Here’s a POV kit for $17 you can get from make.
I always wondered at these POVs, that they are really cool, but it wasn’t until Garrett showed me that it was
pretty easy to make…It’s almost magical, I am starting to fall in loove with povs… well, we will try not to
get too serious here though, I really need to start exercising more at Club One…

sunled

In search of high intesity LEDs for my new POV project, I have come up on this site, which has a good source of high intesity LEDs randing from color-changing to even rainbow LEDs.

Here’s some other cool high intensity sites:

high intensity LEDs from Jameco

high intesity bar lights

extremeled has bunch of cool LED fiber rods!

This might has been around for awhile but i just founded on google, i might need this for future airline

travels if I don’t want to spend another $300 on Bose headphones which will probably get eaten by my dog…

Nice site about making amplifiers for headphones, a pocket-sized version of very popular headphone amp.
via tangentsoft

Here’s an interesting site about solderable headphone amp kits.

Here’s a cool DIY on how to make a bat detector. I am not sure if I will ever need this but seems like
a good circuit to have a knowledge of. You can of course buy one for like 70 bucks if you need one fast.

Bat’s are fascinating creatures and here in Melbourne they are a common sight. At dusk streams of grey-headed flying foxes leave their camp in the Royal Botanical Gardens to plunder fruit and nectar from suburban flowering gums. The number of urban bats have swelled in recent years, giving the impression that the grey-headed flying fox is thriving, but in reality Australia’s bat population has decreased by 30% over the past decade. The increase in urban bat colonies is the result of ongoing destruction to the bats native feeding grounds. The Melbourne Royal Botanical Gardens is now the only breeding colony of grey-headed flying foxes in the state of Victoria. In 2001 the Royal Botanical Gardens started shooting these animals in an insane attempt to curb the local bat population. Thanks to public outcry and a dedicated group of protesters this practice was stopped. The grey-headed flying fox has since been classified as a vulnerable species by the Australian government.

A bat detector is an instrument that will detect the presence of bats by tuning into the echolocation ultrasounds they produce. There are a variety of commercial bat detectors available but what excited me were the numerous internet sites with home-built detector circuits. I stumbled across these sites while trying to decide what to do with a 1968 Braun Cylindric T2 cigarette lighter. What resulted was the Cylindric Ultrasonic Bat Detector.

via scott mitchell

Well here’s a cool little cat detection and repellent device using a sprinkler
controller and some timer delay circuits.  I think there’s a lot of timer delay circuits, especially the 555
being used for a lot of these DIYs, but I think it would be easier to do with BASIC controllers…
OR you can probably just buy a ultrasonic rodent repellent for under 40 bucks.
But that would really take fun out of life if you could buy everything out of your life…

Wow, maybe I can merge my sprinkler system and motion sensing alarm system
to make an alarm system that deters using sprinklers…just an idea.

Well, I got bit by a wild cat before and had to go to the doctor for rabies, where I
didn’t get a shot because I said “F&*@ it” but I guess the cat didn’t have rabies since I am still alive…
(Yes, thank God I am still alive!)

Not too long ago I had seen a floodlight motion detector connected to a sprinkler to discourage deer and other animals from raiding a garden. I had recently installed a sprinkler system, so I purchased a wireless driveway alert system and put the two to work. To allow enough time for the sprinkler valve to open, build pressure, and activate the sprinkler head, he constructed a time-delay unit from an old standby 555 timer. It activates the sprinkler valve with ac power from the control for 10 to 12 seconds — allowing plenty of time to open and apply a good H2O dousing to varmints and wayward mailmen alike

via make

PLCs are basically industrial-grade computers that can be programmed to do tasks, sorta like
microcontrollers but most PLCs have built-in encoders for motor control, support for modbus, and more…

Basically, if you are not familiar with BASIC, C, Java, or assembly language, PLC Ladder Logic language
might be the way to go as it has been proven in the industrial field for factory automation and more.

Ladder Logic is a way of programming without using any code.  Personally, I do like to use Ladder Logic at times
because it’s a different way of looking at the embedded world.
Here’s a good site about PLCs (Programmable Logic Controller).
A nice detailed overview of PLCs from what is a PLC to basic instructions of a PLC.

You can also check out CUBLOC, which runs on BASIC language but also able to act as a PLC simultaneously.

Wikipedia has a good article on general history of PLCs.

Here’s some cool educational circuits for kids.

They’ve got some cool circuit building kits such as voice-controlled circuits,
light-activated experiments with what seems like safe-to-use circuit parts.

Later on, they can start modding with easy-to-use electronic circuit board such as CUBLOC, Basic Stamp,

or even get into real low-level circuit building with AVR, PIC, well, that’s really expecting too much…

via gizmodo

Here’s an additional list of Circuit 101 for kids:

NASA

Electronics for kids

Here’s a cool POV with Basic stamp. I have been trying to think of some cool POV ideas but this article seems a good one to get started with…

via make

Other cool POVs:

Ian’s Spoke POV

POV using AVR

buy Spoke POV kit from ladyada.net

Wireless POV

List of POV tutorials including coordinate system for 2D and 3D POVs

Here’s a cool little network tester you can make. I’ve always used to use one while working as a IT technician couple years ago,
but this is a good way to hack one instead of buying one such as this, which can cost you almost $200.

Well, what would really be cool is if you can make a wifi tester such as this.

I’ve seen the ones that SBC technicians use, those things are like $10,000 each with graphic LCDs and, yeah, that would be
cool to have one of those for sure.

via make