Published by rich on
Thursday, August 14, 2008 - 15:43:04
- Filed under Other Fun Stuff
A few months ago I announced the launch of
PodSpew.com - a site that lets you stream any podcast directly without downloading.
I just finished a number of code tweaks that let you use PodSpew with your iPhone.
That's right, you can now stream any podcast directly to your iPhone wirelessly.
Here's a demo:
(direct link to video)
(ok, not quite any podcast - a few of them are still broken with the iPhone - but it's getting looked at)
PodSpew is completely free and doesn't require a sign-up.
If you have a podcast you'd like included in our directory - just email it to podspew@spambutcher.com (if you could link to PodSpew.com someplace in exchange - that'd be great).
If you're a podcast owner, you can send your users to PodSpew.com for streaming even if you're not already in our directory.
Just put your RSS feed into the "Enter your own Podcast RSS Feed to Stream" box - and then provide a link to the resulting page.
Published by rich on
Saturday, August 9, 2008 - 21:37:10
- Filed under Other Fun Stuff
Lame old scratching post:
Buster kept knocking over his old scratching post - then shredding various corners (especially the ones with wood trim) around my house.
I figured I’d make him a new one out of scrap wood.
He seems to like stretching out and scratching high. The new post is about 30 inches tall - as high as the highest scratch marks I could find.
I don’t think he’ll be able to tip this one over.
The new “Buster Post”:
As a bonus - I think it looks a lot nicer than the old post.
Published by rich on
Saturday, July 26, 2008 - 19:00:04
- Filed under Robots and Electronics, Other Fun Stuff
I’ve mentioned previously how much I like Pololu’s Baby Orangutan AVR Atmega-based robot controllers.
I use them pretty much exclusively in all my robotics and other electronics projects.
Specifically - they’ve saved me an untold number of hours in my ongoing translational drift / melty brain combat robotics effort.
You get a whole bunch of stuff packed into a tiny 1.2” x 0.7” board. In fact, for many projects you won’t need any additional circuitry besides sensors, motors and other goodies.
First - why Atmel?
- Pretty popular with hobbyists - so there’s lots of info out there
- WinAVR provides a decent free C development environment
- BascomAVR provides a free (size limited) basic compiler demo - or you can buy the full version for $120 (this is what I generally use)
(Yes, I’m a big fan of basic. For better or worse, it’s actually what the SpamButcher spam blocker program is written in.)
Pololu recently updated the Baby Organgutan. I haven’t sampled the new version yet - but the changes are pretty straight-forward including an upgraded voltage regulator and motor controllers.
Here’s what you get for $29.95 ($24.95 for an Atmega48 4k version):
- ATmega168 AVR microcontroller (16k flash, 1K RAM)
- ISP programming port
- Voltage regulator (5v to 13.5v input)
- Dual motor drivers (now good for 1 amp / channel continuous)
- Potentiometer
- 2 LEDs (one power, one user controlled)
- 20 MHZ crystal
- Additional support circuitry that helps to prevent brownouts and provide accurate analog readings
Those last two items are more important than I was really aware of. I hit a lot of problems with a board I recently designed because I failed to include all the right capacitors, coils and resistors in the right spots.
While I think the intent is to solder the pins in facing “down” and mount it in a socket - I like to solder mine with the pins facing up. This lets me wire-wrap right to the board:
If you get pins that are long enough - you can still solder a few of the pins to attach the Orangutan to another board. Or, you can just use mounting tape to hold it down.
Don’t underestimate the value of the motor drivers - they’re not just for motors!
I’ve used them to pulse high-wattage infrared LED’s and even drive a speaker.
To program the board you’ll need Pololu’s Orangutan USB Programmer or Atmel’s own programmer.
Yes, you might be able to put these components together yourself for a little less money - but how big would it be when you finished? How much time would you have to spend to wire it up?
For most small robotics projects the Baby Orangutan is a logical starting point. Pololu’s other Orangutan models are worth looking at for more advanced projects.
