[Viacheslav] built a keypad that uses human capacitance to detect key presses. Unlike normal keys which close a physical connection, his project detects touch through the PCB substrate. He uses the ADC capabilities of an AVR ATmega8 to measure a change in capacitor charges for each sensor in the keypad.
He’s posted the schematic, Eagle files, and source code with his writeup. He also points to a document on the theory behind this: QMatrix Technology White Paper (PDF). We’re impressed at how simple the circuit is: a microcontroller, capacitors, resistors, and a homemade PCB.

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Realtek AC 39 97 Audio Driver for Windows Vista supports all ALC series audio chipsets from ALC101 up to ALC861 It is used as onboard sound on many motherboards Compatible with ALC 101 201 202 203 250 650 655 658 850 chipsets It is highly recommended to always use the most recent driver version available Featuring four 16 bit two channel DACs and a stereo 16 bit ADC the ALC850 is an AC 39 97 Rev 2 3 compatible multi channel audio CODEC designed for PC multimedia systems The ALC850 incorporates proprietary converter technology and fully meets performance requirements for…

Google has opened up a new Android Developer Challenge for submissions. About $2,000,000 in prize money is available, with $250,000 going to the best overall app. Submissions are due by August 31, leaving about a week to get apps in for judging. Time is short, but the prizes are big. Hopefully we’ll see some exciting things come from the contestants now that the community has grown since the previous ADC in 2008.
[via Phandroid]

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This project provides an opportunity to conduct near space experiments. The flight computer, BalloonSat Extreme, is controlled by a BASIC Stamp 2pe. The complete BOM with PCB artwork is provided. There is enough hardware to control cameras, servos, a Gps, and five digital I/O. The computer is also equipped with a 12 bit ADC to log experiment results. The device seems limited to 30KB of storage. Though the author suggests this memory limitation is more than adequate, we are wondering if an implementation of the Nyquist sampling theorem is in use at all. For further reading the author has…

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