RSSArchives: December 2007
December 31, 2007
O Rly owl scarf
I finally finished my last unfinished knitting project, this scarf with two O Rly owls on it. It's for my friend Justin, who asked for it special. One end says "O Rly?" and other other, "Ya Rly." I made a pattern you can download, as well, if you want to make it. - Link.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Dec 31, 2007 05:00 PM
Crafts, DIY Projects |
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Tube amp rebuild
I love old tube guitar amps. I wish I'd never gotten ride of mine. Here's a rebuild and mod of 1961 Kay 503A instrument amp.
Tube Amp Rebuild (and Mod) - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Dec 31, 2007 02:00 PM
Instructables, Music, Retro |
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HOW TO - Fossilize your hamster
This book looks great, here's the blurb from Amazon... -
How can you measure the speed of light with a bar of chocolate and a microwave oven? To keep a banana from decaying, are you better off rubbing it with lemon juice or refrigerating it? How can you figure out how much your head weighs? Mick O’Hare, who created the New Scientist’s popular science sensations Does Anything Eat Wasps? and Why Don’t Penguins’ Feet Freeze?, has the answers. In this fascinating and irresistible new book, O’Hare and the New Scientist team guide you through one hundred intriguing experiments that show essential scientific principles (and human curiosity) in action. Explaining everything from the unusual chemical reaction between Mentos and cola that provokes a geyser to the geological conditions necessary to preserve a family pet for eternity, How to Fossilize Your Hamster is fun, hands-on science that everyone will want to try at home.Amazon.com: How to Fossilize Your Hamster: And Other Amazing Experiments for the Armchair Scientist: Books: Mick O'Hare, thanks David! - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 31, 2007 03:00 AM
DIY Projects, Science |
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Hacking mice to better control cameras in 3D space
The "Three Blind Mice" project takes three old mechanical mice and connects them up to an AVR microcontroller to feed their input into a PC to control 3D graphics in VVVV. Nice hack with a how-to included.
Three Blind Mice - Link
Posted by Jonah Brucker-Cohen |
Dec 31, 2007 03:00 AM
DIY Projects |
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Homemade Ms Pacman cocktail cabinet
Christian sent in his homemade Ms Pacman cocktail cabinet, check out the 10 pages of build photos! - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 31, 2007 12:00 AM
DIY Projects, Gaming, Retro |
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December 30, 2007
Best of CRAFT
Here are some of my favorite posts from the CRAFT blog this week:
- Trombone Cozy - Link.
- Knit Lobster - Link.
- Fun with Casting Resin - Link.
- Cassette Tape Business Card Case - Link.
- HOW TO - Flat Pack Desk - Link.
Posted by Natalie Zee Drieu |
Dec 30, 2007 07:30 PM
Crafts |
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Figure mods at ComicCon '07
Cory Doctorow posted (to Boing Boing) an image and link to his Flickr set of photos he took at ComicCon of action figure modders and their cool creations.
Action figures set - Link
Related:
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Dec 30, 2007 02:00 PM
Toys and Games |
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Hacked Bop-it tambourine
Some classmates (Byron Lahey and Ryan Brotman) and I just finished up a project where we used wireless handheld electronic devices to control Max/MSP instruments. It's called sGloTaT (sensor Glow-object Trumpet and Tambourine):
The sGloTaT sonic environment allows participants to originate sound by moving physical objects. It encourages novice users to play by naturally gesturing with two tangible user interface objects emulating a trumpet and tambourine. In this sound space, movements by the users generate visual feedback projected on the floor in the form of a three-dimensional rendering of a cone.Byron built one of the objects from polycarbonate tubing, and I hacked a Bop-it toy for the other controller. Both contain an Arduino mini, BlueSmiRF, and a two-axis accelerometer. The glowing and IR-reflective tape helps the objects be sensed by our motion tracking infrastructure in the SMALLab environment at Arizona State University. You can watch the overview video, download our paper, and look at photos of the objects in progress - Link.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Dec 30, 2007 09:00 AM
Electronics |
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HOW TO - Make a pack flat plywood desk
Drocko writes -
Recently I was in the market for a new desk.HOW TO - Make a pack flat plywood desk - Link.I wanted to make a desk that was able to be disassembled and packed flat, made from few and easily obtainable supplies with simple tools.
The desk can be created from the following supplies:
1 4'x8'x3/4" A-1 plywood sheet
2 4' 3/8" steel rod
2 3/8" nuts
2 3/8" wingnuts
8 washers
8 screws
Some woodglueYou will need the following tools:
Tape measure
Circular saw (for other saw for making large cuts in the plywood)
Screwdriver
Coping saw (for cutting the notches)
Several clampsI also recommend a squaring device such as a speed square.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 30, 2007 08:00 AM
DIY Projects, Instructables |
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Hacking the Western Digital MyBook World Edition
Makefan writes -
This page provides information on how to hack your MyBook World Edition, so as you can improve performance and add new features. MyBook is powered by ARM9 microprocessor, it has 32MB of SDRAM and boots from internal hard drive. The system partition has 2.8GB (only 260 MB is occupied). This means that you have a lot of resources for various improvements.Hacking the Western Digital MyBook World Edition - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 30, 2007 03:00 AM
DIY Projects, Gadgets |
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Pipe robot doesn't smoke a pipe
This robot, designed by Jeff Terrell consists of dense PVC plastic piping for the body, its head moves 180 degrees left and right, and a strip of red LEDs under his mouth light up when it is speaking. The bot also uses a head mounted video camera and tracking software to integrate computer vision. We just hope that it's AI isn't too good so that it makes its way back to the sewers to find the rest of its pipe-made body.
Posted by Jonah Brucker-Cohen |
Dec 30, 2007 03:00 AM
Robotics |
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Phone line controller
Trax writes -
It might be "yet another" «device» controller that operates over phone-line, but this one works for sure :) The task was to build a device that connects to the phone line and has a relay as an output switch. It should also sense if the connected «consumer» is turned-on or off and report to the administrator at the other end of the phone line. The administrator would then call-in the device, log in with the password, and check the state of «consumer», turn it on or off, change password or some other settings. Current version has only one relay.Phone line controller - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 30, 2007 12:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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December 29, 2007
MCU for desktop plasma globe
A German hacker dusts off his plasma globe from the '80s and hooks it up to an ATMega8 MCU and serial PC interface so that he can tune it.
Large plasma Globe Tuning - [via] Link
Build site (in German) - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Dec 29, 2007 02:00 PM
Computers, Electronics |
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Students unveil eco-product prototypes
Neat selection of eco-product prototypes, pictured here, a solar powered bottle sorter -
The assignment was wide open: Design something based on the principles of reduce, reuse and recycle, and develop it into a prototype product. The results ranged from simple mechanical devices to complex electronic machines, but all served that central purpose in original ways.Students unveil eco-product prototypes - [via] Link.To meet the challenge, seven teams of 18 students in this year's 2.009 Product Engineering Processes class, taught by David Wallace, came up with a wide variety of ingenious ideas, which they presented last week at a packed session attended by about 150 outside engineers and product developers.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 29, 2007 08:00 AM
Green |
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DIY Picaxe toothbrush timer
Chipwich writes -
We built a beeping flashing toothbrush timer like the one on the Philips SoniCare toothbrush for just a few dollars and plenty of experience and fun.DIY Picaxe toothbrush timer - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 29, 2007 03:00 AM
Altoids and tin cases, DIY Projects, Electronics |
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Diamond iPhone adds bling to your conversations
This diamond iPhone was made with 420 cut diamonds and sports a total of 5.65 carats. Pretty crazy way to embellish technology that might be getting a major upgrade in the months ahead. We just wonder how many iPhones could be bought for the amount the diamonds are worth.
Amosu Luxury and Customised Mobile Phones - Link, [via]
Posted by Jonah Brucker-Cohen |
Dec 29, 2007 03:00 AM
iPod |
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PVC laptop stand
Cheap and easy laptop stand made from PVC - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 29, 2007 12:00 AM
Computers, DIY Projects |
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December 28, 2007
Portable laser image projector
This is basic instructions on how to build a portable image projector that uses a green laser instead of normal light. The laser permits images to be cast great distances, and doesn't require focusing - it's always in focus.
Laser Image Projector - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Dec 28, 2007 02:00 PM
Electronics, Imaging, Instructables |
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The 24th Chaos Communication Congress - 24C3 , some photos...
The 24th Chaos Communication Congress is underway, and goodness - what an amazing first day! Here are some of my photos...
Some of the sessions I really enjoyed so far...
Steam-Powered Telegraphy
A League of Telextraordinary Gentlemen present the marvel of Telex on the Net - driven by a steam engine
Simulating the Universe on Supercomputers
The evolution of cosmic structure
Building a Hacker Space
A Hacker Space Design Pattern Catalogue
Make Cool Things with Microcontrollers
Hacking with Microcontrollers
Design Noir
The seedy underbelly of electronic engineering
"I can count every star in the heavens above but I have no heart I can't fall in love...".
The image of computers in popular music
Editor's note: Johannes Grenzfurthner gave an AMAZING talk, outstanding work and incredibly fun.
More:
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 28, 2007 04:00 AM
Events |
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Great Year of Weekends!
It's been a great year of weekend projects. There's no new video today, but check out a few favorites from this past year!
The most viewed video from our blip.tv views is how to make a catapult with Bill Gurstelle. We made this podcast at Maker Faire!
The most viewed weekend project video on youtube was the tutorial with Matt Stinchcomb about how to screenprint a t-shirt!
My personal favorite podcast of the year was making a power tool drag racer! Thanks to all the guests that were on podcast and for all the feedback, comments and awesomeness of 2007. If you have a favorite, drop a note in the comments or if there's a podcast you'd like to see made in 2008, don't hesitate to drop me a note!
Posted by Bre Pettis |
Dec 28, 2007 03:31 AM
MAKE Video, Weekend Projects |
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Features and more @ MAKE!
DIY Halloween contest at MAKE! In honor of the best DIY holiday ever, we're having a party -- and everyone's invited! Elaborate costumes for the whole family, gadgets that go "zzzZAP!," gross-looking foods, creepy decorations that turn your house into a forbidding castle, and spooky jack-o-lanterns guarding your front door: these are the things we look forward to all year.
DIY HALLOWEEN from the editors of MAKE and CRAFT brings you 40-plus DIY projects for the holiday that's made for makers. From the craftiest costumes to amazing animated props and the latest in computer-controlled haunted house effects. Get it at the Maker Shed store!. And lastly, our Animated Ghost Kit. Grab this cool kit for Halloween. Sound activated, the ghost flashes his little red LED eyes, vibrates and makes scary sounds! Easy and fun to build. Hack it! Get it at the Maker Shed Store!
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Phillip Torrone
Senior Editor
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Current Podcast
Not so lazy Sunday... Weekend Project - Hot Glue Web Gun
There's still time to start making or just watch this week's Weekend Project: Hot Glue Web Gun. You can view the video here, grab the PDF here and subscribe in iTunes to get all our Weekend Projects and PDFs...
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