Well, Ford has decided to add a new Parental Control to their cars by having a Smart Key with a chip that can limit how fast your teenage daughter/son drives, how loud the stereo is played, and other features that can help your child stay out of trouble.

I think this is a really good idea and it won’t cost the car manufacturer another dime since most of that is already controlled by a car-resident computer.  The only money they will really have to spend is on the chips inside the key but that still should cost less than a quarter per chip as mass production.

I think this is fantasy of movies coming to life as now we are really trying to control how a person drives.  There will be negatives like when you are trying to get away from a serial killer, a 80MPH speed limit won’t help.  But I am sure people will find a way to hack this too, maybe it is pointless for smarter teenagers but we will get the rest of them.

In addition to implementing a speed limit, the key can be used to limit the volume of the car stereo system and emit a chime for six seconds every five minutes until the driver puts on a seatbelt.

MyKey can also be programmed to chime once each time the car reaches 45 mph, 55 mph, and 65 mph to alert young drivers about their acceleration.

Another feature, useful to anyone who fails to notice when the fuel light goes on, chimes when the car is 75 miles from empty. (The light on a Ford usually goes on at 50 miles to empty.)

via cnet

Remember the Peek E-mail device that’s going to replace your Blackberry?  Well, here’s a reader who decided to see what’s “inside”.

Looks really well made - I was impressed by the aluminum backbone that supports the keyboard and the screen. The insides are very simple - just a few highly integrated chips. I haven’t hooked up the micro USB cable yet… I’m sure someone will beat me to it!

via make, photos

I don’t think Vegas hotels would be switching to touchscreen roulette tables anytime soon but it’s definitely a great product for enjoying the game without chips.

Also doing away with the conventional idea of chips and money-on-the-table, time to run a game cycle is lowered considerably and chances of the dealer to cheat are reduced. Bets are placed with less effort electronically and new possibilities like Repeat Bets makes gambling easier. Also built-in help functions let new players teach themselves the details of the game.

via bornrich

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Here’s a fun little DIY with high powered LEDs.

Now by the time that you start talking about blinking the high power LEDs– you shouldn’t be surprised if people start whipping out the heavy artillery: 555 timer chips, transistors, boost converters, microcontrollers, solid state relays, and/or dedicated LED driver chips. While each of those does have its place, sometimes it’s nice to have a simpler and much less expensive alternative.

via make

Here’s a really cool hack that let’s you use your optical mouse as a scanner.

Are you using an optical mouse right now? Ever wanted to see your desktop through the eye on the bottom of it? Me neither, I already know I have to clean my desktop

People get bored sometimes, and when I get bored I sometimes open up stuff to find out what makes it tick. One time, I did this with an old optical mouse. Well, a mouse only has 2 chips inside: the optical sensor and a chip for the usb/ps2-interfacing. I looked up the datasheet of the optical sensor (which is an ADNS2610) and it told me the sensor has a tiny 18×18 CCD, which can be read out using the serial port (the one which normally interfaces to the PS2/USB-chip).

So I start Visual Basic (I usually do my stuff under Linux, but I’m no star at using anything graphical like QT or GTK, so for this quick’n'dirty project I fell back in my old habits) and hack something up using a few wires to the trusty ole parallel port. The result: crisp lo-res b&w imaging

(Thanks Joe for the tip!)

[via] spritesmods

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Check out this cool Soul Cycle! We saw a guy and a girl riding this through massive traffic throughout the Maker Faire. It was cool because we got some good music for free!
They were playing some good Bob Marley music, which is my favorite.  (awesome!)

I guess you can get this mod for your bike, cool…

Add the element of music to your next social ride with one of our amazing Soul Cycle mobile audio systems. There’s nothing like walking down your front steps to a glowing, inviting Soul Cycle, setting your iPod on the handlebar control deck, flipping a couple switches for lights and music, and riding off to the bumping bass of a Bob Marley track. All Rock The Bike Soul Cycles offer powerful bass, amazing ease of use, durability, and great styling!

We cut our teeth making Soul Cycles for San Francisco’s Critical Mass rides, and we’ve innovated some of the most powerful features in today’s exciting world of bicycle audio: handlebar mounted controls, backlit speakers, and streamlined looks. If you want to build the ultimate party bike, install your Soul Cycle system on an Xtracycle SUB. You’ll be able to carry a friend, bring the beer, chips, salsa, and the tunes!

Maker Page

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Oh man, this is freakin’ smart.

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Here’s a great DIY on how to make a solar heater. Although the one he made is not functional you can probably easily make it functional by adding an inlet pipe and outlet pipe plus a small PC fan. But the theory is very impressive and this thing could be made more efficient with a little bit more work.

Using the same equipment and methods, I determined the outlet temperature to be about 95 degrees - thus a 15 degree temperature differential. Not 110 degrees, but not bad , considering I didn’t even break $50 in materials - most of that being the plexiglas window.

Obviously don’t have the inlet and outlet attached to the garage - figures that the day I finish the furnace, it’s 80 degrees and sunny and it looks like we’re finally done with winter. Dad recommends wiring a pusher fan at the end of the inlet tube to keep the air circulating through the furnace.

[via]