I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/antique_clocks_turned_into_speaker.html
Derek Bell didn't want to have tacky black consumer electronics cases in his living room, so he gutted a couple of satellite speakers and used antique clocks as enclosures. The subs are hidden in the gilt below the speakers. A very elegant solution!
Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!August 27 2010, 3:00pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/usb-powered_magic_trackpad.html
Out of the box Apple's Magic Trackpad is a battery-powered device. While this may be convenient for some, others prefer a wired connection. Since Apple neglected to offer a wired version, MacRumors Forums user markbog decided to convert his new trackpad to run off the USB. [via TUAW]
I don't like using batteries in desktop peripherals, they're horrible for the environment compared to wired power, and there's no need for batteries when it's just going to be sitting on a desk all day. So I took out the batteries in the Magic Trackpad, stripped an old USB cord down to the red and black power wires, and attached them to a battery-sized dowel. Works great!Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!
August 23 2010, 7:00am | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/adding_an_auxiliary_input_to_a_2004.html
Nirav Patel wanted to listen to music in his car, but was having trouble with the tape adapter used to plug in his phone. Instead of just switching to a FM transmitter or getting a new stereo, he decided to take matters into his own hands, and modded the stereo to enable an auxiliary input. After some incidents involving the tape player, lots of troubleshooting, and a small fire, he was able to get everything working.
I performed a similar hack on the factory radio in my own car a couple of years ago, but for a slightly different reason- the aftermarket stereos with CD players that I installed kept getting stolen. Once I replaced it with an old tape deck unit with a secret auxiliary input, no one wanted to take it!
Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!August 11 2010, 4:30pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/macgyver_mending_in_the_desert_try.html
Jonathan Johns, a coworker of ours over at O'Reilly Media and a frequent volunteer at Maker events, sent us a great little maker story that we think everyone will enjoy.
My son, Christian, and his two roommates were on spring break in Arizona. As they were climbing up and around the hills, Christian's cargo shorts tore out at the knee, and at the pockets. They all proceeded to put their heads together and decided to fix them up.
Using a multi-tool and some Agave, they stitched up the shorts and pocket, and solved the problem. This may or may not be Makezine's cup of tea, but in my circle of friends, it was pretty exciting to see 19- and 20-year-olds having a MacGyver moment.
 |  |
Thanks, for sharing the story, Jon. It's great to hear about inspiration when faced with adversity of any kind, at any age!
Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!July 30 2010, 6:00pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/2_bluetooth_serial_with_propeller_u.html
When we last covered Micah Dowty's efforts in creating a software USB host for the Propeller, he had just gotten it working well enough to talk to a $2 Bluetooth dongle. Flash forward a few months, and he now has a running Propeller Bluetooth Stack, all implemented on top of the software USB port. In the above video, he demonstrates how to turn a propeller into a wireless serial port using the Bluetooth Serial Port. Of course, you could just buy a $30 adapter that does everything for you, but that's more expensive and not nearly as fun!
Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!July 27 2010, 10:00pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/how-to_make_a_peristaltic_pump_from.html
This clever hack from Nederlander Ruud Setteur is written in Dutch, but the pictures tell the story pretty well.
More:
Make a peristaltic pump
July 18 2010, 10:00pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/add_an_accelerometer_to_an_rc_trans.html
If you are into Radio Control Models or robotics chances are that you have an old RC transmitter laying around. This article describes how to create a motion control module for your RC transmitter, that will allow you to control your model or robot by simply tilting the transmitter case.
The tutorial includes schematics, instructions, and lots of photos.
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!June 25 2010, 10:00am | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/giant_led_matrix.html
Richard Kline wrote in with his detailed and well-written tutorial on how to create your own ginormous 5x7 display.
I built this large display, which is designed to mimic a common 5x7 LED readout, out of pink foam insulation and sundry other bits from Home Depot. The LED's are diffused 5mm RGB's wired together with a cut-up IDE cable...both are cheaply available in bulk from Ebay.Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!
June 23 2010, 1:00am | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/ipad_stand_made_from_a_panavise_sug.html
Kent Barnes made this wonderfully clever and elegant iPad stand using the suction attachment of a Garmin GPS, then molded Sugru around it to make it compatible with the base from a Panavise. That plus a bluetooth keyboard makes for a cute little desktop!
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!June 12 2010, 8:00pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/self-experimentation_unusually_effe.html
A paper by Seth Roberts on how/why self experiments are so effective (PDF) via Quantified Self.
Over 12 years, my self-experimentation found new and useful ways to improve sleep, mood, health, and weight. Why did it work so well? First, my position was unusual. I had the subject-matter knowledge of an insider, the freedom of an outsider, and the motivation of a person with the problem. I didn't need to publish regularly. I didn't want to display status via my research. Second, I used a powerful tool. Self-experimentation about the brain can test ideas much more easily (by a factor of about 500,000) than conventional research about other parts of the body. When you gather data, you sample from a power-law-like distribution of progress. Most data helps a little; a tiny fraction of data helps a lot. My subject-matter knowledge and methodological skills (e.g., in data analysis) improved the distribution from which I sampled (i.e., increased the average amount of progress per sample). Self-experimentation allowed me to sample from it much more often than conventional research. Another reason my self-experimentation was unusually effective is that, unlike professional science, it resembled the exploration of our ancestors, including foragers, hobbyists, and artisans.Some of the most prolific makers I know seem to enjoy improving themselves as well as the things around them - they're like little laboratories of optimization. Pictured above, a photo from my recent visit to Instructables. Christy and Eric who run the show there found they work better if they walk all day slowly at the computer - a challenge, so they built treadmill computer desks. Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!
June 4 2010, 11:00pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/05/iphone_app_web-controlled_soda_mach.html
MAKE subscriber Chris Varenhorst of Cambridge, MA wrote to share his soda machine that can dispense on command via a custom iPhone app as well as through a website.
A few months ago I picked up a functioning old soda machine off craigslist. This machine was built in 1977 and has been comfortably vending soda the same way for over 30 years. Thats boring, lets make this retro machine a little more modern!
May 21 2010, 10:03am | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/05/low-tech_rc_lawnmower.html
Make: Online reader Baz from Dublin, ireland, sent us this rad video of a low-tech robot lawn mower. He writes:
Self-propelled lawn mower guided by wrapping a string around a couple of posts so it mows a spiral of lawn. Quite hacky, but interesting idea!
In the MAKE offices we've been trying to guess what happens at the end. So far we're thinking the mower flips over, or perhaps it rips its tether out of the ground, mowing wildly amok. What do you think happened when the rope ran out?
Of course, this project is an incredibly great contrast to the R/C Lawnbot we have on the cover of MAKE Volume 22 (and show you how to make inside the issue).
MAKE Volume 22, Remote Control Everything
Automate your world with remote control. From pet care to power outlets, from toys to telepresence, we'll show you how to add a joystick, push-button, twist-knob, or timer to just about anything. Don't forget, subscribers can always read the digital edition here.
May 19 2010, 6:00pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/05/john_dillingers_fake_escape_pistol.html
I have often opined that truly creative problem solving comes from limiting one's options, rather than expanding them. Which is why prisoner's inventions fascinate me so much. (If you've not had a chance to browse Angelo's Prisoners' Inventions book, BTW, I highly recommend it--it's not about shivs or improvised weapons, but about how prisoners make game pieces, heat water, control the climate in their cells, etc., etc. using only the odds and ends they are permitted by, or can slip past the attention of, the state.) Compare an object like this prop handgun, which was reportedly used by John Dillinger in his escape from the Crown Point, Indiana Jail in 1934, to, say, a modern-day toothbrush handle, or a Nike sneaker, designed by a professional working with a CAD-CAM system, industrial machine tooling, and a smorgasboard of rainbow-colored polymers and elastomers, most of which add no functional value at all, and are employed just to make a product stand out from competitors on the shelf. Granted, an escaping prisoner and a product designer have wildly different goals, but if asked "who is doing more creative, original problem-solving," I know how I'd answer. [via Boing Boing]
More:
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!May 12 2010, 12:15pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/05/the_data-driven_life.html
The Data-Driven Life @ NYTimes.com explores a group of people that aren't quite collectors, they're trackers...
Humans make errors. We make errors of fact and errors of judgment. We have blind spots in our field of vision and gaps in our stream of attention. Sometimes we can’t even answer the simplest questions. Where was I last week at this time? How long have I had this pain in my knee? How much money do I typically spend in a day? These weaknesses put us at a disadvantage. We make decisions with partial information. We are forced to steer by guesswork. We go with our gut.That is, some of us do. Others use data. A timer running on Robin Barooah’s computer tells him that he has been living in the United States for 8 years, 2 months and 10 days. At various times in his life, Barooah — a 38-year-old self-employed software designer from England who now lives in Oakland, Calif. — has also made careful records of his work, his sleep and his diet.
A few months ago, Barooah began to wean himself from coffee. His method was precise. He made a large cup of coffee and removed 20 milliliters weekly. This went on for more than four months, until barely a sip remained in the cup. He drank it and called himself cured. Unlike his previous attempts to quit, this time there were no headaches, no extreme cravings.
May 3 2010, 11:00pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/04/mailing_yourself_money_to_get_out_o.html
I was just reading our post about the "hollow spy bolt" and ran across the government group with RSS feed that looks for stuff like this (cool job) - so it turns out mailing yourself money hidden inside brochures to get out of paying taxes hack doesn't work via ANIMAL.
[he]... withdrew cash from his Swiss account and taped it to the inside pages of multiple brochures, careful to include just under $10,000 per brochure (staying under the federal reporting requirements). Packaging the cash-laden brochures in envelopes, he mailed each one at different times from different Swiss post offices to his Virginia residence.
It's the "ICE team" that looks for things like this, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
ICE agents have discovered that cash - lots of it - can crop up in unexpected places before its illegal journey is intercepted. ICE has found the following and more in recent years:
- $176,320 packed inside the pant legs of an air traveler headed for Turkey
- $3 million hidden in a compartment of a bus headed for Mexico
- $515,000 in a false-bottom suitcase about to embark to Columbia
- $2.1 million concealed in a boat in Puerto Rico
- $147,921 strapped underneath the shirt of a woman headed to Mexico
- $186,000 rolled and concealed in cigarette packs destined for Turkey
"At ICE, we follow the money trail to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most complicated financial schemes and seize criminal assets,"...
April 30 2010, 11:00pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/04/giant_data_matrix_hails_google_eart.html
Hello world! This 160mx160m data matrix was mowed into a field in Germany.See the Flickr set. [Thanks, Sebastian]
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!April 12 2010, 8:00pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/04/ipad_physical_object_interface.html
Aaron Waychoff of DINO Studios came up with a simple way to create an iPad Physical Object Interface. Taking advantage of the device's multitouch display, he created a set of devices with unique footprints that can be set on the display. Because the feet are made of a material (damp sponges stuck in the fingers from latex gloves) that can be picked up by the display, he was able to write a software algorithm to detect the presence and identity of each object that was placed on the screen.
Once he had it working, his collaborator Emily built some plant creatures out of them. Cool stuff!
April 3 2010, 4:30pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/04/how-to_sound-dependant_light-up_moo.html
Joe Saavedra hacked his Moog Etherwave Theremin kit with sound-sensitive RGBs and a custom acrylic top he designed and laser-cut. This DIY project basically has it all: Arduino, music, LEDs, and a laser cutter. What's not to love? A few more pictures after the jump.
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!April 2 2010, 2:13pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/03/circuit_bent_toy_frog.html
Spotted in the MAKE Forums:
Mischka modified this motion-activated greeting toy, making it into a simple sample and loop frog noise machine. There don't seem to an explanation of how it was done, but it looks like a fun project!
More:
March 15 2010, 9:00pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/03/modified_easy_bake_oven.html
Nicely done, Modified easy bake oven. Jeri writes - Part of the home chip bath project, fiber optic manufacturing.
This was an attempt to make a small furnace that could be used for semiconductors and fusing fiber optics. It didn't work so well, but it might be worth trying again in the future.
March 7 2010, 11:26am | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/03/need_a_cool_digital_display_fake_it.html
Inspired by a heating pad they purchased, Windell and Lenore of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories show how to make a fake seven segment display. Using a carefully constructed plastic bezel, a potentiometer, and some regular LEDs, they were able to create a faux digital dial, with a way cooler color scheme than one would find on regular seven segment displays. Nice hack!
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!March 3 2010, 12:00pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/02/android_controlled_door_opening_lin.html
Sunlight Labs, known for opening America's government, had a problem when they recently moved facilities. Creating new keys for team members was becoming costly, so they figured out an alternative method of providing secure access using a WRT54GL, easily sourced components, and a trusty copy of Make: Electronics. [Thanks, Nicko!]
With the firmware installed, I was able to SSH into the router and perform some simple manipulations of the system's GPIOs -- General Purpose Input/Outputs. These connect to things like the system's LEDs and switches, and can be controlled in software. I selected a GPIO that didn't seem to be used by OpenWRT -- it illuminates the "DMZ" LED on the front panel -- and wrote a very simple script to control it. I could now flip a tiny light on and off from a network connection.
In the Maker Shed:
Make: Electronics
Our Price: $34.99
Want to learn the fundamentals of electronics in a fun and experiential way? Start working on some excellent projects as soon as you crack open this unique, hands-on book. Build the circuits first, then learn the theory behind them! With Make: Electronics, you'll learn all of the basic components and important principles through a series of "learn by discovery" experiments. And you don't need to know a thing about electricity to get started.
February 24 2010, 6:00am | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/02/make_the_web_quieter_with_shutupcss.html
Engadget disabled comments on their site because of the trolls, many other sites spend half their time battling people who chose to make others miserable - it's what the web has become in many corners of netland. MAKE will always have a vibrant community and great comments, that's a promise I know we can keep. We're going to post our refined comment policy up in the next 24 hours or so (stay tuned for a great post from Gareth on this). From the start of MAKE, 5+ years ago now, we've actively encouraged great discussions and try to jump in to resolve issues in the MAKE comments -- so far it's worked out pretty well -- MAKE is a safe place to post in the comments, it's a safe place to post your projects.
But other places are not and never will be.
This is where "shutup.css" comes in. I just installed it and I love it. It just removes the comments on many sites so you can enjoy the content and not the poop-fest.
I'm not going to pick on any specific site out there, but I think it's fair for me to say that I think the comments on some electronics-y related sites are pushing people away from sharing their projects lately. There are tons of great projects that make it to many of these sites, the editors do a great job with the sites and content, but there's just too many people who are determined to make the comments an awful place. shutup.css is now installed, I visit these site more now, even in the few short hours I've been using it - they get the page views and I don't need to accidentally glance at something awful. Eventually I think every site will work towards setting productive tones, it takes time and resources -- not everyone has a community manager for their site(s) - until it gets better on some of the sites I frequent, I think I'll use this comment blocker. shutup.css didn't come with every site I visit in the list so I needed to edit it. The sites it includes are digg, slashdot, youtube, etc... For youtube, I was using the Feynman quote-comment-replacer, that worked well - but I like this "clean" web without comments even better.
February 3 2010, 10:00pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/01/panning_time_lapse_using_a_kitchen.html
From the MAKE Flickr pool:
Flickr user rtadlock made this stylish panning timelapse camera using an old kitchen timer, and it came out beautifully!
If you need inspiration on how to make your own, check out the Time-lapse panning article in MAKE, Volume 15, page 159. Happy snapping!
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!January 29 2010, 12:00pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/01/sudoku_puzzle_solver_using_awk.html
awk is a fun and powerful language available in the command-line of Linux, Mac OS X, and even Windows (with a little help from Cygwin). In fact, our own Dale Dougherty co-authored one of the classic books on awk (and sed, another great Unix power tool) back in 1990 (the second edition was released in 1997), sed & awk.
At The Geek Stuff, Bill Duncan has posted a fun awk program that can solve Sudoku puzzles:
The application I chose to use as an example is "yet another sudoku puzzle solver". I must confess at the outset that I have never sat down to solve one of these puzzles myself, but sketched this out over a few days while commuting on a train and watching other people work on them. It was far more fun I think than actually doing any of the puzzles..
[...]This program uses a very simple depth-first recursive backtracking algorithm with up-front and ongoing elimination of invalid entries. Awk may not have the expressive power for representing complex data that perl or other languages have, but with care, many moderate sized problems and data sets can be used. This algorithm may not be the best one around, but it is certainly fast enough for most problems and is easy to implement.
When you strip out blank lines and comments it's only 67 lines! Keeping in the awk spirit, that would be:
awk '!/^[ \t]*#/ && !/^$/' solve.awk | wc -l
Yet Another Sudoku Puzzle Solver Using AWK
If you need to generate some puzzles to throw at it, try this Sudoku Generator written in Python.
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!January 24 2010, 9:00am | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/01/lift_heavy_things_with_a_modded_ser.html
Spotted in the Make: Forums:
Need to do some heavy lifting of the physical kind, but only have some wimpy servo motors on hand? Why not follow Antonb's directions to Hack your Servo, and turn it into a powerful linear actuator. The instructions are a little tricky to follow, however the basic idea is to use the servo motor as a high-torque gearbox, which is then used to turn a screw to raise or lower your load. Using this method, he claims to be able to lift a 10kg load, which is pretty impressive!
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!January 15 2010, 12:00pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/01/secret_bar_in_office.html
I love these makeshift hidey-bars people make in offices...
January 13 2010, 9:57pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/12/coins_to_frequent_flier_miles_hack.html
Coins to Frequent Flier miles "hack" via DF.
Enthusiasts of frequent-flier mileage have all kinds of crazy strategies for racking up credits, but few have been as quick and easy as turning coins into miles.Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!
At least several hundred mile-junkies discovered that a free shipping offer on presidential and Native American $1 coins, sold at face value by the U.S. Mint, amounted to printing free frequent-flier miles. Mileage lovers ordered more than $1 million in coins until the Mint started identifying them and cutting them off.
Coin buyers charged the purchases, sold in boxes of 250 coins, to a credit card that offers frequent-flier mile awards, then took the shipments straight to the bank. They then used the coins they deposited to pay their credit-card bills. Their only cost: the car trip to make the deposit.Richard Baum, a software-company consultant who lives in New Jersey, ordered 15,000 coins. "I never unrolled them," he says. "The UPS guy put them directly in my trunk." Patricia Hansen, a San Diego retiree who loves to travel, ordered $10,000 in coins from the Mint. "My husband took them to the bank," Ms. Hansen says, and she earned
December 12 2009, 5:00am | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/11/folding_lightbox_from_ikea_changing.html
Furniture hacker Boris converted an IKEA Sniglar baby changing table into a portable folding lightbox. [via IKEAHacker]
I first thought to keep the table structure as it, but finally, I preferred to use the two level of the table to make one foldable table. I first fixed together the two vat with a long piano hinge. Then I stuck aluminium foil into the vats to reflect the light and I fixed four neon tubes into it. A few meters of cable later, I then closed the vats with two white and opaque plexiglass panels and that's it.Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!
November 16 2009, 4:00am | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/11/instrumentube_virtual_instruments_o.html
Want to rock out, but forget to bring your instrument? Then you might want to check out Instrumentube, a collection of YouTube-based instruments that you play by dragging the video time slider to match up to the correct note. I can't imagine this being a very efficient way to play music, but it is a pretty funny hack.
[Thanks, Jacob!]
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!November 3 2009, 8:03pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/diy_virtual_reality_goggles.html
Check out this cool Android-based head mounted display. Andrew Lim of recombu.com used an HTC Magic running Google Street View, safety goggles, and some cardboard to fashion one of the coolest HMD this side of Lawnmowerman. [Thanks, Andrew!]
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!October 28 2009, 7:00am | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/awesome_collection_of_diy_video-gli.html
The "tools" section of media artist Karl Klomp's website documents an impressive amount of bent, hacked and homebrew hardware for video manipulation. Devices such as the Failter (seen above)series go through a number of incarnations while Karl experiments with different hardware and uncovers its glitch-ability. The retro-simple feel of the enclosures give give it all a nicely 'scientific' almost medical feel. Be sure to check out his device gallery/ project list for more examples. Thanks to Becky for pointing this one out!
October 23 2009, 8:30am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/10/06/there-i-fixed-it-a-blog-about-hacking-poorly/
Thereifixedit.com is a site filled with dubious innovations. Some of them are cool, some of them are clever, and most of them are terrifying. Anyone who has ever stood in front of a broken household appliance with a roll of duct tape, one screw driver with a bit chipped off the flat part, and determination will laugh themselves silly browsing through this site. Maybe some of the ghetto hacks we covered before should be in this list.
[Thanks for the link Dad]
October 6 2009, 9:00am | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/09/linux_on_zipit.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890
Zipit hacker Hunter Davis runs through installing Linux on the low-cost WiFi connected IM device in his latest tutorial. Complete with Fluxbox window manager, mouse, audio and wireless, the Zipit can be transformed into an inexpensive Linux mobile device that begs further modification.
[via hackaday]
September 28 2009, 7:00am | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/09/liberty_the_extra_tall_makerbot.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890
Check out this triple tall MakerBot, and its maiden print, the Statue of Liberty!
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!September 18 2009, 12:00am | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/09/working_printed_handcuff_key.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890
A German hacker named Ray has printed a working handcuff key, to the Dutch national pattern, on his RepRap. You can download the .STL file here. Not that we encourage that sort of thing. <SUBLIMINAL>Do it do it do it do it.</SUBLIMINAL> [via Boing Boing]
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!September 17 2009, 9:47am | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
Biohacking: Hacking goes squishy @ The Economist
MANY of the world’s great innovators started out as hackers—people who like to tinker with technology—and some of the largest technology companies started in garages. Thomas Edison built General Electric on the foundation of an improved way to transmit messages down telegraph wires, which he cooked up himself. Hewlett-Packard was founded in a garage in California (now a national landmark), as was Google, many years later. And, in addition to computer hardware and software, garage hackers and home-build enthusiasts are now merrily cooking up electric cars, drone aircraft and rockets. But what about biology? Might biohacking—tinkering with the DNA of existing organisms to create new ones—lead to innovations of a biological nature?
And as the price falls, amateurs are wasting little time getting started. Several groups are already hard at work finding ways to duplicate at home the techniques used by government laboratories and large corporations. One place for them to learn about biohacking is DIYbio, a group that holds meetings in America and Britain and has about 800 people signed up for its newsletter. DIYbio plans to perform experiments such as sending out its members in different cities to swab public objects. The DNA thus collected could be used to make a map showing the spread of micro-organisms.
September 8 2009, 11:00pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
Central Florida firemen Jeff Ponds and Jimm Walsh have an ongoing section of their site vententersearch.com called "What's in your Pockets?" where they showcase some of the more interesting improvised tools of the trade sent in from readers.
[via Matt Billings]
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!September 4 2009, 7:00am | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/08/linux_baby_rocker.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890
We've covered some other innovate uses for a cdrom drive, but this one surely takes the cake! This would be a great way to teach young children about re-purposing obsolete technology. If you want to try it for yourself, here is the script (written for a Linux machine) that is used to keep opening and closing the door:
#!/bin/sh
while [ 1 = 1 ]
do
#eject cdrom
eject#pull cdrom tray back in
eject -t
done
August 26 2009, 8:00pm | More »
I posted to blog.makezine.com
OK, if you have your cooler but are already cold enough or don't plan to take it anywhere, here are a couple more ideas for what to do with it:
Having a party at night? Make it easy to find the right beverage by following vader119's directions and add a light to your cooler!
Trying to maintain an outdoor worm composting bin in the Texas heat? Instructables user coopdaddi shows how he added a water chiller and a fan to make his cooler a perfect place for worms!
Have the opposite problem, and need a way to keep your resin/RTV project warm while it cures? Why not convert your cooler into a low-temperature curing oven by following idmains instructions? Bonus points for adding a mechanism to control the inside temperature.
So, that's just about everything I can think of to do with a cooler. Have any last-minute ideas? Be sure to share them in the Comments for a chance at a prize!
More:
August 18 2009, 10:00pm | More »