Hardware Beyond the Hype
Wow. Check out this amazing site dedicated to hobby water rockets.
For most of us geeks, black powder rockets got more of our attention as kids, but water rockets, which use pressurized water as their propellant, have their own allure, especially when they’re taken as seriously as the craft on this site: multistaging, launch and recovery systems, on-board cameras, it’s all here. These babies get series air too, up to 500′
For all you Benders out there:
Street Tech staff photographer Jay Townsend writes:
This kit contains a standard MIDI IN port module that fits inside a “Speak & Spell,” “Speak & Read,” or “Speak & Math” toy. This lets you create some cool lo-tech sounds to use as loops and effects for techno and experimental music.
Cool Factor: High
Geek Factor: Even Higher
There have been several LEGO-based case mods recently. Here’s the latest, for the short-live Apple Cube.
We always liked the Cube (Mac Mini 1.0?), but aren’t a big fan of the whole Lucite thing (tres ’70s) Note to Apple: Lose the Lucite crumb-catcher keyboard on the new iMacs!
Anywho… this mod covers the Cube in lovely glossy-black LEGO blocks.
[Via TUAW]
MAKE has an update on the latest usability hacks for the el cheapo CVS “disposable” digital camcorder. Hackers have figured out how to get video data from the camera to a PC over a custom USB cable. Still something for the pocket-protector crowd only, but it’s only a matter of time before hacks reach a level of friendly that mere mortals can deal with. Of course, by then, the camera manufacturer will likely break everything, and the cat and mouse game will continue. Ain’t technology fun?
I just had a cool discovery. I was watching an episode of “Attack of the Show” that I’d TiVo’d and saw my name in big-ass letters, a close-up of the cover to my Mousey article from Make, vol. 2. Phillip Torrone was on the show to demo various projects and hacks from the mag, including Mousey.
BTW: Phillip also announced on the show that a full PDF of the project is now available here.
Popular Science’s How2.0 column has a nifty piece on how a guy turned a backpack into a solar-powered WiFi hotspot (via a bridge to a high-speed cellular Net service).
So, the next time you’re hiking around Southern California, don’t be afraid to whip out your WiFi-equipped portable to see if you can sniff out Net access. You may, thanks to this uber-geek lugging a hotspot on his back. (Of course, later on, you can pay your last respects when you find him dead from dehydration and over-exposure ’cause he didn’t have room for his camping gear — but hey, that solar hotspot’ll STILL be hummin’ away!)
[Via Boing Boing]
Doc Searls has a nice discussion of the workings of tiny FM transmitters for MP3 players, as well as a simple hack to extend their range. Basically, stick a headphone extender cable between your iPod and the transmitter, which serves as a crude antenna.
Sorry for the slow blogfeed. I’ve been MIA on family business. Junior’s on his way to art school. Daddy’s tired.
Finally got a chance to view the second installed of Kevin Rose and Dan Huard’s Systm vidcast. This one is devoted to building a PC box dedicated to running MythTV, the Linux-based, open source alternative to TiVo. The installation how-to trips along at light speed, and will fail weaker hearts, but combining this visual show and tell with online docs and discussions should be enough to get moderately tech-savvy techies up and running.
I have a project that I need some help with. Way…..way back in college, I was at an outdoor party. The music that was being provided was from a home-built car stereo (cassette, not 8-track) equipped with 2 car speakers and an equalizer all built into a wooden box the size of a boom box. It was hooked up to a car battery. I thought this was ingenious. It ran all day. It has stuck in my mind all these years. Does anyone know of a how-to book or article?
