Thoughts

So, a certain unnamed project that I am working on requires the use of a solar cell to charge some batteries. I got these solar cells from an "over-supply" store in Santa Clara for $4 a piece. As seen in Figure 1, its one of those typical solar cells from a garden lamp that charges batteries during the day and turns some LEDs on at night.

I'm currently working on an unnamed  project which requires the integration of tri-color LEDs (RGB). These are merely four-pin LEDs with a common anode or cathode and an input pin for red, green, and blue. With varying currents, a multitude of colors can be produced. So I created a C++ (arduino) library for handling such LEDs. Since most of my knowledge of programming is in C, learning about classes in C++ is a significant accomplishment for me.

Indeed. My 21st birthday is coming up. This year, I've decided I am going to ask for birthday presents in a slightly different fashion, though. I'm going to compile a bill of materials on this blog-post that I would need to make my own little robot. I'll split it up into two categories: parts I need (because I don't have an alternative), and parts I want (but for which I already have an alternative if I don't get them).

For a while now, my Zune HD has been broken. I'll be working to fix it this summer. However, I'm beginning to question if my Zune HD FM Transmitter might have some usefulness in the meantime. I was driving to campus and I noticed that my Zune transmitter, even without a Zune plugged in, will transmit silence on whatever station it is set. Now, personally, I've never been a fan of either Zune or Mac products that only work with said branded mp3 players. It occurred to me that maybe I could "hack" my Zune transmitter to be able to play with any device. All I would need to do is hook up a 3.5 mm jack to whatever lines the transmitter uses for audio. Then I could have that protruding form the back with a wire or something so either head can still be used.