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Archives: November 2006

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November 30, 2006

Fire Starter Flashlight

"This is a 12V bulb which is being overdriven to 14+V, to about 140 watts, with an estimated light output of about 4000 lumens. Compare that to a regular 2D MagLight, which is much, much less than 50 lumens."

Yup, that's 12 1.2V NiMH batteries in there, which I guess means it's rechargable too. I love it.

Video - Link.
Info - Link.

Make a Menorah, Create an Ornament @ NPR

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Menorah400
Carla from CRAFT and myself are judges for a fun contest @ NPR -

"Make a timely ornament (or a menorah, for the Jews!). NPR's First Ever Holiday Craft Contest. Design either a handmade menorah or a Christmas tree ornament. We are looking for designs that reflect the news of 2006. We also welcome quirky, funny and/or offbeat designs." - Link.

What do you win? Swag from the NPR Shop: The Hanukkah Lights Gift Set for the menorah winner; an NPR Jazz Christmas Collection with Marian McPartland for the ornament winner.

How to do you enter? Post your creation on Flickr.com with the keyword: NPRHOLIDAYCONTEST. Be sure to include a short artist's statement and a way we can contact you. If you have any questions email: holidaycontest@npr.org

It would be great to see one our makers and crafters win...

PS3 Grill

"When the final case design of the Playstation 3 was released, it was widely critsised as looking exactly like a George Foreman Grill ... we decided this would be a great project and challenge to actually build the Real PS3 Grill."

I don't know about you, but I take comfort in knowing that somehow, somewhere, some dude is cooking up little steaks and sausages on a $600 toy. They're still working on the full tutorial and a video, but photos and disassembly instructions are available. [via] - Link & disassembly photos.

Strange 4-legged Scooter

This 4 legged scooter is one of the strangest transportation devices I've ever seen. I wish I knew what this is about exactly-it looks like maybe a Japanese funny videos or candid camera show.

If you look closely, it appears that each leg is guided by two wheels. I'm guessing the front wheel controls the leg's up/down motion, and the rear wheel controls the angle. If they are slightly out of phase, it should make the relatively smooth stride that you see. I don't know for sure if that's how it works, but it's my best guess from a quick napkin sketch (and it seems like I've seen something similar before in a lego robot).

Anyone have a better idea of how this thing works or a link to a robot that walks in this manner? [via] - Link.

Live from BLIP!

MAKE is a sponsor of the Blip Festival 2006 NYC NOV 30 - DEC 3! So, stop by Thurs (tonight) through Sunday. If you want to buy MAKE stuff super-cheap I have a table here, so here's your chance. I'm also willing to trade some stuff and/or haggle - really, do your worst.

Tonight: Visuals: Dan Winckler, C-TRL Labs, The C-Men. Music: Virt, Receptors, Glomag, Startpause, x|km Goto80,Tugboat, Chibi-Tech.

"THE TANK and 8BITPEOPLES are pleased to present the Blip Festival, a four-day celebration of over 30 international artists exploring the untapped potential of low-bit videogame consoles and home computers used as creative tools. Familiar devices are pushed in new directions with startling results -- Nintendo Entertainment Systems and Game Boys roaring with futuristic floor-stomping rhythms and fist-waving melody, art-damaged Sega hardware generating fluctuating and abstracted video patterns -- and that's only the beginning. An exploration of the chiptune idiom and its close relatives, the Blip Festival is the biggest and most comprehensive event in the history of the form, and will include daily workshops, art installations, and nightly music performances boasting an international roster larger and more far-reaching than any previous event of its kind. Small sounds at large scales pushed to the limit at high volumes -- the Blip Festival is an unprecedented event that is not to be missed." - Link.

More:

Mario Speedwagon - Link.

Quick Computer Controlled Xmas Lights

Check this out and then go check out the voice controlled christmas lights they made up! Well I've seen many "static" Christmas lights that always stay on. Today, I will show you how you can customize your Christmas lights by using a PLC, a Programmable Logic Controller. - Link

Campfire Backwarmer

Backwarmer1

This is one of those ideas that make me bonk my head and go, "Why didn't I think of that!" It reminds me of a solar hot-dog cooker. Aluminum foil might also work just fine for this application although it would clearly not be as durable as this product. [via] - Link

LED Popsicle stick picture frame

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This LED-enhanced popsicle stick picture frame is a great project/gift to do with the kids - Link.

Related:

LED projects @ MAKE - Link.
"Photo" frame projects @ MAKE - Link.

DIY Full-screen scrolling teleprompter

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woodblock100 writes -

"I needed a teleprompter to help me make better looking videos for my website on woodblock printmaking, so I built this one, using nothing but a few pieces of scrap wood and glass, and only free software.

When recording videos, I discovered that I'm not much of an actor ... namely, I can't remember my lines! I tried to get around this by printing out a large-type 'script' and hanging it up next to the camera, but when I looked at the resulting video, it was obvious that I was reading something, and not looking directly into the camera. There was only one solution ... build a teleprompter!

Here's how I did it, in just a few minutes, using a couple of scraps of wood, a scavenged piece of glass, and an old shirt ..." - Link.

Related:

DIY Plasti-Prompter - Link.

From the pages of MAKE:

No More Cue Cards - Make a teleprompter with a laptop, a sheet of glass, and some scrap wood. MAKE 02 - Page 146. Subscribers--read this article now in your digital edition!

Open source gift guide video - Rocketboom

Here's the November 30, 2006 : Special interview Rocketboom with Joanne Colan, a video version of our gift guide - Link.

Related:

Open source gift guide video (MP4) - Link.
Open source gift guide - Link.

Tatjana van Vark - The Harmonium

Harmonium 01
Mechanical fourier analysis and synthesis, can you guess what it does? [via] - Link.

The best refridgerator magnet money can't buy

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Pir8p3t3 writes -

"Using the magnets from a dead 3.5" HDD and a piece of wire, I made a super strong refrigerator magnet. When I say super strong, I mean this thing will hold up anything I ever wanted to put on my fridge." - Link.

Related:

Making Crafty Fridge Magnets - Link.
Magnets @ MAKE! - Link.

November 29, 2006

Troika's SMS Projector

Troika
I like the cool hunting videos. In one of their recent videos, they showed Troika's SMS projector. I postulate that they have a phone in there and they took the lcd screen off and put it in just the right place so that it would be in the same place as film if it were a camera, then they have a halogen light behind it and the light shines through the lcd, through the long camera lens and onto unsuspecting people's backs. How would you make it? - Link

Blood Scarf

Bloodscarf1

It starts out clear and end up red! Blood Scarf depicts a scarf knit out of clear vinyl tubing. An intravenous device emerging out of the user's hand fills the scarf with blood. The implied narrative is a paradoxical one in which the device keeps the user warm with their blood while at the same time draining their blood drip by drip. [via] - Link

LEGO Mindstorms NXT and open source

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In the MAKE open source gift guide we included the LEGO NXT, one of our readers (dwahler) was concerned that LEGO wasn't actually releasing the firmware as open source as promised, so - I found out the scoop straight from the source (no pun intended).

Soren Lund, head of NXT at LEGO Denmark sent me the following -

"We encourage the community to tinker with our MINDSTORMS NXT Robotics toolset - also outside the traditional user scenarios. That is the thinking behind the Developer Kits (DK) we have published on our web site. Here you will find a Software DK, a Hardware DK and a Bluetooth DK. In the various MINDSTORMS communities you can see how the community has used the DK's to create new exciting robots.

We have also announced that the firmware in the NXT will be Open Source. The release of the Open Source files has unfortunately been a bit delayed but we still plan to release them before Christmas. It is a big step for LEGO to go Open Source with some of our material and we ask for a bit more patience. We hope it will be worth the wait." - Link.

Hope this helps anyone who is considering the NXT for future hacking - should be in the next 30 days. Thanks LEGO for responding so promptly.

Related:

LEGO Mindstorms NXT - Link.
LEGO projects - Link.
Open source gift guide @ MAKE - Link.

6-pack - Arduino-based controller for live audio/video performances

6P13
Here's an arduino-based controller for live audio/video performances. Cheap to build and amazingly small...

"6-pack is an open-ended, highly customisable, and ultra-portable physical controller based on the Arduino board. 6-pack is an Arduino shield consisting of 6 linear potentiometer sliders that can be assigned to different variables in the user's preferred software. It can be used to control a wide array of audio/video applications, from software synthesizers to HDJ systems. All, with a minimal footprint (3,5" x 2,5") and on the cheap (just a fraction of the cost of an equivalent MIDI interface). The project is open source. Schematics and source code included." Thanks Will! - Link.

Related:

Chatter Pillow - Adium, PHP, Arduino, LEDs... wireless ... - Link.
Arduino stamp & evaluation board for MSP430F417 - Link.
Arduino, the Basic Stamp killer? - Link.
Arduino Fever - PDF preview - Link.

From the pages of MAKE:

Arduino Fever - The tale of a cute, blue microcontroller that fits nicely in the palm of your hand, and the expanding community of developers who love and support it. MAKE 07 - Page 58. Subscribers--read this article now in your digital edition.

Cheap acoustic sensors make surfaces interactive

New Scientist has an article on turning any surface into a touch screen using small piezoelectric sensors to sense surface vibrations -

"A series of acoustic sensors that turn any surface into a touch-sensitive computer interface have been developed by European researchers.

Two or more sensors are attached around the edges of the surface. These pinpoint the position of a finger, or another touching object, by tracking minute vibrations. This allows them to create a virtual touchpad, or keyboard, on any table or wall." [via] - Link.

Related:

Non-Invasive washing machine cycle detector project (uses piezoelectric sensors) - Link.

The making of a LEGO brick

Intro
BusinessWeek has a great slideshow and article on how LEGOs are made -

"Compared to the high-tech toys of today, LEGO bricks look exceedingly simple. But their precise production process is nothing to scoff at. Each LEGO brick must have that perfect grasp -- strong enough to hold onto another brick but easy enough for a child to pull apart. The production of LEGO bricks is so accurate that only 18 out of 1 million LEGO elements produced is considered defective. It's an astonishing number, considering that 15 billion LEGO components are made every year. We take a look at how classic LEGO bricks are made." [via] - Link & article.

Here's a fun LEGO factoid -

LEGO Group is producing 15 billion components a year--that's 1.7 million items an hour, or 28,500 a minute. Tire production accounts for some of that number; the factory also produces 306 million tiny rubber tires a year. In fact, going by that number, LEGO is the world's No. 1 tire manufacturer.

Related:

LEGO Technic Difference Engine - Link.
LEGO Flash drive - Link.
Stargate: LEGO - Link.
LEGO PC - Link.
LEGO orrery - Link.
LEGO Harpsichord - Link.
HOW TO make a medium format pinhole LEGO camera - Link.
Color scanning LEGO music machine - Link.
LEGO archives @ MAKE - Link.

From the pages of MAKE:

Blockheads - LEGO: the ultimate prototyping material. MAKE 02 - Page 38. Subscribers--read this article now in your digital edition!

Installing Rockbox - an open source replacement firmware for mp3 players

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MAKE Flickr photo pool member Irregular Shed shows how easy it is to give an old MP3 a new life -

"This is how long it took to install a different operating system - the rather excellent Rockbox - on an iPod Mini. It fits on one screen, and includes me forgetting what operating system I was using in the first place (where I typed 'ls' instead of 'dir').

What does it do? Loads of cool things that the standard iPod software can't, like play OGG files, be skinnable and emulate a 48k Spectrum. And it's available for iPods, iRivers and Archos media players, and is good. " - Link.

(This makes a great gift, pick up an old player, zap it and give wrap it up!)

Related:

Rockbox, an open source replacement firmware for MP3 players - Link.
Rockbox OS for Archos provides cool functions - Link.
Best non-iPod MP3 players? - Link.

Turn an RC car into a floor sweeper

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MAKE Flirckr photo pool member Oskay writes -

"What's fun, cheap, good looking, and cleans a hardwood floor with an advanced search and navigation algorithm? An electrostatic dust mop attached to a radio-controlled car. Vroom!

This combination has some things in common with a Roomba, but is arguably less expensive. It's quick and fun to build, and quick and fun to operate. " - Link.

Well, it's one way to get the kiddos to clean and do their chores -

Related:

Evil Mad Scientist projects - Link.
Full size 1982 Toyota Camry RC car! (video) - Link.
RC Spy video car with night vision camera and headset - Link.
RC Cars on the Battlefield - Link.
RC car made from screwdrivers - Link.
DIY: turn a toy RC car into a remote anything - Link.
Wi-Fi car - HOW TO mobilize your WRT54G - Link.

November 2006 Home | Next >

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