January 2004
Intermediate to advanced
348 pages
13h 33m
English
Content preview from Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
97
Chapter 5, How to Hack a Furby (and Other Talking Toys)
Project Demo
Leave the modified toy solder for an unsuspecting child and watch their
reaction. Or leave it on your desk at work and see what your coworkers
say.
Extensions
You can use just about any talking (or non-talking) toy for this hack. I
chose a model that had a backpack that could accommodate the Radio
Shack audio circuit board. You could also choose a stuffed animal and add
a small activation switch to the front or on a paw. If the toy does not have
batteries and has the space for the entire circuit board, you can use a 9-volt
battery that the Radio Shack board normally uses.
The simple recording chip from Radio Shack will hold only a single phrase.
You may want to build a system that has several phrases triggered by dif-
ferent events. There are a number of ways to go about this—you could use
a microcontroller or basic controller, and a Chipcoder IC from Winbod
Electronics (you can buy these from DigiKey).
A remote control could also be fun. If you wish to buy a ready-to-use solu-
tion, Parallax Inc. offers a number of simple one-way radio control board
sets that can be used to trigger the sounds from the toy.
Extensions
ch05_furby.indd 97
1/21/2002 12:33:21 PM
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access
More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.