WHACKY WHIZZERS

Webhosting choice

2009-04-29T19:51:00.007+05:30

Most of the site owners are confused or do not know what type of hosting will fulfill their requirements. The solution to this problem is WebhostingChoice.com. It is a comprehensive web hosting guide which helps users to find best hosts suitable for their website. It also lists the top 10 web hosting services such as GoDaddy, Hostgator along with their price. These hosts are rated on the basis on affordability, reliability, uptime and technical support. If you still cannot make up your mind, then you can view the detailed review of the host. Each hosting in the list has its own unique feature. Some hosting services have a speedy support while others are green hosts, each suitable for a particular user.
You can also search for a specific host in the Host Directory. You can search for hosts from various categories such as blog, budget, business, Linux, PHP, ASP and Python hosting.

Are you new to hosting? No need to worry. Webhosting choice has a quick start guide and FAQ page which will solve most of your queries. Webhosting Choice also has an informative article about hosting scams which is about the various ways hosts try to scam users. You can also refer to the links on the resources page for further information.
For a host it is a good platform to publicize your hosting services on a website which has such a huge traffic base.You can submit a host by filling up a form to request inclusion to their site.

What is Clypidus?

2009-04-29T11:24:00.002+05:30

I don't what clypidus means? Just writing a post to win a contest

clypidus -- SEO contest. Win 25.000 entrecard credits!

. Now clypidus as it seems can be a name of a mammal. clypidus can be anything but can you tell me what it can be? What is clypidus?.
Let's see that my post gets into clypidus search results.

MY Contest Entry

2008-01-28T18:40:00.000+05:30

I Recently participated in a design contest in which i had to make a unique design contest and now i am in one of the finalists.

This is my design:

My widget design no is: 26

Now winner will be selected on a voting basis so please vote for me:

I made a simple black one which would merge in the site easily

i had taken part in a contest on making widgets templates in photoshop

i have been selected in the contest :

visit this site to see my widget

To vote to my design
mail to:info@scratchback.com

subject:ScratchbackDesign#26

Sony Headphones review

2008-01-17T19:28:00.001+05:30

I love gadgets solely because they make our life simple and they also give us pleasure. I recently viewed a review site wize having reviews on all types of gadgets. It is a review site where each product is ranked based on expert and user reviews. This website had reviews about various gadgets headphones, mobiles, camcorders, cameras etc.

I surfed this site and I came across these cool sony headphones. These headphones have good sound quality and features, after all they are sony headphones and they got to have class and features.

I would like to share review about a sony headphones I liked.

Sony MDRNC22 Consumer Headphones

These headphones come with a volume control and have got good sound quality.

It has a very small size due to its earbud design. Small power consumption,stereo sound and sensitivity of 102 dB are some of its prominent features.

It has a wizerank of 89 and lists among the top headphones.

There is one problem is its noise cancelling which is not so good. It adds a slight hiss to the sound which is a very disturbing feature and but it doesn't matter much cause the hiss is usually not noticable

It is priced between 67$ -100$ which according to me might not meet everyone's pocket but it is worth every penny spent on it.

Everyone Needs Better Caring

2008-01-08T11:06:00.001+05:30

Better caring leads to better well being and a good quality life. Better Caring a website working for the sole cause of providing better care available in the fastest time and without any problems. It provides care tips and discussion boards where we can discuss on various topics related to health care. Articles related to health problems, diseases, and health related issues are posted on the website so that you get upto date to latest technologies available to cure you from the problem.

Care Information – In care information a person can get information relevant to choices made like care at home, residential care, health and finance. There are many archives related to topics like dementia and bed sores and may others…

Care Search - It is a good feature in this website where one can search for nursing homes in UK which are at least 5 miles in radius and can specify the counties. These nursing homes can be either nursing or residential according to search any nursing home in UK.

Care Discussion - It is the discussion forum where users can interact with each other , discuss among themselves and share their views and experiences .They can ask their queries and problems and get them solved.

Care about yourself and reclaim your life.

Make your own online store-Hassle Free

2007-12-31T20:10:00.000+05:30

Making an online store cannot be easier than this.AShopCommerce is a shopping cart software which helps create an online store with no coding required.It has quite unique features which hardly found in other ecommerce software.It was the winner of My Business Awards 2006.

It has features like - It is quite secure and uses 128 bit SSL security and fraud alerts. The SSL feature is useful when credit cards are used because it provides utmost safety. The best feature is Search optimization - It keeps track of your ranking in searches and helps promoting your rank in searches and hence increase in sales are tremendous(After all Increase in popularity leads to increase in proportional sale). This software comes with a 10 days trial and after that you can own a customized Shopping Cart with only a small monthly fee. All these stores are hosted on their fast servers with 24x7 monitoring and constantly backs up all the data to prevent any data loss.

They also offer tech support listening to every query you ask.

All in all a good package deal.

ROBOT CHASSIS

2007-11-30T15:02:00.000+05:30

Chassis according to Wikipedia is a chassis consists of a framework that supports an inanimate object, analogous to an animal's skeleton, for example in a motor vehicle or a firearm. According to me it is the skeleton of the robot. The first part of a robot is its chassis. The shape and size of the chassis depends upon the shape of the robot or vehicle to be made. The shape can be circular,rectangular,triangular. Circular and rectangular shapes are most widely used but you can make chassis of any desired shape,it can even be irregular depending upon the application of the robot.
Now it is important to select the material of the chassis. The selection criteria depends upon following factors:
(1) The size of the robot
(2) Budget

The larger the size of the robot the larger the weight bearing power is needed therefore for small robots wood or plastic materials are used for making the chassis.
For larger robots cast iron is used because it is cheaper and weldable(Can be easily welded other metal parts) but only problem is that it gets corroded easily,therefore it is usually painted on all sides. Another option for heavy robots is use Galvanized Iron sheets it is rust free but doesn’t weld. For light weight robots aluminum or brass sheets are used.

Selection of chassis is very important task because it acts as a housing for all other parts such as batteries,motors,sensors,wires and also gives the robot a specific shape.

Monetization of your site

2007-11-17T10:20:00.000+05:30

You can monetize your website or blog by publishing advertisements these are usually text links or flash based ads and you get money per click (pay per click) or monthly payment for displaying the ads.
The ads shown are based upon the content of your site. Google adsense uses crawlers to crawl your content and ads are displayed according to the content your blog site.
This is just an introduction i'll will ellaborate each monetization technique afterwards

The links to various money making sites like adsense and widgetbucks are given on the left sidebar

for more info go to: www.monetizeurwebsite.blogspot.com

HAPPY DIWALI

2007-11-07T22:23:00.000+05:30

November 9 , friday is Diwali

It is a festival of lights.
Diwali is the joyous celebration of the triumph of good over evil. It is the popular belief that the fireworks that add splendor to the festivities actually reduces the evil to ashes. The uniqueness of Diwali is that it harmonizes five varied philosophies, with each day assigned to commemorate a special thought or idea. According to a legend, which is also taken to be a history of diwali, the world celebrates Deepavali as the day the goddess stopped dancing after her battle with Mahishasura.The festival begins with Dhanteras, which is the celebration of the birth of goddess Lakshmi from the bottomless ocean. The second day is "Narak Chaturdhashi", which commemmorates the felling of Narakasura by Satyabhama with the help of Indra. This is again another view of history of diwali. Some also believe that the second day is dedicated to Bali the generous king, who returns to his kingdom amidst celebrations. The most famous legend behind the celebrations of diwali is about the prince of Ayodhya, Lord Shri Ram Chandra, his defeating Ravana and his return from exile by lighting lamps on this darkest night of the year.

How To make a Micromouse

2007-11-05T08:26:00.000+05:30

A Micromouse is a maze solving autonomous vehicle which completes the maze within minimum time possible.
A micromouse has to cross the maze in minimum time therefore to achieve that it should rotate very fast.

A micromouse has the following parts :

1.Body i.e a micromouse's mechanical structure

Chassis:

The MicroMouse chassis is the main piece that holds together all the other parts.
It must provide enough space for the microprocessor, batteries, motors and sensors. The
chassis will be built with an easy to work material like plastic or aluminum. The
advantage of using aluminum would be to draw heat away from the motors, functioning
as a built-in heat sink, but plastic may be easier and cheaper.
The chassis need to be small enough so that is able to make a full turn inside a
maze block without touching the walls.

1.Micromouse should have a Robust and compact chassis.
2. Adequate to allow easy movement inside the maze.

The size constraints imposed by the dimensions play an important role in determining the shape and orientation of finished micromouse.

2. battery or power supply

The power supply can be vary from 5-24 volts and can be of normal lead acid,dry cell or others like mercury cell and lithium ion batteries.

3. Sensors

In the final MicroMouse, two types of sensors will be used. A row of proximity
sensors overhanging the top of the maze on both sides of the MicroMouse will be used to
keep the MicroMouse centered within the cell and for environment mapping in adjacent
cells.

Distance sensors will be used to detect the length of the path in
front, and possibly to the sides of the MicroMouse. These infrared sensors are relatively
low cost, have been used effectively in several MicroMouse designs, and transmit an
output related to the distance to the nearest object within a range of 10 to 80 cm. The
sensors will have to be calibrated to function predictably for varying maze and ambient
conditions

Link to IR Sensors

4.Microcontroller

The microcontroller is both the brain and the heart of the MicroMouse. Because
the device is autonomous, the microcontroller must control everything the MicroMouse
does while in the maze. Based on the inputs it receives from the sensors it must calculate
a path for the mouse to navigate the maze. It must also control the drive motors to move
the mouse and after reaching the goal reduce the path back to the starting square to an
optimal path. The microcontroller board must be low power and the entire board must be
smaller than 25 x 25cm.

The work on the microcontroller can be broken down into different functions:
path finding, movement, sensing, and crash recovery. The path finding algorithm will
receive inputs from the sensors, calculate the best move, then output commands to the
movement functions. Movement control and sensor data gathering functions will be
established early to ensure their proper function and allow ample time for debugging. In
order to combat unforeseen skids and collisions, a variety of crash recovery methods will
have to be developed. As with any large program, the functions can be worked on
simultaneously as long as strict variable passing rules are established before work begins

5. Locomotion

A Steering type drive is used in micromouse just like in cars.
For turns Stepper motors are used,the steeper motor controls the front wheels and for forward movement DC motors are used which controls the rear wheels.

Link TO Stepper Motor:

Related: Ahish Bhatt's Micromouse,Maze Solving Micromouse

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Dhananjay.v.gadre sir's great battery less dice

2007-10-28T23:18:00.000+05:30

Here is the video of a battery less dice made by one of our faculty Dhananjay.V.Gadre sir.
This circuit employs an AVR microcontroller and uses a faraday generator for generating the emf.
First the device is shaken many times and then the charge is stored in a very large capacitor.This capacitor provides the required potential to light the L.E.D's that make up the dice.
A random function generator generates a random number between 1 and 6.

See the demonstrative video:

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Line follower

2007-10-26T11:49:00.000+05:30

What is a line follower?

A line follower is an autonomous vehicle which follows a line path(straight or curved) that maybe of any colour.

what this statement means is that the line follower will move on its own by following the line.

I have always been fascinated by autonomous vehicles like micromouse, line follower the best thing about them is that they move without any external control.

So a line follower has the following requirements:

1. It requires a Sensory Device which would help detect the line.

2. It requires a Brain to control its motion helping to follow the line.

3. It requires Locomotion which would help it ro move along the line.

4. It requires a Mechanical Structure which would support all these devices.

SENSORY DEVICE:

The most important part of the line follower is its sensory part which detects the line.
It senses the line and produces an output in the form of potential drop.
For example, an LDR(Light Dependant Resistor) has different resistances for different intensities of light,low resistance for higher intensity and vice versa.

An IR sensor is also a good option as a sensory device it also produces a potential drop across it.

for more info on IR sensor:Link to IR Sensors

or u can also use an LED

For details for how to use LED as a sensor visit this site.

Though it is important to note that more the number of sensors employed the better the line follower becomes.But programming becomes more and more complex with increasing number of sensors

U can also use a web camera to detect the line and follow it using image processing for interpretation.
But it would increase the cost of the line follower by two folds.

BRAIN:

Now the signal produced by the sensors of the line follower is to be interpreted by a logic circuit.
This logic circuit can be purely electronic(if u are good at hardware) or using Microcontrollers like AVR or 8051 which u can program using C. Through a suitable program u can control the motion of the line follower. Suppose if u get a signal logic 1 as an input and if you're following a black line then u would move right or left accordingly.

for example if u have two sensors on both sides of the line and if detect logic 1 one and logic 0 on the other sensor(then u have moved on the left of the line) so to counter u will have to move to the right side.

This way u will follow the line.

Locomotion:

Now for locomotion of the line follower we require motors.We require lightweight motors which can have low torque and medium(now for controlling high rpm motors we require an H-bridge see article for fast change of change of direction)
The motors should be d.c. motors(it is preferable not use stepper motors instead use differential mechanism for the line follower).

Mechanical Structure:

We should use a lightweight chassis as the torque of the motors is low and so they cannot support large amount of weight. The chassis can be made of lightweight plastic or wood.
And we also need a large amounts of nuts,bolts and screws to fix the motors and the electronic parts of the line follower.

Watch this great video:

It is the video of a very fast Line follower and completes three laps in very less time.
It inspires a lot.
The name of the line follower is Jet.

Amazing Video

2007-10-25T19:24:00.000+05:30

Amazing Video - Watch today’s top amazing videos here

can anybody tell me how is the person able to do this thing

Fridge magnet from hard drive

2007-10-20T19:27:00.001+05:30

Earlier i had posted a video of obtaining a magnet from an old hard drive.
Link to the older post: 5 minute projects from Popsci

So i had a old damaged hard drive so i gave it a try:

This how my hard drive looks from outside

The problem was that i had a screw driver but the screws on the hard disk were hexagonal in shape
So i had to buy a TORX SET costing about 150-200 Rs

I unscrewed all the screws the result was i could see the inside of the hard disk

and ......
in the end i managed to remove a magnet for putting stuff on my fridge from the hard disk

Excellence

2007-10-17T20:46:00.000+05:30

This is Excellence !!!!
This is a video of a match between South Africa and Pakistan
The great thing about the match is the unmatched field effort by Jhonty Rhodes.
This is the Best RUN OUT I've seen

A real visual treat:

NSIT-IEEE

2007-10-14T23:25:00.000+05:30

NSIT has developed exponentially over the past few years and specially the NSIT branch of IEEE has grown so widely that now its no more a minority society in the college. In fact the membership just doubled in a span of 3 months. This was indeed a great achievement for the society.the official website can be viewed here

UBUNTU 7.10 released

2007-10-13T09:52:00.000+05:30

I am a relatively new user of linux, but i like Ubuntu because it requires less rsources(less use of RAM). It is very user friendly and easy to understand. And yes u can order your copy of Ubuntu online and it will shipped to your address for free.

The new 7.10 release has many new features:

1. A new GUI environment: The new Gnome 2.20
2. New 3D desktop effects
3. A new Desktop Search
4. Fast user switching
5. New extensions for Firefox browser
6. Dynamic Screen configuration
7. Fully Automatic Printer Configuration

and many other features like energy effecient mode

for more visit http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/710rc

If you want to try the trial version
download here: http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/7.10

The HURRIQUAKE NAIL

2007-10-12T20:10:00.000+05:30

Who might have thought so much innovation can be done on a simple nail then see this article on
Hurriquake Nail which is develop to resist natural disasters.

See this article:

Hurricane winds rip apart nailed-together walls, and earthquakes shake houses so violently that a nailhead can pull straight through a piece of plywood. Since we can’t stop natural disasters, Bostitch engineer Ed Sutt has dedicated his career to designing a better nail. The result is the HurriQuake, and it has the perfect combination of features to withstand nature’s darker moods. The bottom section is circled with angled barbs that resist pulling out in wind gusts up to 170 mph. This “ring shank” stops halfway up to leave the middle of the nail, which endures the most punishment during an earthquake, at its maximum thickness and strength. The blade-like facets of the nail’s twisted top—the spiral shank—keep planks from wobbling, which weakens a joint. And the HurriQuake’s head is 25 percent larger than average to better resist counter-sinking and pulling through. The best part: It costs only about $15 more to build a house using HurriQuakes. $45 per 4,000;

Innovision 2007

2007-10-10T15:47:00.000+05:30

This Innovision was a lot better than the previous one.
This innovision had more technical events.
The participation was at a high.
People from different colleges participated in events like Line Following Robot,Micromouse,Robowars and Carnage.

The new attractions were the auto show,the robotics display(by techtronics).

The event that attracted the most number of people was Nexus (organized by TRI)
The participants had to make a robot thathad to lift 4 blocks one at a time from the ground and place it on a height.

The link to the site : innovision07.com

Here are some pics and videos :

STEPPER MOTOR

2007-09-27T18:29:00.000+05:30

The most common problem we face when we use normal DC motors is that we don’t have precise control over how much it rotates. To rotate DC motors through a particular number of degrees what we can do is either calibrate it for a delay based operation i.e. if I switch it on for n seconds it moves 360 degrees; or what we can do is attach n encoder to the shaft which gives us a feedback on how much the motor shaft has rotated so that we can stop it when it rotates through the desired angle. Home made encoders give good results but don’t have such a high resolution and high resolution encoders are costly.
In such cases where we need to control the rotary position of the motor we can use stepper motors. Stepper motors have a tendency to make beginners feel uncomfortable about using them. But lets hope this air of discomfort about using stepper motors disappears once we are done through this article.
Stepper motors are motors available in round, square, rectangular shapes with 4 or more wires coming out of them.

In the permanent magnet stepper motor the rotor is a permanent magnet and the stator is a set of coils which are energized one after another. In the unipolar motors the direction of current in the coil doesn’t reverse (so UNI) while in the bipolar the current through the coil flows in both the directions (so BI).In both types of stepper motors there are two coils wound on the stator poles, which gives us 4 wires.

The difference is that in unipolar motors there is a center tap from each of the coil winding. These center taps are either brought out individually (which will give us 4+2 = 6 wires) or are shorted together and brought out (which gives us 4+1 = 5 wires)

Properties:

1) Digitaly controlled brushless motor that rotate a specific number of degrees (a step).
2) Number of degrees (resolution) can be between .72 to 90 degrees. General purpose steppers have a resolution of 15 or 30 degrees a step.
3) High precision, low torque.

The following figure shows a stepper motor deflected by 90 degrees

This occurs only when one coil is excited and other's are not.

The following figure shows half step where two adjacent coils are excited and therefore the rotor moves in between the coils .

By this we can move by 45 degrees.

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IR Sensors

2007-09-27T18:08:00.001+05:30

The Infrared emitter detector circuit is very useful if you plan to make a line following robot, or a robot with basic object or obstacle detection. Infrared emitter detector pair sensors are fairly easy to implement, although involved some level of testing and calibration to get right. They can be used for obstacle detection, motion detection, transmitters, encoders, and color detection (such as for line following).

Line sensor:

In order to detect a line, we use the principle of reflection of light over different colors. As we all know, a white color object reflects almost all light incident on it while a black colored object absorbs all. Now, by measuring the variation in the intensity of reflected light we can easily determine the presence/absence of line under the sensor.

AMPLIFIED SENSOR CIRCUIT

Description:

The circuit uses an comparator to compare the value detected and ouput logic ‘1’ or ‘0’ or ON and OFF.

We use an IR LED which will emit Infrared light and it will be reflected by the surface. The detector acts as a variable resistor whose value depends on the intensity of light falling on its surface. The higher the intensity, the lower is the resistance of the detector. The detector and R2 act as a potential divider. When the intensity is high (reflected from white surface), the resistance of detector is low and so the value of the potential is high. Similarly when the intensity is low (reflected from black surface), the resistance of the detector is high and so the potential is low.

This potential is compared with a reference potential. The reference can be varied by the potentiometer (pot). Calibration is required. You have to record potentials of the white as well as black surface and then find their ranges. According these potentials ten set the reference so that for white surface output is .high and for white black surface output is low.

An LED can also be used as a visual detector so that you can see whether the surface is black or white.

R3 resistor prevents excessive current to pass through the LED. The value of the resistor depends on the size and the colour of the LED. More the diameter of the LED , more is the current it will sink in. R1 should be chosen according to the LED. Usually for 3mm Red LED and 5V supply 330Ω is enough. R2 should be larger then the maximum resistance of the detector.

THINGS TO NOTE:

The LED and detector have very narrow emission and detection angles, so keep them close so that the circuit functions properly.
Metallic or glossy surfaces reflect more tend to reflect more light, so make sure you calibrate the device properly.
Many objects are opaque to visible light (that means light doesn't pass through it, like wood, black plastic, metal), but are transparent to IR light.
If you work in the sunlight make sure it doesn’t interfere with the function of the circuit. Usually sensors placed below the body of the robot are the least affected by it.
Depending on resistor values, your IR circuit can be tweaked to better detect color instead of distance.

6 sixes in T-20

2007-09-25T20:35:00.000+05:30

Yes this the video of six sixes hit by the mighty Yuvraj Singh in an over in Twenty-20

It was a great match,hitting six sixes in a row is a very difficult task.
But the task was performed with ease.

Yeh cheers to yuvraj
great innings scoring the fastest fifty of only 12 balls

See the video

Micromouse

2007-09-24T19:16:00.000+05:30

In our college we do not have a real micromouse event it is a joke
It is only a programmed device lacking senses.
In a micromouse the car has senses i.e. it has to traverse the maze in the minimum time possible by using sensory devices.

It requires a lot of brainstorming in making an efficient micromouse.
By an efficient micromouse i mean a micromouse which can to cover the maximum distance in the minimum possible time.

This is a video of the best micromouse made by a student of IIT Mumbai, ashish bhatt
It is a real visual treat

Click To Play

Related: Maze Solving micromouse
How to make a micromouse

Innovision 06 videos

2007-08-29T23:52:00.000+05:30

These are videos of innovision 06
This was last event where expert stuntmen displayed their great art

Smoke Sculptures

2007-08-22T15:01:00.001+05:30

See these beautiful sculptures made from smoke