Make:

MAKE 08 is shipping! Here's what it's all about, from Mark, our editor-in-chief : "The latest issue of MAKE is about to hit the stands, and this time the theme is toys and games. It includes a secret history of Myst, written by Myst co-creator Robyn Miller, a how-to on resurrecting a neglected pinball machine, making an asteroid mining colony on your kitchen table, creating robotic desk toys, building a rubber band ornithopter, making a toy gun-controlled alarm clock, making a small-batch coffee roaster, a special primer on moldmaking by Mythbuster's Adam Savage, and a great deal more... - Link & just for MAKE blog readers, get an additional $5 off (USA - $29.95 print & digital edition) with code CMAKE - subscribe here. If you like the blog, the videos, and features we do here on the site, this is the best way to support it.

More from MAKE 08: Now, on to the gear! With the launch of MAKE 08, we have a lot of new items in the MAKE store. They're not all "live" and we're still working on some things (pardon the sawdust), but that doesn't mean you can't take a peek now (and if you want to get your orders in before we run out of stock, it's a good idea to order items we have in now). Most of our kits have the full schematics, source code/open source and/or a companion article to make one from scratch and we're trying to add more and more unique and interesting kits to our store. I'd love to see us have the largest selection of open source hardware kits on the web. Stay tuned, help kick this off, and get a kit!

MAKE Daisy MP3 Player Kit : One of the first open source MP3 kits in the world! - Link.

MiniPOV 2 : The MiniPOV2 is a persistence-of-vision device that rapidly blinks 8 LEDs on and off. When waved through the air, an image or message appears to float in front of the viewer - Link.

Minty Boost Kit: Make your own iPod battery-pack and recharger! Build your own MintyBoost: a small & simple (but very powerful and very MAKE-like) USB charger for your iPod (or other MP3 player), camera, cellphone, and any other gadget you can plug into a USB port to charge - Link.

iBump : An audiophile-quality active crossover (separates the highs from the lows). It is inserted between the source (iPod) and the amplifiers. Routing the iBump subwoofer output to a bass amp enables clear, earthmoving low notes. The iBump left and right channels enable high, undistorted volumes because the smaller speakers aren't getting horsed around by the low notes - Link.

Game of Life Kit : An easy-to-solder kit that is cheap and scalable. Each Game of Life board contains 16 LEDs in a 4x4 grid, a microcontroller, and a communications and power distribution network. Boards can act alone, or can be plugged together, border to border, to create a larger display - Link.

The XGameStation Pico Edition 2.0: A build-it-yourself game development kit based on the technologies of its bigger brother, the XGameStation Micro Edition. The XGS Pico Edition 2.0 comes with a solderless breadboard and parts, as well as the Pico PCB Add-On Kit - Link.

Build Your Own Electronic Game Kit : Originally designed for the Maker Faire by Grand Idea Studio, the Build Your Own Electronic Game Kit is a custom-created kit intended to introduce you to the world of electronics and soldering. When successfully assembled, the kit becomes a version of the popular memory game, Simon, with a few optional twists - Link.