If your radios are your thing then you will have probably come across the Motorola GTX before, its a cheap and cheerful yet powerful radio that can be converted easily to use the 33cm / 902Mhz band.  Only issue is, it doesnt come with an extender cable to allow the head to detach.  Robert Shulz over at the Yolo Amateur Radio Society blog has come up with a simple yet elegant solution that allows you to mount the radio anywhere you want and then mount the faceplate in a convenient place on your dash.

He has taken the ribbon cable and soldered a serial cable to it, along with a custom mount for the back of the detached faceplate, this allows him to mount the head on his dashboard and keep the main radio body out of sight and in a more convenient place.  He does admit that everything except programming the radio worked once the external head unit was attacthed but this was put down to a loose connection somewhere in the wiring loom.  You can see more pictures of the project and a details build log over at this link.

In a similar style to the Raspberry Pi USB computer, the Cotton Candy is a USB based embedded PC running linux.  It has a HDMI output and so can be added to any monitor or HDTV with a HDMI input to immediately turn it into a 'Smart TV'

This device looks to be aimed more at the home user rather than developers or educators, it has impressive specs.  It runs on a 1.2Ghz ARM Cortex processor and features a Quad-Core GPU to handle 1080p video decoding.  1Gb Ram, WiFi and an SD slot make this a more than capable system.  The company behind it, FXI Tech, expect it to be available by the new year.

The latest technology to come out of the Japanese research labs is this amazing prototype 'True 3D' Laser Projector produced by the team at Burton Incorporated.  It projects dots in mid air by focusing the laser beam to excite the oxygen and nitrogen particles.  Using this method it can plot shapes out in real 3D space.

It is capable of display up to 50,000 dots per second and is able to process at between 10 and 15 frames per second.  The team are currently working on increasing this frame rate to a more realist 30 frames per second.  The technology was actually first announced in 2006 but is only now coming to fruition.  Real life lightsabers and holodecks might be closer than you think!

You can find out more about the technology and device in question by visiting Burton Incorporated or the link from the DigInfo.TV site.

The story last year of the US resident who discovered a Government owned GPS tracker attached to his vehicle was widely reported and sparked a huge debate on the legality of evidence gathered using them.  The row looks set to re-ginite with the discovery of two new models of GPS tracker, this time attached to the vehicle of a as yet nameless 25 year old Californian resident.

This initial device pictured above (Photos courtesy of wired.com) was removed from underneath his Volvo SUV, examined and photographed by Wired.com.  It was then replaced by persons unknown with a different device which is pictured below, this time the device was a Sendum PT200 GPS Tracker with a modified battery pack. There was also a sighting of a suspicious person investigating the underneath of his girlfriends car whilst she was parked at work.

The Justice Department reports that GPS trackers are regularly employed in the fight against crime, something that the vast majority of the general public are probably unaware of.  The strange thing is that there is no warrant requirement to use these devices, the government can just attach one to your vehicle and begin tracking your movements without probable cause and without it having to be authorised by a judge. 

Everybody, check underneath your cars, you never know what you might find!  You can read the original wired report at http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/11/gps-tracker-times-two

Furball_Zen from the Overclock.net forums is working on his latest case mod, as the case is transparent acrylic he wanted to make the internal components look as good as the outside.  We think he has achieved just that with this slick looking transparent DVD Drive mod.

Built using transparent acrylic which we assume has been laser cut to achieve some very precise looking windows.  This is then sprayed with blue metallic flake paint from the inside and bolted together using the DVD Drives original screw holes.  Can't wait to see how he gets on with the other components in the build, we will post them up as soon as it is complete!

We have seen exo-skeletons from this company before but this might just be their largest product so far, it's a modified Ditch Witch with an exoskeleton allowing a user to lift and work with heavy loads using just their arms.

As you can see from the video (which looks suspiciously like a nicely packaged advert) a new user can get into the machine and operate it almost  immediately with no training.  It does an amazing job of mimicking the users body movements and seems to offer a real high level precision.  You can visit the Raytheon Sarcos website at this link but I haven't been able to find any more information on the robot besides the video.

The PogoPlug pink is a low powered linux based computer that is based around the SheevaPlug.  It is is originally designed to allow sharing of USB flash drives and devices over the internet,  but as with most gadgets these days, the true power of the device comes when you start to hack the unit. 

You may have noticed that there is no video ouput on the unit, when you start installing new bootloaders and operating systems, this lack of video output can leave you in the dark.  The solution?  Open the unit up and install a serial cable.

Opening the unit

Opening the PogoPlug itself couldn't be easier, first off you are going to need to slip the transparent cover from around the main body of the unit…

With this cover removed, take a small flat headed screwdriver and insert it in between the two halfs.  With a bit of effort they should seperate easily and with no damage.

Revealing the motherboard and power supply PCB of the PogoPlug..

Constructing The Cable

With the PogoPlug opened we can see that we won't have to make any modifications to the motherboard itself, there is a handy serial connection socket already soldered in place.  The socket itself is a 0.079" (2.00mm)4 pin connection which can be found at Digikey with a part number of H2013-ND.  Alternativley, if you have an old analog CD-ROM audio cable lying around, you will find that the white connecter is a perfect match.  Your also going to need a Nokia CA-42 Data Cable for the other end, these cables contain a USB to serial converter built into the USB plug, compatible cables will work but you will have to decode the pinout yourself.  Below is the pinout for the genuine Nokia CA42 cable  (BM07083821)

Once you have worked out which pin relates to which color for you wiring scheme you are going to need to match those up to the connector on the PogoPlug motherboard.  The image below shows the pinout for the PogoPlug Pink E-02 UK version.  I can't guarantee that all versions will be the same so it might be worth checking before you go ahead and wire your cable up.

I noticed that if you are using a 6 wire CA-42 cable then you will need to wire up the 3.3v connection, there are some 4 wire cables available which don't require this but if your using the 6 wire original Nokia cable then it will not be recognised by your PC until you connect the 3.3v.  Other versions of the cable appear to get their power directly from the USB port.

Using PuTTY for serial access

Once your cable is completed then you are ready to move onto the next stage, first you are going to need some sort of serial program.  You can use the HyperTerminal which is built into Windows XP but a better option is to use PuTTY.  It can be downloaded from this link.

Before you launch PuTTY you are going to need to connect your newly created cable to both the Serial socket on the PogoPlug motherboard and to the USB socket on your PC.  Make sure the cable is detected and shows up in your device manager as a virtual COM port, you will need to turn your PogoPlug on for this to happen.  Make a note of this port as we are going to need it later.

Now load up PuTTy and select 'Serial' from the left hand side menu, you can now configure the connection.  Match the settings from the image below, 115200 Baud (Speed), 8 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bits, No Parity and No Flow Control.  Chance the 'Serial line to connect to' to match the COM port you made a note of earlier.

Once you have done this select 'Open' and press the push button on your PogoPlug motherboard, this will reset the PogoPlug.  If all has gone correctly you should now see the serial output from your PogoPlug scrolling down your PuTTY window. 

If not then check your wiring, check your PogoPlug has power and lastly check that your PC is picking up the cable as a virtual COM Port.  You should now be able to recover a bricked PogoPlug or gain much needed information while installing alternative Operating Systems.

With all the recent interest in Quantum Levitation and Superconductors, it was only a matter of time until somebody put two and two together and created a Marty McFly Back To The Future hoverboard.  Well here it is, the MagSurf…..

Obviously your slightly limited due to needing a track of permanent magnets to run the board on, and also having to top up your board with Liquid Nitrogen!  The other downside to this technique is that due to the size of the usually ultra-thin disc, it is unable to achieve quantum locking meaning the riders have to balance themselves using their outstretched arms.

The team behind the project, from the Universite Paris Diderots Materials and Quantum Phenomena Laboratory, are already working on scaling the technology up so that it could be retro-fitted to current MagLev trains, the advantage with their system being that the repelling magnetic force would automatically keep the train stable.  Certainly one to keep your eye on, although we're not sure it will be coming to a train station any time soon!

The new Apple iPad2 might have lots of new and exciting features, but one feature it lacks in is security.  It appears that if you are using the SmartCover in conjunction with the iPad 2, gaining access to a locked iPad is as easy as closing the SmartCover, opening it and then clicking cancel.  The video below from 9to5mac.com demonstrates this….

It only gives access to the App that was being used when the screen was locked, although this makes the security flaw less dangerous, it still has worrying security implications.  The issue is currently affecting iOS5 and we imagine will be fixed pretty promptly with a software update from Apple

We've seen walking robots, swimming robots and flying robots before.  But its not often that you see a bicycle riding robot!  A Japanese robotic maker going by the name of Dr Guero has combined a KHR 3HV Bi-Pedal robot from the RoboSavvy store with a miniature bicycle.

This particular robot has quite a pedigree in the robotics world, but teaming it up with a miniature bicycle really shows just how adaptable it can be.  The steering is human controlled via remote control using the robots arms in a left and right motion, stability is controlled using the inertial centrifugal effect of the bikes front wheel combined with a gyro and PID controller that handles the steering when the bike is traveling in a straight line.

As you can see from the picture and video, the bike currently has no brakes so the robot stops by using his feet on the floor, overall a really impressive use of this robot.  If you want to have a play yourself then you can get your hands on the robot over at the RoboSavvy store for a not so cheap £1,173!