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January 17, 2010

Lego router works!

Too cool - Luke rehoused his WRT54GL's PCB in an entirely Lego-built enclosure. He was also kind enough to provide downloadable instructions on his blog. Anyone out there been using Lego for their DIY electronics projects? [via Byphenyl's Twitter feed]

January 15, 2010

Hacking Pizza with PizzaHacker

Earlier this week I was exiting an event in San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood when I bumped into PizzaHacker and his amazing Franken-Webber portable wood burning pizza oven.

Drive-by guerilla street food is some of the best food out there. Just glancing at the prep table I noticed the choicest ingredients. Fresh basil, buffalo mozzarella, smoked salt? Further investigation finds that PizzaHacker uses sauce made exclusively from organic heirloom tomatoes and hand kneads his naturally leavened sourdough for what some say rivals the most trendy pizza establishments in the area.

Part of what makes this open air culinary spectacle work is the heavily modded Webber 22.5" grill that's been outfitted with fireproof blocks and a domed top comprised of refactory cement and perlite that's been molded in the original Webber top. Using chunks of wood and charcoal, the Franken-Webber quickly reaches 1000F (the ideal temperature for cooking authentic Neopolitan-style pizza).

Here's a video from PizzaHacker's site:

More:

January 5, 2010

Glow-in-the-dark record player display

This light sculpture by German multimedia design collective lab binaer may look like a persistence of vision (POV) display at first glance, but in fact works on a very different principle. It's built from a record player, and the turntable has been treated with a phosphorescent pigment. Messages are printed on the pigment by an array of bright lights on the tone arm, and slowly fade to black as the phosphorescence wanes. It's titled »Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod« or "Death calls the tune." [via Hack a Day]

January 4, 2010

Bluetooth Ericofon

SQNewton didn't just crack open a bluetooth headset and cram it into a cool retro handset casing; he developed his own hardware to produce a fully-functional, self-contained phone that uses the Ericofon's original rotary dial, gives dial and busy tones, mimics the original Ericofon ringer, and has voice-recognition dialing to top it off. [via Hack a Day]

Dell netbook to Dell Android phone mod

Check out this build video of a Dell Inspiron netbook modded to resemble a gigantic Dell Mini 3i Android smartphone. [shanzai via androinica]

December 30, 2009

Intern's Corner: DIY LED yo-yo side caps

MAKE: Intern's Corner
Every other week, MAKE's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Make: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

By Eric Chu, engineering intern

There aren't many low-budget ways to customize one's yo-yo. The most common ones are either painting or dyeing, but they're limited: paint chips off with time, and dyeing is only for plastic yo-yos.

Being a yo-yo fanatic, I regularly visit the blog yoyoskills.com for yo-yo news. There I recently read a post about spin-activated LED side caps that fit into the side of yo-yos. They're low-cost ($6) and look very cool; a perfect customizing add-on for a yo-yo. Unfortunately, they only come in one size, thus only fitting a few yo-yos.

I thought it'd be a fun project to make my own set (and it was!). I used a One Drop Project yo-yo.

How It Works
Using the centrifugal force generated by the spinning of the yo-yo, the spring, acting as the switch, is pulled outward. It makes contact with the positive leads of the LEDs, thus completing the circuit, turning the LEDs on.

It looks great in action, day or night. Check out the video:

I'll be writing up the project as a DIY article soon. Look for it in MAKE Volume 22 this spring.

December 22, 2009

Multitouch display support in Linux

Adding a capacitive touchscreen to your Linux netbook just took a huge leap forward. Developers at ENAC Interactive Computing Lab in France recently published a video showing multitouch support on a standard PC running Fedora. [via liliputing]

December 17, 2009

Celebrating PC "kustom kulture" at Exploratorium

Many years ago, back in the early days of computer modding, I did a piece for Details magazine where I "predicted" that PCs would become the next generation's muscle cars. That's pretty much become the case (...er no groaning puns intended) and that's what the San Francisco Exploratorium will be celebrating in their "Rods & Mods: The Kustom Kulture of Radical Computer Modification" show, Thursday-Saturday, February 11, 12 and 13, 2010.

For three days in February, the Exploratorium showcases the innovations and outlaw aesthetics of custom computer culture at Rods & Mods: The Kustom Kulture of Radical Computer Modification. An outgrowth of the hacker community, personal computer modding was born from the need for speed and personal style. From Thursday through Saturday, February 11-13, from noon to 5pm, look under the hood of this creative subculture and explore the hacking geekery that ignited a billion-dollar design industry. Rods & Mods features a showroom of souped-up PCs, restored classics, and experimental computers, as well as workshops, presentations, and a parts swap. Modders will be on hand throughout the event to discuss their work. This event is included in the price of admission.

Rods & Mods: The Kustom Kulture of Radical Computer Modification

December 16, 2009

Intern's Corner: IdeaPaint -- whiteboard a whole wall

MAKE: Intern's Corner
Every other week, MAKE's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Make: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

By Ed Troxell, photo intern

I'm the photo intern at MAKE but I like to do more than just one thing, like starting my own magazine and shooting videos. A couple months ago I came across IdeaPaint in Inc. Magazine -- it's this cool paint that you can apply to any surface and turn it into a whiteboard. It comes in ten colors and can be used pretty much anywhere in your home, office, school, you name it, as long as the surface is smooth and flat. It's great for team meetings, kids' rooms, and brainstorming.

I sent the link over to MAKE managing editor Shawn Connally, and the next thing I know we've got a can of orange IdeaPaint on its way to the office for us to test out. We're gonna make an orangeboard!

Read full story

Wiimote as Scientific Sensor

Researchers from Delft University of Technology have assembled inexpensive alternatives to costly scientific sensors using the Nintendo Wiimote.

Luxemburg's team aimed the Wiimote at a problem that can be very tricky for hydrologists: measuring evaporation on a body of water. The easiest way to measure evaporation is to place pans of water near the lake, or whatever water is being studied, and put pressure sensors in them. The sensors record the drop in pressure as more and more water disappears. But this equipment can run $500 or more, and still the measurements aren't accurate because the water in the pan gets warmer on land than it would in the lake. Alternatively, measuring the level of water in a pan that is floating in a lake is also tricky because the pan will inevitably be moving.

Hacked Wiimote Makes Super Scientific Sensor [via Slashdot]

December 12, 2009

On a unicycle built for two...

Not a whole lot of build info, but this looks like it would be an exciting ride! [Thanks, Star!]

December 11, 2009

Predator-themed custom bike

I wouldn't go so far as to say I "like" this incredibly involved theme bike featured at Super Street Bike (gratuitous T&A; warning), but it definitely has a high OMG factor. [via Geekologie]

December 9, 2009

How-To: Make a wooden keyboard enclosure

This great tutorial on building a wooden keyboard case is just the tip of the iceberg at Matthias Wendell's impressive "woodworking for engineers" site. [via Hack a Day]

iVictrola iPhone acoustic amplifier

There have been a few acoustic amplifiers designed for the iPhone. The iVictrola from maker Matt Richmond has to be the coolest so far. The functional sculpture's simplistic design consists of a carved block of wood and an old Victrola horn that embodies both modern and old-timey charm. [via iPhoneSavior]

December 7, 2009

Old school bluetooth handset

Rugged and comfortable, the old school POTS handsets are hard to beat when you want to chat on the phone for extended periods of time. Most newer phones try to mimic the design, but they haven't really approached the simplicity of the older handsets. Maker Jarek Lupinski recently came across some older phones his school was recycling and decided to build this utilitarian bluetooth handset using an old bluetooth headset and some chunky buttons.

December 3, 2009

Wii remote for MAME on iPhone

Mobile gaming mastermind ZodTTD has updated his mame4iPhone app to use BTStack, allowing the use of a Wii remote as a controller. I could see using this with the iPhone app video out hack as a low-cost casual gaming console. It would be pretty cool to go from playing a mobile game directly to playing the same game on a large screen with a controller. It's no Xbox, but give it a few years.

December 2, 2009

Attach an SLR lens to an iPhone with the Phone-O-Scope

Camera hacker Bhautik Joshi, who brought us the brilliant DIY tilt-shift lens hack, has produced another great optical device. Detailed instructions on his site walk you through the creation of the Phone-O-Scope, an optical coupler that allows an iPhone to accept a standard SLR lens.

Just to get the inevitable question of 'why' out of the way - well, why not? As far as I can tell, I think this is the first - I couldn't find any similar SLR lens to camera phone attaching attempts anywhere else online. The Phone-O-Scope doesn't take especially superb images, and it's a bit clumsy to handle. On the other hand, it's fun to shoot with and produces very analog (almost Holga-like) results. You also get the advantages of SLR lenses - that is, DOF effects, and the wide range of available focal lengths (i.e. macro to telephoto).

November 16, 2009

Folding lightbox from IKEA changing table

Furniture hacker Boris converted an IKEA Sniglar baby changing table into a portable folding lightbox. [via IKEAHacker]

I first thought to keep the table structure as it, but finally, I preferred to use the two level of the table to make one foldable table. I first fixed together the two vat with a long piano hinge. Then I stuck aluminium foil into the vats to reflect the light and I fixed four neon tubes into it. A few meters of cable later, I then closed the vats with two white and opaque plexiglass panels and that's it.

November 13, 2009

Google Maps Navigation ported to G1 & MyTouch

If you own an older Android phone and were curious about Google Maps Navigation, but were afraid to ask, here's instructions to get it running. [via AndroidCentral]

November 12, 2009

Electronically modified Didgeridoo - complete with Bluetooth!

Kyle Evans' heavily modded didgeridoo looks a bit like it was plucked from Master Chief's luggage and it's malleable drone sounds just as intense -

I created this instrument to experiment in the combination of the organic sound qualities of a didgeridoo with the advanced signal processing capabilities of modern computer programming and sound synthesis. This custom built didgeridoo features externally mounted modules that allow the performer to process and manipulate the sound of the instrument in real time. All control data is transmitted wirelessly via blue tooth and is controlling several audio processes created in a custom-built software environment.

Wow! [via Matrixsynth]

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