Slashdot Mirror

No Problem.

(The poster takes no responsibility for you constructing the above circuit and getting Rodney-King'ed by angry cops or sent to FPMITAP).

The company was understandably miffed about having people going into their local drugstore and buying what would have been a $50-100 gadget for $30. Pretty neat devices. Very lightweight, and rugged as hell. At $30, perfect for strapping onto balloons, kites, and model rockets.

Miffed as they were about the disruption of the business model, they actually didn't get overly litigious about it. They didn't have much of a legal leg to stand on, so they basically asked really really nicely for people to stop, while updating their single-use devices to be a little harder to hack. (It took the community a couple of years to crack the newer firmware, and by that time, the devices, even at $30, were obsolescent.)

The "reusable video camcorder that offers 2-3 times the quality, a zoom lens, and 30 minutes of storage" version of the single-use device became the series known as the Flip. The Flip was an unencumbered version of the grocery store disposable units, featuring more storage and higher resolution, and even at retail prices, if you needed something rugged, lightweight, cheap to power, and still cheap enough that it's not the end of the world if the rocket gets stuck in a tree or your RC aircraft faceplants into the dirt, it was still pretty good value for the money.

> we need *MAPS* ... A new game mode isn't going to make mercy more exciting.

Agreed.

What the really weird part is, that you can _already_ play Survival mode. A co-worker (accidently?) invented a new game mode about 2 weeks ago since we were getting bored on Expert. We call it "Don's Survival Mode" after him.

Details are: After contacting the rescue mission, run _back_ to the safe house (!), and try to stay alive as long as possible as you get wave after wave of zombie and tank rushes. (We count each Tank(s) spawn as a wave.)
Recommended Difficulty: Easy
Recommended Campaign: 2nd Campaign, "Death Toll"
Recommended Map: 5th Chapter, "Boathouse Finale" (For a tougher challenge, try to hold out at the mini-gun.)

We've introduced this alternate game style to a few co-workers and they'd absolutely loved it. The best part is that it doesn't require any mods -- just "house rules" so to speak.

But yeah, we definitely need more maps -- we've checked out some of the player created maps, but they all suck. As a game programmer, I now how hard it is to design, texture, and play balance a map; can't do anything but wait...

Little bit of L4D humor: "Life Imitates Art..."

L4D Road Sign?! :)
http://www.i-hacked.com/content/view/274/48/

The real Zoey (scroll down to end)
http://hellforge.gameriot.com/blogs/Boys-Club/IRL-The-Pretty-People-Who-Inspire-Pretty-Game-Heroes

Fan Photoshoot
http://pixelatedgeek.com/2009/03/left-4-dead-photoshoot-looks-perfect/?ea

Cheers

http://www.i-hacked.com/content/view/264/1/

1 Buy two wrt 54g routers and directional antenas 2 flash dd-wrt firmware to rise output power from 100mw to 300w (it allows 1w) 3 configure 1st router as acces point (your neghborhud) 4 configure 2nd router as reciver (you) view http://www.i-hacked.com/content/view/261/42/ Done !

The problem is that security is easily circumvented. Easy example:

1) Buy ticket with stolen credit card
2) Download boarding pass printout
3) Change name to match your own, then print it
4) Use state-issued, valid ID and altered boarding pass to get on airplane

Hell, wanna bring a bladed weapon on to the plane? Stick one of these in your pocket. Whoopsie, you just got through. Not to mention that brass is pretty much non-ferrous, so you could make a single-shot gun quite easily out of an innocuous tube and a few other parts. Put it in your laptop bag, make it so it looks like a fancy pen. I know I walk through airport metal detectors with my belt buckle on, so a few bullets in your pocket would probably get through.

Guess what, you just bypassed the no-fly list with serious weapons on you! The security that they have is pretty much bullshit implemented to make people think that something meaningful is being done. Taking your shoes off does nothing. Nothing has really made you safer. The true solution is to stop pissing people off who would be terrorists, and stop allowing them to fuck up our economy and SUCCEED at the terrorism. Terrorism only works when your target is afraid of you.

Posted anonymously since I don't want the SS to come for me in the night.

http://www.i-hacked.com/content/view/114/62/

Interesting (and relevant) use of Google Maps "mashups". But is it accurate, who knows?

Got the link from here. White House is obfuscated; I wasn't trying to show the White House.

I noticed the absence of the caps also, I assumed that it was because there aren't any transients in the supply to filter, since the regulator is practically attached to the battery by its leads, and the load doesn't have any high-frequency draws that would require the second cap downstream of the regulator. At least I'm hoping that's the case, it could also be that whoever did the first version didn't put any on, and everyone else has just copied that. :)

Interesting suggestion about the diodes. I don't think I've seen that method used in any of the versions around online. I wonder how it would work though as the battery drains and the input voltage decreases: with the regulator you at least have a little extra headroom (the LM7805 needs 7.5V to maintain 5V output, IIRC) so that you'll have a stable output voltage for a while as the battery runs down (from 9.5 or whatever it starts off at to 7.5). Maybe if you used a rechargable battery with a fairly flat discharge curve this wouldn't be as much of an issue, but I could see it being one with an alkaline.

But your point about the quiescent current is a good one. Perhaps the low tech solution would be to just install a small power switch between the battery and the regulator. When the Shuffle's internal battery is low, attach the charging contraption and turn it on; remove and turn it off after you've given the internal battery a quick charge.

Those LP29-series regulators are pretty impressive. I think I might have to order a few LP2954s. It's a slightly higher current (250mA) than the one you suggested but still with quiescent current of 120 uA. Comes in a TO-220 package and they'll sell samples directly to individuals.

One thing I must have missed in my summary of the MA article: it's necessary to tie both of the data pins in the USB cable to Gnd if you want the Shuffle to charge properly. Example with photos (in a honking big project box compared to the Shuffle) here.

http://www.i-hacked.com/content/view/12/48/

IE Firefox Theme

You can also get older themes to work with newer versions somehow, but I can't remember, I think there was an article on it on i-hacked.com

get software here http://www.will-burn.net/

Now if only it could draw power from firewire so that I can get longer battery life with the Altoids battery pack!

Thanks to Mr. Philyaw, I now own a bar code scanner to catalog my music with.

Ditto. I cut the trace on my CueCat, thus disabling the serial number, and, wala, I too have a free barcode scanner. Since it's inline with the keyboard, the input from the barcode will be dumped into any window opened for editing. So you can dump raw barcode into, say, Notepad. Most of the barcodes I tried worked.