The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for digital gadgetry, open code, smart hacks, and more. Processing power to the people!
MAKE Instructable group member Radiorental made a really nice laptop bag from 1/4″ thick antistatic workbench rubber mats – “Materials are irrelevent. I wanted a slightliy durable material and opted for this 1/4″ thick antistatic workbench rubber mat. Some neoprene for the parts of the bag that will directly cover the laptop to provide some shock absorbsion and a combination velcro & tarp snap for fastning.” Nice work! Link.
I didn’t know Goodwill had eBay-like auctions, but they do. Make reader zw suggested that the “Cameras & Electronic Equip” section has a lot of good deals and interesting equipment. And it’s true, there are a ton of weird and cheap electronics, most of them under $50. I also saw a new 4G iPod for $150. I’m not sure how good the actual purchase and delivery is, it seems the member organizations of Goodwill Industries International are the only sellers. It might be worth checking out. Link.
Run a Mac, on a stick. “Running Linux, Windows or applications like Firefox, Thunderbird and AbiWord from a USB flash memory device is old hat. How about a Mac 128K or Plus on a USB key? Using a ‘portable’ Mac system you can: play with old system software and applications without dusting off your old Mac, impress your friends, or show others what the older Mac system looked like, use Mac on Windows and Linux.” Thanks Jim! Link.
If laser cutting your Powerbook isn’t your thing, here’s a HOW-TO on replacing the glowing white Apple logo with the old school rainbow colored Apple. The tricky part is taking off the back case, but they have some pretty good tips on getting it off without damage. The logo was replaced by multicolored “Roscolux” gels. [via] Link.
Wow, Intel smacks what they call “gadgets” a bit – they think the $100 laptop effort is more of a gadget than a “grown up PC…not dependent on servers in the sky to deliver content and capability to them, not dependent for hand cranks for power.” It will be a fascinating to see what happens in the next couple years. I think it’s not just one solution, but many…The $100 laptop seems to be using, or will use an AMD processor, not Intel, I wonder if that’s why they’re down on it? Link. See our less than $100 version made from an Apple eMate here.
This is a great idea, one place on the web that may eventually contain every camera with all the important things you need to know about just about every camera – “Camerapedia.org is a free-content encyclopedia of camera information. The intention of the camerapedia Wiki is to be a repository for information and links to information about all still camera brands and models. You know your camera equipment better than anyone. Please share that knowledge with everyone and contribute.” Link.
Ask MetaFilter has an excellent question (How to make things?) with some great replies – “I’m looking for books that tell general building techniques, for example, how to weld, basic wood working principles, how to fabricate things, etc. Also, websites or blogs that cover that sort of thing would be nice. Also, I’d prefer books that suggest ways to build things without a lot of tools (For example, I own a circular saw and a Jigsaw but no table saw). In short: I’m looking for things that will teach me basic building techniques from wood to metal and electronics.” Link.
