Back in 2005, a member of a French robotics team named [Laurent] wrote a wonderful how-to that we somehow missed on using the Game Boy Camera as a vision device for a robot. The images above are actual shots from his project. The Game Boy Camera features a stunning 128×123 pixel resolution in a gorgeous 4 color gray-scale palette. Possibly the most attractive feature of this hack is that it is still possible to get a hold of these cameras for under ten dollars on ebay.
He connected the camera sensor to an Atmel AT90S4433 using a combination of…
Hack
Vintage Hack – Game Boy Camera
Hack
Barcode scanner in Processing
Reader [Nikolaus] decided that instead of using an existing image based bar code decoder, he would write his own. Using the Processing language he created a scanner that parsed the black and white pattern when a bar code was centered on the image. His code then parsed that data and compared it with the initializing character to provide a reference. Currently his scanner supports three character sets of the Code 128 encoding, and provided his complete code so that others could add as they see fit. He admits that the code is a bit messy due to the lengthy character tables,…
Hack
Toilet and Figlet
We thought [Kristofer's] Tech Tip about using figlet with scripts was kind of fun. It’s a throwback to the days of logging onto a BBS and being greeted by a vertically scrolling ASCII art image that had been meticulously hand crafted (although a lot of the coolest stuff was actually ANSI art). No hand crafting here, just feed (or pipe) your text to figlet and it outputs the message in ASCII style letters.
When we went to try install this in Ubuntu, the toilet package was suggested. This one’s worth checking out too. It works in much the same…
Automotive
Forget The Bike And Accessorize Yourself With Harley Davidson Clothing
After you have purchased your priceless Harley-Davidson, it is now time not to think about modifying it. Your Harley-Davidson has its own image of toughness and ruggedness and would not need any alteration. What should you be thinking of is how to match yourself to the bike and not the other way around.Of course you would buy things that match your personality- that of course include your bike. And you somehow have to think what type of Harley should you buy based on who you are. Well, you have done that already. Now, its time to dress up and hop…
Tech Support
Armored Camera is Tough Enough For The Job
If you have put a lot of effort into your business, the last thing that you want is to see your hard earned assets stolen by a criminal. Business owners tend to choose surveillance systems to help them.
If you are thinking about installing surveillance cameras, the law generally dictates that you have to inform people that they are being watched in this way and therefore cannot have the element of surprise by hiding cameras from the view of criminals. However, to make sure that they cannot damage them easily and disarm them, armored cameras are now becoming very useful.…
Tech Support
What You Should Know Before Buying a Digital Camera
Digital images are created by light being focused onto semiconductors. The popularity of digital cameras has been closely linked with the increasing popularity of personal computing, both in terms of making advances features possible and how people prefer their pictures. Digital photography allows a paperless age, where people often prefer to store, view, and share images over the computer instead of printing them physically.
Talk to those you know who own digital cameras before buying one. Friends and family can offer the best advice, and tell you which brands and models they favor or are disinclined towards. You can make…
Hack
Are you human? Then type out this book
Google has acquired reCAPTCHA and plans to use the system for digitizing books. Wait… what? CAPTCHA is the method of requiring a user to type in a visually obscured word to prove they are human. How can this digitize books? The answer is a bit obscure and takes some time to discover, but you’ll have fun along the way.
The Google blog links to a Google TechTalk video on Human Computation as an example of how they plan to use their new acquisition. It’s embedded below but at 51 minutes we figure most won’t watch it all so we…
Computer
free 50 Windows software alternatives
Looking for free Windows software alternatives? Microsoft Windows bundles a number of software applications in order to provide a basic experience, such as Internet Explorer, Wordpad, and others. In this article, we wil be listing replacements for basic Windows software and utilities. If you have a suggestion, feel free to list it in the comments.Internet Explorer•Mozilla Firefox – a fast, open source, secure, and extendable browser from Mozilla. Offers a number of features over Internet Explorer, including Smart Location Bar, Places Manager, and a rich database of extensions.•Opera – Feature-rich browser. Includes email client, BitTorrent downloads, Speed Dial (page…
Facebook
Facebook Launching New Prototypes Area In The App Directory
Facebook posted an image earlier today and quickly removed a shot of three upcoming prototype applications via a soon to be added, Facebook Prototypes category in the application directory. The three applications include “Desktop Notifications” which many other blogs have extensively covered, and two applications never covered previously: similar posts and enhanced event emails.
The first application: “similar posts” will most likely let you track which feed stories are similar to one that you are currently viewing. The second applications “Enhanced Event Emails” includes “an iCal file as an attachment to your Event Invitation emails”, letting people put the event…
Hack
Bar2d2 on the Discovery channel
The friendly robotic bartender we’ve covered a couple of times before hit the airwaves last week. [Jamie], the inventor of Bar2d2 sent in a link to video of the barkeeper in action. The story runs from 0:30-4:40 and covers a bit about the build, the conversion to automatic drink mixing, and plenty of happy liquor-guzzling party goers.
We get a good look at the drink ordering interface called Lazy Drinker. It runs on a laptop and communicates wirelessly with Bar2d2. Looks like you can get your hands on the software for free but the hardware, either in kit form…
Facebook
New Facebook Application Creating Massive Volumes Of Photo Spam
The photo tagging phenomenon has officially jumped the shark on Facebook with the All my Friends! application which lets you instantly tag your friends in pre-made images. It’s not exactly a new concept but for some reason this iteration of the application has been extremely successful having attracted over 5 million users so far and growing daily.
The application could actually be a useful service but the way that ads are currently posted within the application makes us think that this app was simply developed to attract millions of users and generate a quick buck. I’ve written about these multi-user…
Business
Earn Large amount from Gather.com
I have recently found a social networking site called as Gather.Though its ideal for Mothers but yes anyone could take part in the site and earn from the site, you can gather points for your activities and after that you can convert the points to money.There are variuos points to earn like making articles, uploading Pictures from ur own computer, taking part in variuos surveys.I have written different articles in that site. You people can have a look.–ARTICLE 1ARTICLE 2IMAGE 1IMAGE 2
