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Retrofitting an iPod into a Geiger Counter

Doug writes "An enterprising hardware guy known as JavaMoose on Flickr has created an amazing case mod for his iPod by modifying an old Geiger counter to house the iPod and remote. The photos are up on Flickr with descriptions along the way. Very cool, if a little big to fit in ones pocket"

6 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Amazing? by binaryDigit · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hmm, interesting yes, amazing, I'm afraid not. It did require some skill to make it a clean fit, but the geiger counter case was so large, I can't really consider it a technological feat to have done this. Now had he did this and kept a working geiger counter (recording the sounds and playing them back on the ipod to allow the ipod display to properly show levels, or something like that), now THAT would be cool.

    Next thing you know someone will put one in the keypad of their microwave (you enter time via song lengths, i.e. big meals you'd set to "Freebird"), or stick one in an original walkman case. I know, how about someone sticks a shuffle inside a Gen1 iPod? oooh, aaaah.

  2. Nothing quite like it by sielwolf · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nothing quite like taking something known for its compactness and ease of use and making it bulky and awkward. Go-go engineering!

    --
    What is music when you despise all sound?
  3. Nice but... by squoozer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ....he shouldn't have painted the case or buffed up the tube. In the old rusty yellow it looking intimidating and cool. Now it looks like a sandwich box that has asperations to be a model of the star ship enterprise. Still, respect to the guy for doing it. I wonder if he has a track on this ipod that plays Geiger counter noises.

    --
    I used to have a better sig but it broke.
  4. Where's the geek? by OverlordQ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He didn't really mod anything. He didn't have to take apart the remote or the iPod, all he did was put mounts for them both.

    Eh, slow news day.

    --
    Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
  5. What a waste by Kitsune78 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Maybe I'm a purist, but I don't see the point in destroying a working CDV-700 Geiger to simply put an iPod inside. There is a lot of room in there if you move the batteries around, it would be possible to do this and keep it functioning.

    Even scarier: That thing still has a live test source on the side of it (or it should). Scarier than that, if he removed the test source, what did he do with it!? I wonder if he even know there was radioactivity there, and it was probably old, decrepid, and dust from it poorly contained.. I think those things had a bit of Cesium or Uranium on the side. I know mine still pegs the meter.. (haven't used it in a while and it was last calibrated a few years before that so I don't remember the exact mr/hr) Not the strongest source in the world but generally I think it is good practice to avoid messing with radioactive substances that are poorly contained no matter their strength.

    If the counter still worked, it might be neat.. but then, why repaint it so that no one knows what it is? That CD Yellow and characteristic shape is pretty recognizable to anyone familiar with the civil defense counters, and generally the 700 is the most desireable because it is the most sensitive (the other models were used to measure background radiation).

    I used to have fun taking mine to flea markets and "Scanning" over everyones tables with a clip-board in hand, making "notes". Probably get me arrested these days, but funny as hell then :)

  6. Re:Better idead would be to add stereo speakers by monkeydo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think it would have been cooler if he had restored the old paint job, and used the original earpiece. As it is, it's just an interesting shaped box.

    --
    Si vis pacem, para bellum
    The only thing more annoying than a Libertarian is an (un|mis)informed Libertarian