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Hardware Hacking

Retrofitting an iPod into a Geiger Counter 160

Posted by CmdrTaco from the now-thats-just-plain-silly dept.
Doug writes "An enterprising hardware guy known as JavaMoose on Flickr has created an amazing case mod for his iPod by modifying an old Geiger counter to house the iPod and remote. The photos are up on Flickr with descriptions along the way. Very cool, if a little big to fit in ones pocket"
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Retrofitting an iPod into a Geiger Counter More

Retrofitting an iPod into a Geiger Counter

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  • So how much evil radiation does the iPod really emit? Now we can know.
    • Depends on the model. The little shuffle guys are actually the most evil, but it's random for each unit. The first few model's evil is proportional to the half-life of the battery unit.
    • So how much evil radiation does the iPod really emit?

      It would be much more interesting to see how much radiation songs played emit.

      I guess Radiohead would score quite high.... *ducks*
  • This should have come from the why-would-anyone-want-to-do-that department.
    • why-would-anyone-want-to-do-that

      Because until now we did not have the technology to make a really big and unwieldy mp3 player?

      I think I can beat this guy though. I'm going to figure out how to install an iPod in a full size tower case.

      KFG
    • Here is a comment from his site: "I looked at your progress photos for this. Amazing work. Impressive, most impressive. =D What exactly does it do?! Looks exciting!" Projection of average viewer first thought: "OMFGWTF this thing is freaking awesome!!!1!!1!11ONEonE! What the crap is a geigermajigger?" These are the same people that bought the N-Gage.

    • Re:Wrong department (Score:4, Informative)

      by JavaMoose ( 832619 ) on Wednesday January 11, 2006 @09:29AM (#14445391)
      It was actually for a modding contest and I wanted to do something just plain odd...
      • Don't you just love it when you've done something whimsical and folks try to take you seriously? Because that is the ultimate missing of the point.

        I say to you JavaMoose, way to go man. We do not always have to have a good reason (or any reason at all) to do something like this when the whole point is the fun that you had doing it to begin with.

      • Well, you sir do get props in my book. As some people pointed out in the article about oil cooling a PC, sometimes you don't have to necessarily have a reason to do things - you just do them because they are fun. I like the looks of your project, even if it has lost some of its utility. That said, I think it might have been cooler to have left the Giger counter in its original yellowish/orangish/rust color for total effect. That said, the blue display would have contrasted with the overall design, so un
    • Actually I was looking for the bullet headed aliens, naked chicks that melt into walls or various bits of furnature...

      Oh Geiger [wikipedia.org], Giger [wikipedia.org] whatever

  • Third post? (Score:5, Funny)

    by EvilTwinSkippy ( 112490 ) <yoda@nOSpAM.etoyoc.com> on Wednesday January 11, 2006 @08:32AM (#14445099) Homepage Journal
    Of course my first thought when scanning a post apocalyptic radioactive wasteland is: Will I have my iTunes?
    • Of course my first thought when scanning a post apocalyptic radioactive wasteland is: Will I have my iTunes?

      Maybe if you hadn't broken the water chip when you modded that to play iTunes, then you wouldn't be in the goddamn wasteland in the first place!

      Next thing you know you'll be trying to get Linux to run on my Pip Boy...

  • Amazing? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by binaryDigit ( 557647 ) on Wednesday January 11, 2006 @08:32AM (#14445103)
    Hmm, interesting yes, amazing, I'm afraid not. It did require some skill to make it a clean fit, but the geiger counter case was so large, I can't really consider it a technological feat to have done this. Now had he did this and kept a working geiger counter (recording the sounds and playing them back on the ipod to allow the ipod display to properly show levels, or something like that), now THAT would be cool.

    Next thing you know someone will put one in the keypad of their microwave (you enter time via song lengths, i.e. big meals you'd set to "Freebird"), or stick one in an original walkman case. I know, how about someone sticks a shuffle inside a Gen1 iPod? oooh, aaaah.

  • Feedback needed (Score:5, Funny)

    by dangitman ( 862676 ) on Wednesday January 11, 2006 @08:33AM (#14445108)
    I've been thinking about retrofitting an iPod into my ass. Do you think that would make a good slashdot story?

  • And now the cliched responses (Score:4, Funny)

    by Provocateur ( 133110 ) <shedied@gmai[ ]om ['l.c' in gap]> on Wednesday January 11, 2006 @08:33AM (#14445110) Homepage
    Why?

    Turn in your geek badge.RIGHT NOW.

    I suddenly had this visual of him visiting the blast site of a meteor. All of his fellow scientists whip out their Geiger counters. He whips out the iPod, pretends to take readings. His colleagues stare at him, because they really know he's listening to music, humming like that, and they all read Slashdot. Also, it's the white headphones.
  • Personally, I think an iPod mod that made it function as a Geiger counter would be way cooler. After all, everyone's iPod already plays music - but to have yours detect radiation levels? How cool would that be?
    • Other things that an iPod could be made into:
      • A coaster
      • A leg-leveller for a table
      • Dog chew-toy
      • Guidance system for a home-brew missile
      • Donald Trump's brain (would be an improvement)
      • Subliminal message distributor to allow Steve Jobs to continue his quest for global domination... oh wait...
    • You can pretend to do that already. My 2G iPod makes clicking noises when you move the cursor using the touchpad wheel, so you go to the song list, and, well, you can probably figure out the rest.

      I predict the next mod will be to make an iPod make tricorder noises.

  • And you only have to move a radioactive source just a teensie bit closer to get a built-in metronome.

    Soon, you too will be "glowing" with your musical talent...

    • > And you only have to move a radioactive source just a teensie bit closer to get a built-in metronome.
      >
      > Soon, you too will be "glowing" with your musical talent...

      What the hell's wrong with this thing? It only plays remixes [awrc.com] of one track by Kraftwerk [evilmusic.com]!

      Radioactivity - It's in the air for you and me... Radioactivity - Discovered by Madame Curie... Radioactivity - Chain reaction and mutation... Radioactivity - Contaminated population...

  • Theme Song for this iPod (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    TTttttt,Too much time on my hands. Tttttttt, to much time on my hands.

    -Styx

  • so. (Score:2, Funny)

    by Archon-X ( 264195 )
    Idiot: I started with a vintage Geiger Counter that I have had since high-school. It actually still worked too.
    Idiot: so I turned it into a sparkly piece of gayware why not!

    (pause)

    • Re:so. (Score:4, Funny)

      by ceeam ( 39911 ) on Wednesday January 11, 2006 @08:48AM (#14445184)
      So he should call it "Gayger".

    • Idiot: I started with a vintage Geiger Counter that I have had since high-school. It actually still worked too.
      Idiot: so I turned it into a sparkly piece of gayware why not!

      Well aside from the fact that by the time one of those Lionel (yes the model train maker) Civil Defense Geiger counters reads anything you've already taken a really unhealthy, potentially lethal, dose of radiation you'd have had a point.

      However, a "working" but unusable Geiger counter (heck I've got a couple of them around somewhere) or

  • I would've been had he popped in a macmini!
    I can just imagine walking downtown with this thing, at least you wouldn't get mugged for your iPod, you could pack a whallop with that thing!

    ~iGlow in the dark~ ??

  • Nothing quite like it (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sielwolf ( 246764 ) on Wednesday January 11, 2006 @08:38AM (#14445139) Homepage Journal
    Nothing quite like taking something known for its compactness and ease of use and making it bulky and awkward. Go-go engineering!

  • Nice but... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by squoozer ( 730327 ) on Wednesday January 11, 2006 @08:38AM (#14445140)

    ....he shouldn't have painted the case or buffed up the tube. In the old rusty yellow it looking intimidating and cool. Now it looks like a sandwich box that has asperations to be a model of the star ship enterprise. Still, respect to the guy for doing it. I wonder if he has a track on this ipod that plays Geiger counter noises.

    • Good luck next time you try to get on an airplane. I've had enough trouble with ham equipment.
    • I think that it would be pretty cool to use that paint scheme and display lighting on a non-iPodded geiger counter. The fresh paint and cleanliness makes it look like it could almost be a modern piece of equipment. Of course, the apple on the side would have to go, but a radiation icon or a redesigned Civil Defence symbol could work.

      The original version looks very Wasteland-esque, but the grey/silver/blue thing gives it a cold, clinical feel that's almost kind of ominous.

  • Where's the geek? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by OverlordQ ( 264228 ) on Wednesday January 11, 2006 @08:40AM (#14445149) Journal
    He didn't really mod anything. He didn't have to take apart the remote or the iPod, all he did was put mounts for them both.

    Eh, slow news day.

  • Wow! (Score:4, Funny)

    by ceeam ( 39911 ) on Wednesday January 11, 2006 @08:41AM (#14445152)
    Totally useless and does not look cool. Let's hope that at least it is more scratch-proof.

  • My favorite part... (Score:4, Informative)

    by AndyBassTbn ( 789174 ) on Wednesday January 11, 2006 @08:42AM (#14445156) Homepage
    From one of his captions:

    "I just love how they used to include the schematics when you bought electronics. Kinda open-source...they encouraged DIY repairs back then."

    Aaaaah, the days before "Intellectual Property" became synonymous with "classified."

  • This is inspiring (Score:5, Funny)

    by Idimmu Xul ( 204345 ) on Wednesday January 11, 2006 @08:42AM (#14445157) Homepage Journal
    Next week I'm going to try and retrofit an iPod in my A Team lunchbox.

    Simply the use of the word retrofit should ensure slashdot status!

    • My Firewall was. (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I had a mini-itx system in an A-Team lunch box which I used as a firewall (also did NAT and had a built-in hub). It has since been replaced with a linksys wireless router that does the same job. However, I do miss being able to say "I pitty the foo who tries to hack my network".
    • Pfft, that's nothing. I've been retrofitting my iPod into my backpack for years. Sometimes several times a day!
  • I have to say, he did make it look pretty.

    I still like the MP3 player knitted into an altoids tin better.

    Now, integrate an iPod into a travel mug. Now we are talking. Or a Swiss Army Knife.

  • with ipods coming in pretty small dimensions these days.. there will only be more of this... anyone remember the ipod ski jackets apple sold a few years back.. those were cool.
  • And if he tries to turn it into an iPod, he's gonna be in for a fight!

  • Shudder to think (Score:5, Interesting)

    by midicase ( 902333 ) on Wednesday January 11, 2006 @08:59AM (#14445219)
    I used to work around nuclear reactors and monitored them for years using equipment similar to the model in the article. The desire for such a mod is alien to me as I can't imagine ever voluntarily carrying around one of those things.

    Before the time of commonplace computers, the Nuclear trained personnel in the Navy were the geekiest ones on the sub or ship. Carrying around a geiger counter was tantamount to wearing a pocket protector and sure to earn few jokes from passing workers.

  • RIAA detector (Score:4, Funny)

    by snoggeramus ( 945056 ) on Wednesday January 11, 2006 @09:01AM (#14445228)
    At least he has an iPod with a built in detector for the presence of the RIAA.
  • Great, a Guy-Girl case mod for the iPod!
  • ...all over the small towns of the Nevada desert.

    Next thing you know they will be selling iPods in the Bay Area retrofitted with seismometers.
  • Remember the good ole days when we all use to play music on our iPods? *sigh*
  • It's an interesting change for sure, but isn't the point of an iPod and it's inherent size to be able to take your music anywhere? Unless you're taking a tour of the local nuclear facility, exactly where else would you want to carry around such a thing? The last thing I'd want to lug with me when I go out for a job is a large box flying back in forth in my hand. I don't know about you, but I would think security would be stopping me left and right wondering what I'm doing with such a device.

    You: "Dude, I'
  • There are even more iPod fun moddings [repair4player.org], for example a case mode made from an old German police flashlight, the RetroPod: fitting an iPod into a Sony Sports Walkman, the Altoids shuffle case, a fashion modding, the Wringley's Juicy Fruit iPod Shuffle mod and more.

  • Other way around? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Syonax ( 254547 )
    It would have been a lot cooler if it had been a working Geiger counter in an iPod case.
  • "Actually, I should have mentioned this, I made sure there is enough room under the iPod to store the Charger/Cable and Earphones in the GeigerPod when all closed up. Makes it nice to travel with."

    Guy's got a good sense of humor.

  • What a waste (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Kitsune78 ( 941644 )
    Maybe I'm a purist, but I don't see the point in destroying a working CDV-700 Geiger to simply put an iPod inside. There is a lot of room in there if you move the batteries around, it would be possible to do this and keep it functioning.

    Even scarier: That thing still has a live test source on the side of it (or it should). Scarier than that, if he removed the test source, what did he do with it!? I wonder if he even know there was radioactivity there, and it was probably old, decrepid, and dust from it poor
  • GHOSTBUSTERS!!!

    When theres something strange
    In your neighborhood...
    Who you gonna call...

    Ghostbusters!!!

    I knew there was a reason god created the IPOD. So i could listen to Ray Parker Jr's masterpeice.

  • Growing up in the 70's and 80's, our generation had the Sony Walkman, and a hundred similar portable music players. They were very cool, and very trendy for a time, but eventually the hype wore off and they became fairly mundane and commonplace. Fast forward (pun) a decade or two, and we get iPod. The iPod seems nothing but the obvious, logical progression from older tech to newer - when I say that, I mean that when I first became aware of the device, my reaction was "hm, that was pretty predictable".

    So w

    • You know, those are good, valid questions. In response, I would argue that the iPod has far more societal reach than you give it credit for.

      The iPod isn't just a portable music player. It's a way to make ALL your music portable. Even the most avid CD collector could have room left over on a 60 GB iPod. And with a few A/V cables or a dock, you can play any song in that collection through your home system, the car stereo, wherever. Box up the CDs, you don't need them any more. There are clubs in Manhattan whe

      • That was a series of fairly astute observations, but one of your comments is particularly interesting:

        I would also argue that the iPod and iTunes have the potential to change the way we buy music. Seriously, how many times have you bought an album on the strength of maybe one or two songs heard on the radio, only to find the rest of the album sucked?

        To answer the question - as for myself, zero (in the last 20 years or so). Once I got wise to the concept of filler material, I'd just tape the 'hits' off

    • As a child of the 80s you should be aware that all things Apple are revolutionary. Even if, well, they are not. iTunes? Well, Napster was there almost 7 years before, no hype. USB? Until the iMac it was there but nobody cared. I could go on. It's Apple, man!! Apple! ;)
  • Now the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field is detectable.
  • I modified my old refrigerator into a new case for my Rio Nitrus. A little big to fit in my pocket, true; but cool.

  • Now the cool thing, of course, would be to use the iPod as the audio portion of a Geiger counter—maybe write a meter-face and radiation level recording app for it. It turns out that modern Geiger counter circuits are readily available as finished devices [scientificsonline.com], in kit form [yahoo.com], or even as a do-it-yourself project [imagesco.com]. (The suggested schematic is a bit retro: with a more modern boost converter you could conceivably get it even smaller and simpler.) I don't have the time right now, but someone should give this a g

  • The server is down to a crawl, so I have to ask the crowd. My high-school physics professor had a few of these. They're civilian gieger counters built for Civil Defense during the cold war. He had a few of them, and managed to scrap parts to get one to work. He was demonstrating it, and a newer model, on some very mild radioactive sources he stored wraped in lead.

    Then he pointed both readers to the side of the old gieger counter, and both beeped with activity (far faster than the other pre-packadged sampl

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