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The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for the kitchen, garage and backyard from food to furniture to fun & games for your family.

Make your own MMORPG

Make your own MMORPG

Screen2I think most of the online worlds will eventually swing this way – Multiverse is in beta “Make a complete Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) or virtual world for less money and in less time than you could have dreamed possible. Participate in the game industry’s most exciting frontier. Build the features that make your game unique, leveraging the expertise of the networking and infrastructure experts who helped build the web. Deliver your vision to a built-in market of players–without having to ask a publisher’s permission or give up your intellectual property.” [via] Link.

Panorama of a human head…

Panorama of a human head…

PanoThis is an incredibly cool, yet creepy panorama of a human head. I’d like to use this to make my Second Life avatar! “We’re trying to make high quality texture maps for game models. Using an FX-1 psuedo HD Sony camera, (its 1440 pixels, which is Sony’s anamorphic short-hand for a 1920 16:9 image,) placed sideways, I filmed Yoshi as he rotated on a turntable in front of the camera. The bank-robber cap was his idea. This resulted in about 1200 frames of a 360 degree pass around the head.” Thanks TowMater! Link.

HOW TO – Make a force feedback racing simulator

HOW TO – Make a force feedback racing simulator

01If you’ve ever taken a spin on one of those theme park rides that show movies, shift/thrash the audience simulator-style you might like the idea of building your own. Jared, the Maker writes – “For some time I have wanted to make my own, seeing the NASA shuttle simulator and other similar training simulators all over. Well one day while playing mech 4 I realized that I had the power to do so literally in the palm of my hand. So I decided to mod out my simulator. Well a lot of R & D went into this and this is actually a prototype for the main build to come.” Link.

Inexpensive and abundant LEDs

Inexpensive and abundant LEDs

Cj Xmas 03 White Led N Globe LilExcellent guide on procuring LEDs from a cheap and plentiful source – “They come disguised as “Christmas Lights” – the “Forever Bright” line is especially good. And they are the subject of this article. Why bother? Cost. A string of 75 BLUE LED lights costs $10 on sale – and up where I am there’s a $5 rebate per string for “Energy Saver” lights. So that’s five bucks for 75 LEDs – or about 7 cents per LED for the expensive BLUE ones. Cheap.” Link.

HOW TO – Watch TV and play PS2 games on your PSP

HOW TO – Watch TV and play PS2 games on your PSP

BasestationKotaku has an overview on watching TV on your PSP using Sony’s LocationFree TV “watch cable TV, DVDs and DVR from your home entertainment center anywhere you can access a broadband connection. The one (major) downside is that you have to fork out about $350 to buy the LocationFree TV base station.” – a commenter on the site also mentions “you can use it to play PSX/PS2 games on the PSP. Granted there is a slight lag, but it does work.” Link.

Open source media center for Windows…

Open source media center for Windows…

MediaWhy buy a Media Center PC when you can make your own – fun project for an old PC “MediaPortal turns your PC in a very advanced Multi-Media Center / HTPC. It allows you to listen to your favorite music, radio, watch your video’s and DVD’s, view, schedule and record live TV and much more. You get Media Portal for free/nothing/nada/nopes and best of all it is opensource. This means anyone can help developing Media Portal or tweak it for their own needs! “ [via] Link.