Long ago I was really into bitcoin mining. It was a fun project that actually generated a little income at the time. This was way back when GPU mining was still a thing. I stopped playing around with Bitcoin a few years ago and sold all of my equipment(except for a few block eruptors). I also sold all of my bitcoins when it was around $700 and just called it quits, I had no time to be playing around. Now that it is up to $4000(!), I thought it would be fun to make a little bitcoin lottery device. The basic idea is that you solo mine with a raspberry pi and a block eruptor, and hope you mine your own block. It uses so little power, and my Pi is running anyway. If you happen to mine a block you will get 12.5 bitcoins, in USD that is around $50,000. Yeah, really. However, it is extremely unlikely that you will mine a block, but it is still possible, and probably close to the same odds as the real lottery, but much cheaper(cost of electricity for the Pi).

Step by step to setup your own after the jump!

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ESP Everywhere

A second Kickstarter? At the same time? I’m not crazy, I promise. Kickstarter has a campaign right now to influence people to make 100 of something. Called Make/100. I already knew I was doing the Fidget Spinner Kickstarter, but I decided to try and make something for this as well. I thought Kickstarter was doing a great thing with this campaign, and I wanted to be a part of it. Check out the video after the jump.

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I’m sure some of you figured out what the poll and giveaway was for, but if you haven’t yet, here is your answer! I was trying to find out what the most suitable design would be to get a injection mold machined and the parts mass produced. I have been contacted numerous times by people asking if there was either a more affordable option, or if I had extra fidget spinners I could give away. I started to realized that there is a very large group of people who can’t afford even the cheapest spinner.I decided to do something about it. Kickstarter anyone?! Keep reading after the jump.

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Fidget Spinner Giveaway

The Poll is now over and I have starter a Kickstarter using the Result! Five Dollar Fidget Spinner! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/idlehandsdev/five-dollar-fidget-spinner

I finally have a bunch of proven designs available in my Shapeways Store, and I want to find out which design people really prefer. I’m holding this giveaway in hopes that I will be able to find that answer! All you have to do is vote for your favourite design(below) and you will be entered into a draw. You can build up more entries by doing the other options, but they are not mandatory. There will be 5 winners! More info and the poll/raffle after the jump!

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I have known about the NFC ring for some time, and I thought they were a really cool idea. I was considering buying one for quite some time, but never really got around to it(happens a lot). More recently completely unrelated to that I had seen a number of videos on YouTube about making bentwood rings. One of my interests is working with wood, and although I don’t do it much now, I want to start working with it more. I had planned to make these ring for some time, but it wasn’t until my friend wanted to make his engagement ring out of wood did the materials finally end up in my hands. Video after the jump.

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For Pi day I put together this quick experiment to see how much I could safety drop the temperature of the Pi’s processor but sticking on a Peltier element. It worked well! List of parts I used, a simple schematic, and the python script I wrote after the jump!

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KickStarter Here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/idlehandsdev/piangle-zero-usb-power-and-4-port-hub

The Raspberry Pi Zero is a remarkable technological achievement. It’s hard to believe what $5 (well, nearly $7 CAD…) will buy you these days. For someone like me who uses a Pi almost every day of my life, I’m simply amazed by it. For me, the Pi Zero is perfect as 90% of my uses for the Pi come from using the command line and the GPIO, so the pi zero has everything I need. However, I don’t believe this is true for a large number of Pi users, and more specifically the large number of newcomers who are just beginning to delve into the world of tiny computers. The tiny Pi Zero being so incredibly inexpensive, its finally drawn in those last hesitant individuals who were questioning whether or not to spend the money and “play” around with one. That is where the PiAngle comes into play. Video and more images after the jump!

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This the gift I made for my girlfriend this year for Christmas. Its a small desk light with multi layers of acrylic with different layers of an image to form one stencil. Its not too difficult! I also made my first instructables on it! You can check it out here.

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Here is the program if anyone is interested: GPS_Speedo_OLED

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I built this energy harvesting board quite some time ago to experiment with piezo energy harvesting. It is based on the Linear Tech LTC3588 IC and allow Mide Piezo elements(and any others) to easy plug into it. I am showing you today because it will soon be available on Tindie. Some more info after the jump.

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