What happens if you have a virtual reality googles that senses the movement of your head, then controls a camera inside an RC car that moves in sync with that head movement, and then connects to a remote control?

It is one awesome Virtual Reality Racing Car.

I wish they make a car seat unit with a real steering and pedal controls to come with in.  That would be a more Ultimate Virtual Reality car racing gam.

Dark. Deadly. Diabolic. She’s back, and her poison will kill the competition. Black Widow Venom uses our proven Widow Series core with a brand new Lethal Bite Reactive coverstock. Lethal Bite Reactive is our most aggressive coverstock to date, giving Venom more sharp backend motion on medium-heavy to medium oil lane conditions. Long and strong is a ridiculous understatement.

Hammer Black Widow Venom Technical Specs

Coverstock: Lethal Bite Reactive

Factory Finish:  4000 grit abralon

Color: Black/Carmel

Hook(1-60): 54

Length(1-60):46
RG (#15):2.50

Diff(#15):  0.06

Mass Bias Rating High

I’ve posted a new post at searchengineherald.com about the above topic and I would like to give an indepth example of this one complete with screen caps so you can fully understand and see how to do this.

This is exactly the same techniques some SEO’s use and they DON’T WANT you to know about it.   I’m spilling beans right now so better bookmark this webpage so you can get back to it later as a very good reference when you do your keyword research.

So here’s one actual example of how to do this in detail.
If for example, I am into real estate and I would like to find keywords for “condominium”,  I’ll probably type this at Google.

inurl:awstats.pl intitle:”Statistics of” condominium

Google returned this page

I tried clicking the first one and got this

Oh…what lovely keywords.   These are the actual keywords people use to reach that specific website.

Think about how powerful this technique is!  It saves you tons of money and time on keyword research.   Now go out and use it!

If you were wondering what’s inside a laptop battery, you’re just like me. Fortunately I have an old, defective laptop battery. Just like the show “Mad Labs”, smash labs, and mythbusters, I opened it up and here’s what it looks like.

There are 4 Li-ion cells and at the center is some sort of a charge controller.

The main chip of the laptop battery

This seems to be some sort of temperature monitor which senses the temperature of the cells.

This one, I don’t know. A diode perhaps that senses temperature also?

How to Add Variable Voltage to Your ATX Based Bench Power Supply

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit
If you’ve built a bench power supply using an old ATX computer power supply, you may feel limited by the choice of voltages + 3.3V, + 5V, and +/- 12V DC. Suppose you’re breadboarding a circuit that’s meant to be run off a 9V battery? This is how to build an add-on variable-voltage “module” for your power supply.

Steps

1. Gather the materials required and construct the circuit from the circuit diagram. It would be a good idea to get the datasheet for the regulator from the manufacturers website.
2. Get some banana leads and connect the +12V and -12V outputs from your modded ATX supply and connect it to the input of your variable module. Use a multimeter to measure the output voltage.
3. Once you have built the circuit test it carefully and measure the output voltage. You should be able to vary the voltage from about 1.5V up to 22V by turning the variable resistor. If you are using the LM317 the output current will be restricted to 1.5A, if using the LM338K it should be slightly higher check the datasheet for exact information.

Tips

• I used a small piece of veroboard to build this little addon. You could use matrix board or design a small PCB. It wouldn’t be difficult.
• Use sensible wire lengths if creating a permanent connection to the ATX supply.
• Make sure that the +12V binding post is well isolated from ground and from the -12V binding post.
• During use the regulator may get hot. Use a heatsink if necessary.

Warnings

• If you’ve already built an ATX Power Supply based bench/lab supply, you’ve already run the risks – this project is less dangerous. Soldering irons can burn you, hand tools can cut you; don’t drink and hack.
• Use common sense. If you find the regulator gets hot use a heatsink.

Things You’ll Need

• You will need the following materials:
• 1x LM317 or LM338K Voltage regulator (With heatsink and heatsink paste)
• 1x 100nF Capacitors (ceramic or tantalum)
• 1x 1uF Capacitors Electrolytic
• 1X 1N4001 or 1N4002 Power Diode
• 1X 120 Ohm resistor
• 1x 5k Ohm variable resistor
• Optional
  • Some Veroboard or a matrix board and some suitably thick wire for connecting the circuit.
  • A small enclosure about the size of a wall wart to put the circuit in.

• Indispensable
  • An ATX power Supply already modded to provide +12V, -12V, +5V and -5V

Related wikiHows

• How to Convert a Computer ATX Power Supply to a Lab Power Supply
• How to Create a 12 Volt DC Test Bench for Bullet Cameras Using an Old ATX Computer Power Supply

Sources and Citations

• LM317 Datasheet (PDF)
• LM338K Datasheet (PDF)

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Add Variable Voltage to Your ATX Based Bench Power Supply. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

I’ve been waiting for Fedora Core 9 for a couple of weeks now. Three more days till release. Can’t wait to get my hands on FC9 and try it out.

I have an XPC shuttle which I loaded FC5 a few years ago. I plan to reformat the harddisk and load FC9.

New features include:

KDE4

Network Manager support for CDMA, GSM mobile broadband cards

jigdo

and a whole lot more.

Check out the full feature list at the link below

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/9/FeatureList

This is how the cover looks after screwing the switch and pressing down the mini solar module/solar cell with double sided adhesive tape.

Next would be to tape the terminal block to the battery.

The way I did it is to tape a horizontal terminal block and then add 2 vertical terminal blocks on each side. One side would be wired to the negative terminal of the battery and the other side to the positive. The positive side goes to the switch first and not directly to the battery so I can turn it on and off when needed.

Below is a closeup view of the blocking diode. I used an old IN4001 . The diode has a white bar. The white bar is wired to the terminal (going to the side of the battery) while the other side of the diode goes to the ( ) side of the solar cell.

Here’s how it looks from the other side. At first I thought of using just 1 big LED but later on, I decided to use many smaller bright white LEDs.

Here’s a top view shot

Here’s a closeup of one of the LEDs. One side is connected to the (-) vertical terminal block and the other side at the ( ) terminal block.

Top view shot of the 6 LEDs. 3 on each side. The LEDs in a way hold the 2 vertical terminal blocks together which is kinda neat.

Side view.

Lastly, here’s the finished product.

Technorati Tags: diy, diy solar project, diy solar lantern, solar lantern, solar LED lights, solar lights, solar powered lights

To continue my DIY Solar Lantern project, I’ll now talk about the charging module. This is composed of the Nicad battery, Solar Cell, and a diode.

Charging Module

A diode is an electronic component that allows current to flow to one side but not the other way. For solar charging, we would be using a diode to allow current to pass from the solar cell to the battery.

However, during night time when there is no sun, a small current goes from the battery to the solar cell. This is what we would like to prevent and the diode blocks that current.

This is a simple charging circuit but it does not protect the battery from over charging. Maybe in the future, I’ll design something that would automatically switch off the charging process once the battery voltage goes to a pre-determined value. But for now, I’ll just make my DIY solar lantern as simple as possible.

Overcharging is the number 1 cause of battery damage. So for now, I’ll just have to estimate the number of hours I’ll leave my solar lantern under the sun.

The Solar Cell

I’ll be using a mini solar module (solar cell) which has an output voltage of 5v and a current of about 70mA at full sunlight. (This makes about 0.35watts of power).

How long does it take to charge the battery?

This depends on the capacity of the battery. In my case, I have a 280mAh Nicad battery. If my battery is fully depleted, it would take around (280mA/70mA= 4 hours) to fully charge.

Putting it all Together

First is to make a hole at the center of the canister cover. This is where the wire from the solar cell would pass through. I outlined the underside of the solar cell with a double adhesive tape so it will stick well on the cover. This also protects the solar lantern from getting rain so that water won’t go into the center hole where the wire goes. (It is not water proof though so I don’t suggest leaving yours outside if it rains). I might put some silicon someday (the one used in making aquariums) to make it waterproof.

On the underside, I also added a double adhesive tape to close the center hole where the wire passed through. I added some more double adhesive tape and then press down my Nicad battery. I then drilled a hole for the switch.

To be continued….

Technorati Tags: diy, diy solar lantern, solar lantern, solar gadget, solar led lights, solar powered light

One of my project ideas which I have been wanting to do for quite some time now is to make my own solar powered lantern. It basically works something like a solar garden light but it doesn’t automatically turn on when its dark.

Parts list:

• solar cell
• Nicad/Nimh rechargeable battery
• terminal block
• resistor
• diode
• double sided tape
• a switch
• wires
• LEDs
• transparent plastic canister

Tools needed:

• soldering iron
• multi meter (to measure voltage/current)
• wire cutter
• precision screwdriver
• drill
• pliers

Basic Theory of Operation

The solar lantern is composed of 2 main modules. The charging module, and the lighting module. The lighting system would be an LED or a number of LEDs connected to a power source. The charging system would be a way to charge the battery via small solar cell.

Lighting module

This diagram shows how the lighting circuit works. The LED is passed through a resistor to limit the voltage/current that will pass through the LED. It is then connected to the battery.

How to compute for the value of the resistor.

The value of the resistor will depend on what LED you will be using and how much voltage is your power source. A typical LED needs about 15mA of current (0.015A).

In my case, I have a 3.6v Nicad battery, however once fully charged it goes to about 3.9v. Now a typical white LED has a voltage drop of about 3.4v so if I were to compute for the value of the resistor, it would be like this.

3.9v – 3.4v = 0.5v

Using V=IR

R=V/I = 0.5/0.015 = 33 ohms.

Watts = V * I = 0.0075 watts

Find a resistor with the next higher value available in your local electronics store. A 1/4 watt resistor will do.

Series or Parallel LEDs?

In my case, since my battery has only enough voltage for 1 LED, I don’t have a choice but to make a parallel connection. In my research on the internet, most advise not to wire LEDs in parallel. According to some of the articles I read, it is because parallel LEDs causes unstable current distribution. Some LEDs will get more current than it can take. Parallel LEDs can be done only if each LED has is own resistor.
As for now, I don’t have enough resistors so I will kinda violate this for a moment. Worst case is I’ll bust some of the LEDs which would be ok for now since it is not that expensive.

What I’ll be doing is to use 6 LEDs and I would make a parallel connection. Each LED requires about 15mA so the total current needed is 0.015A * 6 so that would be 0.09A or 90mA of current.

Using the V=IR formula again this is the resistor value I need

3.9v-3.4v= 0.5 volts needed to be dropped by the resistor

R=V/I = 0.5v/0.09A = 5.5 or 6 ohms.

Now to give a little allowance, I would use a resistor higher than 6 ohms but lower than the 33 ohms I computed if it were just 1 LED. I happen to have a 27ohm resistor so I’ll use that one.

To be continued…..

diy, solar lantern, diy solar lantern, solar powered lamp, solar flashlight, solar gadget

Technorati Tags: diy, solar lantern, diy solar lantern, solar powered lamp, solar flashlight, solar gadget

Fedora Core 9 Alpha is now available. Note that this isn’t the final FC9 release. This is the Alpha release.

Some of highlights of Fedora 9 Alpha:

• GNOME 2.21 Development Release
• KDE 4.0
• Firefox 3 Beta 2
• Support for resizing ext2, ext3 and NTFS partitions during install
• Support for creating and installing to encrypted filesystems
• PackageKit
• Kernel 2.6.24

And numerous other improvements and enhancements.

The final release is set to happen on April 29, 2008. Should you want more details of the release schedule of FC9, check this out.

The Alpha release is available both through our mirroring system and
via bittorrent.

In Fedoraproject.org here’s the download link:

http://fedoraproject.org/get-prerelease

For direct http access to a local mirror:
http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/test/9-Alpha/

For a list of mirrors carrying the content and the various protocols
they support:
http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/publiclist/Fedora/9-Alpha/

For bittorrent:
http://torrent.fedoraproject.org/