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Archives: August 2008

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August 29, 2008

The Cityscape project

City Day
Cityscapeatnight
The Cityscape project - (also called "How to blow 5 months of your life" by the maker)...

Approximately 7 feet past the window is a large single plane of wood with windows cut into it. The 7 x 11 foot plane of wood is actually two layers of wood with a ~1" air gap where xmas lights are mounted to light up the inside. The front plane is thin (1/8") and has the 1540 windows cut into it while the back plane of wood is 1/2" sheets of plywood. The xmas lights (about 700 lights) are mounted behind the front plane so that the light bounces off of the plywood (back plane) to scatter the light so that pinpoints of light are not visible. The models of the Empire State and Chrysler buildings consist of multiple layers in order to simulate the effect of having lights shining on their own roofs.

Most of the display is painted in light grey latex paint for both weather-proofing and tinting of the light coming from the inside. However the front is painted dark grey to make it blend into the night sky above.

Thanks Joe!

CPU vs GPU - paintball version

CPU vs GPU - paintball version (also known as the 80 nansecond Mona Lisa) via Buzzfeed.

Build a powerful pocket amplifier for your headphones and put it in a "curiously strong" minty case.
Thanks go to Warren Young for the original article in Make Volume 4.
To download Mint Tin Amp MP4 click here or subscribe in iTunes.

Check out the complete Mint Tin Amp article including schematics MAKE 04 "Mint Tin Amp"
and you can see that in our digital edition.

More details on Making the Mint Tin Amp can be found here
Check out other Altoids tin projects on Make

Editor's note: This video has a new sponsor, GoDaddy - so if you're thinking of getting a domain name you can use the MAKEMAG code and get 10% off... -pt If you want to make an impact online, GoDaddy.com has what you need. .COM names as low as $1.99. Plus, world-class hosting, fast-&-easy Web site builders and much more. Plus, as a viewer of the MAKE Podcast, enter code MAKEMAG, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Some restrictions apply, see site for details. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

Paint drip table

Designer John Nouanesing came up with this amazing table, he says it's going into production later this year. via Inspire Underground

Weekend Project: Mint Tin Amp (PDF)

Build a pocket amplifier for your headphones and put it in a "curiously strong" minty case.
Thanks go to Warren Young for the original article in Make Volume 4
View the PDF

Zoom into steel (to the atomic level!)

Weird Weird Science posted this extreme zooming video on the structure of steel - quite awesome. They have video for concrete, brass, aluminium and more available as well. - Weird Weird Science on Dailymotion

Should you prefer a little more color & motion, check out Trey's macro video of a plasma ball in action -

1-megabit cufflinks

Atmelcufflinks
From the MAKE Flickr photo pool

Geek-chic for formal occasions - JMarier's EPROM cufflinks sure to leave a 'memorable' impression. - Atmel Cufflinks B on Flickr

More:
Jewelry made from electronic parts

Cof1-2
Capacitor Robot Charm

This weekend only - 20% discount in the Maker Shed with coupon code "dogdays"

Brainloop allows you to mentally navigate Google earth

"Brainloop" is an interactive platform for performance which uses a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) that allows a performer to operate devices by imagining specific motor commands. The goal is to virtually navigate around Google Earth by using the BCI. Interesting concept, although we wonder if it's really that much easier than doing it the old fashioned way.

BrainLoop

Project uses old telephony mechanism to connect people online

This art project, entitled "Tantalum Memorial - Residue", by England-based Graham Harwood, Richard Wright, and Matsuko Yokokoji, is a telephony-based memorial to the people who have died as a result of the tantalum wars in the Congo.The installation is built from the remnants of an old electro-mechanical 1938 Strowger telephone exchange found in an old factory. The switches on the piece are reanimated by tracking phone calls from a social telephony network designed by the artists "in collaboration with the Congolese radio program Nostalgie Ya Mboka in London. The TT network calls Congolese listeners, plays them a phone message and invites them to record a comment and pass it on to a friend by entering their phone number." Pretty interesting piece that we hope there will be a video of soon to watch it in action.

Tantalum Memorial, via Textually

The PACMAN Mini: Portable Namco Games

I really like this project, although I immediately thought it should be called "Pac Man Portable" or PMP.

This portable took around two weeks to build. I left it with out sound support because the sounds that the namco "arcade pcb on a chip" produces aren't as good as the original games. The case is an just a general project box with holes cut for the screen, buttons etc.

Read more about the The PACMAN Mini [Engadget]

More:

Make your own video games with the Hydra Video Game System Don't forget to use coupon code "dogdays" to get an additional 20% off. Hurry up the offer expires midnight PST this Sunday (August 31, 2008).

DIY: Bike Rack

This is a really easy project made out of a Thule rack and a bed extender. I really don't like roof racks that much since they can be a challenge to load and unload. It is much easier to get a couple of bikes on this rack.

I bought a Thule roof rack from Goodwill a couple of years ago. I have only had it on the RL once because it is too much to put up there and take down and frankly I'm not a fan of roof racks anyways. I also had a $30 bed extender (the other kind for wood that hangs over your tail gate) sitting in the corner which I have only used once. I also had some steel stock sitting in another corner of the garage. (Yes, I have a lot of crap sitting in corners. If there were any more crap in the corners, my garage would be round.

Arduino Touch-Screen Piano

This is an interesting video I found on YouTube. I really like the integration of a touch-screen and the Arduino. I just wish there was more information about this project. I don't think this would be too difficult to reproduce in Processing?

Specs:

8" touchscreen LCD from ebay

My super DELL computer ^^

Visual basic to create the Piano APP

Arduino Software to create the tone prog.

Arduino Dicimila +usb cable+piezo speaker.

Get you own Arduino in the MakerSHED. Don't forget to use coupon code "dogdays" to get an additional 20% off. Hurry up the offer expires midnight PST this Sunday (August 31, 2008).

Banksy in New Orleans

Raingirl-1
Banklinc
Some striking work from Banksy in New Orleans.

Diet Coke and Mentos... In Zero Gravity... only on MAKE!

Robert writes-

This last weekend the whole family flew on Space Adventure's G-Force One (just featured last night on Mythbusters). Being science nuts, we spent some time thinking up experiments to do in microgravity, and ended up testing the Diet Coke & Mentos reaction.

We hacked a camera port and mount into a portable glove bag (to contain the mess) and filmed the whole thing with the Casio EX-F1 at 300 frames a second, using light from an emergency exit window. The results were a bit equivocal ("more research is needed, hahahah!") but the video is interesting, as is the story of how the experiment evolved and how we managed to do it.

http://rjwoodhead.blogspot.com/ for the whole story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P01kVKp6MIs for just the video.

We also hacked a hard drive into a gyroscope and flew it, but I won't have the video of that for a few weeks.

Kudos to the Space Adventures people, btw. They went the extra mile to help us work out a way to do the experiment (they are extremely science-friendly) and coordinated with the TSA to ensure that there would be no last minute hiccups.

August 28, 2008

HOW TO - Plant Terrarium

To round out Threadbanger's steampunk week, Meg Allan made a Decor it Yourself episode with Amy Merrick on making your own plant terrariums. They need more brass gears, in my opinion, but this is a great way to keep super low maintenance plants around.

More:

Make a Tabletop Biosphere - Make: Video Podcast

Colander Lampshade

Michelle @ CRAFT writes:

Ikea Hacker points out lamps that Jim makes from things he finds at Ikea like this Ordning colander. I can't say I would ever use a colander as a lampshade, but it does look pretty cool.

iPhone macro focus

Daniel Forsythe put together a walkthrough that shows you how to disassemble your iPhone (original or 3G) and adjust the lens for taking close-up photography. The image above is from his Flickr account, demonstrating the camera focused at about 4 inches - perfect for taking project photos. You can adjust the lens to focus anywhere from infinity (the default) to less than an inch, but you'll need to take apart your phone to adjust it. If you take a lot of close up photos of projects, notes, or bugs, now you can tweak your phone and find a setting that works well for your needs.

Close-focus your iPhone 3G [via Gadget Lab]

Austin Event: Sew It Up

The picture pretty much says it all about this sew-riffic event tomorrow night:

Here are a few more details. If you're not into needlework and don't want to become 'sew', feel free to volunteer and have your own skillshare!

Right-angle IC socket

I like the solution here for a horizontal accelerometer board on a vertical breadboard. At first he had the entire breadboard at horizontal, but this little hack is a more sensible solution.

[This is from the balancing bot project I blogged about earlier]