Hack the Holidays Blog

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  • Stereo Prize - Hack The Holidays

    dougw
    This is a short blog to exhibit the prizes I won in the Hack-The-Holidays Project14 Contest. This is the Star Twister blog about animated LED ornaments. The prizes were a Fluance RT82 turntable with pre amp and a pair of giant Fluance speakers. These...
  • Santa Tracker

    Santa Tracker

    amgalbu
    Every year, on Christmas Eve, Santa Claus leaves his home in Rovaniemi (iin Finland, closed to the Arctic Circle) to travel all around the world and give presents to all the children. Wouldn't it be great if we can track Santa Claus position and ...
  • Project: Santa's little Helper

    Project: Santa's little Helper

    DeltaPi
    Hello There Thanks for taking a moment to read my blog post for this year's Hack-The-Holiday competition. As you all know, Santa works hard all year round to make sure he has an accurate list of children who are naughty or nice. This project should b...
  • Holiday lights to brighten spirits

    Holiday lights to brighten spirits

    aspork42
    My good friend and neighbor was recently very saddened when his daughter announced right before Christmas that she was moving to Florida along with his Grandson; to whom he is very close. I decided to do something sneaky for them for Christmas and su...
  • Art in Motion: Snoopy’s Christmas P.O.V. , singalong and Dogfight Animatronics

    Art in Motion: Snoopy’s Christmas P.O.V. , singalong and Dogfight Animatronics

    robogary
    I was inspired to do a project this year that was nostalgic and artistic; highly visual, musical, entertaining, and inspirational. The visual message was chosen to be persistence of vision (P.O.V.) based since I’d never tried that before. ...
  • SANTA ONE TWO THREE

    SANTA ONE TWO THREE

    dubbie
    I just had enough time left to create SANTA THREE : The Baubles befoe the close of the Hack The Holidays Project 14 competition. This adds some dancing baubles to the SANTA ONE and TWO displays, to create the full throttle SANTA ONE TWO THREE. It is...
  • SANTA TWO : The Diorama

    SANTA TWO : The Diorama

    dubbie
    SANTA ONE was fun but I didn't do much hacking with it so I thought I needed a SANTA TWO too, and possibly (time permitting) a SANTA THREE. So for SANTA TWO : The Diorama,  I decided to implement a Christmas Themed animated (automated?) display....

  • Help! Where's My Draft

    dubbie
    I saved a draft of my latest Blog for the Hack the Holidays Project14 competition (because Element14 wouldn't insert videos or pictures) and now I cannot find it. The website said it could be found in Posts List, but as I do not know where Posts ...
  • Star Twister

    Star Twister

    dougw
    This is a Hack The Holidays project to make some interesting electronic ornaments. This year I really wanted to finish before Christmas, so the ornaments could actually be used to contribute to the festive season. Here is a video that shows the ...
  • Musical LED Christmas Tree

    Musical LED Christmas Tree

    ntewinkel
    The holidays are often the only time of year that I have time to work on projects - cold, rainy (or snowy!) weather with long dark nights are perfect for indoor techy projects! This year was a better in terms of being able to create more pr...
  • BLE Christmas Tree Lights - Neopixel Wiring

    BLE Christmas Tree Lights - Neopixel Wiring

    ralphjy
    I decided to use some 30 AWG silicone insulated wire that would flexible enough to allow me to position the Neopixels easily in the tree.  I wasn't sure how many would be enough, so I started with 6 and hopefully the spacing between Neopixels wi...
  • The Sa(d)nta Hotline

    The Sa(d)nta Hotline

    Gough Lui
    Recently, the national carrier in Australia (Telstra) began advertising free calls to Santa from their payphones just by dialling #HOHOHO. Never having the chance to do this as a kid (as it only first entered service in 2021 to my knowledge), I decid...
  • SANTA ONE (Simple And Neat Trembling Automata One)

    SANTA ONE (Simple And Neat Trembling Automata One)

    dubbie
    I thought I would go for something relatively easy as my contribution to Hack the Holidays as I have not done any programming or electronics for 9 months, plus I have wanted to build a balancing robot for some time. So I purchased the Elegoo Tumbller...
  • BLE Christmas Tree Lights

    BLE Christmas Tree Lights

    ralphjy
    The Covid pandemic has really put a damper on our holiday celebrations for the past 3 years - no family dinners and holiday gatherings with friends.  This year we have a new grandson, so we are still keeping things low key.  One tradition t...
  • LED Christmas Tree Advent Calendar

    LED Christmas Tree Advent Calendar

    Legoman
    After last year making the Die Hard Christmas tree ornament, I through I would combine my newfound love of LEDs with my below average woodworking & craft skills once again.  To make this LED Christmas Tree advent calendar, I used 24 individ...
  • The N******o before Christmas: Upgrade Time!

    The N******o before Christmas: Upgrade Time!

    shabaz
    Table of Contents Introduction 1. What’s Needed? 2. Linux Machine Preparation 3. Install Debugger/Programmer Software (OpenOCD special build) 4. Install Flash Backup and Restore tools 5. Perform Flash Backup and Restore 6. Swapping out the...
  • Hack the Holidays Competition

    Project14 | Hack the Holidays: Win Great Prizes for Great Projects!

    tariq.ahmad
    This year's holiday contest will be a year end hack-a-thon where you'll get a chance to win great prizes for great projects.  We're looking for festive projects that capture the awe and wonder of the holiday season so we're raising the sta...