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Archives: March 2007

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March 30, 2007

MAKE Fest: Realtimelapse

Derek visited MAKE fest with a pole-mounted camera that captured video of the event and he processed it to create a time-lapse video in real-time at the event and here as an archive -

The Mobile Camera Tower at the Make Magazine event at etech2007. People seemed to admire our duct tape design strategies and 10 minute setup time. I used a Jitter patch to speed up the captured footage, so everyone could see a realtime time-lapse representation of the crowd's movement in space.

Social Movement Laboratory » Blog Archive » Make Fest: Realtimelapse - Link.

Derek will also be at Where 2.0 (Thanks Brady!) - Link.

Impatient hand paper kit

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This looks like a great paper kit, it taps its fingers as you turn the crank!

Pure distilled impatience, turn the handle and listen to the tappety-tap of impatient finger rapping! Now pre-cut and pre-creased! Simply pop out the pieces and glue together. Complete step-by-step ifully illustrated instructions are provided.

IMPATIENCE PAPER ANIMATION KIT - [via] Link.

DIY UFO - The GFS UAV Project, A coanda effect flying saucer

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Check out Jean-Louis Naudin's DIY UFO - a coanda effect flying saucer you can make yourself!

The GFS-UAV, propelled by an electric engine, uses the Coanda effect to take off vertically, fly, hover and land vertically ( VTOL ). There is no big rotor like on an helicopter and the flight is very stable and safe for the surrounding. The design of the GFS-UAV N-01A is based on the Geoff Hatton' flying saucer from GFS Project limited.

The GFS UAV Project, A coanda effect flying saucer tested by Jean-Louis Naudin, Thanks Jordan! - [via] Link & detailed shots.

HOW TO - Make a homemade leaf shredder

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Robbtoberfest writes -

I made this to shred leaves and break apart seed heads in wildflowers I like to grow. Unfortunately the 1976 weedeater motor burned up as I was getting ready to make a video of it working. I'll have to wait for spring cleanup in a few weeks to scavenge another electric string trimmer; then I'll post the video.
You'll need:

A Round Trash Can
A Old Electric String Trimmer (gas if you're really good at mods)
Some Scrap wood 1x2s
.25" Hardware Cloth
1" Deck Screws or Similar Screw

Homemade leaf shredder - Link.

Syrup boiler

Wood Stoke
FrankG sent in how to make a syrup boiler from an old diesel tank, as well as the the more traditional steps required to make maple syrup - Link.

Contessa Nettel Cocarette with Carl Zeiss Tessar (camera mod)

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MAKE Flickr photo pool member Arkku writes -

This is a 6x9 rollfilm camera made by Contessa Nettel (one of the companies which merged to form Zeiss Ikon in 1926). The lens is a Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 105mm f/4.5, in a dial-set Compur shutter. The camera has rack focusing, meaning that the entire lens assembly moves for focusing. This gives higher image quality than front-element focusing, where only the front element of the lens is moved.
The camera's back doesn't open, but rather the film is first loaded onto an insert that slides into the camera. The back, however, has a small circular door for cleaning the back of the lens.

I removed the circular door from the back of the camera and glued a short (11mm) M42 extension tube in it's place. Now the entire camera can be attached to my DSLR with an M42 adapter, and pictures can be taken through the lens. Thanks to the rack focusing mechanism, infinity focus is possible by not fully extending the bellows. For close-up photography, the bellows work really well for macro extension.

In my initial test shots, the lens has proven to be very sharp.

Based on the serial number of the lens, this camera was probably made in 1923. It was certainly before the Zeiss Ikon -merger in 1926.

Contessa Nettel Cocarette with Carl Zeiss Tessar 105mm f/4.5 on Flickr - Photo Sharing! - [via] Link & more.

Exploratorium: Iron Science Teacher

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If you're in the SF area, check out the Exploratorium's "Iron Science Teacher" event (or watch the videos when they post'em) --

Cheer on the competitors in this zany science cook-off, where teachers compete before a live audience at the Exploratorium for the revered title, "Iron Science Teacher."
Parodying the cult Japanese TV program, Iron Chef, the Exploratorium's Iron Science Teacher competition showcases Bay Area science teachers as they devise demonstrations around a particular ingredient--an everyday item such as a plastic bag, a milk carton, or a nail. In a fast-paced atmosphere where showmanship and creativity reign, science teachers are given ten minutes to concoct a science activity that can be used in the classroom.

Some of the best Iron Science Teacher competitions are archived here according to where their secret ingredient was found. After watching the Webcasts, cook up some activities of your own.

Exploratorium: Iron Science Teacher - Link.

Bicycle made from a bed

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From Popular Science 1938 - a fantastic bicycle made from a bed frame! Link.

Make 456
Sunday is April 1st, but here are some good pranks to get you started. Here's one of my favorites... "Beeper bomb" sounds prank device - but of course you don't need to buy one, you can build one yourself, just in time for this weekend!

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DIY "Brain Assailant" - Link.

More:

April Fool's pranks for nerds - Link.
Scare your friends with a fake error - Link.
HOW TO - The Singing Keyboard prank - Link.
"Last Day" magnetic sonic cube landmine - Link.
Poop Prop - Link.
Fake Virus!!! - Link.
The ultimate list of practical jokes - Link.

March 29, 2007

Game of Life kit (instructions)

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Here's another one of our kits, now documented on Instructables. The Game of Life Boards are a scalable platform for cellular automata visualizations. Each board contains 16 LEDs in a 4x4 grid, a microcontroller, and a communications and power distribution network. With the available firmware, they execute Conway's Game of Life. Boards can act alone, or can be plugged into other boards to create a larger display. You can get this kit from the MAKE store.

Each kit comes standard with green LEDs, but any LEDs can be used by adjusting the values of the resistors. The board accepts 6 to 12V DC power, and each board draws a maximum of approximately 0.25 amps.

Game of Life Kit - Link & you can get the kit @ the Maker store.

Face-mounted lucid dreaming mask

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Nate True makes these lucid dreaming kits (or you can just make your own) - he sent me out one and I'll strap it to my head to see what happens. The things I do for our fringe themed issue and posts this month...

cre.ations.net - Creation: Face-mounted Lucid Dreaming Mask - Link.

Upside-Down-Ternet: Having Fun With Wireless Interlopers

I'm a big fan of open wireless access points. As long as my neighbors are respectful, I've got more downstream bandwidth than I really need most of the time. That said, I can understand the frustration with having a persistant freeloader, so I can really appreciate this hack which allows you to send a "knock it off" message, without having to close down your blessed open network.

The Upside-Down-Ternet works like this:

You set up a DHCP server to assign addresses from one IP netblock to known MAC addresses, and another "untrusted" netblock to unknown MACs.
The trusted netblock is routed normally, but the untrusted netblock gets all port 80 traffic forwarded to a transparent squid proxy using iptables.
The squid proxy filters all HTTP traffic, looking for URLs ending in jpg or gif.
If a jpg or gif is encountered, the image is flipped using morgrify and the untrusted user is sent the upside down image instead of the original.

This could be easily modified to default to giving normal access. You could then direct known abusers to the crippled network. Another option would be to provide "degraded" access using a blur or desaturate filter on images. This would allow people to make use of the free service, but would require them to ask permission to be on the trusted list before having full access.

How do you like to deal with wireless interlopers? What's your ideal wireless setup - one that balances security, ease of use for legitimate visitors or passers-by, and quality of service? Give us a shout in the comments!

HOW TO - Make a beer tin barometer

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Andy shows you how to make a ake a beer tin barometer -

...There are simpler designs for barometers (though not much simpler it must be said). But this I think is effective, although quite vulnerable to temperature fluctuations, but if you keep it indoors it should be okay.
Atmospheric pressure exerts a force on all bodies within it that are at a different pressure. Therefore, if we seal off part of the atmosphere, by, for example taking an open ended container and turning it upside down into water, then we effectively preserve that (atmospheric) pressure level in the container.

The pressure is equalised by the can floating at a relevant depth to keep the pressure inside the can the same as out (remember that it is not truly sealed, so water enters/exist the can to make up the pressure difference, thus altering buoyancy).

The level at which the can floats is then altered by the atmospheric pressure because it exerts more or less force on the water that the can is floating in causing more or less water to be present within the can an causing the water to be slightly more or less dense thus effecting buoyancy.

These changes can then be measured as changes in buoyancy, namely as rises and falls in the height that the can floats.

Beer Tin Barometer - Link.

Play with your food: Rework your toast

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Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has perhaps the best overview of high end toasting -

All evidence suggests that we are now living in a modern renaissance of the toasting arts-- what history will soon recognize as the era when toasting went digital and the human race finally broke free from its ancient bonds of monochrome squares.
Or maybe not. Whatever history will say about it, we have seen a lot of rapid toaster evolution lately. Concept cars have been around since the beginning, but its perhaps only in the last year that concept toasters have been getting some attention.

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories - Play with your food: Rework your toast - Link.

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MAKE: toast (laser toasted) - Link.

Magnetic Rubik's cube

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MAKE Flickr photo pool members Andrew and Sarah made a really nice dice based magnetic Rubik's cube - Link.

Related:

Magnetic Rubik's cube (more) - Link.
HOW TO - Magnetic Rubik's cube - Link.

HOW TO - Make an ornithopter from household items

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Royalestel writes -

This instructable will show you how to make a cutting edge flying model known as an ornithopter.
An ornithopter is a lot like a model airplane, but it flaps its wings like a bird or an insect, and is much prettier to watch in flight.

This is pretty easy to build; you really only have to make sure the bearings are all parallel. Everything else can be crooked and this will STILL fly just fine. It is also VERY sturdy and can take many, many crashes without breaking. As an added bonus (and due to my personal tightwadery) it is CHEAP. You can make this ornithopter out of household items. Mine cost about $1.30 to make.

Make Your Own Ornithopter from Household Items - Link.

Related:

Ornithopter - The Electric Bat - Link.

From the pages of MAKE:

Building an Ornithopter. Can humans fly by flapping? Build a small, rubber band-powered ornithopter whose motion is similar to a bird in flight. Subscribers--read this article now in your digital edition or get MAKE 08 @ the Maker store.

HOW TO - Make an iPod tote bag

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PopSci shows you how to make a pretty spiffy music tote -

You know those iPod tote bags that were all the rage on the morning news shows a couple of years ago? Costing around one hundred bucks, most of those bags seemed more suited for a fashion show rather than slogging music through your daily life.
After that high-societal craze died down, a more fanciful iPod tote bag emerged. While reasonable in cost, some of these bags would be tough to imagine toting around on the street.

Today, edgy designers like Burton have taken the iPod + speaker system concept and wrapped it up in a stylish bag that is both practical and functional. This is snowboarder chic. Unfortunately, these "x-treme" totes can cost near $200.

There has to be a better (read, cheaper) way. And here it is. Your own iPod tote bag for less than sixty bucks. You can take it to the beach, you can pimp your bag, and you can crank it up.

Weekly Project: Make an iPod Tote Bag--Spring Fling Bling-Bling - Link.

AVR based USB SD card reader

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Qibo made a nice AVR based USB SD card reader (doh, note - you need to register to view the projects on AVR Freaks) -

his project is for studying USB interface and MassStorage protocol. Perhaps, because I should not using AVR device which has no extended bus, or should not using SD card as the medium but others which has parallel interface. The speed of this work is quite slow, Read 370KB/s and Write 195KB/s. But this project is quite simple for studying USB.
The function of this board is USB SD card reader. Since It adopt MassStorage protocol, It will be treated as a removable disk when plug in the computer, just like a flsh disk.

Using the attached code it will be shown as a hard disk, because I can use the function of the hard disk (eg, partition). Of course just change a character of the code it will be a removable disk.

:: AVR Freaks - USB SD Card Reader Link.

Keep Your Verizon EV-DO from Bouncing Between 1xRTT and 1xEV-DO

(screenshot from James Kendrick's blog entry)

I had this problems a couple of years ago when Verizon upgraded southern Rhode Island from 1xRTT to 1xEV-DO. I would constantly bounce between 1xRTT and 1xEV-DO, and couldn't maintain a stable connection, so the service became useless and I canceled (I was out of contract at the time). James Kendrick has found some hidden settings that force it to operate in one mode or the other.

I spoke with someone who wishes to remain anonymous who showed me how to do what I needed to see if it would fix my problem. Open up the Verizon Access Manager program and while disconnected from the network hit CTRL-D. Enter the password "diagvzw" in the dialog that pops up and you'll see a dialog where you can change a couple of modem settings.

Read all about it for complete details and the results. Link

Phone alarm dialer

Alarm Phone Dialer
Alan writes -

Just hook this Alarm Phone Dialer up to something you would like to monitor, for example, a high water alarm, low temperature alarm, back window, garage door, etc. When the system is activated it will call a number of programmed numbers to let you know the alarm has been activated. This would be great to get alerts of alarm conditions from your home when you are at work. The microcontroller code is provided on the site.
The circuit uses a MT8880 DTMF dialer chip and a PIC 16F84A microcontroller.

elektronika : elektrophreak : projekti - [via] Link.