There seems to be no end to the wacky and wonderful Altoids tin hacks floating around cyberspace. Few people know this, but it was an Altoids-tin-as-project-box that was the original inspiration behind Street Tech. I saw a how-to project for a phone phreaker’s Red Box — I think it was in Danny Drennan’s awesome ’90s zine Inquisitor — that was housed in an Altoids tin. This got me thinking about Gibson’s famous “the street finds its own uses for things” and the idea of a site that chronicled the growth of such trickle-down “street tech.” We still have an enduring fascination for this type of tech appropriation and the sort of techie folk art seen in things like these prevalent Altoids hacks. Which brings us to…
Aaron Dunlap’s 9V USB Battery Charger Kit. This project, for building a simple 9V battery-based recharger for iPods, cell phones, and any other battery-powered gadgets, has been around for a while, but Aaron has created an inexpensive kit with step-by-step instructions (US$9.50) for those who are too lazy to track down all the parts. You provide the Altoids tin (or other project box).