All you need are five ping pong balls, each backlit by a 10mm LED. The balls are lit one at a time by an Arduino, which illuminates each one for 15 seconds while the final minute of 2011 is counted down. Once midnight hits, a flashing “2012” sign illuminates while Auld Lang Syne plays from a tiny speaker.

Now to give a cool look, mount the LEDs and ping pong balls on the electron gun from a broken oscilloscope.

Watch the the ball drop in action in this video that we prepared. Happy New Year everyone!!!

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://hackaday.com/2011/12/30/build-your-own-mini-ball-drop-for-new-years-eve/

The equipment relies on a light dependent resistor to record the hits every time a flashlight beam passes through the round window. It will only register one hit in a three-second time frame. The total number of hits recorded can be flashed back using an on-board LED at the end of the game to see the victor.

[Kenyer] started with a breadboard prototype using an Arduino as the driver. Obviously the cost of an Arduino for every player is a bit ridiculous. He scaled down the project, running the Arduino code on an ATtiny microcontroller.

A video clip was recorded to see how the system works.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://hackaday.com/2011/12/20/automatic-flashlight-tag-damage-sensor/

To build the sensor we need the following materials:

• a breadboard (not required, but it is how I will walk you through it.)
• an RGB LED (alternatively you could use 3 LEDs)
• A 220 ohm resistor
• A CdS photocell (these can be salvaged out of all kinds of things like nightlights or garden lamps)
• An Arduino, or a clone. We are using a RBB in this example.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://hackedgadgets.com/2011/12/16/diy-color-detection-using-an-rgb-led/

This cool project turns a boring Ikea lamp into a theremin-like synth. Pretty cool. I really like the updated instructions — but real instructions would be nice too. I guess this is more a show piece than a how-to. Nonetheless, it can still inspire someone so I’m posting it anyways.

One thing I’d add is a switch so that the lamp can still be used as a plain lamp. Flick the switch and it would turn into a noisy monster.

Sunnan Synth / ikea hack from Jan van Nuenen on Vimeo.

“Ring light is basically a light that is placed around the objective. In close-up and macro photography it covers the subject with even light that seems to come from all around the lense. This removes all the shadows from the surface of the object. A great thing if you are shooting a photo for a ring that you want to sell on ebay or some hardware close-ups for a review article.”

[ link ] [ via ]

Inspired by sundials, Taufeeq created a “Circle of Light” bulbdial clock. that uses shadows instead of hands to show the time. In theory, if you could use LEDs that have a perfect diffusion pattern, you could end up with a clock that has a white face and three hands: one cyan, one magenta and one yellow. In practice, you still end up with something that looks cool.

[ link ] [ via ]

This simple project shows you how to drive a RGB LED with a PIC. Interesting, colorful, and expandable. With a little work, you can replicate the Ford Focus’ best feature with this: its configurable interior lighting.

How to drive a RGB LED with a PIC [link][via]

Yet another project that turns the ubiquitous Altoids Tin box into something useful. In this case, a solar powered cell phone charger. Great idea, and it’s made from old, recycled parts: the solar cell comes from those solar-powered landscaping LED lights that illuminate tree shrubs in front of suburban bungalows at night. Here’s a thought: steal one to make this project. You’ll contribute to reducing light pollution and restoring night to what it should be: darkness.

Maybe you shouldn’t steal a LED landscaping light, but then again, you are ultimately responsible of your actions.
Altoids Tin Solar Cell Phone Charger [link]

A very interesting project from KipKay (you might have heard of him through Metacafe): recycle a broken or obsolete camcorder and make a night vision camera out of its viewfinder. You’ll also need a few other components for this build but all the parts are reasonably inexpensive, considering the result. Best of all, you can output the video to record on a camcorder.

DIY Nightvision Headset [link]

How to mod your G5 PowerMac Case to display a the time. No alteration to the case is needed – the LEDs are arranged to match the G5 tower’s mesh grill pattern -  which makes this hack even better!

Build a Clock into your PowerMac tower [link] [via]

TVs are everywhere, in public place, streaming mind-numbing contents to whatever eyeballs they might capture. The TV-B-Gone is basically a universal remote that shuts off virtually any model of TV ever produced. There’s one catch: if you go to your favorite electronics store and shut down their wall of TVs, you might get in trouble. Until now. Here’s a perfect disguise for the TV-B-Gone: an old iPod! You’ll be able to walk around and do everyone a favor without risking getting cought!

Note that it’s not always a good idea to turn off every TV you encounter: Airports, Train Stations and Sports Bars (especially during the big game) aren’t good targets. Please use them liberally around the holiday period!

The TV-B-Gone iPod Project [link] [via]

Wanting to take full control of his Christmas tree, Brian from Hackszine used the open-source Arduino microcontroller to drive a homemade grid array of 64 LEDs. Pretty nice. Again, a nice project that can be decontextualized, rehashed and reinterpreted in the true hacker/xmas spirit.

Arduino-Powered Holiday Lights [link] [via]