A-Data DashDrive UD320 OTG USB Flash Drive

It’s another Android friendly USB flash drive. If you need a solid external storage for your smartphone or tablet, the A-Data DashDrive OTG USB drive may be suitable for you. The DashDrive is a multi purposed OTG USB flash drive that measures 40 x 15 x 8mm and weights 8g.

As we can see from the images, the OTG USB drive features sleek and compact design, and comes with a water and impact-resistant casing in order to guard your data from splashes and shocks, most importantly, the OTG USB flash drive also features two USB connectors including a microUSB connector and a standard USB connector so you can not only easily plug the USB drive into your smartphone and tablet as extra storage, but also connect with your computer for data transmission.

The DashDrive OTG USB flash drive is available in 16GB and 32GB, and starting at $25 USD. If you’re interested, jump to Brando online store for more details.

read the rest of article...

Make A Cheap USB Powered Fan

Find out how to make a cheap yet quite efficient fan from parts purchased at the dollar store. This fan can be made for about $2 (plus tax). It would be even better if you can get a double ended USB wire, in which case you could make 2 USB fans for $3 (plus tax). That definitely beats the $15 or $20 stores tend to charge for the same kind of devices.

read the rest of article...

USB Rocket Launcher

The arms race is on. The workplace has become a dangerous place, but once upon a time, it was all a laugh. Back in the day, your workmates chased each other with squirt-guns, then disc-guns. Everybody laughed when somebody brought in the harmless Airzooka. Gleefully, somebody brought in a marshmallow blaster.

Then it went kinda nuts. Sonic Grenades, catapults, lightsabers, ninjas… Suddenly, it was less about harmless fun. Suddenly, things got serious. Deadly serious. The day that the guy down the hall brought in the USB Missile Launcher was the day the gauntlet was thrown down.

read the rest of article...

Make a DIY USB Thermometer

This is a project to interface sensors to an USB port for collecting weather related data such as temperature. The firmware supports many different sensors and interfaces. At the moment, temperature, relative humidity and atmospheric pressure can be measured, logged and graphed.

read the rest of article...

Make your Own USB LCD Controller

This is a guide for making an LCD that connects to your computer using USB, primarily intended to be external.

read the rest of article...

Hack a USB Cable to Power Peripherals

Cut a USB Cord, use two of the wires, attach them to a small motor, make fan blades out of an AOL cd, and wallah, you’ve got your own external fan!

read the rest of article...

Make a Glowing USB Turtle

Take any transparent figure, drill a hole in it, stick an LED inside, and POOF – the perfect cheap n easy LED Charm or Christmas Present!

read the rest of article...

Make a USB Mini Fridge

Now that we’re seeing those 12 volt camper coolers turning up at garage sales and thrift stores (I found one for $2.50), here’s a neat little idea for turning it into a customizable mini-fridge powered by a USB port!

read the rest of article...

Build your own USB Thumbdrive

In this article I will walk you through Project: Make a USB drive from conception to finished product. Step by detailed step. No detail spared. So in-depth you’ll need a fricking snorkel.

read the rest of article...

Run Windows XP from a USB Drive

Learn step by step how to simply run XP from your USB Drive. Basically, download a file, click agree, next, next, finish, and viola! XP via USB!

read the rest of article...

How to Hack and get Free PayPerView in Hotels

You’re stuck at a hotel, there’s nothing on TV and you don’t want to fork over the $10 to watch a PPV movie.  Learn to bypass the hotel’s charges by routing the TV signal through WinTV, a device which routes the incoming video signal to your computer via USB.  Basically, it gives you access to the hotel’s standard channels but you can also view PPV programming at no extra charge.

read the rest of article...

Download Google Chrome OS from a USB Drive

We just showed you how to install Google’s new Chrome OS and now you can install it directly from a USB drive.  In case you haven’t heard, Google announced they will be launching their Chrome operating system. To sum it up for you: Google Chrome OS is a basically just the Google Chrome browser transformed into an operating system. It boots up in 7 seconds, uses Google Docs to replace Microsoft Office, and stores all of your files in the cloud (online).

Although it doesn’t launch until next year, Google released the source files which you can now install directly from a USB drive.  If you don’t want to bother downloading the entire operating system, you can run just the Chrome browser via USB as well.

read the rest of article...

Run Ubuntu Linux from a Thumb Drive in Windows 7

Many of us who want to have dual operating systems simply split our hard drive and install both. Not exactly a complex procedure these days. Why just a few weeks ago we showed you how to run Win7 and Ubuntu on the same machine. However, instead of hassling with partitions, simply install an entire Ubuntu OS on a thumb drive and carry it around in your pocket.

Then, each time you want to run Ubuntu on your Windows PC simply plug in the thumb drive and away you go.  It’s worth noting that you’re not actually running a separate OS per say. What you’re actually doing is running Ubuntu in Windows as though it was a program. So when you maximise it all you see is the Ubuntu interface.

What’s more, when you make changes or bring new programs into Ubuntu it saves itself. That means that when you plug in the Ubuntu thumb drive at a later date everything will be like you left it as if your PC was actually running Ubuntu.

  The guide is written in simple language and even contains the video below which will guide you through the whole deal. This doesn’t take a programming genius. All you need is a large thumb drive, the latest edition of Ubuntu.

read the rest of article...

Eye Catching LCD Video Glasses

While you may think that the glasses shown below would be rather expensive, you can actually make them for less than $15.  It’s as simple as buying two small digital photo frames on eBay for $6 and sacrifice an old pair of glasses.  Of course, you can’t see out of them 

The overall idea is pretty absurd and I can’t believe I’m posting something related to Lady Gaga on HacknMod.  Nonetheless, the use of cheap LCDs is still pretty unique. The project is simple enough – the only critical components are the cheap digital photo frames. Just be sure that the digital frames fit into the glasses frames.

The video glasses certainly won’t be a regular fashion accessory but hey, maybe you can wear it around to costume parties or next year’s Halloween.

read the rest of article...

Patriotic USB Powered American Flag

Happy 4th of July from HacknMod! Here’s a quick, simple project for your 4th of July celebration: a computer playing the anthem along with a flying American flag illuminated and powered via USB. The setup is simple and easy to put together. The project put together by Evan Roth’s project is definitely salute worthy.
The USB LED lamp and the USB fan are paired together.

The lamp and fan arms are supported by a straightened wire coat hanger. The wire coat hanger also serves as the mast. The entire gadget is bound with duct tape and heat shrink wrap, twisted into shape and plugged into the USB ports of a computer. Quick list of materials:

• USB Fan
• USB LED lamp
• 12″ of heat shrink wrap
• Flag (country of choice), roughly 9″ x 6″
• Roll of electrical tape
• An unlimited supply of patriotism.

 The final effect is supplied by the PC (call it the “patriotic computer”). Change the boot-up music to your national anthem and the desktop wallpaper to a patriotic image. When the computer boots up, the USB fan wafts the flag, the USB LED lamp lights it up and as a backdrop you have the anthem with patriotic imagery thrown in.

read the rest of article...

Update: Whistled Platform Upgraded for Simple Word Recognition

Some people may remember the whistled platform I [limpkin] designed a while back, which recognizes different whistles to control your lighting. Recently, I designed a firmware that transforms the board into a word recognition device, as the 50MHz ARM Cortex M4′s processing capabilities are good enough to do so.

The simple algorithm works by correlating successive Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT) of the amplified microphone output with the FFTs of a template word previously stored in memory. Simply connect the Whistled to your power supply, say the word you’d like it to recognize and you’re good to go.

As you will see in the video embedded after the break (sorry for the accent…), I briefly explain basic principles about word/sound recognition and what you can do to improve your algorithm performances. The source files can be downloaded, as well as the code for my whistle detection algorithm which wasn’t available the first time we looked at the project.

read the rest of article...

Embed a USB Hub into your Desk

Here’s a dirt simple weekend project for you: Pick up a USB hub for a few bucks and literally embed it in your desk for ease of connecting.  That way, when you want to connect a camera or other peripheral device, it’s a dirt simple, cheap, and quick project for the weekend.

Although it’s pretty self explanatory, there is a how-to PDF to guide you through the extreme desk hacking project

read the rest of article...

Embed a USB Hub Into Your Desk

Here’s a dirt simple weekend project for you: Pick up a USB hub for a few bucks and literally embed it in your desk for ease of connecting.
That way, when you want to connect a camera or other peripheral device, it’s a dirt simple, cheap, and quick project for the weekend.

Although it’s pretty self explanatory, there is a how-to PDF to guide you through the extreme desk hacking project

read the rest of article...