Texts from Snail Mail, a Lidar Water Cannon, and a Cardboard Robot Arm

Plus training a cat to play tic-tac-toe, swapping coin cells for solar cells, and turning Altoids and WiFi access points into a game [Digi-Key is a proud sponsor of the 2020 Hackaday Prize]( [3602421454791242043.png] Wednesday, June 24, 2020 [The Sculptural Beauty of a 4-by-4-by-4 RGB LED Cube »]( HackadayU, Because We All Want To Learn the Cool Stuff Sit in on classes with experienced instructors from every corner of the engineering universe. [HackadayU is a set of live, online classes]( presented in four parts - plus an "Office Hours" Q&A session with each expert. first class started this week. Hosted by Matthew Alt, this one focuses on how to use Ghidra to reverse engineer software. [Upcoming classes]( this summer include KiCad/FreeCAD, quantum computing, C++ audio/sensor processing, and basic circuit theory, with more on the way! You can register free for these classes, with the option of making a donation going to charities that help feed, house, and educate others. If you can't make the four live sessions, recordings of each will be published on Hackaday.io once they have been edited. - [Sign up now for HackadayU classes]( - Interested in teaching a class? [Apply to be an instructor](. Highlights from the IO POPULAR BITS [375b1d6a-d9bb-4602-b34b-b0ee87015213.jpg]( [Physical Mailbox Sends Digital Messages]( Don't have time to keep two eyes peeled for the letter carrier? Let those dev boards do their magic! This mailbox notifier was a quick build bringing together a hall effect sensor to detect the door being opened with an ESP8266 that uses IFTTT to send text messages. [27898cef-5665-4a2b-9e06-c9d3cf8cda5d.jpg]( [Solar Stands In for Coin Cells]( This low-power thermometer has a neat trick to its power supply. The device can easily run off of a CR2032, but if you install it somewhere with a reasonable amount of ambient light, replace the coin cell holder with a solar cell PCB that uses the same footprint! [2d7669b0-9cde-4209-9554-33b3d64cd03a.jpg]( [Water Fight Arms Race Spawns Lidar Turret]( It's hot and you're stuck at home. Sounds like a great time to build your own squirt guns. But don't settle for half-measures. This water cannon can rotate and adjust elevation, all based on a true lidar sensor ready to douse anyone down range. Hack Chat LIVE CHAT WITH LEADING EXPERTS EVERY WEDNESDAY [Today: Gigatron Hack Chat]( Walter Belgers will host [this week's Hack Chat](. [The Gigatron]( a TTL-only minimalist retrocomputer, is the brainchild of Marcel van Kervinck and Walter Belgers. Tragically, Marcel recently passed away, but Walter is carrying the Gigatron torch forward, and he joins us on the Hack Chat to answer your questions about this improbably popular machine. [Next Week: LED Art Hack Chat]( Aaron Oppenheimer will host [next week's Hack Chat](. Aaron co-founded [color+light]( a company that specializes in large-scale custom art installations. He'll stop by the Hack Chat to talk about everything from giant pieces like the LED-bedazzled [Oddwood Tree]( to smaller digital houseplants like [fluora](. Featured Projects POPULAR BITS [ddbfb446-4e8a-43d3-9fa9-f4606ac7b239.jpg]( [Can You Train Cats to Play Tic-Tac-Toe? Guess We'll Find Out]( [3209f0a3-a12b-4e00-bf06-2c2f9442c582.jpg]( [Astrophotographer 3D-Prints Barn Door Tracker for Tripod]( [c8594e1e-e5d0-4525-a34a-c0845cc164df.jpg]( [Router Attack: Game of Battleship Using APs as the Ships]( [4516a621-621c-4223-8348-471246a872c0.jpg]( [Cardboard Robot Arm: A Quality Build On the Cheap]( Live Events MEETUPS, CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS [Hackaday Classes and Events]( Worldwide | We can't get together in person right now, so we're takin' things online! Checkout [the calendar of Hackaday classes and events]( to log on and tune in to a packed schedule of hacker happenings. If you have an event that should be added to the calender, send the details to superconference@hackaday.io. [6106791452383979970.png]( [8302381452383965490.png]( [1582301482276864754.png]( [Terms of Use]( [Privacy Policy]( [Hackaday.io]( [Hackaday.com]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update subscription preferences]( Hackaday · 61 South Fair Oaks Avenue · Suite 200 · Pasadena, CA 91105 · USA