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Archives: August 2005

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August 29, 2005

Interview with the Rocketcam makers

Matt Campbell found got a CVS disposable camcorder, took it apart and mounted it inside the nose cone of a model rocket. The very impressive resulting videos show the launch from the rocket’s point of view. Richard Baguley interviewed one of them about how they did it here...Link.

CVS Camera Hacking video...

A short film from Dave Slusher of Evil Genius Chronicles about how to get the movies off of the CVS one-time use video camera, documented with the camera itself. Based on the work of John Maushammer. Thanks Dave! Link.

Installing Verizon FIOS fiber-optic Internet service...

A detailed description of what you see in your neighborhood, on the line near your house, on the side of your house, and inside when you get Verizon's FIOS Internet service (Fiber-Optic!) - from Dan Bricklin. [via] Link. I hope they bring this to my area soon.

HOW TO make a gyro cooker

One day, my co-worker Yoshi mentioned that Alton Brown of Good Eats had discussed making gyros. I love Alton Brown and if he said it could be done, then I could do it. Yoshi mentioned that his plan kinda sucked because it wasn't cooked by the traditional method of a rotisserie. At that point I decided to build my own gyro cooker. Link. Bonus links: Making a smoker from a trash can and Cooking a turkey in a trash can smoker.

The "Built From Scratch" Crystal Radio

The idea here it to be able to construct a crystal radio with parts fabricated right at home. This can get complicated in some areas of the radio as it is difficult to get some items needed. Also some parts of the radio are very complicated and detailed. We will attempt to simplify the parts as much as possible so we can "homebrew" or make them at home (as much as possible). Link.

Open Source Sky Planetarium

Stellarium is an open source desktop planetarium for Linux/Unix, Windows and MacOSX. It renders the skies in realtime using OpenGL, which means the skies will look exactly like what you see with your eyes, binoculars, or a small telescope. Stellarium is very simple to use, which is one of its biggest advantages: it can easily be used by beginners. [via] Link.

With technology, it's easy to break the law...

Interesting USAToday article- Legally, it's been a gray week for me. I took apart and repaired a 15-year-old, Freon-filled air conditioner without an EPA permit. I destroyed a wasp's nest with a makeshift flamethrower, using an aerosol can of cleaner "in a manner inconsistent with its labeling." And then I went hardcore. Well, sort of... Link.

A time-lapse series of the PVR assembly

A time-lapse series of the PVR assembly. Nothing fancy or great. Just a quest for a DRM free PVR. Photos here and a bit more about the PVR project and specs here.

Duck Doom Deluxe

Someone made their own Duck hunt mash up - called Duck Doom deluxe, all the best things about Doom and Duck hunt in one game! DUCK DOOM Deluxe - An overhaul upgrade to the original Duck Doom, featuring new difficulty levels, graphics effects, remixed music & enhanced sound, the BFG-9000, and more! Link.

Libraries offering audiobook downloads...

Here's another story about libraries offering audio files and digital files for their patrons, sounds good right? No- as usual, someone sold a DRM solution that doesn't really work. Each week I get emails from folks all over the USA trying to figure out ways to get the files on their "non-supported device".Link.

Boot loader showdown: Getting to know LILO and GRUB

Most Linux users, from the casual desktop user to the Linux system administrator, have used a utility known as a boot loader. Different variations of this utility provide varying levels of support and functionality. In many cases, the default boot loader installed with a Linux distribution is not always the best for your needs; the same can be said for the default settings of each boot loader. In this article, Laurence Bonney discusses the pros and cons of two of the more popular boot loaders -- LILO and GRUB -- and suggests a number of configurations to get the most from your machine. Link.

Tour of the Xbox manufacturing facility

Here's a tour of the Xbox manufacturing facility - I'm not sure where or when these were taken, but they look really neat. Link.

August 28, 2005

San Diego Computer Museum...

Steve writes "Among the many unique exhibits on display at the San Diego Computer Museum, is the think-a-tron by Hasbro. I visited the Museum for a last chance to see the exhibits before it closed its doors. I spoke with the curator, David Weil. He is currently seeking sources of financial support to help pay for a new location in the San Diego area. The San Diego Computer Museum is actively looking for a new site to house its exhibits, as the current location has been sold for redevelopment". Link.

An open source algorithmic, computer-generated podcast

The babelcast (RSS feed) is perhaps the first algorithmic, computer-generated podcast. Using generative algorithms available in the open source, cross platform, Python-programmed athenaCL system to control Csound, this series is a sort-of political media-talk mash-up. Sounds of politicians and commentators are collected during a period of days or weeks, and then algorithmically processed, recombined, and mixed with noise and percussive textures into a fragmentary, distorted landscape of sound. Link. It's mesmerizing.

HOW TO serve your iTunes library to your Sony PSP using WiFi internet

Good HOW TO for Mac and PSP 2.0 firmware owners who use iTunes. “Wouldn’t it be great if I could just delete some songs and and add new songs from my iTunes library, wherever I was using the WiFi internet connection?” It can be done, for a small cost (about $22 U.S.) Here's how- Link.

iPod speakers made from scientific glass and aluminium!

These look amazing! These are remote iPod speakers I scratch-built for my wife's iPod shuffle. It's all scientific glass and aluminium construction. The sub-woofer is an inverted glass dome, and a fresnel lens from a rail-car. The guts of the thing is borrowed from a stock computer amp, whilst the speakers themselves are Apple Pro's. Link.

DIY Xerox Printer Shredder

Time for another flaming monstrosity... How about nice Xerox laser printer converted to a high volume automatic paper shredder? This project was featured on 8/3/05 on toms hardware’s “how to” section. Now, here it is, un-cut and un-molested by the Toms Hardware "editors" in all its sarcastic glory! Thanks Bill! Link.

The Guts of the Blinky ball...

Here is the circuit to control MAKE Flickr pool member Happy Monkey's blinking tape ball. Link. What's the tape ball? This thing. Crafts constructed from simple invisible tape and colored with permanent markers. Put it all together, and you get a great Logan's run style project (video).

A Classic Dobsonian - handmade telescope

From MAKE's Terrie Miller! One of the hand-made telescopes at John Dobson's 90th birthday party (Aug. 27, 2005 at the Randall Museum in San Francisco). Dobson pioneered this easy-to-make telescope design and co-founded the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers. (See more in this set.) Link.

3 things to do with old records...

Here are three quick and simple projects you can do with old records and LP covers. Melt them to make a bowl, make a cool LP cover box and my fav, record coasters. I've been meaning to try the record melting to bowl thing for awhile, just need to pick up an old damaged record that I won't feel bad about bowl-ifying. Link. Editor's note: the content linked to here is no longer on the original site, but we've found it via the Internet Archive's record of the page.

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