Tools Hack Daily: December 2016

Saturday, December 31, 2016

How ‘Rogue One’ Brought Back Familiar Faces #SciFiSunday #NationalScienceFictionDay

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Warning: This article contains spoilers about “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”

Making a new “Star Wars” movie can be like gaining access to a toy collection that has been amassed over four decades. For the creators of “Rogue One,” a film designed as a narrative lead-in to the original “Star Wars,” it was a chance to play with characters, vehicles and locations sacred to this series.

But as they revisited the 1977 George Lucas movie that started the “Star Wars” franchise, and gave fresh screen time to some lesser-known heroes and villains, the staffs of Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic faced artistic and technological hurdles: most prominently, using a combination of live action and digital effects to bring back the character Grand Moff Tarkin. This nefarious ally of Darth Vader and commander of the Death Star was played by Peter Cushing, the horror-film actor, who died in 1994.

Friday, December 30, 2016

Circuit Playground – K is for Kits @adafruit #circuitplayground

Adabot & the Circuit Playground components love to jam, but they could use some new instruments – luckily, Ladyada has few kits up her sleeve!

Community Corner – December 30, 2016: The Featured Projects from this Week

Featured Adafruit Google+ Community Project

(Note: Google+ login required.)

Jack Houweling shared his super handy how-to video on how to make different size dowels quickly this week in our Community!

Making dowels with a vise. (read more)

Featured Community Project from the Adafruit Blog

This week on the blog, we featured Benjamin Forta’s excellent GIANT Pi and Arduino powered Chanukah display!

Just in time for Chanukah, our bigger and better giant Chanukah display. This is Raspberry Pi and Arduino powered, and Adafruit fingerprints are all over it! The Neopixels are (obviously) all yours, it uses Trinket Pros, you may even recognize the enclosures. Thanks for your products and support, I am a fan (and have the credit card bills to prove it). You guys rock! (read more)

Check out previous Community Corner posts here!

There are people making amazing things around the world, are you one of them? Join Adafruit Community! And check out scores of projects they shared this week after the jump!

Community Corner! Sharing and celebrating the creative community: Show and tell, Ask an Engineer, mailbag, Twitter, Google+, Facebook, “Makers, hackers, artists & engineers. Sharing, learning and celebrating making!

Community Corner – December 30, 2016: The Featured Projects from this Week

Featured Adafruit Google+ Community Project

(Note: Google+ login required.)

Jack Houweling shared his super handy how-to video on how to make different size dowels quickly this week in our Community!

Making dowels with a vise. (read more)

Featured Community Project from the Adafruit Blog

This week on the blog, we featured Benjamin Forta’s excellent GIANT Pi and Arduino powered Chanukah display!

Just in time for Chanukah, our bigger and better giant Chanukah display. This is Raspberry Pi and Arduino powered, and Adafruit fingerprints are all over it! The Neopixels are (obviously) all yours, it uses Trinket Pros, you may even recognize the enclosures. Thanks for your products and support, I am a fan (and have the credit card bills to prove it). You guys rock! (read more)

Check out previous Community Corner posts here!

There are people making amazing things around the world, are you one of them? Join Adafruit Community! And check out scores of projects they shared this week after the jump!

Can a penny keep a Raspberry Pi 3 cool? @Raspberry_Pi #piday #raspberrypi

Find out if a penny works as a heatsink for a Pi 3 with this video from YouTube user Matt Man.

Community Corner – December 30, 2016: The Featured Projects from this Week

Featured Adafruit Google+ Community Project

(Note: Google+ login required.)

Jack Houweling shared his super handy how-to video on how to make different size dowels quickly this week in our Community!

Making dowels with a vise. (read more)

Featured Community Project from the Adafruit Blog

This week on the blog, we featured Benjamin Forta’s excellent GIANT Pi and Arduino powered Chanukah display!

Just in time for Chanukah, our bigger and better giant Chanukah display. This is Raspberry Pi and Arduino powered, and Adafruit fingerprints are all over it! The Neopixels are (obviously) all yours, it uses Trinket Pros, you may even recognize the enclosures. Thanks for your products and support, I am a fan (and have the credit card bills to prove it). You guys rock! (read more)

Check out previous Community Corner posts here!

There are people making amazing things around the world, are you one of them? Join Adafruit Community! And check out scores of projects they shared this week after the jump!

Community Corner – December 30, 2016: The Featured Projects from this Week

Featured Adafruit Google+ Community Project

(Note: Google+ login required.)

Jack Houweling shared his super handy how-to video on how to make different size dowels quickly this week in our Community!

Making dowels with a vise. (read more)

Featured Community Project from the Adafruit Blog

This week on the blog, we featured Benjamin Forta’s excellent GIANT Pi and Arduino powered Chanukah display!

Just in time for Chanukah, our bigger and better giant Chanukah display. This is Raspberry Pi and Arduino powered, and Adafruit fingerprints are all over it! The Neopixels are (obviously) all yours, it uses Trinket Pros, you may even recognize the enclosures. Thanks for your products and support, I am a fan (and have the credit card bills to prove it). You guys rock! (read more)

Check out previous Community Corner posts here!

There are people making amazing things around the world, are you one of them? Join Adafruit Community! And check out scores of projects they shared this week after the jump!

Remote control your pi using SSH #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi

The MagPi has a useful tutorial for remote controlling your pi with SSH.

SSH (also known as ‘secure shell’) is an encrypted networking technology that enables you to manage computers from the command line over a network.

SSH is handy if you want to quickly connect to your Raspberry Pi from a terminal on another computer. It’s also ideal for lightweight distro installations that don’t have an interface. It’s especially useful when creating Internet of Things (IoT) projects, as these may be embedded and not require a desktop.

We’ve already looked at VNC (Virtual Network Computing), and Secure Shell offers a similar service. But while VNC shares the entire desktop, SSH works from the command line.

Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Adafruit has the largest and best selection of Raspberry Pi accessories and all the code & tutorials to get you up and running in no time!

Circuit Playground – K is for Kits @adafruit #circuitplayground

Adabot & the Circuit Playground components love to jam, but they could use some new instruments – luckily, Ladyada has few kits up her sleeve!

Cat Meme Generator #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi

This beginner Raspberry Pi project comes Via Raspberrypi.org

In this resource you will make a cat meme generator. Using an image of your cat, you can create your own cat meme to show off to your friends.

What you will need

Hardware

There are no additional hardware requirements for this resource beyond the Raspberry Pi and usual peripherals.

Software

There are no additional software requirements for this resource beyond what is pre-installed in the current Raspbian image. To make sure your SD card is up-to-date, see the updating Raspbian guide.

Extras

You’ll also need:

An image of your cat (or a cat picture downloaded from the internet!)

Learn more!

The ‘Gravity Switch Back Railway’ Was the Original Roller Coaster – Here’s the Patent Drawing

My invention relates to a gravity double track switchback railway to be used as a source or means of pleasure and amusement; and it consists of certain new and novel fea-‘ tures, to be hereinafter more fully described, whereby passengers may be carried from a certain starting-point at any convenient or suitable elevation in a vehicle or car over a series of descending and ascending longitudinal planes by the gravity momentum acquired by the car in its passage over the planes to the opposite end of the course…

See the full patent filing here & thanks to EDN for the tip about this wonderful invention, they wrote up an article about it here.

And someone made a 3D model to visualize its operation – the video includes some old-timey postcards (and music) as well:

Life-Size BMO #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi

NewImage

From NinjaBunny9000 on imgur via GamingGadgets:

I built BMO a year or so ago and we’ve been best friends ever since. What started as a tabletop arcade project mutated in to one of the best decisions in my life. After seeing a friend do something similar, I knew this was what I needed to do..

Hack Your Teddy Ruxpin with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and Alexa #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi

via Arduino Blog

If you had a Teddy Ruxpin in the ’80s and ’90s, you probably remember inserting special tapes and hearing him read stories to you. Whether you loved or hated the little bear, it was hard to forget his weirdly moving mouth and eyes. Today though, with small and cheap development boards readily available, this mechanical system is just begging for a retrofit.

In this project, hacker “Tinkernut” employed an Arduino to sense the intensity of a sound input, and in turn used it to allow Ruxpin to lip sync to any audio source. This could be a song, story, or even output from a virtual assistant.

Hack Your Teddy Ruxpin with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and Alexa #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi

via Arduino Blog

If you had a Teddy Ruxpin in the ’80s and ’90s, you probably remember inserting special tapes and hearing him read stories to you. Whether you loved or hated the little bear, it was hard to forget his weirdly moving mouth and eyes. Today though, with small and cheap development boards readily available, this mechanical system is just begging for a retrofit.

In this project, hacker “Tinkernut” employed an Arduino to sense the intensity of a sound input, and in turn used it to allow Ruxpin to lip sync to any audio source. This could be a song, story, or even output from a virtual assistant.

Guardian Witness readers’ best Raspberry Pi projects #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi

Guardian Witness has a roundup of some of their favorite reader submitted Raspberry Pi and Arduino projects here!

Solutions for a relative’s Alzheimer’s disease, a time lapse camera and a gingerbread robot which dances when it detects a human face – these are just some of the projects you’ve been telling us about after we asked you to show off your inventiveness with Raspberry Pi and other electronics platforms such as Arduino.

If you’re a regular reader this idea may be familiar to you – we also asked you to show us the Raspberry Pi projects you’d been working on towards the end of 2015. Many of you responded to that by telling us how you’d adapted and incorporated Arduino into your hardware projects – so we widened the scope.

As well as the highlights below, you can see all of the projects you’ve shared so far – and tell us about yours – at this GuardianWitness page, or, discuss the ideas in the comments.

See the roundup here!

Guardian Witness readers’ best Raspberry Pi projects #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi

Guardian Witness has a roundup of some of their favorite reader submitted Raspberry Pi and Arduino projects here!

Solutions for a relative’s Alzheimer’s disease, a time lapse camera and a gingerbread robot which dances when it detects a human face – these are just some of the projects you’ve been telling us about after we asked you to show off your inventiveness with Raspberry Pi and other electronics platforms such as Arduino.

If you’re a regular reader this idea may be familiar to you – we also asked you to show us the Raspberry Pi projects you’d been working on towards the end of 2015. Many of you responded to that by telling us how you’d adapted and incorporated Arduino into your hardware projects – so we widened the scope.

As well as the highlights below, you can see all of the projects you’ve shared so far – and tell us about yours – at this GuardianWitness page, or, discuss the ideas in the comments.

See the roundup here!

Cyborg Insects Proposed by @NCState University to Map Areas After Disasters

I always appreciate a good bug-bot story, and while I’m totally okay with one or even a few cyborg insects, the notion of a ‘swarm‘ definitely makes me cringe just a bit! But if it’s all for the good of humanity and mapping an area after a disaster like an earthquake or an otherwise inaccessible area, I’m all for it.

These “biobots” developed by a research team at North Carolina State University could map out areas or collapsed buildings in the wake of a disaster.

Edgar Lobaton and Alper Bozkurt’s project equips cockroaches with sensors and takes advantages of their frenetic natural movement to map out hard-to-reach areas.

They propose deploying the robotic insects by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which would transport a swarm of them to the necessary location.

How to setup a rasperry pi 2 model b for wlan sniffing @Raspberry_Pi #piday #raspberrypi

Pi2 1

Handy tutorial via bounty hunter on twitter.

The setup described below is working with a Raspberry PI 2 Model B and Whezzy as Operating System. It is not working with Raspberry Pi 3 and Jessie.

I know that this WLAN dongle is not available anymore but their exists a lot of others also working in monitor mode.

Download latest version of wheezy for PI
http://ift.tt/2ifhCsy

If your PI is not direct accessible you can also connect him to your router, check his IP and use SSH (user pi password raspberry)

Western Digital PiDrive Foundation Edition, a 314GB Hard Drive Just for the Raspberry Pi #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi

via RPiBlog

WDLabs, a part of Western Digital (WD) Corporation has launched a new line of HDD called WD PiDrive offering storage solutions just for the Raspberry Pi. It comes in a slim form factor of 7 mm and is available in three versions offering different storage capacities. Based off of Western Digital’s Blue drives (as per Ars), they have been modified to draw all the power it needs straight from the bundled USB cable. Gone is the traditional SATA connector, and in its place, a USB interface has been implemented. WD insists it will allow for “sufficient performance to deliver maximum USB data transfer rates.”

PiFold – The Pi Zero Server that Fits in a Wallet #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi

From tomwsmf on Hackaday.io:

PiFold-A handy PiZero based server that fits in a wallet. Battery, charge circuit and wifi included. Currently using Anyfesto, a variant of PirateBox, to serve up ebooks and files via a web interface plus audio streaming via VLC. Secure VOIP service via Mumble, IRC and shell services are available if wanted.

Why? For when connectivity to the Internet(tm)(c) is not available or is unwise to use. Also for sharing resources to those in your local area.

Where? From your person to the range of wifi. Can be augmented by having wifi repeaters in range.

A wallet for cash, cache and content.

PiFold – The Pi Zero Server that Fits in a Wallet #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi

From tomwsmf on Hackaday.io:

PiFold-A handy PiZero based server that fits in a wallet. Battery, charge circuit and wifi included. Currently using Anyfesto, a variant of PirateBox, to serve up ebooks and files via a web interface plus audio streaming via VLC. Secure VOIP service via Mumble, IRC and shell services are available if wanted.

Why? For when connectivity to the Internet(tm)(c) is not available or is unwise to use. Also for sharing resources to those in your local area.

Where? From your person to the range of wifi. Can be augmented by having wifi repeaters in range.

A wallet for cash, cache and content.

Pi Powered Park Monitor @Raspberry_Pi #piday #raspberrypi

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Super cool project from Elvis Wolcott up on Hackster.io.

What if instead of waiting for a field to be open after a soccer game for your team to practice you could check your phone and find a park 10 minutes away where you could practice now? Maybe IoT can be more than industrial system monitoring. IoT provides the ability to make parks more accessible and better maintained while reducing costs for financially stressed park districts. Perhaps it can promote activity and use of a great resource: America’s thousands of public parks.

Someone Gifted You a Raspberry Pi — Now What? #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi

via RaspberryPi.org

If you’re one of the many who woke up this morning to find some Raspberry Pi goodies under your tree, congratulations.

Now you’ve unpacked the Pi, confirmed it to indeed be roughly the size of a credit card, and confused a less tech-savvy loved one by telling them “This is a computer!”, you may be wondering to do with it next…and that’s where we come in.

The Raspberry Pi can be used to create no end of wonderful things, including robots, musical instruments, virtual pets, stop motion cameras, and much more.

It will also help you to learn programming, allow you to play games, offer the chance to explore space, and automate your home.

IoT Pet Feeder #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi

From The capital STIG on YouTube:

My Iot dog feeder

See more here and on Instructables

Smart gingerbread house made with Raspberry Pi #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi

Smart gingerbread house from Estefannie Explains It All on YouTube

Hey World! I’ve always wanted a smart house, so I made a SMART GINGERBREAD HOUSE!!!

Check out my version of an automated gingerbread house using an Arduino, Raspberry Pi, solar panel, servos, and LEDs. I hooked up all the lights and servos to an Arduino which is controlled by a website that is hosted in my Raspberry Pi. The house is powered by a battery which is charged by a solar panel. This is how I control all the electronic components with my iPad!

Smart gingerbread house made with Raspberry Pi #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi

Smart gingerbread house from Estefannie Explains It All on YouTube

Hey World! I’ve always wanted a smart house, so I made a SMART GINGERBREAD HOUSE!!!

Check out my version of an automated gingerbread house using an Arduino, Raspberry Pi, solar panel, servos, and LEDs. I hooked up all the lights and servos to an Arduino which is controlled by a website that is hosted in my Raspberry Pi. The house is powered by a battery which is charged by a solar panel. This is how I control all the electronic components with my iPad!

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Make your own string instrument using a Raspberry Pi @Raspberry_Pi #piday #raspberrypi

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Wonderful, musical project tutorial from taktik02 up on Instrucctables (via raspberrypipod).

Have you ever wish to make your own music instrument? Here, you’ll see that with few efforts, making a simple music instrument will be super easy.

Your instrument will be able to produce a sound, depending of the frequency of the rope. In order to receive the frequency of a rope, for that we’ll use a piezoelectric sensor.

All you have to do is to follow this tutorial step by step, so let’s get started!

Make your own string instrument using a Raspberry Pi @Raspberry_Pi #piday #raspberrypi

F47RCE0IWWFLHCL LARGE

Wonderful, musical project tutorial from taktik02 up on Instrucctables (via raspberrypipod).

Have you ever wish to make your own music instrument? Here, you’ll see that with few efforts, making a simple music instrument will be super easy.

Your instrument will be able to produce a sound, depending of the frequency of the rope. In order to receive the frequency of a rope, for that we’ll use a piezoelectric sensor.

All you have to do is to follow this tutorial step by step, so let’s get started!

NESberry Pi Mini #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi

From spannerspencer on element14 community:

Building your very own NES Mini using a Raspberry Pi is incredibly simple, and I thought I’d take half an hour out of my morning nap time to whip up a quick — yet thorough — tutorial on how to do it. And anyone can do it, which is the really good news! In fact it’d make an ideal first project for someone who’s new to the Raspberry Pi.

I know we sell this stuff, and there’s an obvious click bait angle here, but hand on heart, I wrote this because I think the retro gamers out there are likely to a little disappointed with their NES Mini, while this wee nostalgic beast will feed your gaming demons for a long time to come.

The NESberry Pi
Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll be building.

Approximate Cost: £70/$90/€85
Rough Build Time: 1-2 hours
Overview:
We take a Raspberry Pi computer, install an image on its SD card that’ll turn it into a NES, put it in a case, hook up two controllers, connect it to the TV, install some games, and it’s good to go. If you’re brand new to all this, you might want to set aside an hour, maybe two, to build your NESberry Pi mini console.

HURRY UP! It’s the last day of our end of the year sale on select Raspberry Pi products – get up to 20% off now!

Today is your last chance to grab some Pi on sale from Adafruit! Hurry before it’s too late! Go to adafruit.com/sale for deals on select Raspberry Pi products from Adafruit. Pick up one of our pi packs, starter kits, pitfts, cobblers and more, with discounts up to 20% off!

The sale is only for a short time so make sure to get your Pi products ASAP! The sale starts at 10 AM EST on Wednesday, December 28th, 2016 and ends at 11:59 PM EST on Friday, December 30th. We won’t be offering these products at a discount once the sale is over. No code is necessary to receive the discount. Offer is valid while supplies last. We cannot apply the discount once the sale is over or to items purchased before the sale begins. Sale prices are valid only during active sale period, after that they will go back to normal! Some restrictions apply.

Grunge and Post-Apocalyptic Weathering Techniques How-To

If you’re cosplaying in a post-apocalyptic setting, weathering is of the utmost importance. Aging fabrics and other materials like armor and leather is important to finishing many costumes. You can get a rundown of helpful tips from Nuclear Snail Studios. The above video goes into how to make your outfit look permanently dirty and worn.

via Reddit

Grunge and Post-Apocalyptic Weathering Techniques How-To

via Reddit

Bottle Cutter #3DThursday #3DPrinting

a3lex shares:

remix of bottle cutter by Szalat

decreased print volume and time
increased slots width to easier accomodate the blade
added metal washer slot to avoid cutting the bottom : major improvement, increased lifetime by many orders of magnitude
Slide an appropriately sized metal washer into the slot to create a metal base preventing the bottle to cut into the PLA. Washer dia 18-20mm, thickness 1.5-2mm works best. Freecad source included for easy adjustment of washer size.

What is it for? Search youtube for “plastic bottle cutter rope”
Cheers!

download the files on: http://ift.tt/2hRHWWz

Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!

Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!

The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!

Candy Checkers #3DThursday #3DPrinting

giufini shares:

Just in time for the end of the year holidays, this is a sweet and eatable version of the famous Checkers board game!
Each piece (man) has a small bowl at the centre where you can place a smarties candy.
So arrange your checkers board, then capture all the coloured candies of your opponent and eat them!
When a man becomes a king, you can simply fit two pieces together, one on the top of the other.
My sons have always loved this game and now they love it even more!

download the files on: http://ift.tt/2iv0m07

Christmas Tree for NeoPixels #3DThursday #3DPrinting

spin99 shares:

My wife says that I don’t have Christmas spirit, so I decided to do Christmas how I wanted to do Christmas! I remixed it, and learned some things along the way. This Christmas tree allows you to insert three NeoPixel Ring 12 x 5050 (product ID 1643). There is also inserts for the inside of rings so you don’t see through them.

The hole at the top is to allow you to use string to hang from somewhere.

download the files on: http://ift.tt/2iJJAOj