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IRremote library now runs on the Teensy, Arduino Mega, and Sanguino
Thanks to Paul Stoffregen of PJRC, my Arduino IR remote library now runs on a bunch of different platforms, including the Teensy, Arduino Mega, and Sanguino. Paul has details here, along with...
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Control your mouse with an IR remote
You can use an IR remote to control your computer's keyboard and mouse by using my Arduino IR remote library and a small microcontroller board called the Teensy. By pushing the buttons on your IR...
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64-bit RC6 codes, Arduino, and Xbox remotes
I've extended my Arduino IRremote library to support RC6 codes up to 64 bits long. Now your Arduino can control your Xbox by acting as an IR remote control. (The previous version of my library only...
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Solving edge-match puzzles with Arc and backtracking
I recently saw a tricky nine piece puzzle and wondered if I could use Arc to solve it. It turned out to be straightforward to solve using standard backtracking methods. This article describes how to...
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IPv6 killed my computer: Adventures in IPv6
You may have heard that the Internet is running out of IP addresses and disaster will strike unless everyone switches over to IPv6. This may be overhyped, since civilization continues even though the...
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Solving a math problem of Schrödinger with Arc and Python
I recently received an interesting math problem: how many 12-digit numbers can you make from the digits 1 through 5 if each digit must appear at least once. The problem seemed trivial at first, but it...
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IPv6 web serving with Arc or Python: adventures in IPv6
I've been experimenting with IPv6 on my home network. In part 1, I described how I set up an IPv6 tunnel on Windows 7 and how IPv6 killed my computer. Now, I will describe how I set up a simple (i.e....
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Solving a math problem of Schrödinger (Part II)
What's the better way to solve a math problem? A few lines of code, or a bunch of mathematical thought? I wanted to solve the following math problem: how many 12-digit numbers can you make from the...
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The Endeavour delay: Complexity, the APU, and the Load Control Assembly
The last launch of the Endeavour space shuttle has been delayed 48 hours (update: indefinitely) due to a problem with the APU heater and the Load Control Assembly. I wanted to find out what exactly...
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My Knuth reward check
I attended a very interesting talk "All Questions Answered" by the famous computer science professor Don Knuth in March, where he talked about many things, including his new book. The talk inspired me...
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My 0.015 minutes of fame on CNN
I recently wound up on CNN for a couple seconds doing some Arduino hacking as part of a segment on Google's workshops. Click the image for the full video. If you don't want to watch the whole thing, I...
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The Mathematics of Volleyball
Recently I was at a multi-day volleyball tournament, which gave me plenty of time to ponder the mathematics of the game. At different points in the game, I'd wonder what the odds were of each team...
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Cells are very fast and crowded places
I recently learned that cells are extremely crowded and busy places. I knew there's a lot of activity in cells, but I didn't realize just how much until I was reading Molecular Biology of the Cell. I...
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A new multi-branch algorithm to render rational-exponent Mandelbrot fractals:...
If you came here from Hacker News, thanks for visiting. You might want to check out the Hacker News comment thread too. The Mandelbrot fractal is generated by repeatedly iterating the complex function...
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JavaScript secrets of Bret Victor's homepage
I recently came across the site worrydream.com, which implements an amazing navigation experience through JavaScript and HTML5. The page displays dozens of page icons arranged into angled strips that...
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Apple didn't revolutionize power supplies; new transistors did
a.ref { color: gray;vertical-align: super; text-decoration: none; font-size:60%;margin-left: 2px;} The new biography Steve Jobs contains a remarkable claim about the power supply of the Apple II and...
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Tiny, cheap, and dangerous: Inside a (fake) iPhone charger
a.ref { color: gray;vertical-align: super; text-decoration: none; font-size:60%;margin-left: 2px;} I recently wrote a popular article on the history of computer power supplies, which led to...
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Apple iPhone charger teardown: quality in a tiny expensive package
Disassembling Apple's diminutive inch-cube iPhone charger reveals a technologically advanced flyback switching power supply that goes beyond the typical charger. It simply takes AC input (anything...
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A dozen USB chargers in the lab: Apple is very good, but not quite the best
table.chargers { border-width: 1px; border-spacing: 2px; border-style: outset; border-color: gray; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: white; } table.chargers th.maker { padding-right: 5px;...
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Spectral analysis with the Tektronix 5000 oscilloscope
Many oscilloscopes have advanced spectral analysis features that perform Fourier Transforms on measured signals to generate a frequency spectrum. This article provides a tutorial on how to use these...
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