Topics
5 topics across the site.
Drones
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Maker Faire Bay Area 2017
The Maker Faire Bay Area is this weekend, May 19-21, 2017, at the San Mateo Event Center. MakeHardware had a booth at the Maker Faire last year, but we have been too busy to run a booth for 2017. We do plan to attend for a day to check out what other folks have been busy making!…
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How to Control Your Drone From a Computer
After reading my post about how I used my computer to fly a Cheerson CX-10 drone, several people have asked me if it is possible to control other drones in a similar way. It is in fact pretty straightforward, and in some cases you can re-use exactly the same hardware that I used…
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Manual Exposure vs Auto Exposure for ELP 2 MP USB Camera
For our drone flying project, we have been using the ELP 2 Megapixel USB Camera. The auto exposure on this camera works in most situations, but we found that it does not always adjust to bright sunlight. In preparation for demonstrating our computer-controlled drone at the Maker…
DVRs
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The Next Tivo DVR Might Look a Lot Like a Tablo
According to tech blogger Dave Zatz, the next Tivo OTA DVR might have an architecture that is a lot more similar to the Tablo series of OTA DVRs. What this means is that the Tivo DVR named “Mantis” would no longer connect directly to the TV, instead it would “transcode” video to…
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OTA-only households growing
A recent survey has found that the number of OTA-only households in the US has grown from 15% in 2015 to 17% in 2016. I think that this is a reflection of several factors: Many households find cable/satellite too expensive for what it offers Streaming services still cost money…
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Microsoft Putting Xbox DVR features on Hold
Back in August 2015, Microsoft announced they would be adding DVR features to the XboxOne. This was an exciting announcement for many of us, because it meant that DVR, serious gaming, and streaming could be combined into a single piece of hardware. Well, those hopes have ended…
Kids
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Best Dance Shoes for Kids
With school starting, it’s time to buy new dance shoes for your little dancers. I remember being daunted the first time I had to purchase dance shoes for my daughter. My daughter’s dance teacher has always been helpful with shoe recommendations. Now that my daughter has been…
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Stop Motion Animation for the Girl Scout Entertainment Technology Badge
I covered Part 2 of the Entertainment Technology Badge for Junior Girl Scouts at our troop meeting. At a previous meeting, we learned about badge requirements 2 (video game development), 3 (amusement park science), and 4 (special effects). For Part 2, we investigated badge…
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Little House on the Prairie Birthday Party
At MakeHardware.com, we love hosting elaborate birthday parties for our kids! I was all for having my daughter’s ninth birthday party at our local paint-your-own-pottery studio, but then my daughter suggested a Little House on the Prairie theme and I couldn’t resist! It’s the…
Electronics
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Teambuilding with robotic insects!
I manage a team of electrical engineers, and at the end of every year I like to run a team building event. Last year I bought everyone a mini-drone, and we had a lot of fun flying them around a conference room. This year, I bought a bunch of remote control insect toys and the…
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Finding a low-latency webcam
When trying to use a webcam in a computer vision application as part of a real-time control system, the latency is often just as important as the frame rate. Unfortunately, the latency for a webcam is often not specified, especially not for low-cost webcams. One simple way to…
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The Shenzhen-FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) business model
Someone asked me how all those electronics vendors in the Huaqiangbei make money. There are so many vendors, and many of them seem to sit there all day with relatively few customers coming by. Many vendors are too busy looking at their laptops or phones to even care if you look…
Food
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Easy Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Cake Recipe Using Cake Mix
Have food allergies or restrictions? Here’s an easy to make gluten-free and dairy-free cake recipe. All you need is a box of gluten-free cake mix and store-bought dairy-free frosting. So simple and it tastes great too! I try to avoid suspect ingredients and artificial food…
