Robotic claws are awesome, period. [Jeremy's] Remotely controlled robotic claw, thats just a whole new level of cool – even if the intention is to just pick up blocks. The setup is simple enough, a Parallax Propeller controls the whole system by first polling a web server for changes in variables that the user has invoked. Those changes are then passed to relays that control the claw. To keep from fumbling in the dark, he’s even included a webcam. We hate to see that he’s used such expensive equipment to just control a toy, but maybe one day he’ll…
Hack
Remote controlled claw of doom
Hack
Hack a Day turns 5
September 5th marks the fifth anniversary of Hack a Day. We hope you’ve had as much fun hacking, reading, and sending us stories as we’ve had sharing them with everyone.
Whether you destroyed your hard drives or built your own web server we tried to keep things interesting over the past year. It was easy at times because of cool parking meter hacks, great advances in the world of hackintosh, and steam powered pleasure devices. But we couldn’t have done any of it without you. So keep reading, don’t forget to send us your hacks, and we’ll serve up…
Hack
Cellphone-controlled home
[Tixlegeek] used a Motorola 68HC705J1 development board to remotely control his home through his cellphone. The video above, as well as [Tixlegeek]’s website, is in French, though the video has been captioned. The development board (called the ERMES125) is controlled by a PIC externally. It has an array of LEDs, and apperantly a few high voltage relays. The PIC is connected to a laptop through a serial interface. The laptop is running a small web server, which uses CGI to control the PIC from a webpage. This system allows [Tixlegeek] to log onto the webpage from his web enabled phone, click a few…
Hack
Hacking the Western Digital TV media player
Western Digital recently released a media player that attaches to your TV and allows you to play HD media straight from an external USB drive to the television. With a price point of about $100, it’s strange that the device hasn’t made more of a stir in the consumer electronics market. Of course, if it exists, someone will hack it, though. Clever hardware and software hackers have already managed to get an alternative firmware running on the device, allowing for packages like a web server, RSS reader, Apple trailer viewer, and other linux-based packages. It’s good to see a…
Hack
OpenPogo, an alternative to Pogoplug software
Many of us heard the news of Marvell’s SheevaPlug plug-in PC being released alongside its consumer solution counterparts. One of the prominent products based on the SheevaPlug hardware is the Pogoplug. The Pogoplug is essentially a no-configuration media server that allows you to plug in a hard drive and network cable to make data readily available anywhere you have Internet access. It’s a great idea, but the underlying software is closed source, limiting the demographic of the device to consumers who are happy with an out-of-the-box solution. Enter OpenPogo, a solution for people who want a bit more control…
Hack
Thank you Ian Lesnet
A little over a year ago [Ian Lesnet] joined our hacking team and began cranking out some of the best original how-tos Hack a Day has ever offered. You may remember our popular web server on a business card from last fall and we’re sure everyone is familiar with the Bus Pirate (yes, they’re still on schedule).
It’s a year later and he’s found himself with less time to contribute. [Ian] is stepping down from blogging at Hack a Day, but you’ll find him right where he started: in the comments. You can also reach him directly on whereisian.com.…
Internet
Know How to Choose the Best Web Hosting Company
Before actually beginning your quest to find the top web hosting company, it will be a good idea to first know and understand what a good web host is so that you can make the right choice. The web host is really a service provider who will place your website on a server that connects to the Internet. Thus, when you think about finding the best web hosting company you need to be sure that its server is fast and that the company provides near total uptime since you don’t want your website to be inaccessible to visitors because the…
Hack
WTF-O-meter
Here’s something every office probably needs. Ours does at least. It’s a WTF counter. When the office gets just a little too weird, someone hits the button and it gets logged. It’s probably pretty easy to judge the day by the WTF chart. The button is connected to an Arduino that updates the status on a local web server. We can imagine a nice bar graph of WTFs per day, or possibly a pie chart with normal time vs WTF time. Unfortunately, imagining is all we’re going to do. They didn’t include any examples of the visualizations. Can you…
Hack
WordPress blog server hacked
An intruder has compromised a WordPress server and added a remote control tool to downloadable versions of the widely used blogging software.
The breach happened last week and was discovered on Friday, WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg wrote on the WordPress Web site.
“Long story short: If you downloaded WordPress 2.1.1 within the past three to four days, your files may include a security exploit that was added by a cracker, and you should upgrade all of your files to 2.1.2 immediately,” Mullenweg wrote. He did not say how the attacker breached the WordPress system.
The WordPress team learned of…
Hack
Business cards at Maker Faire
[John Park] has managed to snag a couple interesting business cards at Maker Faire. The first is Adafruit’s laser cut Spirograph card. The other is a ATtiny 2313 prototyping board from Evil Mad Science; it looks to be the same style as their well-known AVR target board. We’ve also heard rumors that [Jérôme Demers] has bunch of resistor bending cards.
For more business card nonsense, check out: [Goodspeed]’s smart card emulator, [Mayer]’s embedded gears, and our web server business card.
Internet
Sites Ring: NeedCom
What is the Web Ring service? A Sites Ring is a collection of websites, with a similar theme or topic, linked together with a special Sites Ring panel that goes on each ring member’s page. Visitors can jump from site to site in order or randomly. How does the Web Ring service work?You must place the copy/paste code from this service onto a web page then save and publish or upload the revised file to your web server.This code places buttons on your web page which people can use to navigate your Sites Ring service.Your Sites Ring members receive…
Software
Windows Server 2008 R2 Release Candidate
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 will be the next version of the Windows Server operating system from Microsoft Building on the features and capabilities of the current Windows Server 2008 release version Windows Server 2008 R2 allows you to create organization solutions that are easier to plan deploy and manage than previous versions of Windows Server Developing upon the increased security reliability and performance provided by Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2008 R2 extends connectivity and control to local and remote resources This means your organizations can benefit from reduced costs and increased efficiencies gained through enhanced management and control…
