Ruben's Tube

To all my past physics teachers, you have let me down by never doing this demonstration! 3 demos... choose your flavor

Cool song
Good wave shapes
Some dude in his garage explains

AV

Cool. http://cbs2.com/video/?id=102289@kcbs.dayport.com

Amusing misuse of resources!

Funny at 2am

(should be marked redundant since most of the people reading this already read dilbert...)

Tweeting cat door

Still wondering what twitter is good for? How about an RFID cat door that tweets when the cats come and go.

In other news, I have a friend that reads "modern cat" apparently. They go on to link to sites such as "the refined feline". As if cats didn't have enough ego already...

TI-92 Repair

This is a link to the VTI software.

Soldering UP CLOSE!

Sometimes one has to solder really fine pitch stuff - it happens! You should be prepared... just in case. This is 'A' way to do fine pitch soldering. Not the 'best' way or a way that is even all that good for the parts, but it works. Ideally you'd have parts placed by machine and attached by reflow soldering (magic starts at 1:33) Another even closer! But this is how I solder the small stuff.


(click to view larger in web album)

Solder wick in action
This is someone who actually does things properly! It really helps to have all the proper supplies and tools on hand! And the know how... that too.

sad TI92

The batteries in my TI92 leaked all over the place. I need to clean it up and see if any of the traces got eaten. This is what I get for loading the TI emulator on to my laptop and neglecting my full size, conversation piece, calculator.
 

Low voltage DC/DC

The DC/DC converter in this story is more impressive than it looks. Starting up a boost converter from an input voltage as low as 320mV is a neat electronics trick! Having the ability to convert a low voltage source up to something useful will be really handy for solar and other energy harvesting applications. Such as... you know... stuff! Like breathing while wearing a shirt on made of this material. Or maybe just a hamster running on it's wheel. (story) Not sure why they don't just put a generator on the wheel instead of strapping nano-wires to it - but hey, they're working on PhDs so what do I know?

Also I kind of want a hamster with a speedometer hooked up to it's wheel now.

(This post shamelessly inspired, think 5th grade history report, by the www.powermanagementdesignline.com newsletter. ...I added value, really!)

Universal cell phone chargers

File this under dull but somewhat interesting. Someday in the future cell phone companies might agree to use one universal charger that will work for all your mobile devices. A story from embedded.com guesses around 2012 or so. Not surprisingly Verizon is not on the list of people who have signed up to play along.

EV Motocross

Impressive progress on the electric motorcycle front. These guys are doing quality work!
http://www.evdrive.com/Emoto_project/moto_project.html

smart blocks

Jason IM'd this to me this morning. Very cool technology demonstration. I like that the words spell check themselves! However I'm not sure at what age these become appropriate. What I'm getting at is when is it healthy to introduce a level abstraction? Is it healthy to warp a developing mind's perception of reality? Perhaps I'm over thinking things. (embedded video)

Laptop speaker repair redux

A slide show full of macro shots:
(click for larger picasa view)