Make a better watchband for the Sony LiveView or iPod Nano in 30min and $8

If you are like me and actually use your Sony LiveView as a watch in your daily life, you are probably frustrated by a few things that were NOT well thought out. First of all the watchband that the LiveView comes with is very basic. That is fine, what gets me is that the plastic for the Holder is of SUCH LOW QUALITY. I have owned this device since December 25th when my boyfriend gave Read more…

Quick Game Buzzer for a Family Game Night

This project was literally done in less time than it took to put this post together. Program, circuit, reverse engineering and building took about 2 hours while watching comedy shows so it should take less than that!No Dremel or real electrical knowledge required. LCD is there because I have it pretty much attached to the board. I made this for a class that my boyfriend was teaching at Northwestern for mostly kids in the Chicago Public School Read more…

DIY Home RFID Base station with independent control and memory

This was a collaborative effort done about 2 years ago when I was a student at NU. My partners in crime were: Jason Sanghi, Steven Kravik, and Steven Anderson.All are cool guys and during my college years I ended up being in a lot of groups with Steven Kravik (smart guy and easy to get along with).   It is an independent base station for RFID controlled access to your home. Control is monitored by Read more…

Step aside Sound-Hound, Street Beats for Android is coming!

STREET BEATS!!!! Thought I would post some progress on the collaborative project between my Boyfriend (Stev-o) and myself on our Android Music Program!!!!!  This program need some more rework and a UI….however most of the functions are working decently well.  You can use Voice to text for searching or type it in (personally I like using my Swype keyboard). This will generate the individual songs and playlists instantly playable by your media player of choice! Read more…

DIY HiFi Orthodynamic Portable Headphones (aka Ribbon Driver Headphones)

Are you sick of cheapo portable headphones?  Are you sick of paying $200+ for a decent set of portable cans?  Do you like Unique Technology?  Are you DIY? These headphones use drivers that are Orthodynamic. To sum it up, they are very similar to electrostatic and ribbon drivers in that they are planar. However, one major difference between electrostatic and orthdynamic is that Orthodynamiccan be driven from simple headphone sockets whereas ‘Stats  need several hundred Read more…

HTC Evo 4G Mods: Beyond the stock and one of a kind

I am willing to bet that most techno nerds who bought an HTC Evo (got mine on launch day!) Rooted and Nand ‘d there phones almost immediately to get full software control. However, I am wondering how many people have done most every mod physically and added their own?  This is my Evo with the inductive charger installed and a custom modified IcyCell (part of the original project for this one – community driven at XDA Read more…

Cheapskate: Coffee Sleeve Phone Video Stand

Have you ever been stuck in the Airport and really want to watch a movie or do you quickly realize once you have boarded the plane that you don’t want to be holding the tablet or phone for the whole flight? Why not enjoy this double recycling (as it is made of recycled cardboard to begin with) of a disposable phone stand? Its pretty simple, 1. Take the sleeve off of your luke warm or gone coffee cup2. Fold Read more…

El Cheapo Mid-Fi Speakers

First off, you should know that these were made for getting the best SQ for the smallest amount of money possible. I was a college student at the time and had limited funds, was constantly having people over and did not have the space for my surround sound system in my small bedroom. Came up with these and did the design out of ease and desire to keep the 3D soundstage, only using stereo speakers Read more…

Advanced Sensor shield for Arduino

This is a super short independent project that I did for my advisor in college over about 2 months (concept to paper and finished project). Mainly, it was meant to prove the viability of using DIY, Open Source devices for using in wireless sensor networks. We needed to prove to the group of advisors that you really could build small and cheap devices that were just as effective, easy to program, and more robust as they did Read more…