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4 September 2013
08 TechKnowledgey 2013
Events, Advances, and News
Harpooning your brain, free secure browsing,
virtual money, and high-end ear buds are some
of the titillating topics covered.
12 Near Space
Approaching the Final Frontier
The 2013 Great Plains Super Launch.
This year’s conference included topics such
as near space STEM, designing and flying
photometers, long-duration balloon flights and
telemetry modes, and vacuum cannons.
16 Q&A
Reader Questions Answered Here
ESD instrument circuits, more about making sparks,
VFO design, and MailBag round out this
month’s topics.
50 The Spin Zone
Adventures in Propeller Programming
Full Color With One Wire.
LED manufacturers are creating some pretty cool
products these days, and with just a little bit of
programming, you can have a lot of fun with them.
57 The Design Cycle
Advanced Techniques for Design Engineers
Home Automation Telegesis Style.
Absolutely zero ZigBee technical knowledge
(or a third mortgage) is needed to put the
Telegesis home automation radios to work.
69 Smiley’s Workshop
Programming • Hardware • Projects
Arduino Handheld Prototyper — Part 3.
Design a fresh air controller for your castle,
or wherever you call home.
06 DEVELOPING
PERSPECTIVES
Nostalgia and the
Amnesia of Time
07 READER FEEDBACK
22 NEW PRODUCTS
27 SHOWCASE
64 NV WEBSTORE
67 ELECTRO-NET
77 CLASSIFIEDS
78 TECH FORUM
81 AD INDEX
Departments
28 Build a Headset Amplifier
This project uses all discrete components
and can be driven by a CD or MP3 player.
Plus, it’s a forgiving circuit for beginners.
■ By Ronald Anderson
34 Detecting Sounds With
the Sonic Sensor
Put your appliances under sonic control with this
super souped-up version of a “clapper.”
■ By Thomas Henry
40 Build This Simple Alarm System
With the TI Launchpad
Constructing an alarm system complete with a
keypad interface is cheap and simple with
Texas Instruments’ MPSP430 microprocessor
and their easy-to-use Flash programmer and
debugging tool.
■ By Derek
Tombrello
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