netbooks

A while back, we announced that we would be bringing new features to Hackaday. One in particular that garnished a lot of interest was our question answer type thingy. Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, that has not happened yet. Without divulging too much into the secret machinery that lies underneath Hackaday, I’ll just say that we(the writers) don’t necessarily have control over all aspects of the site. An example would be the copyright. Yes, we finally got it updated. Thanks for all of your emails. No, none of us had access to that part of the site, so don’t bother letting us know how simple that change should have been.

We are as eager as you to see some good ideas and good feedback flowing through this site, so we’re going to start a regular post, entitled “Ask Hackaday”. This isn’t entirely new, we’ve done it before actually. This is just to let you know that we intend to do it regularly, and to set some ground rules.  ”Ask Hackaday” will mostly center around you, our readers, and your ideas. We will publish a question, and possibly our thoughts, but the main content will be your responses. We have a huge collective of intelligent creative readers and it would be a shame not to tap into that pool of knowledge.  When you are offering an answer, be thorough, give details, and please be kind.

Send your questions to askHAD@hackaday.com for consideration. They will be chosen based on a complicated system of random number variation involving furry woodland creatures and how we feel at the moment that we read them. Do not get offended if you question does not get published. We get tons of questions already and we don’t intend to publish them all.

[XenonJon] got a lot of attention for a skateboard/segway style balancing platform he took to the Makerfaire in Newcastle. He decided to try to build it the cheapest and easiest possible way in an attempt to help others build their own. The build is documented very well, however you have to email him to request the code for the Arduino. Maybe after enough requests, he’ll just pop it online. We thought this looked familiar, so we searched the archive and found this very similar setup from back in 2005. Unfortunately, that project page appears to be gone now.

The iPad is going to be released on April 3 and almost everyone is anxiously anticipating its release, as can be seen by how frequently the iPad is appearing in tech news.

Developers must be eagerly anticipating the iPad’s release as well. There has been a surge of interest in developing apps for Apple’s App Store. Apple begun accepting app submissions for the iPad and has announced that March 27 is the deadline for submitting apps that will be available on the day of the iPad’s launch. The submitted apps will be reviewed by Apple and the developers will be contacted by email concerning their submissions.

This email feedback is important because few developers have access to actual iPads. Most have to run their creations on the SDK simulator and hope that there will not be any major problems when the apps run on actual iPads. Apps will most likely be as important to the iPad as they are to the iPhone, so how Apple handles the approval of apps for launch day is important.

Via Overclockers Club, image via Apple.

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Apple’s upcoming device, the iPad, has long been seen as a competitor to Amazon’s Kindle. Not only may the iPad bring about the end of the Kindle, but it may help Apple cash in on a market that the Kindle was never able to: education.

Of course, Apple does sell many products on the education market. But the iPad may be especially convenient for students because of its small size, e-reader capabilities, and versatility. The Kindle was tested at several major universities and just seemed to lack something and was never a good fit for students.

Recent estimates speculate that Apple may be shipping as many as 190,000 pre-ordered iPads to customers in the first week of the iPad’s release (this is just a guess, though, as no official numbers have been released). Perhaps in a hope of catering to the education market, Apple has lowered the price of the iPad by $20 when ten or more of the devices are ordered for educational use.

Via Tainted Green, image via Apple.

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HTML 5 has exciting prospects for web applications.  It will hopefully result in the end of plug-ins, like Flash, and allow for a more universal standard across the internet.  One possibility would to be able to have 3D graphics in web pages.  The result could be high-end games directly available on web pages, not suffering from the performance load caused by Flash.

This isn’t just hypothetical stuff; the Mozilla Foundation along with Opera, Apple, and Chrome are all working to make this real with WebGL, a JavaScript library which allows for 3D rendering.  The only problem is it requires OpenGL support, something which is lacking on many Windows PCs.  So Google has announced its plans for ANGLE,  a “cross-platform web standard for accessing low-level 3D graphics hardware”.  Basically, it’s a way for Chrome to use Direct3D in place of OpenGL on Windows machines.

It is interesting to note that this announcement comes on the heels of Microsoft’s release of its new IE9 platform, which introduces HTML 5 and Direct2D hardware rendering.  It showed off some very impressive SVG based demos.  Google is taking the Microsoft threat very seriously, and has an added stake due to its browser based OS, Chrome OS.

Via Gizmodo

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This gorgeous persistence of vision clock was built a couple years back by [mb1988]. The housing is made of acrylic with a hard drive motor mounted in the center of the back panel to spin a PCB. The two-sided circuit board is home-made and includes a battery for power, ATmega32 for the brain, 32 LEDs, four display drivers, and a real time clock module. The spinning hard drive motor is nearly silent and already has threaded mounting holes on it. [mb1988] uses an optoelectric sensor to sync the display with the rate of rotation. The forum post includes download for the code and hardware details. Don’t miss the demonstration after the break.

[Thanks Tehgringe]

We’ve received many tips regarding the OK Go video that features a Rube Goldberg machine. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out their video after the break. This is the rare instance when a YouTube video features an audio track with the full endorsement of the artists that recorded it.

Our first thought when watching this? Who are the lucky dogs who got paid to design and build that contraption? You don’t have to scratch your head over that one, the Band has posted a four-part video series talking about the machine and documenting the design meetings and build process (those videos also after the break). The engineer artists at Syyn Labs were tapped to pull off the meticulous mayhem and we think they did a stellar job. There’s been a lot of press about the work, but our favorite was over at Wired because it details the process, not the end product.

The best part about Rube Goldberg Machines is that asking “why?” is the wrong questions. The sheer joy of the build makes taking over a house or over-complicating the fulfillment of hunger worth it.

OK Go – This Too Shall Pass – Rube Goldberg Machine version

Snow removal ranks right up there with laundry as one of the least-enjoyed chores. [Herb Spencer] sought to automate the process while terrifying his neighbors as the same time by building a robotic snow blower, the RoBo Blower. The heavy lifting is still handled by a gas motor which propels the snow auger. Two batteries power the electrical system that takes commands from a remote control, moving the show chute and managing the navigation.  He’s done what he can in the way of safety, adding a grate at the front, flashing light atop, an operator-controlled horn, and kill circuitry (to shut it down, not to kill the unsuspecting). All of this is wrapped up in a nice package, especially when compared to the snow blower push platform from last month.

Maybe next year he’ll work on making it autonomous? Take a look at the RoBo Blower clearing a driveway after the break.

[Thanks Juan via Hacked Gadgets]

With summer just around the corner you should try out a build like this constant pressure water gun that [JLspacemarine] put together. Similar to the commercially available Super Soaker toys, this isn’t just a squirt gun but includes a water reservoir as well as a pressurized air chamber. Pumping up the air chamber allows for a constant stream when the trigger is depressed. [JLspacemarine] used a combination of hardware store items such as PVC, ABS, springs, hose clamps, and valves to bring this all together.

[Thanks Danukeru]

While surfing one of our favorite websites, we came upon this little jewel. We can’t really tell if this is hack-worthy, or just a deathtrap, so to help decide…

Mechanics crawler + 80cc motor – safety concerns = deathtrap

It’s really that final “Brakes? Why would I need to stop?” that puts this project over the edge. Regardless, check out a video after the break. And please, do not try this at home.

You may have noticed we like covering iPad Alternatives here at Netbook News and we have uncovered a little beauty called the WePad. It is just another tablet but lets take a look at what it has to offer, its a little bigger at 11.6 inches with a 1366 x 768 resolution. It sports an Intel Atom N450 processor and is going to roll out with a functioning ecosystem for publishers to distribute their newspapers and magazines. Its nice to see tablet manufactures get it, tablets have been around for year, but they achieved little success because its a content consumption device and for that to take off, it needs an ecosystem with content!

Given that T-Mobile stores across the US have all the promotional signage we showed you yesterday ready for next week's HTC HD2 launch, it would stand to reason that the actual handset is already in stores too, right? There's no telling just how many of these Snapdragon-powered beauties each shop has in the back room, but when Chris (our Contributing Editor) visited one of the largest stores in his hometown of Texas and inquired about the unadvertised phone's whereabouts, the...

Capacitive touchscreens are quickly moving from a rarity to more of a necessity with everything from the iPhone OS to Android. Designed from the ground up as finger-friendly, they eschew the long-hated stylii that always seem to get lost or broken, yet are vital to using the many resistive screens out there. It almost seems ironic that what you see here is a stylus designed for the device that started the capacitive madness, the iPhone. As if wanting to relive...

This method of book digitization allows you to scan an entire book by fanning through the pages. It uses a high-speed camera that captures 500 frames per second to get a good look at each page. Processing software isolates each pages, analyzes any curve in the paper due to the flipping, and smooths out the image for better optical character recognition results. The greatly reduces the time it takes to digitize a book, even compared to setups that automatically flip pages.

[Thanks Erico]

Just as there are a variety of accessories that men and women can adorn themselves with to make themselves look better, there are ones for netbooks to make the experience better. Scosche, a tech company specializing in mobile electronics and accessories, has recently announced their new netbook accessory lineup for 2010. The new accessories offered will enhance several netbook aspects such as audio, communication, and safety.

So what kind of products are being offered specifically? Well, here’s a few…

Audio:

• We have the skyCASTER wireless RF Computer Headphones with USB transmitter. This cushy headset comes with an adjustable microphone, making it an ideal tool for programs such as Skype. The headphones provide a range of up to 100 ft and deliver excellent sound quality.

Communication:

• Then there’s blueLIFE, a low profile Bluetooth® USB adapter, for Bluetooth savvy users.

Safety:

• Scosche will be offering the netBOOK Protect line which includes the netSUIT PRO carrying case for both netbooks and iPads!

With such great products available, the netbook’s easy handling is only getting easier.

Via Liliputing, image via MaxBorgesAgency.

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