Futurepicture, a homebrew light field camera
Ever take a photograph, and realize after the fact that you focused on a tree in the background instead of your subject’s face? Wish you could go back and fix it?
Computers & Mobile
The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for digital gadgetry, open code, smart hacks, and more. Processing power to the people!
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 & […]
See-through sink trap with clog-clearing knob
This PermaFLOW sink trap from PF Waterworks was featured in Popular Science’s Best of What’s New 2008. To be clear, I’ve neither owner nor use one of these, so I can’t vouch for the quality of the product nor for its practical effectiveness. However, I admire the clever thinking that went into the design: the transparency lets you see at a glance how bad the clog is (or if your wedding ring really went down there), and the knob lets you clear it without dismantling the trap. At least in theory. In practice, of course, accumulated grime (or algae, if your trap is regularly exposed to light) might eventually obscure the interior of the pipe, and the rotating paddle mechanism might break down or get fouled with hair. Be interesting to see if this thing is still around in five years, and if so, how the early installations are holding up. [via SlipperyBrick]
Wiimote as Scientific Sensor
Researchers from Delft University of Technology have assembled inexpensive alternatives to costly scientific sensors using the Nintendo Wiimote.
Make your own Square credit card reader?
I’ve been following “Square” it’s a MEGA VC’ed company that has a dongle that accepts credit cards on devices like iPhones. It seems there is some type of dispute over who invented or something… Square, a new company that makes a small device to let anyone make a credit card payment from their mobile phone, has […]
3D laser-etched acrylic zoetrope
From the Design Media Lab at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, this “crystal zoetrope” technology involves spinning a cylinder of acrylic with internally etched 3D designs. The disk is surrounded by an array of LEDs that can flash in time with the rotation, or slightly asynchronously, to make the designs appear to move in space, and, additionally, to gradually rotate around the center of the cylinder in one direction or another. The direction and speed of rotation can be controlled by gestural movements on the tabletop. [via Dude Craft]
What Matters Now: free ebook
What Matters Now: free ebook from Seth Godin – Dale (publisher of MAKE) in there! Seth writes – Now, more than ever, we need a different way of thinking, a useful way to focus and the energy to turn the game around. I hope a new ebook I’ve organized will get you started on that […]
