Blog
Focus stacking assistant for EOS cameras @ Circuits@Home. [via]
One of my favorite shooting techniques is focus stacking. Many pictures on Circuits@Home site are made using this technique. I use Helicon Focus for post processing and even though this program has camera control built-in, it obviously requires a computer close to the object of shooting. In order to be able to control my camera in the field, I wanted to replace a laptop with simple lightweight controller able to move focus of camera lens and take pictures between steps. In this article, I will show how to build one from Arduino, USB Host Shield and several small parts.
Focus stacking assistant for EOS cameras - [Link]
Tutorial: Arduino and Numeric Keypads via Dangerous Prototypes… [via]
This is chapter forty-two of a series originally titled “Getting Started/Moving Forward with Arduino!” by John Boxall – a series of articles on the Arduino universe. The first chapter is here, the complete series is detailed here. Any files from tutorials will be found here.
This will be the first of two chapters that will examine another useful form of input – the numeric keypad; and some applications that hopefully may be of use. Here is the example we will be working with:
Tutorial: Arduino and Numeric Keypads - [Link]
adafruit.com writes:
A group of researchers from Osaka University have created what they call The Omni-Ball. It’s made up of two matching hemispheres attached to either side of an axle. The hemispheres can move independently or together as a sphere. They then used the Omni-Ball to create the Omni-Crawler, a small vehicle that can move in all directions.
The Omni-Ball - [Link]
adafruit.com writes: [via]
Dan has taken an Ice Tube Clock, added a Roving Networks WiFly (RN-134) module, and wrote some firmware to add some more features to the clock. He has added time synch, weather data display, and even a Twitter display. He currently has it setup to alternate between the time, the weather and a Twitter message.
Wifi Ice Tube Clock – [Link]
Up, not North – Nuit Blanche Chiptunes. Jon writes – [via]
Last night I had the pleasure of co-curating an all-night concert of Chiptunes music at the TIFF Bell Lightbox as part of Scotiabank Nuit Blanche. (Clearly, I’m not too great at this whole “promotion” thing: note that this happened last night.) Nonetheless, it was an amazing event, and I’m so happy to have had the opportunity to participate. Thanks to all our amazing artists, TIFF staff, and volunteers!
My main role was in designing, manufacturing, and building small noisemakers to give out to the crowd. There were four different colour-coded notes, and during one performance the audience was prompted with coloured cards to play along.
Nuit Blanche Chiptunes - [Link]
From UC Santa Cruz: [via]
The Bolshoi simulation is the most accurate cosmological simulation of the evolution of the large-scale structure of the universe yet made (“bolshoi” is the Russian word for “great” or “grand”). The first two of a series of research papers describing Bolshoi and its implications have been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. The first data release of Bolshoi outputs, including output from Bolshoi and also the BigBolshoi or MultiDark simulation of a volume 64 times bigger than Bolshoi, has just been made publicly available to the world’s astronomers and astrophysicists.
The starting point for Bolshoi was the best ground- and space-based observations, including NASA’s long-running and highly successful WMAP Explorer mission that has been mapping the light of the Big Bang in the entire sky. One of the world’s fastest supercomputers then calculated the evolution of a typical region of the universe a billion light years across. The Bolshoi simulation took 6 million cpu hours to run on the Pleiades supercomputer—recently ranked as seventh fastest of the world’s top 500 supercomputers—at NASA Ames Research Center.
The Bolshoi Simulation – Vizualizing the Universe - [Link]
RF networking is getting huge these days. With new RF nodes being developed on what seems like a monthly schedule. This means new and established companies are getting in the game. I’m pretty sure that everybody knows of Digi international (manufacturers of Xbee RF nodes) and regard them to be the current King of RF networking, BUT with ninja-like progress companies like Synapse Wireless have snuck up on them and started offering superior products. Syanpse nodes have the ability to wirelessly program Arduino UNOs at distances of >250ft without hardware mods or painful configuration processes. The nodes are both a network module and user-programmable microcontroller in one and on top of that they have to ability to do self-healing mesh networking. Their specs seem to outdo xbees on many levels, which begs the question, Synapse Wireless where have you been all my life??? 
There’s a New SheRifF in Town and Their Name is Synapse Wireless - [Link]
Following up the 7400 Logic Competition announcement, we are proud to announce that will be one of the sponsors of this competition. We give away:
- uOLED-32028-P1T graphics display module + P1-EB expansion module + uDrive-USB-G1 SD module + uUSB-CE5 module + 64MB microSD card + adapter
- BOOK: Programming & Customizing PICmicro Microcontrollers – Myke Predko
- BOOK: Switchmode Power Supply Handbook (McGraw-Hill) – Keith Billings
- BOOK: Practical Electronics: A Self-Teaching Guide (Wiley Self-Teaching Guides) – Ralph Morrison
- BOOK: Switching Power Supply Design – Abraham Pressman
- BOOK: PIC: Your Personal Introductory Course, Second Edition – John Morton
- BOOK: PIC in Practice – David W Smith
- BOOK: Power Supplies Switching Regulators, Inverters, and Converters – Irving Gottlieb
- BOOK: PICmicro Microcontroller Pocket Reference – Myke Predko
- BOOK: Simplified Design of Switching Power Supplies – John Lenk
Open 7400 Logic Competition – We are a sponsor! - [Link]
Put a voltage meter anywhere with this very handy display. These are often used by RC hobbyists for keeping track of batteries but we thought it would be great on a breadboard or enclosure.
Simply connect the red wire to the positive supply, and black to negative ground. The display has a microcontroller that will read the voltage, compare it to a stable reference and display the voltage with 0.1V precision on a 3-digit 7-segment display. It works from 3.2V up to 30V so it will be good for nearly any electronic project! The meter draws 3-4mA to power the microcontroller and display. This particular LED display is a nice vivid green, which we found very readable. Mounting tabs make this module easy to attach to any box or plate. [via]
Mini Volt Meter - [Link]
BBC News – ‘Flying carpet’ of conductive plastic takes flight. [via]
The 10cm (4in) sheet of smart transparency is driven by “ripple power”; waves of electrical current driving thin pockets of air from front to rear underneath.
The prototype, described in Applied Physics Letters, moves at speeds of about a centimetre per second.
Improvements to the design could raise that to as much as a metre per second.
‘Flying carpet’ of conductive plastic takes flight - [Link]
