Day: July 17, 2010

Lolo’s (perfect Moment) Alarm Clock

July 17, 2010 by 20 Comments

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CphsgESZGcE&feature=player_embedded%5D

It seems everybody has a different interpretation of the perfect alarm clock. [Loic Royer’s] alarm clock is not the loudest, or the smartest, but does have some interesting features. By monitoring several environmental factors like temperature, air quality, humidity, dew point, and your own sleep patterns, this alarm clock can determine the best moment in the morning to wake you up.

The main sensor is a wireless accelerometer with the theory being: the more you move in your sleep, the closer you are to a conscious state. The other sensors assist in picking the perfect moment, and awaken you with the sound of birds chirping.

For now all we have is the source code and the list of hardware, but for anyone wanting to try, a circuit diagram wouldn’t be too hard to figure out on your own. Check after the rift for some more videos. Continue reading “Lolo’s (perfect Moment) Alarm Clock” →

OpenWRT On A Seagate FreeAgent Dockstar

July 17, 2010 by 50 Comments

The Seagate FreeAgent Dockstar aims to make all of your stuff available online. It serves that purpose but sometimes you just want more options for controlling your hardware and running some scripts. [Eric Cooper] put together a guide for installing OpenWRT on the Dockstar by building your own kernel and loading it onto the internal storage. Once you have a kernel that will play nicely with the hardware, you can install it by tunneling in through SSH; the same method you would use if you wanted to run Linux on this hardware. If you have problems along the way, [Eric’s] also included a guide for cracking the Dockstar open and connecting a serial cable.

RFID Cat Feeder Helps With The Diet

July 17, 2010 by 29 Comments

[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/10896151]

When faced with having 2 cats with different dietary needs, [Landmanr] had to decide between manually stopping the cat on a diet from eating normal food, or building a dietary robot overlord. [Landmanr] chose the robot route. Using an old cd rom for the opening/closing mechanism, and RFID to distinguish between felines, [Landmanr] no longer has to stand guard while each cat eats. We particularly like the design of the antenna, so that the cat has to stick its head through it to activate the food opening. You don’t see that version in the video, but it is in the instructable.