sitzmar! do what now?

A Joke About Cops

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Comic by:

tahongawaka

Playing hacker with a toy vault

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[Thomas Cannon] created his own hacking game by adding some circuitry to this toy vault. The original toy uses the keypad to control a solenoid keeping the door shut. He kept the mechanical setup, but replaced the original circuit board with his own ATmega328 based internals. He also added a USB port to the front. The gist of the game is that you plug-in through USB to gain access to the vault’s terminal software. If you can make your way through the various levels of admin access the loot inside will be yours.

Filed under: toy hacks

Balancing inverted pendulums

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The robot above can balance an inverted pendulum. But wait, it gets better. It can balance an inverted pendulum that is articulated in the middle like the one seen above. Wait, wait, wait… it gets even better. It can start with the pendulum hanging below the sliding carriage, flick back and forth to get the two segments swinging, and then come to equilibrium with the pendulum as seen above. Once there, it can recover from a bit of a shove, like some of the big boys. Very impressive, even when compared to two-wheeled balancers. See for yourself after the break.

We don’t have very much information on how this works. We do know that it was a seminar paper from a student at the University of Stuttgart but the rest is pretty much a mystery. Does it use visual processing? What kind of controller is driving this thing? We want to know the details but haven’t yet found a copy of the paper. If you know where we can get our mitts on it please leave a comment below.

[Thanks Ferdinand via Flabber (NSFW)]

Filed under: robots hacks

Climbing bike storage thwarts thieves?

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If you’ve got an expensive bike and don’t mind carrying around a whole bunch of extra weight in your courier bag you’ll like this concept. A design team built a pole-climbing bike rack in about 14 days. The video after the break shows the prototyping process as well as the finished “lock” in use. It’s a commercial for the company that employs the designers, but this is one kind of advert we don’t mind watching.

Square channel makes up the body of the device, with a set of Rollerblade wheels which grab a light pole and use three 12V gear motors for climbing. The controller is a wireless fob similar to those used for keyless entry on cars. In the video you can hear the cliché sound of a car alarm being set once the carrier reaches its finished height. Nice.

[Thanks JonnieCache]

Filed under: transportation hacks

Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)

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Comic 826

50 Free Apps We’re Most Thankful For [Downloads]

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As we prepare to give thanks for our delicious Thanksgiving meals (and impending food comas), let's not forget to pay tribute to the wonderful developers who bring us our favorite free apps. More »

Report: Physicists Discover Super-Photon

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A team of physicists in Germany have developed what appears to be a completely new source of light.

Harry Potter Shouldn’t Hang Out With Drunk Coke Heads [Funny Video]

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So what happens when you take Harry Potter and you get rid of fighting He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? You end up with a bunch of belligerent teenagers who just want to drink beer and snort coke while trying to get into Hermione’s pants.

Okay so the high pitched voices in the spoof film are a bit annoying, but the chroma keying of actors into certain parts of the actual Harry Potter movies, plus the great use of footage from the films to match what their dialogue is saying is pretty cool.

Here’s the video:

Did you enjoy the spoof? As a big fan of the Harry Potter book series I found it amusing that the creators of the spoof took the theme to such high adult themed levels.

Burg Gives Your Multi-Boot Screen a Big Facelift [Downloads]

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Linux/Windows: Based on GRUB but many shades beyond it in the looks department, Burg is a quick install for Linux users that lets anyone theme their multi-OS selection screen, or customize their own theme. It's becoming install-ready on Windows and Mac, too. More »