NeatTrix

Since the new Kindle will soon take the place of the current model, I thought I’d give a nod to Igor Skochinsky, who notoriously hacked the Kindle over a year ago.  In an interview, he described the Kindle as a closed system, but not that closed.  He also said the Sony Reader and iPhone were much more closed.  Easy or not, here are the three entries from his blog, detailing the steps taken to gain access to the console, and mess about inside. (continue reading…)

Remind me to start carrying a shotgun in my car.  Or maybe an umbrella. Get it? Umbrella?… nevermind.

Two electronic road signs near the University of Texas were hacked to read Caution, Zombies Ahead.  The authorities were not amused.  Also, they weren’t killed by zombies, so bright side, yeah?  Apparently, they consider it a crime to tamper with safety warning signs.  They don’t actually care that no one reads them, or follows their advice, just so long as their message isn’t perverted in any way.

http://gear.ign.com/articles/949/949442p1.html

Lucky, the German Shepherd, is truly lucky. He’s going to get a nice, warm place to sleep…outside, where he belongs. When he gets tired of watching the buffalo roam (Seriously, there’s a herd of buffalo nearby), and chasing rabbits he’ll have a warm retreat from the snow, ice, freezing rain, not-so-freezing rain, fog, drizzle, snizzle, and 40 other kinds of precipitation that only maybe the Inuit have proper words for, and which try our souls practically every day. Right now, there’s like 3 feet of global warming in the yard, and another foot or so due in the next 36 hours.

The intent is to build Lucky a doghouse controller with a Bluetooth connection. The controller will regulate a heating pad, sense Lucky’s presence in the doghouse, measure temperatures inside and outside the doghouse, automatically dispense food, and maybe control some lights or a fan (we have occasional summer weather). We’ll have the capacity to add other features. The Bluetooth connection gives us the ability to monitor Lucky’s use of his house and remotely change operational parameters. Eventually, we’ll take Lucky’s house off the grid, and convert the power source to wind and/or solar.

Stay tuned for further developments. We’re going to do this in installments, mostly from things we have lying around.

Johnny Chung Lee has been doing some neat stuff. Admittedly, I saw these videos last year. I thought Mr. Lee had great potential then, and now he’s working for Microsoft. Maybe there’s hope for Microsoft. His main site is www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/. The Wii remote stuff is located at www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/.

Anyway, these videos are great examples of coloring outside the lines.

There are ways to do the some of the same tricks with a webcam, but you can’t beat this Wii remote as a platform. For $40 you get an IR-sensitive camera, 3-axis accelerometer, lots of buttons, and a Bluetooth connection to a computer. The Wii remote uses the ADXL330 3-axis accelerometer from Analog Devices. The sensor bar referred to in the videos is several IR (infrared) LEDs (light-emitting diodes) with a known spacing. There are 5 LEDs located at each end of the sensor bar. The apparent spacing of the LEDs in combination with the accelerometer data (tilt and velocity) yields positioning.

If only the Emotiv Headset had some IR LEDs…

NOTE:  There has been an update to this article. Click here for the most recent developments.

The Amazon Kindle is an electronic book reader with an electronic-paper display and an EVDO wireless network connection (no extra cost). More than 200,000 titles are available, most for less than $10. Some books are free (you get what you pay for). Overall, I’ve been very happy with the Kindle, and have read more than 75 books using it.

Both my wife and I have Kindles. Both are registered in my name. Once purchased, we can both download a title and read the same book at the same time. I suggest that book clubs considering using the Kindle purchase and register all the Kindles for the group together.

There are a few things I don’t like. The ridiculously large “Next Page” button, and the smaller (but equally annoying) “Back” button on the right side of the Kindle cause endless frustration when accidentally touched. I had considered several options including hammers, nails, and superglue) before trying the solution below. It really works well. Better yet, it’s easily undone.

The second problem was holding the Kindle comfortably. The folder/book cover/piece-of-crap Amazon included with the Kindle is fine for protecting the Kindle while transporting the Kindle, but doesn’t help me hold the Kindle comfortably while reading. The Kindle is very light, lighter than some paperbacks, and certainly lighter than most hardcover books. I tried a couple of things and settled on the solution shown below.

The access cover on the back of the Kindle slides out to gain access to the battery, SD memory slot, and some sort of programming connector hidden under another access door. This access cover (door)  is coated with some sort of soft, rubbery compound that improves your grip. Sadly, not enough. Also, the coating doesn’t bond to many adhesives.

The first attempt was to just put some large rubber bands around the access cover and snap the access cover back in place. Not only didn’t the cover sit quite flat afterward, but the rubber bands were too tight.

The second attempt was to use some self-adhesive, industrial-strength Velcro on the access cover. This is shown in several of the photos below (for example, button6). The “hook” side of the Velcro was  attached to the Kindle. Two loops were fashioned from Velcro One-Wrap. These loops were positioned so that I could put my hand through both loops to hold the Kindle. Thanks to the Velcro, I could reposition the loops on the Kindle, as well as the size of the loops.

I purchased the self-adhesive Velcro from Lowe’s.

This worked fairly well, but the self-adhesive Velcro kept pulling off the access cover because of the poor adhesion to the rubbery coating. Also, I had started with the hooks, so the interior of the loops (straps) made from the One-Wrap  was also of the hook variety. This was sort of rough on the hands.

The final attempt is more permanent. I glued strips of the Velcro One-Wrap (also purchased at Lowe’s) to the Kindle’s access cover with some J-B Weld epoxy I purchased at True Value Hardware . This epoxy is also available at K-mart, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and PepBoys. This epoxy mixes up to a gray color similar to the color of the outside of the access door. It takes almost 24 hours to fully set though.

Even though the strips of Velcro are glued in place, the access cover is still removable. Take off the straps, and the Kindle still fits in its book cover (not that I use it).

Button1: The Kindle at left. A full cable tie is shown next to the Kindle. Shorten the cable tie at both ends to the length of both buttons. This can be done by eye with some scissors.

Button2: Insert the cut cable tie under the edge if the “Next Page” button, starting at the top. The Kindle is sitting on a roll of Velcro One-Wrap.

Button3: Continue inserting the cut cable tie until the cable tie extends under the leading edge of both the “Next Page” and “Back” buttons.

Button4: Another view showing how the cable tie runs under the button.

Button5: After the cable tie is fully inserted, it shows along the top of the “Next Page” button the right side of the Kindle. This makes it easy to pull the stop out if you need to.

Button6: The bottom of the Kindle showing the fully-inserted cut cable tie. This completely inhibits these two buttons. Cut the cable tie even shorter and only place it under the “Next Page” button to retain operation of the “Back” button. Also shown the self-adhesive, industrial-strength Velcro applied to the Kindle’s access cover. I rejected this Velcro method afterward.

Strap1:  This shot shows the roll of Velcro One-Wrap, a cut cable tie for button inhibition, and a portion of my Kindle with its first application of self-adhesive Velcro.

Strap2: This is the original strap solution. Self-adhesive, industrial-strength Velcro hooks are affixed to the Kindle’s access door. Straps are made from two lengths of the Velcro One-Wrap. One-Wrap has hooks on one side and loops on the other. This stuff is terrific! This solution worked for a couple of weeks, but, sadly, the self-adhesive Velcro kept pulling loose.

Strap3: Original strap system from another angle.

Strap4: Revised strap system. After removing the white Velcro hooks, I used epoxy to glue strips of Velcro One-Wrap on the Kindle’s access cover. The loop side is up this time.

Strap5: Revised system with one strap. The strap now has the loop side inside.

Strap6: Kindle with two straps.

Strap7: Strapped Kindle from another angle.

Strap8: Ditto.

Strap 9-14: Photos of my meaty mitt holding the newly strapped Kindle at various angles. Your Velcro One-Wrap mileage may vary.