Hack N Mod - Amazingly Cool Hacks, Mods, and DIY Projects » Internet http://hacknmod.com Amazingly Cool Hacks, Mods, and DIY Projects Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:13:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 The Webcycle for the Internet Junkie http://hacknmod.com/hack/the-webcycle-for-the-internet-junkie/ http://hacknmod.com/hack/the-webcycle-for-the-internet-junkie/#comments Sat, 15 Aug 2009 06:27:25 +0000 Saikat http://hacknmod.com/?p=5302

Is your desire/addiction the web strong enough to pull you away from the information superhighway onto an exercise bike in order to keep you plugged in? The webcycle is a bicycle which controls your internet speed based upon how quickly you’re pedaling. It’s catchphrase is: the faster you pedal, the faster your internet goes.

The concept might remind you off the way couch potatoes use the exercise bike. Right in front of a television set. But the webcycle does one better (or worse) by making your browsing hinge around your pedaling. Here’s how the webcycle has been put together:

Wires on each pedal are connected to foil sensors on the bike which interfaces with an Arduino. The Arduino reads the RPM of the bike and transmits it to an old laptop running Ubuntu. The OS is installed with shell scripts and Wondershaper which is an easy to use traffic shaping script. It allows for browsing at reasonable speeds and streamlines uploads and downloads.

At HacknMod, we love Arduino projects and that’s why we have a whole lot of them in our Arduino section. And if you are a pedal pusher check these out too:

]]> http://hacknmod.com/hack/the-webcycle-for-the-internet-junkie/feed/ 0 Stream your Entire Music Library to Any Computer http://hacknmod.com/hack/stream-your-entire-music-library-to-any-computer/ http://hacknmod.com/hack/stream-your-entire-music-library-to-any-computer/#comments Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:32:41 +0000 Saikat http://hacknmod.com/?p=5029 main

Serious audiophiles like to be close to their music. Our previous DIY Multi-Room Wireless Music Remote was just one way to take your music anywhere you want. With these two free programs and a bit of configuration, you can stream your own music from anywhere you’d like. With the two program setup, you can also stream songs over the internet for friends to enjoy.

The tutorial guides you through the 6 steps of launching your stream:

  1. Install an Apache server

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    2. Setup your PC as a server platform with the installation of Apache. Use XAMPP, the open source and cross-platform web server package. XAMPP packages MySQL, PHP and Perl in a single zip or exe file. Download and run with minimal configuration of the various components that make up the web server.

  2. Install netjukebox

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    3. netjukebox is an open source, flexible, web based Winamp/httpQ media jukebox. It can be configured as a client/server to stream music from any computer that’s a part of the network. The downloaded netjukebox needs to be extracted in XAMPP’s htdocs directory. Provided codecs along with netjukebox go into another subfolder. The login screen of the media jukebox is accessed by typing a URL in the browser.

  3. Secure your server

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    4. Securing your server installation is a priority. The tutorial walks through the steps needed to setup a secure admin username and a root password for the XAMPP and MySQL host. Passwords also sets-up XAMPP directory protection for protected access through browsers.

  4. Setup netjukebox

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    5. The media player is configured (just a few lines in Notepad) to locate the music library and read the codecs. This step also configures web access for the administrator with the correct server password.

  5. Link your music library

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    6. Log on to the netjukebox administrator page with the browser and use the configuration panel to index all your songs in the music library. The user friendly program also updates your music collection with album covers automatically or manually using online databases.

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  6. Stream your music remotely

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    7. Log in to your music library from anywhere using a browser and typing in your IP with the /netjukebox/ extension. Dynamic DNS is another option to access your songs without the hassle of IP addresses. For those behind a home router, the port forwarding technique solves the issue.

The how-to goes into each step in detail. Using the flexible freeware and a comparatively hassles free setup, you can play your tunes anywhere.

We have a vast gallery of tutorials for audio enthusiasts to enjoy. Check them out!

]]> http://hacknmod.com/hack/stream-your-entire-music-library-to-any-computer/feed/ 3 Become a War Driving Pro – Hack WEP and Wifi http://hacknmod.com/hack/become-a-war-driving-pro-hack-wep-and-wifi/ http://hacknmod.com/hack/become-a-war-driving-pro-hack-wep-and-wifi/#comments Sat, 18 Jul 2009 20:30:02 +0000 Saikat http://hacknmod.com/?p=5025
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If you’re unfamiliar with the term war driving, it’s the activity of driving around in a vehicle equipped with wireless gear looking for unsecured wireless networks. Hackers do it to hack and access protected Wi-Fi networks but there are amateurs too who scan the RF environment just for the fun of it to piggyback on other people’s internet connections (but beware of this neat trick).

War Driving can be a fun thing to do and quite easy if you have the right gear and the afternoon off. We’ve already shown you how easy it is to hack a WEP wireless network but this how-to video breaks War Driving into six basic steps:

  1. Get a laptop (or notebook) with onboard Wi-Fi or use a USB Wi-Fi adapter that supports an external antenna.
  2. Connect the external antenna to a GPS receiver for mapping the locations.
  3. Install free Wi-Fi sniffers like NetStumbler (for Windows) or Kismet.
  4. Place the antenna on the roof of the car, make the connections and plug-in the PC to the power adapter.
  5. Get someone to drive you around.
  6. Fire up the software and start scanning for unprotected Wi-Fi signals while you drive around.

WarDriving can be a blast but be mindful of the ethics of tapping into someone else’s network. Don’t forget to look into our previous posts on Wi-Fi hacks.

Note, this article is for informational purposes only.

]]> http://hacknmod.com/hack/become-a-war-driving-pro-hack-wep-and-wifi/feed/ 2 Gmail and RSS Notifiers using the Arduino http://hacknmod.com/hack/gmail-and-rss-notifiers-using-the-arduino/ http://hacknmod.com/hack/gmail-and-rss-notifiers-using-the-arduino/#comments Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:26:09 +0000 Joe L http://www.hacknmod.com/?p=1901
By programming the Arduino and having it communicate to the web through your computer’s serial port, you can create your own physical notifier which alerts you when you receive email or when an RSS news feed is updated.  It can even update you of your friends’ facebook status.

Related DIY Projects:

  1. Introduction to the Arduino How to Tutorial
  2. Another LED Gmail Notifier
  3. Buy 5mm and 20mm LEDs in our store.
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