Friday, October 14, 2011
The One Pound Gummy Bear
After I returned home from the grocery store the other night, my wife was commenting about how many gummy bears I eat. I guess she has notice that I have moved up from the 1 pound bag to 4 pound bag. So I found this instructable at instructables.com to help me. If my wife ever asks me how many gummy bears I have eaten I can just say ONE.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
The Talking Breathalyzer
I have found a new project.
" A customizable Breathalyzer that talks and tells you how much you’ve had
to drink. It’s also open source and can easily be modified with your
own text on the LCD screen and audio MP3 files.
The Talking Breathalyzer
This is a good little open source project I found on instructables.com. Although it can not give a B.A.C. (Blood Alcohol Content) it is still a fun little party gadget to amuse all your friends.
Here is a description of the project from the build page.
" A customizable Breathalyzer that talks and tells you how much you’ve had
to drink. It’s also open source and can easily be modified with your
own text on the LCD screen and audio MP3 files.
When tethered
to a PC with a USB cable, it has additional features including character
animations, Breathalyzer Tweets, text to speech, weather and stock
read-outs, and a Photobooth feature."
Here is the parts list for the project and the full detailed instructions at The Talking Breathalyzer
Part List
Seeeduino or Arduino - $25
Seeed Music Shield - $27.50
Seeed Twig Alcohol Sensor - $7.90
Seeed Twig Serial LCD - $13.90
Seeed Twig Cables - $4.90
2 GB MicroSD card (cards larger than 2GB will not work) - $7
Protoboard
10k Potentiometer
4 Momentary Switches
1 Off/On Switch (for power)
5 10k Resistors
1 Toggle Switch
Enclosure of your Choice
LIPO Battery - $12
LIPO Rider - $9.50
Talking Breathalyzer Software - Free
Solar Panel Optional
Speaker Amp and Speaker Optional
*** A fully assembled version of the Talking Breathalyzer is available here from Seeedstudio and additional info at http://talkingbreathalyzer.com ***
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Podcast Listenings and 'The Amp Hour'
I listen to an assortment of podcasts as I drive around town in my
truck for work. Including a few comedies from movie director Kevin
Smith's
Smodcast.com's line up to some Ham Radio podcasts. I recently started to search
for podcasts on electronics and came across this one, The Amp Hour.
The hosts are Dave Jones from the EEVblog in Sydney Australia, and Chris Gammell from Chris Gammell's Analog Life are 2 electrical engineers who discuss a wide a range of topics related to electronics. Being a novice in electronics and electrical design, I find there discussions entertaining and informative. They both are very knowledgeable and familiar with the inner workings of the industry.
After listening to The Amp Hour, I made my way over to Dave Jones' site, EEVblog, and found some great video blogs. I liked on his website the Amazon page that listed tools that he recommended for beginners and discusses in one of his vlogs. One item in particular that I saw was the electronic parts starter kit. Up to now, I had been ordering parts that I need for my projects one by one, but have always wanted a grab bag of general parts for the times when I am "experimenting". So this looked like a good solution.
Check out 'The Amp Hour' and the EEVblog, you will not be disappointed.
The hosts are Dave Jones from the EEVblog in Sydney Australia, and Chris Gammell from Chris Gammell's Analog Life are 2 electrical engineers who discuss a wide a range of topics related to electronics. Being a novice in electronics and electrical design, I find there discussions entertaining and informative. They both are very knowledgeable and familiar with the inner workings of the industry.
After listening to The Amp Hour, I made my way over to Dave Jones' site, EEVblog, and found some great video blogs. I liked on his website the Amazon page that listed tools that he recommended for beginners and discusses in one of his vlogs. One item in particular that I saw was the electronic parts starter kit. Up to now, I had been ordering parts that I need for my projects one by one, but have always wanted a grab bag of general parts for the times when I am "experimenting". So this looked like a good solution.
Check out 'The Amp Hour' and the EEVblog, you will not be disappointed.
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