The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for digital gadgetry, open code, smart hacks, and more. Processing power to the people!
We got a lot of email and tweets this morning about the appearance of MAKE on the Apple website to promote their iOS 4.3 software update and faster Safari performance. Sweet! We think MAKE looks and works pretty great on the iPhone and iPad, too. Hopefully the Apple plug will snag us a few more […]
Two updates to our Sony article “Sony’s War on Makers, Hackers, and Innovators”. First, I sent George Hotz an email asking what he thought about the article and if he had anything to add, we also had a reader email that was pretty interesting.
Next to duct tape, the binder clip has to be one of the more universal go-to items when improvising a short term solution to an interesting problem. If you’ve ever enjoyed the magic of child iPasification then you are also aware of the annoying little issue of said child clicking the home button and potentially wreaking havoc on your device. A software solution is not out of the question, but if you’re looking for a quick fix you might want to consider Carlos J. Gomez de Llarena’s suggestion of using a binder clip as a makeshift child lock. It may not be foolproof since kids are pretty inventive when it comes to breaking into things, but at least you can take advantage of their poor motor skills as a deterrent.
Allerta Lead Designer Eric Migicovsky just released the code to his Facebook Places check-in app for the inPulse smartwatch. This simple app communicates over Bluetooth to an Android smartphone, which in turn interacts with Facebook Places. Without reaching for his smartphone, Eric can easily check in to his Facebook Places account using an easy to navigate one button interface.
When I first came across this video by South Korean maker Mok Young Bak I have to admit that I didn’t quite get it. I haven’t had that many buttons on a mobile in years. All kidding aside, any technology that gets you away from a desk is well worth the investment. Bonus points if it includes streaming video and remotely operated actuators.
Bob Alexander wrote in with his elegant USB clock/web data display: When I built my Homemade Digital Clock, I shamelessly overdesigned it. It had an eight character alphanumeric display (plus two discrete LEDs for a colon), four more discrete LEDs for indicators, two printed circuit boards, and two microcontrollers (three, if you count the GPS […]
Here’s a fairly radical way to motivate yourself to learn Morse, from Australian Ben Buxton. Got to agree with tipster Alan Dove, who described the build as, “a project involving Arduino programming, a mint tin, a USB interface, and International Morse Code, resulting in unassailable geek cred.” The USB key interface is built into a mint tin and provides a dual input port for a standard USB keyboard to access non-Morse characters. A numeric display on the tin displays your coding speed, and tapping out “SOS” without letter spaces brings up the settings menu. Software, schematics, and build notes at Ben’s site. [Thanks, Alan!]
