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• How to Create Steel Wool Light Paintings [Video]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Steel Wool Light Paintings are like regular long-exposure light paintings but they replace LEDs with flaming balls of steel; watch this video to see how to safely and successfully light paint with steal wool. In this video Benjamin Von Wong explains how to set up a steel wool light painting photoshoot, how to create your steel wool light source, and how to do it all safely without burning down your neighborhood or lighting nearby pedestrians on fire. [via DIYPhotography] What’s the Difference Between Sleep and Hibernate in Windows? Screenshot Tour: XBMC 11 Eden Rocks Improved iOS Support, AirPlay, and Even a Custom XBMC OS How To Be Your Own Personal Clone Army (With a Little Photoshop)

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• DeskLights Turns Desk Surface Into Giant Multi-Purpose Notifier

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  We’ve seen desks with LEDs under frosted glass before, but this is the first desk we’ve seen where the LEDs serve as a sophisticated notification system. Check out the video above to see desk, designed by Michael LaGrasta, in action. The secret sauce is an array of LED modules, linked to an Arduino board, which is in turn running a tiny web server. Hit up the link below for the full build guide. DeskLights 2.0 [via IKEAHackers] Hack Your Kindle for Easy Font Customization HTG Explains: What Is RSS and How Can I Benefit From Using It? HTG Explains: Why You Only Have to Wipe a Disk Once to Erase It

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• Free Universal Construction Kit Links Different Construction Toy Systems

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  If you or a young tinker in your household is disappointed that there is no way to link LEGO bricks and Lincoln Logs (or other construction toys on the market) this project is for you. Free Universal Construction Kit is project oriented around creating inter-operable linking bricks that allow the user to link previously non-compatible building system. Using the bricks you can, for example, attach LEGO bricks to a K’Nex construction. The adapter bricks are all available as free 3D printer models–download them, fire up your 3D printer, and start mish-mashing your construction sets. Free Universal Construction Kits [via Make] The HTG Guide to Hiding Your Data in a TrueCrypt Hidden Volume Make Your Own Windows 8 Start Button with Zero Memory Usage Reader Request: How To Repair Blurry Photos

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• Eight Geektacular Christmas Projects for Your Day Off

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  It’s Christmas Eve and if you’re lucky you’ve got some time off ahead of you. Let’s put that time to good use with some holiday-centered geeking out. Come on in for LEGO ornaments, Darth Vader snow flakes, and Christmas light hacks galore. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How to Use the Avira Rescue CD to Clean Your Infected PC The Complete List of iPad Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials Is Your Desktop Printer More Expensive Than Printing Services? 20 OS X Keyboard Shortcuts You Might Not Know HTG Explains: Which Linux File System Should You Choose? HTG Explains: Why Does Photo Paper Improve Print Quality? An Alternate Star Wars Christmas Special [Video] Sunset in a Tropical Paradise Wallpaper Natural Wood Grain Icons for Your Desktop and App Launcher Docks My Blackberry Is Not Working! The Apple Too?! [Funny Video] Hidden Tracks Your Stolen Mac; Free Until End of January Why the Other Checkout Line Always Moves Faster

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• Tempescope Displays Weather by Recreating It

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Yesterday we showed you an umbrella stand that signals raining/clear skies by color, today we have something even more interesting: an ambient desktop weather station that recreates the outside weather. The Tempescope pulls down the current weather report from Weather Underground’s API and feeds it to an Arduino board which in turn controls the device. When it’s raining, it pumps water down to simulate rain in the chamber. When there is lightening, LEDs flash. When there is cloud cover, an ultrasonic generator creates a fine mist inside the cylinder. Finally, on sunny days the entire thing glows warmly. To say that we want one would be an understatement. Hit up the link below to read more about the project, the display modes, and to peek inside the device. Prototyping “Tempescope”, An Ambient Weather Display [via Hack A Day] How To Delete, Move, or Rename Locked Files in Windows HTG Explains: Why Screen Savers Are No Longer Necessary 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7

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• How to Make a 9 Layer Density Column [Video]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Density columns, layers of varying density liquid in a glass cylinder, are nothing new in the world of science demonstrations, but this nine layer one with seven floating objects is something to see. Courtesy of Steve Spangler Science, the experiment goes above and beyond the traditional five layer column by adding another four layers and sinking objects of varying density into the column. The end result is a colorful demonstration of the varying densities of liquids and solids. [via Boing Boing] How To Get a Better Wireless Signal and Reduce Wireless Network Interference How To Troubleshoot Internet Connection Problems 7 Ways To Free Up Hard Disk Space On Windows

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• DIY a simple .inf on an existing .sys?

  - by Stijn Sanders

  In continuation of attempting to get an old Digi ST-1032 working on a new server, we've downgraded a server to Windows 2000 in an attempt to use the NT4 drivers. And it works, the old software setup works, finds the device on the SCSI bus, and connects the 32 ports to COM3..COM34 or any other set using the port remapper tool. The minor issue that remains is that Plug-and-Play still detects this device over SCSI and tries to wizard you into selecting a driver for it. Which doesn't exists (Digi Intl support confirms this device is so old, a 2000 or XP driver was never made). The exact name displayed is "DigiIntl ST-1032 SCSI Net Device" (Oddly enough, two devices get detected with this name, on two neighbouring LUN's, could one be the built-in terminator?) Is there a way to concoct a simple .inf that would (re-)register the existing sts.sys that appears to get registered by the (old) installer of the driver software?

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• Autoscale Rackspace Cloud, Scalr or DIY?

  - by Andre Jay Marcelo-Tanner

  I'm looking into creating a setup on Rackspace Cloud that will allow me to autoscale my webservers (no db) on demand. Preferably using something like response time. I've read into configuration tools like Puppet/Chef, but I'm thinking I can just launch from prepared server images that are ready to go. Is there any tool out there already that can monitor my existing node response times and then launch or scale up new ones based upon certain variables like average X load over Y time? I see there are commercial offerings like Scalr, Rightscale, but how would I do this myself?

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• Is S3 cheaper than a EC2 DIY solution (for small files)

  - by Jann

  Is it really cheaper to host images and scripts via S3 than with an EC2 instance running nginx/varnish/etc. ? It seems to me (but i'm just getting started with AWS) that the request costs will be the major factor if you don't use sprites or other optimizations... or am i missing something ?

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• From the Tips Box: Controlling Xbox Controllers in Windows, Keeping Your Computer Cool in the Summer, and a DIY Book Scanning Rig

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Once a week we round up some great reader tips from the tips box and reader comments, and share the with the rest of you. This week we’re looking at an alternate way to control Xbox controller in Windows, how to keep your computer cool in the summer heat, and how to build a power DIY book scanner. How to Use an Xbox 360 Controller On Your Windows PC Download the Official How-To Geek Trivia App for Windows 8 How to Banish Duplicate Photos with VisiPic

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• Want to turn old Powerbook Mac into small form factor desktop

  - by Rob

  I've got an old powerbook g4. Battery is totally dead, as is the superdrive. I've looked into selling but it's worth less than it would cost to ship it safely. So I'm considering cracking it open and and taking it's parts and creating some kind of small form factor desktop, probably for the living room. I don't need an optical drive, I really just would like Mac OSX, without purchasing a Mac Mini. Anyone got any tips?

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• Performing mechanical movements using computer

  - by Vi

  How to make a computer (in particular, my laptop) to perform some mechanical movements without buying anything $5, soldering things inside computer or creating big sophisticated circuits? Traditionally CD-ROM tray is used to make computer do some movement IRL by, for example, SSH command, but in laptop tray is one-shot (unless manually reloaded) and also not very comfortable [mis]usage. Some assistance circuits can be in use too, but not complex. For example, there is a little motor that can work on USB power. Devices in my computer: DVD-ROM tray: one-time push. USB power: continuous power to the motor or LEDS or relay that turns on something powerful. Audio card. 3 outputs (modprobe alsa model=test can set Mic and Line-in as additional output). One controllable DC output (microphone) that can power up LED and some electronic (may be even mechanic?) relay. Also with sophisticated additional circuiting can control a lot of devices with a good precision. Both input and output support. Probably the most useful object in computer for radio ham. Modem. Don't know about this much, it doesn't work because of hsfmodem crashes kernel if memory is = 1GB. May be it's "pick up" and "hang up" can turn on and off power taken from USB port? Video card. VGA port? S-Video port? Will them be useful? Backlight. Tunable, but probably unuseful. CardBus (or some) slot. Nothing interesting for the task probably (is it?). AC adapter and battery. Probably nothing programmable here. /* My AC adapter already have additional jacks to connect extra devics */ Keyboard. No use. Touchpad. Good sensor (synclient -m 1), but no output. Various LEDs inside laptop. Probably too weak and requires soldering. Fans inside laptop. Poor control over them, requires soldering and dangerous to tinker. HDD (internal and external) that can be spin down and up (hdparm -Y, cat /dev/ubb). But connecting anything serially with it's power line makes HDD underpowered... And too complex. Is something are missed? Any ideas how to use described components? Any other ideas? May be there are easily available /* in developing countries */ cheap devices like "enhanced multimeters" that are controllable from computer and can provide configurable output and measure current and other things? Things to aid pushing many physical buttons with computer. Isn't this a simple idea and implementation and a lot of use in good hands?

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• Hardware recommendations / parts list for a modern, quiet ZFS NAS box - 2011-Feb edition [closed]

  - by dandv

  I want to build some really reliable storage for my data, and it seems that ZFS is the only filesystem at the moment that does live checksumming. That rules out DroboPro, so I'm looking to building a quiet ZFS NAS that would start with 4 2TB or larger hard drives. I'd like this system to be very reliable and relatively future-proof for 2-3 years, so I'm willing to invest some $$$ and buy higher end components. I did see questions here and on other forums about low-cost servers, but I'm not looking for those. I'd be super happy to go for an off-the-shelf solution, but I haven't found one that's quiet. I started doing the research (summarized on my wiki), but I realized that it just gets too complicated for what I know as a software dude, and I'm entering the analysis paralysis area. At this point, I'm basically looking for a parts list for a configuration that will work (and is modern), and I know there are folks around here who are way more competent than me. I've built computers and am comfortable assembling one and messing with *nix; I can follow guides; I just want to end the decision process for the hardware and software configuration. What I've researched so far (not that these are very modern components): Case: I think I've settled on the Antec Twelve Hundred case because it cools well, is quiet, and simply has 12 bays that allow elastic mounting. The SilverStone Raven is its counter-candidate, but I find its construction quite odd. For the PSU, I'm torn between Antec CP-850 and Nexus RX-8500, but I did this research more than a year ago. The Nexus has a very uniform power profile, and I'd rather not have the Antec spin up and down based on load. On the other hand, I'm not sure how often my file server will draw more than 400W under use. For the hard drives, I've read that WD Black drives are actually WD RE3 with a software setting changed. I'd also like to buy different drive types, not just 4 WDs. Recommendations? Right now I have a 2TB Hitachi Deskstar 7K300. For the motherboard, CPU and RAM I have no idea, other than the RAM must be ECC. I already asked a question here about ECC RAM, but I was misguided and was looking for a motherboard that would support USB 3.0 as well. I've learned to go with eSATA, or worry about USB later. Then there's the (liquid) cooling, Wi-Fi card, and FreeBSD vs. OpenSolaris Express. Lastly, I'm wondering if I can make this PC into a media server by adding a Blu-ray drive and a good sound card. But support for Blu-Ray is spotty on Linux, and I don't know if Windows 7 on VirtualBox would get sufficient hardware access to output HDMI or SPDIFF signals. (Running OpenSolaris virtualized is not an option because of the reliability risk.) Then there are HDCP concerns. Suggestions on that would be appreciated as well, but I don't want us to get sidetracked. A specific shopping list on the core components would be great, so I can start ordering, and in the meantime educate myself with regards to the other issues. Finally, I think this could become a great FAQ for those technically inclined to build their own ZFS server, but confused by the dizzying array of options out there, and I promise to compile the results and share my experience building and benchmarking the server.

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• How to get Google Chrome on my TV for under $100

  - by pattern86

  How can I get the Google Chrome web browser on my TV for under $100? ($200 MAX) I have a TV with HDMI and component inputs (but no bluetooth so firmware modding is out.) I want the solution to work with bluetooth peripherals--I already have a wireless Apple keyboard and Magic Mouse. I don't want a laptop or a desktop computer, unless it's in the general form factor of an HTPC or Mac Mini. Is there a way to make this happen?

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• What is the minimum delay between two consecutive RS232 frames?

  - by Lord Loh.

  I have been working on creating a UART on an FPGA. I can successfully transmit and receive single characters typed on PuTTY. However, when I set my FPGA to constantly write a large sequences of "A", sometimes I end up with a sequences of "@" or some other characters until I reset the FPGA a few times. I believe the UART on the computer looses track of the difference between the start bit and a zero. The delay between the two "A" is ~ 30us (measured with a logic analyzer) and the baud rate is 115200 8N1. Is there a minimum delay that must be maintained between two consecutive RS232 frames?

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• Is there a peripheral that lets my computer monitor the connectivity of pairs of wires?

  - by raldi

  I've got a bunch of physical switches and circuits that act like switches (they're either connected to ground or they're just an open wire). Is there some sort of thing I can plug into my computer (ideally, via USB) that has a bunch of screw terminals, and I can attach wires to the screws and have the computer keep track of which circuits are closed and which are open? Bonus points if the device also lets the computer open and close switches, too. I don't even know what to google for.

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• Ethernet/8P8C crimp contacts bent

  - by Fire Lancer

  (if anyone knows correct terminology please correct). Ive got a (fairly large) number of existing Ethernet cables that over the years many have got damaged connector clips, so got a crimp tool and some new connectors for them. However out of all 4 attempts I have tried, on crimping 2+ of the little copper contacts that bite into the wires have instead just bent to one side, and so gone between the gaps in in the crimp tool... Unless this really is me doing something wrong (what?) I am inclined to blame the hardware, but is this the crimper or the new connectors I got? I tried to take a picture, as you can just about see looking from the left 3rd, 6th, 7th and 8th pins didn't get pushed in, and so don't form a connector. Unfortunately my camera was barely able to focus on it and then this website converted it to a JPEG... Update: Connectors/Cable/Tools: The wires are stranded (looks about 6 and no evidence of being aluminum/not copper), and the pins(?) have 2 little flat spikes lengthways along the cables (I understand to dig into it, while solid core connectors would have like 2 plates designed to go around the core?). Crimper was http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0013EXTKK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (seemed to be highly rated, I already had tools for cutting/stripping). Update2: Picture of crimp "prongs" (?) Update3: Side picture of connector Update4: Comparison with old connector. The top (used) connector is one from a few years back (different tool and connectors), the thing that concerns me that it might not be the tool I need to replace is just how thin the pins are on the new one that maybe a tool could legitimately bend some into a gap rather than pushing them in fully? In fact I can move individual pins to the sides significantly with my fingernail, is that normal?

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• License plate recognition

  - by WowtaH

  As a side-project I'm trying to create an app that scans license plates from passing cars from my living-room window. I have hooked up a high resolution camera to my system to capture (moving) images into my c# app. Now all I need is a way to interpret these images into something readable. I´m thinking about some sort of OCR-solution that is fast/accurate enough for moving images. Hope you can give me some direction!

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• Creating a network adapter - how hard is it?

  - by Vilx-

  I'm interested in building a little (commercial) device on top of Arduino. I want it to be able to interface with network. Network as in standard Ethernet, Cat5, RJ-45, etc. I know that there is an Ethernet Shield, but it costs even more than the Arduino itself, and it's pretty big. Naturally, I want my device to be as small and as cheap as possible. So I'm thinking about recreating an Ethernet module myself. The problem is - I haven't got any experience with Ethernet, nor do I have a good idea where to start looking. Thus I can't even say if my ideas are feasible. Ultimately I would like the device to have three ports - one for incoming signal, two for outgoing, so the device is essentially a little switch where it is plugged in itself as well. The switching capabilities need not be very fast - the volume of data will be low. 10Mbit is more than enough, can be even slower. If that is not possible, a single port for controlling the device itself will also do. Another possibility I'm considering is power line communications - sending information through power lines. That's another area I've no experience with. What hardware should I be looking at, and where can I find information about the necessary software? So - can anyone tell me if these ideas are feasible, and if yes - where should I start looking?

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• Securing data inside Azure SQL? Any good libraries or DIY?

  - by Sid

  Azure SQL doesn't support many of the encryption features found in SQL Server (Table and Column encryption). We need to store some sensitive information that needs to be encrypted and we've rolled our own using AesCryptoServiceProvider to encrypt/decrypt data to/from the database. This solves the immediate issue (no cleartext in db) but poses other problems like Key rotation (we have to roll our own code for this, walking through the db converting old cipher text into new cipher text) metadata mapping of which tables and which columns are encrypted. This is simple with it's a few but quickly gets out of hand ... So are there any libraries out there that do this well? Any other resources or design patterns I can be pointed to?

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• From the Tips Box: Location-based To-Do Reminders, DIY Floppy Drive Music, and Easy Access to Product Manuals

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Once a week we round up some great tips from the HTG tip box and share them with you; this week we’re looking at location based to-do reminders for Android phones, how to make your own floppy drive symphony, and an easy way to enjoy anywhere access to your manuals and product documentation. HTG Explains: What The Windows Event Viewer Is and How You Can Use It HTG Explains: How Windows Uses The Task Scheduler for System Tasks HTG Explains: Why Do Hard Drives Show the Wrong Capacity in Windows?

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• Can you suggest some DIY PC specs for 1) Value, and 2) Future 'upgradability'?

  - by user17381

  Hi, I'm considering building a new desktop PC from components. For the last 7/8 or so years I have almost exlusively used laptops, and so have fallen behind a bit with knowledge of various hardware technologies. Anyway, now I'm considering building a new desktop machine. Mainly for development work, but also would be nice to do a bit of gaming. The two main criteria are: I would like the first build to be relatively low cost. I would like to select components that will allow me to upgrade in the future without throwing too much away. Can anyone recommend a setup? Thanks

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• Group testNG tests without annotations

  - by diy

  Hi gents and ladies, I'm responsible for allowing unit tests for one of ETL components.I want to acomplish this using testNG with generic java test class and number of test definitions in testng.xmlpassing various parameters to the class.Oracle and ETL guys should be able to add new tests without changing the java code, so we need to use xml suite file instead of annotations. Question Is there a way to group tests in testng.xml?(similarly to how it is done with annotations) I mean something like <group name="first_group"> <test> <class ...> <parameter ...> </test> </group> <group name="second_group"> <test> <class ...> <parameter ...> </test> </group> I've checked the testng.dtd as figured out that similar syntax is not allowed.But is therea workaround to allow grouping? Thanks in advance

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• Why wait should always be in synchronized block

  - by diy

  Hi gents, We all know that in order to invoke Object.wait() , this call must be placed in synchronized block,otherwise,IllegalMonitorStateException is thrown.But what's the reason for making this restriction?I know that wait() releases the monitor, but why do we need to explicitly acquire the monitor by making particular block synchronized and then release the monitor by calling wait() ? What is the potential damage if it was possible to invoke wait() outside synch block, retaining it's semantics - suspending the caller thread ? Thanks in advance

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• Fiber-Optic Cable Trick Brings Remote Triggering to Older Flashes

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Many older flashes lack for a jack to input a sync cable and rely exclusively on a simple slave mode triggered by the primary flash. This hack uses a piece of scrap fiber optic cable to trigger the flash in bright conditions. Using a flash as an optical slave indoors isn’t much of a problem, but if you introduce bright light (such as outdoor lighting conditions), the ambient light can overpower the small on-camera flash and render the optical slave function useless. To overcome this, Marcell over at Fiber Strobe (a blog dedicated to cataloging experiments in incorporating fiber optics into photography) came up with a simple work around. By using some foam crafting materials and tape, he whipped up a simple mount for a strand of scrap fiber optic cable to connect between the on-camera flash and the sensor on the slave flash. Once attached it works exactly like as sync cable would, except it’s transmitting a pulse of light instead of a pulse of electricity. Hit up the link below for more pictures and a build guide. DIY Fiber Sync Cord [via DIY Photography] HTG Explains: What Is Windows RT and What Does It Mean To Me? HTG Explains: How Windows 8′s Secure Boot Feature Works & What It Means for Linux Hack Your Kindle for Easy Font Customization

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