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Hardware Reuse Contest Entries Revealed

Posted by timothy on from the quick-translators-will-get-insightful-mods dept.

teqo writes "The outstanding German computer magazine c't had a contest in which they challenged readers to submit their coolest recycling projects for obsolete hardware, and the entries have been revealed to the public now. There is an artsy and a practical category, and although it is in German, the pics make lots of submissions intuitively grokkable." (On the right hand side of the page, click the links beneath "Kunst" -- artistic -- and "Funktion" -- functional.) My favorite is the laptop with a solar-powered backlight.

13 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Super Bowl Ad by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My first thought was the Super Bowl Ad close to the end of the game (maybe even right after) in which the kid builds the robot in the garage. Its a Nationwide ad and is hilarious. If you have not yet seen it, watch for it!

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  2. First a DDOS, now a Slashdotting by moonbender · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Poor heise online servers, they just survived days of SYNflooding and now they're being slashdotted.

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  3. Recycling Ram by Sepper · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I see that someone else had the same idea... http://www.heise.de/ct/machflott/projekte/55850

    I've been doing this since I had a broken piece... years ago...

    I still have about 15 30pins Simms (Goldstar) left... Anyone want a keychain?

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  4. Pretty Cool by DrKyle · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I haven't really had the time to browse all of the ideas here, but this one really stands out to me

    RFID and Barcode Beer Fridge
    If looks aren't decieving, you can use this baby to check your beer supply, and maybe even let you check from work to see what you need to pick up on the way home for the weekend.

    1. Re:Pretty Cool by Tr0mBoNe- · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I enjoy the Gameboy universal remote. My meger-translationability does not help much.

      And the Amiga Guitar one is pretty messed. This makes me want to go off and make my old 8086's into more useful fish tanks or laptops.

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    2. Re:Pretty Cool by k4_pacific · · Score: 3, Interesting

      My uncle did something similar to this back in the '70s. His roommates and him shared a keg, and they needed a way to decide hoe much each's share was. He put a switch on the tap handle and connected it to a panel with three keyswitches and three hour-meters like you see on forklifts. Each roommate had a key, which connected the appropriate meter to the tap switch. If someone tried to fill a glass without inserting and turning their key, an alarm would go off. Whenever they'd buy a keg, they would note how far each meter changed since last time and divy up the cost accordingly.

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  5. My PC recycling thing by Simonetta · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I cut the DIN 5 connector (old style keyboard) and the PS2 mouse connector (MiniDIN 6) off very old obsolete motherboards.
    Then I combine them with a 40 cent microcontroller (AVR Tiny11) to make MIDI tone module controllers from standard PS2 keyboards.
    It works really well. Press the keys, notes go on, release keys, notes off. Just like a piano keyboard but smaller and much cheaper. There are, however, certain key combinations that don't play full chords. I'm not sure if it's the internal keyboard matrix decoding or the microcontroller's firmware.

    1. Re:My PC recycling thing by arminw · · Score: 2, Interesting

      We were still using a Mac SE30 (from 1989) as an answering/fax machine but "upgraded" it a year ago to the present Color Classic (made in 1993) running System 7.5.1 so we could access it over the local network. The Classic running 24/7 is also used to allow an old Apple Laserwriter (which still works just fine) with only an Appletalk interface to be accessible via ethernet. The answering/fax function is provided by a DoveFaxPlus 2400baud modem. I wonder if this setup would qualify for a prize?

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  6. Reflective/Transflective laptop displays by raygundan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Instead of trying to do a solar-powered backlight, I wish more manufacturers would offer the option of a reflective or transflective LCD screen. This is like the screen used in the Gameboy Advance-- in bright sunlight, it looks fantastic. Indoors, they're not quite as nice as backlit, as they are typically sidelit to bounce the light off the rear reflector. It's a tradeoff. But you could use your laptop with no backlight power as long as there was good ambient light.

    There was at least one laptop made with one of these-- If I remember right, it had a Transmeta CPU, but it's been a while. NEC Versa Daylite, or something close to that, and I think some of the Panasonic Toughbooks designed for outdoor use have them as well.

  7. skirt star need a guitar! by buttahead · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Since skirt star need a guitar, no meal remained for me: ... Amiga 500 + guitar neck.

    Coworker: Andre Pluemer and friends, those from time to time parts of the Sperrm?

    Rock on... berzerker!

  8. Open Source Hardware by Caseyscrib · · Score: 2, Interesting
    A company really needs to step in and make open-source hardware. Think about how much money and waste we could save if every year instead of buying a new cell phone we could just download new software onto it. The same goes for a car CD player. Don't like the interface? Want MP3/Ogg/MP4? Want strong encryption for your cell phone? Just download an update.

    The best feature of this is that you will extend the life of your product by a long time. PDAs, Cell Phones, MP3 Players, video game systems, Digital Cameras... they would all benefit. Sure, the initial hardware cost might be a little bit more, but in the end I think the cost would be worth it.

  9. Favorite by SpeedBump0619 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    While the solar backlight might be interesting I just can't ignore these

    they're just so darn cute.

  10. Lights made from CDs by MatthewNewberg · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Those light shades made from a thousand CDs are pretty cool looking. I want one for myself, but it seems pretty hard to do in the post AOL cd error. I guess I need to start collecting. Here is the link http://www.heise.de/ct/machflott/projekte/55857

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