NEW YORK (Billboard) – In the wee hours of the morning on Monday, September 14, Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne was signing autographs after his band performed at upstate New York’s All Tomorrow’s Parties festival when a burly young fan approached him with a length of industrial strap. Coyne recognized it as one of his own, used for tying down equipment like the large cannons that shoot confetti into the crowd throughout the band’s stage show. The fan told Coyne the strap had been shot out of the cannon and hit him in the chest, but he calmly handed it…
Business
Flaming Lips dial down the whimsy on “Embryonic”
Hack
Beer brewer’s temperature controller
Steady fermentation temperatures, usually at about 65 degrees Fahrenheit, are an important part of brewing beer. Because of this, the wort (unfermented beer) is often temperature controlled during fermentation. [android] needed a temperature controller for fermenting beer in a chest freezer. Much like the energy efficient fridge hack from last month, the chest freezer is switched on and off to achieve the desired temperature. Instead of buying a controller, [android] built around an existing design. His project uses a solid state relay to switch an outlet on and off.
The temperature is controlled by a home thermostat. He removed…
Hack
Collect and analyze ECG data
Although we’ve covered DIY ECGs before, [Scott Harden] sent in his version that gives an in-depth explanation of what to do with the collected data. He built a basic battery-powered op-amp-based ECG for under $1. The circuit just amplifies the signal from the chest leads and feeds it into a computer via the microphone port. He then used GoldWave to record, filter, and save the signal. From there, he used python to analyze the heartbeat and calculate his heart rate and further manipulate the data. His previous blog posts go into more detail on how the python code works…
Automotive
Dirt Bike Racing
What’s so good about dirt bike racing? The adrenalin is flowing, heart beat racing and blood pumping;the dirt bike racing is about to begin. As far as adrenalinfuelled sports go, you don’t get much more action packed thandirt bike racing. It’s fast, and to coin a well-used phrase,it’s furious. People from age to age love the thrill andregularly take part in dirt bike racing. What should I consider when dirt bike racing? First and foremost, you should consider your safety. The verynature of dirt bike racing as a sport means it’s dangerous andit’s even more dangerous if you don’t take…
Hack
Slothra, Arduino powered plushy sloth
[Daniel] sent in this project. He tells us it’s an Arduino powered kid’s toy that “furiously swings his arms” when you squeeze his chest. As you can see in the video on the site, furious is up for interpretation. It is a sloth though, maybe that’s sloth furious. While it is cute and we do applaud the effort, anyone with children will agree that this is a step down in destruction for a 3 year old. You’re going to have to spice it up a bit, or give it a timer and make it free standing, make it roar…
