Make:

Table of Contents

Tones Dem Tones, Damn Ringtones by Dale Dougherty in Welcome
Shouldn't people make their own ringtones, not buy them? Page 11

News from the Future by Tim O'Reilly in News from the Future
We have met the artificial intelligence, and he is us. Page 13

Death Before Dullness! by Merlin Mann, Danny O’Brien in Life Hacks
How to do boring tasks, or why robot-run dystopias can be fun. Page 14

Hands On: Elegant Innovation by Bruce Sterling in Hands On
From lamps and chainsaws to saving the planet. Page 16

Made On Earth by Shawn Connally, Dan Gonsiorowski, Keith Hammond, Peter Kirn, William Lidwell, David Pescovitz, Bob Scott in Made on Earth
Report from the world of backyard technology. Page 18

A House Divided by Cory Doctorow in Make Free
Hollywood feels the sting of its own copyright laws. Page 26

T-Shirt Laptop Pouch by Ross Orr in 123
Reincarnated tee "iShirt" protects your computer and deters thieves. Page 27

Tech-Nomading From Shore to Ship by Howard Wen in Maker
Twenty-three years ago, Steven Roberts went on a bike trip and never returned. Page 28

Sky Cutters by Arwen O'Reilly Griffith in Maker
Pulling the strings at the Berkeley Kite Festival. Page 36 Download Sample PDF of this article.

Boiler Room by Brian Jepson in Maker
A visit to the annual Yankee Steam-Up. Page 38

Ship of Cards by Alex Handy
Popular card games become an exercise in miniature construction. Page 39

Space Cases by David Pescovitz in Proto
The balloon men at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Page 40

Distributist Technologies by Tom Owad in Maker
At last, Tolkien meets capitalism. Page 44

You Are the Platform by Quinn Norton in Maker
How hardware hackers are remaking their bodies. Page 46

Simply Cad by Saul Griffith in Making Trouble
Computer-aided design doesn't have to be awful. There's a CAD program out there for you. Page 48

Totch Brown's Pit Pan Gator Boat by Tim Anderson in Heirloom Technology
Start your boat-building hobby by building this one. Page 50

A Beginner's Guide to BEAM by Gareth Branwyn
The BEAM design approach creates nimble robots from simple components, with no programming required. Page 54

Panzeroids by Dave Prochnow
Become a desktop general with these battlin' bot tanks. Page 58

Bots in a Snap by Michael Rosenblatt
The nuts and bolts of Lego robot design. Page 62

Cogs and Cocktails by Cory Doctorow
Meet the drink-serving, drunk-driving droids at Roboexotica. Page 65

The Vex Robotics Design System by Gareth Branwyn
Versatile, powerful design raises the bot in prefab robotics construction kits. Page 66

Mini Mars Rover by Tom Zimmerman
A wireless remote control camera on wheels. Page 69

Hot Air by Mister Jalopy in The Quick and Dirty
Build a do-everything manifold to control, dry, route, and use compressed air. Page 72

Two BEAMbots: Trimet and Solarroller by Gareth Branwyn
Solder together one simple circuit and use it to control two very different solar-powered robo-critters: a little satellite that scoots and bumps around, and a mini cart that just keeps a-rolling until the sun goes down. Page 76

Soccer-Playing Robot by Matthew Russell
Make an autonomous robot that can chase a ping-pong ball, push it into a goal, and take other programmable actions. When you're finished, you'll have a few more wrinkles in your brain and no more fears of robot attacks. Page 88

Building Tensegrity Models by William Gurstelle
Make a "needle tower" sculpture from dowels and elastic cord that seems to defy the laws of physics. Page 100

Tower PC by Robert Bruce Thompson
The standard tower-style PC is blessedly modular, designed to be opened and upgraded. Page 114

LED Throwies by Graffiti Research Lab in 123
Make and toss a bunch of these inexpensive little lights to add color to any ferromagnetic surface in your neighborhood. Page 116

It's Email Time by Tom Igoe in DIY: Circuits
Innocent-looking "clock" monitors the unread-message pileup in your inbox. Page 117

Rumble Mouse by Greg Lipscomb in DIY: Circuits
For FPS gaming, a cellphone vibrator gives a kick to your clicks. Page 120

Video Podcasting by Howard Wen in DIY: Computers
Producing TV shows on the cheap. Page 123

Dual Booting Linux and Windows XP by Mark R. Brown in DIY: Computers
Turn your PC into a switch-hitter the easy way, with a LiveCD. Page 124

Da Xerox Code by Annalee Newitz in DIY: Computers
How to read the tracking dots in your color Xerox printer. Page 126

Let There Be (Front) Light by Dave Prochnow in DIY: Gaming
Add an LED front light to your Game Boy Advance for $5. Page 129

Sticky Fingers by Damien Stolarz in DIY: Gaming
Modifying tech for pre-mouse toddlers. Page 131

Homecasting Digital Music by William Gurstelle in DIY: Home
Good old FM beats wi-fi for sending streamed music around your house. Page 133

Born-Again Boomboxes by Larry Cotton in DIY: Home
Up from the ghetto blaster, a new life as a functional-art stereo component. Page 136

Run, Lala, Run by William Gurstelle in DIY: Home
A rodent-powered nightlight. Page 139

Spider Rifle by Matt Lind in DIY: Home
Humane, compressed-air-powered bug trapper. Page 141

3D Photography by Bill Coderre in DIY: Imaging
Taking stereographs is easier and more fun than ever. Page 143

Macro Photography On a Budget by Haje Jan Kamps in DIY: Imaging
Pringles-can lens extender produces dazzling ultra close-ups for peanuts. Page 146

$130 Digital Picture Frame by Mike Kuniavsky in DIY: Imaging
Build one in 15 minutes. Page 148

The Secrets of Monitoring Atmospheric Haze by Dr. Shawn Carlson in Citizen Science
Make a measuring instrument with an old video case and $20 worth of parts. Page 153

Makin' Man by Shawn Connally in Workshop
Inside a versatile maker's machine shop. Page 158

RFID for Makers by Joe Grand in Theory & Practice
Build this kit to read radio frequency ID tags. Page 160

The MAKE Controller by Liam Staskawicz, David Williams in Making
Announcing a just-maybe-revolutionary microcontroller for all things DIY. Page 164

HowToons by Joost Bonsen, Nick Dragotta, Saul Griffith in Howtoons
Toss your own ice cream. Page 170

MakeShift by Lee D. Zlotoff in MakeShift
The creator of MacGyver challenges you to survive an earthquake, a flood, and a hungover neighbor. Page 172

Toolbox by Shawn Connally, Travis J.I. Corcoran, Steve Johnson, Terrie Miller, Goli Mohammadi, Tom Owad, Dave Prochnow, Joel Raedeke, Matthew Russell, Dan Strunk, Phillip Torrone in Toolbox
The best tools, software, gadgets, books, magazines, and websites. Page 174

Aha! Puzzle This by Michael H. Pryor in Aha!
Win your roommate's sock full of quarters, and other puzzles. Page 182

Reader Input in Reader Input
Where makers tell their tales and offer praise, brickbats, and swell ideas. Page 183

Blast from the Past: The Boy Mechanical by Mister Jalopy in Blast from the Past
A look back at the glory years of engineering for common folk. Page 184

Old Hardware: Anything but Garbage by Tom Owad in Retrocomputing
Scavenging components from cast-off tech. Page 185

Roomba Tronic by Phillip Torrone in Tales from the MAKE: Blog
Take a tour into the underground robotic relentlessness of Roomba hacks, robots in the streets of Austin, and robot cockfighting. Page 188

Maker's Calender by William Gurstelle in Maker's Calendar
Our favorite events from around the world June-July-August 2006. Page 189

Off-the-Shelf Parts, Off-the-Wall Ideas by George Dyson in Retrospect
Looking for the dawn of the digital universe? Check in the basement, next to the lavatory. Page 190

My Version of Einstein's Amplifier by Tyler Rourke in Homebrew
Tyler Rourke tells how he built a replica of a hi-fi system built by Jack Rosenberg for Albert Einstein's 70th birthday gift. Page 192