So I bought some stuff from sparkfun, including a 1-wire temperature sensor, and a serial LCD to use with my Arduinos. That was pretty cool, although I thought I was getting an I2C LCD, and I thought 1-wire = I2C. But it turns out that I2C = 2-wire which is very much not the same. You see 1-wire needs two wires where 2-wire needs four. Got it ( Read more... )

I did some googling, and was disappointed at not quickly finding any joule thief designs that only turn on at night.

After some fiddling I came up with this modification of the previously mentioned design:


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So last night I tried out a new motor, a "SolarBotics Gear Motor 3". The most difficult bit was mechanically adapting it to the LEGO pieces. Eventually I got something pulled together, but it is far from perfect. Applying power to the motor, though, shows that it has more than enough torque for the job ( Read more... )

Finally I was able to get a Joule Thief working. I found this design:

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One particularly annoying thing I've run into a few times with these DIY projects is exemplified by This 3D Camera Adapter ProjectBasically these projects are the equivalent of "Make this awesome x! It is Easy: Start with all the x parts and then put them together!" While never revealing where one gets the most critical parts ( Read more... )

I'd seen a Joule Thief mentioned several times over at Make. But only just yesterday did I look into it ( Read more... )

So I've been going back to my roots over the past year and fiddling around with electronics again ( Read more... )

I am not really a fan of Lindt chocolate. To me it has a starchy flat taste. But somehow or another I found myself with a touch of sea salt bar. And what a difference! That flat flavor was nowhere to be found ( Read more... )

I suddenly got a vague whisper of a scent... the smell of vanilla frosting on a chocolate cupcake. Now I would kill to dip my finger a mixing bowl of the stuff.

I was at the food museum yesterday to get Someone cilantro and the fage and I couldn't help but noticing a special on Dagoba chocolate bars (2 for 4$). So I picked up a couple and last night I got to enjoy roseberryI love raspberry to begin with, and am fond of rose. So it was a special delight to enjoy them all at the same time. While not truly a ( Read more... )