Random Neopixel projects to pass time before Christmas break

Neopixel microscope detail

Sorry about the delays between posts, school has been picking up again and some other stuff keeps coming up. I am putting my stabilization system on the back burner at the moment because for it to progress I'm going to need access to 3D printers and Autodesk Inventor. I will be going to TechShop DC during Christmas break to continue work, if you're in the area stop by and say hello! (Contact me @ascii211 prior to stopping by). Currently I'm working on upgrading my little sister's cheap microscope to ditch the horrible dim and yellow incandescent bulb it shipped with.

Contest winners announced

Thank you for all 35 great names you have submitted, choosing from the available names has been very difficult. I have decided that I will choose 2 winners, each winner will receive one(1) Arduino Nano in their choice of FTDI or CH340G UART chipset. Shipment will be via eBay fulfillment and tracking numbers(if provided by seller) will be sent to your email/DM. I have also decided that the most relevant name deserves an award due to the contextual naming, Esven will be receiving some loot.
Winners are:
@indiealexh with "Isorropías" [ισορροπίας] (Greek translation is "Stability") 
@cineboxandrew with ASCII-1 (Ascent SCheme of Increased Insanity)
Honorable mentions:
@Esven_the_drake with "Dr. Wobbles: or how I learned to stop worrying and love control theory" and "Bang-Bang Controller" [Most relevant name award]
@ibuildrockets with "Steve (because there's not enough rockets called Steve)" and  "ARSE (Active Rocket Stabilization Experiment)" [Steve award]

@fgarciasit with "Not-Wiggly-Bit" and "Wiggly-Bit" [Most whimsical name award]

@J_vandie with SOLA (Stable One Legged Antelope) [Hilarious award]

Thanks for making this contest amazing, I will definitely be doing more in the future! 

Current collection of dev boards

This is my collection of development boards. From top left they are; Genuine Arduino UNO, Clone MEGA, Parallax Basic Stamp homework board (serial), Sainduino UNO, Arduino Nano (clone), Genuine Arduino pro mini, Clone pro mini, Minimus AVR (KADE core), IMUDuino, MSP430 Value line, CY8CKIT-049 ($4 PSOC)

Dev boards!

New equipment acquired! [LINKS INCLUDED]

Current haul

What maker does not like eBay? that magical place where you can buy virtually anything you need at dirt cheap prices to boot! The fact that the costs are so low is a boon for the basement makers with very low budgets or just any maker who is just dipping their toes into making but doesn't want to invest too much money in getting started. Over the past few weeks shipments have been coming in from china and the US containing lots and lots of new parts and boards. Overview is below

To start with there is the Neopixels and new MPU-6050s (toasted my old one). The MPUs can be found here for $2.34 and ship very quickly, silkscreen and LED are different though. The specific strip of Neopixels seems to have disappeared from the site for some reason though. Other than that these are exact clones of the Adafruit strips except at $4 instead of $10. Very bright and colorful!

Early November active stabilization system [Codename ARGuS] update!

Finally got back on the stabilization system development track! I finished the major school project and the replacement MPU-6050s arrived. The code recently got a MAJOR upgrade thanks to Bogdan Markovik who sent me the modified MPU6050 test code that has PWM drivers in addition to full roll, pitch and yaw control as well as fully configurable degrees of freedom for each axis. Bogdan has been assisting me with everything from code to new sensor possibilities and I hope to continue working with him as the project continues. I will be eventually moving away from the MPU-6050 as it can be kind of iffy with angles sometimes and calibration is rather annoying as I'd rather not risk the very costly high power rocket airframe to loss of structural integrity due to the sensor getting confused and shaking the rocket to bits. Thanksgiving break is coming up soon and that means my probable return to TechShop and further rapid development of the system! In addition to Bogdan helping out with the system, Sagar, the original coder of the very basic code that drove the first prototypes, is a frequenter of the same TechShop and will be working on refining his own system. Video of the new code in action is right after the break.

Name my rocket and stabilization system and win an Arduino Nano [CONTEST]

Just a heads up about a contest I am running currently. Name my rocket (currently codenamed TA-1 [Test article 1]) and the stabilization system (currently codenamed ARGuS [Arduino Rocket Guidance System]). Contest ends at 12:00 EST on November 27 2014, and winner will be selected on December 10 2014 and the prize of one(1) Arduino Nano (FT232RL or CH340G at the winners request). Entries are highly welcome and I hope to see several very unique names for the rocket and system soon! :D. One entry per person, twitter account not required as an email address will suffice. If winner does not respond within 48 hours a runner up will be chosen. Form is after the break

Neopixel power line feedback phenomena

While working on a christmas gift for a friend I encountered an interesting phenomena involving signal leakage over the USB power line.  The USB to UART adaptor I was using caused the signal leakage to go into the USB hub of the keyboard and into the amplifier for my headphones which amplified the signal up to an audible level. It sounds rather ethereal in my opinion with the echo fading similarly to a Meteor echo radio reflection. The program that was running at the time was a generic randomization "twinkle"program which pulsed on a random pixel, color and fade time on the strip.