Hacking radio frequeny identification (RFID) has been gaining popularity due its increased usage. There have been several great RFID projects over the last couple of years (RFID skimmer and RFID Racket Reader to name a few). You can even pick RFID experimental kits from Sparkfun, ThinkGeek or eBay.

Marc Boon made a DIY RFID card sniffer and documented everything from concept to build. You can use the sniffer to find RFID tags hidden in your favorite cards and fobs. This is easy to reproduce and you can even buy a kit if you desire. <via Cool Circuits>

John was wondering what to with his safety deposit box from Grand Theft Auto IV Special Edition when he came across the “GTA-PC” built by Mark Harris. He quickly made his own version which is powered by an Intel Atom CPU. He took several pictures along the way and with some gentle nudging, he wrote up the Atom GTA-PC project for us.

Catmacey is into LEGO and electronics. He started out by building an LED beacon for his LEGO. That focused on getting the 8 SMD LEDs inside some LEGO. Check the link to see some video. He then continued with the same theme to build the most realistic lighthouse he could. He doesn’t have a reason for building it, he just is. He is up to 12 LEDs powered by a PIC12F683. If you start at the main blog page, you can follow the progression of this circuit. <via MCU project everyday>

The first contest is over and the big winner is Kevin. The winners will be notified via email shortly. Here are the answers:

1. Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
2. Tribble from Star Trek
3. SOS
4. Rotary tool
5. Rancor from the Return of the Jedi
6. The cover from the first printing of Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot.
7. Colecovision
8. “Don’t Panic”
9. The Legend of Zelda, Street Fighter, Tomb Raider
10. Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell
11. The Fifth Element
12. Atari 2600 (4 button version if you want to get extra technical)
13. HAL 9000