Anyhow. <br /><br />The specs are that its a G3 running at 400mhz, with a dvd drive and a 30 GB IBM Travelstar... oh and 256Meg ram. It'll be a nice little backup machine once I get it nicely smoothed out.<br /><br />Update: I posted a <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/pillowcase1/PhotoAlbum40.html">gallery</a> of the Boxmac Mk2 Running in OS X. Its looks damn cool when running :D<br /><br /><font size=1>[ click over there to leave a comment ---> ]</font>pillowcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05011935237872338040noreply@blogger.com1