MAKE: Blog: January 2006 Archive

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Archives: January 2006

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January 31, 2006

Skateboards for schools!

Javier writes "Cool idea for enabling kids to actually make something usable in shop class: from the website: "The fact is, kids have always wanted to make skateboard decks in their woodshop classes but teachers and students never knew how to put the concave shapes and turned up nose and tail in the wood. Decks cut out of plywood and pine stock just don't work! And where do you drill for correct wheel placement in order to get proper flex and balance? Well, Skateboardsforschools.com has taken care of all of that for you!" [via]. Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 31, 2006 05:17 PM
DIY Projects | Permalink | Comments (6) | Email Entry

PSP Sequencer in Development...

Peter writes "Soon, hackers will exceed Sony in developing cool stuff for the PSP: not only is the 2.60 firmware hacked, but there's a sequencer in development to go along with the PSP drum machine! Tracker style, much like the homebrew Game Boy creations. Who's up for starting a homebrew Game Boy / PSP orchestra?" Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 31, 2006 01:07 PM
DIY Projects, PSP | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

DIY Homelink

Patrick Keane writes "Here's how to add a homelink to your car: 1) Buy homelink visors from ebay as cheap as you can get them from any car you like. 2) Tear them apart, and remove the Homelink module. 3) Cut small opening in headliner / dash panel / or opt to rewire the buttons and creatively locate them. 4) Attach +12V (black) and GND (brown) wires to nearby power source (overhead lamp). 5) Train it using your garage door opener(s) (see homelink.com). 6) Admire your $25 (maybe less) homelink installation. 7) (optional) Deprogram your old battery powered garage door openers and sell them on ebay for a profit." Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 31, 2006 12:19 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Transportation | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

New Brother Innovis Sewing Machine in Japan

Forget mobile phones, even the coolest crafty gadgets seemed to get launched in Japan first. Starting in Feb, Brother will launch a new line of three embroidery/sewing machines that have preprogrammed designs from Peanuts, Disney and Hello Kitty (of course)! This one doesn't seem to have a USB attachment option to a computer, but there is a card reader so you can also do your own designs and load them up on the machine. You can also download more designs from their special site on the Net. Brother also will be selling software so you can convert your digital photos into embroidery. Not sure if its an update to their existing software mentioned here in a software review. Link and translated press release.

Posted by Natalie Zee Drieu | Jan 31, 2006 12:08 PM
Crafts | Permalink | Comments (9) | Email Entry

Make Spaceships from Aspirin Bottles and Toilet Items

Over in the new MAKE forums John writes "Here's a how-to I wrote on making spaceships and sci-fi weapons from household items such as aspirin bottles, pvc pipe, toilet bolt covers, some hobby store styrene, and some parts from old models. Make Spaceships from Aspirin Bottles and Toilet Items Part 1 & Make Spaceships from Aspirin Bottles and Toilet Items Part 2."

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 31, 2006 11:11 AM
Arts, Crafts, DIY Projects | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email Entry

Build a LED matrix clock

Hans writes - "This LED Matrix Clock is a feasability study for a much larger project I am building for my employer, the intention was to prove to myself (and my employer!) that I am able to drive an LED matrix from a PC. This is the first project I have made which is driven by a PC. The clock uses 3 B64CDM8/B48CDM8 8x8 5mm LED Matrix modules from Nexus Machines, each having an onboard MAX7219 display driver chip. These require an SPI serial interface, which I by toggling pins of the host PC's parallel port (printer port). The small software application which drives the displays is written in Delphi 5 and runs on Windows NT 4." Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 31, 2006 10:01 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

HOW TO - Modify Modem to Control Appliances

Andrew writes- "I started this project when I had an idea to use a Mac to switch a solenoid on/off to control sprinklers around the house. Unfortunately I never took it that far, but I have been able to control a few other things, like a model train around the Christmas tree. Here I have documented how I did it." Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 31, 2006 09:00 AM
Computers, DIY Projects, Electronics | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email Entry

Bloggies - vote MAKE!

MAKE was nominated in the best crafts blog category for the 2006 bloggies. Thank you so much to everyone out there who nominated us, and now that we're up there - head on over and vote for MAKE! Today is the last day to vote!Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 31, 2006 08:15 AM
Announcements | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

Anonymous surfing for your USB thumb drive...

One download and you're set - "Download TorPark for your language, and put it on a USB Flash keychain. Plug it into any internet terminal whether at home, school, or public. Run Torpark.exe and it will launch a Tor circuit connection, which creates an encrypted tunnel from your computer indirectly to a Tor exit computer, giving the appearance of having the Tor exit computer's IP." [via] Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 31, 2006 06:00 AM
Online | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

HOW TO - PSP 2.00-2.60 homebrew with eLoader

CK sample of PSP Hack the book fame has a great how-to on using the eLoader to run homebrew on the PSP - "The solution isn't in the form of a downgrader, but rather in the form of an eLoader (EBOOT loader) that lets you use Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories to run homebrew on a PSP with version 2.0, 2.01, 2.5, and 2.6 of the firmware. Not all homebrew will run via this method, but there is a rather easy to read compatibility chart and I'm sure more things will begin working in future releases of the eLoader." Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 31, 2006 05:27 AM
PSP | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

PC joystick interface circuits

Here are a ton of PC joystick interface circuits "Fake Joystick circuit, the wire between multi-IO card and joystick connector, adding second joystick to PC joystick interface, Y-cable problems with soundcards and how to solve them, soundcard joystick port problem solver, build your own joysticks and controllers , convert Atari-style joystick to PC joystick port, use PC joystick port to measure temperature and light levels, connect other circuits to PC joystick port , using the joystick port as general purpose input ." Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 31, 2006 04:38 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

DIY Mouse Modding

Greg from DIY has some tips on mouse modding "...there may be some interest in modding a mouse, so it is important to understand how they work. You may want to control the cursor for some sort of a project. A rollerball mouse has has a ball that rolls on the desktop when you move the mouse. This movement turns a wheel that has small spokes in it. There are two different infrared LEDs, and two different infrared detectors per wheel, and there are two wheels per mouse. One wheel controls up and down, and the other one controls left and right." Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 31, 2006 03:10 AM
Computers, DIY Projects, Electronics | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

HOW TO - Creating a Game for the iRiver U10

If you know Flash, you can make games for that slick little U10 "The iRiver U10 is a new portable media player from Reigncom Ltd. whose entire user interface is implemented in Flash Lite 1.1. This means the player itself is embedded in the operating system. The device has the ability to play back Flash SWF files that you transfer to the device using the included USB cable. The device's unique form factor and UI make it particularly well suited for simple Flash games. The device has a four-way navigational control built into the display screen. To press Up, Down, Left, or Right, you actually squeeze the edge of the screen, which produces a slight tactile click and sends a keyPress event to the Flash Lite player." Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 31, 2006 02:00 AM
Gadgets, Portable Audio and Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

HOW TO - Simple DC Motor Controller

Handy how to for getting started with DC motor control - "This article explains the basics of how to get your motor to give feedback to a microcontroller and then control the speed of the motor with a good deal of precision (well... good enough for our robots). You can select any speed you want the 'bot to go and it will try to go that speed - even if it runs into difficult terrain. It will apply more power when it senses a slow down and the power will continue to be increased until the wheels turn at the selected speed (or until you run out of battery juice). In fact, it is quite interesting to command the robot to turn at a low rpm and then watch it crawl very slowly across the carpet. If you put your hand on it to stop it, it 'hunkers' down and starts pushing harder until you let it go. It then quickly settles into its slow and straight crawl." Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 31, 2006 01:01 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Robotics | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email Entry

Turning old music into digital

BBC's article on turning that old record collection to MP3s "With all the talk of MP3 and digital formats, it is easy to forget that music started off as analogue, on records. Chris Long shows how you can drag those magic vinyl masterpieces into the digital age." [via] Link. Also check out what our Makers posted about this here.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 31, 2006 12:00 AM
DIY Projects, Music, Retro | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

January 30, 2006

Maker Faire!

Join the creators of MAKE magazine, the MythBusters, and thousands of tech DIY enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, science clubs, students, and authors at MAKE's first ever Maker Faire. All kinds of people who make amazing things in garages, basements, and backyards. Inspiration, Know-How, and Spirited Mischief-Making: Weird Science, Ultimate Garage, Robotics, Digital Entertainment/Gaming,Green Tech & Electronics Recycling, Ultimate Workshop MAKE: Remix Video Film Festival and more... I have a lot more to post about all this, but the site is live go check it out!! Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 30, 2006 05:38 PM
Maker Faire | Permalink | Comments (9) | Email Entry

Poor man's battery tab welder

Phil writes - "Over the past few years, I've built up a few battery packs for myself and for other people. Most of them worked fine - in fact, one of the first packs I built over five years ago is still in service, working fine in a torch in the bottom of my cupboard. The big problem with soldering to batteries is that you tend to damage the plastic separator, and the cell seals. This - as you might guess - is not a Good Thing. In some cases, solder can splatter over the cell's pressure relief vent. There's a reason the datasheets make a big fuss about the vent - in an overpressure situation, the vent is used to release the excess pressure in the cell. Needless to say, blocking the vent with solder is never a good plan, unless you're trying to get a Darwin Award, or you happen to enjoy watching your battery pack undergoing rapid, uncontrolled self-disassembly." Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 30, 2006 04:19 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email Entry

Home built CD changer contraption

Great Maker project for CD burning automation - "Building some sort of gadget that changes the CDs in my cd tray is something I have often thought about. Mostly in the context of ripping my CD collection or burning a backup of my 5 gig photo collection. My first thought was to come up with something extremely simple, with no electronics. Ideally, the motion of the cd tray would trip some sort of mechanism that would eject the CD from the tray and insert the next one. After months of thinking, I still hadn't thought of a mechanism that had a hope of actually working." Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 30, 2006 02:33 PM
Computers, DIY Projects, Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

Homebrew Games and Emulation for ALL PSP's!

And we're back! PSPupdates is cranking out the PSP goodness! - "That's right, the day we've all been waiting for has finally arrived! Thanks to the fantastic work by our forum moderator Fanjita and his coding companion Ditlew, it is now possible to play vast amounts of homebrew programs and emulators on every PSP in the world, including those with 2.60 Firmware! Thanks to their monumental achievement, every PSP in the world is capable of playing homebrew!" [via] Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 30, 2006 01:06 PM
Gaming, PSP | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email Entry

DIY Headcam...

Here's a how to on making a head mounted camera from a Neuros MPEG4 Recorder..."The AdventureCAM project started because we needed a way to hike and shoot video footage at the same time. We are constantly reworking this setup, but the basic configuration is pretty much the same (digital storage, remote camera, remote trigger, backpack). Our most recent update to this setup is to replace the tape-based DV Camcorder with a solid state recording mechanism." [via] Link. I found a Tony Hawk low res camera on sale for $30 at Gamespot in Seattle, it's not freat quality but I took it apart for a project, worked ok...

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Jan 30, 2006 12:08 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Imaging, Wearables | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

January 2006 Home | Next >

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