Wrap Up a Holiday Hack…
Rachel Metz at Wired has a great article about using store-bought toys as raw material for your own one-of-a-kind designs – “Remote-control cars are so over. If you really want to be on the edge of holiday hipness this season, try a home-hacked version that drives itself. Artist Federico Muelas is a remote-control-car-hacking expert. He cracks open the remote, then connects it to an external chip, which in turn is connected to a computer. Through the computer, he reprograms the remote so, for example, cars can automatically zoom through an obstacle course.” Link.
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.” 
New Instructable on how to convert a computer power supply into a power supply for a lab bench, mat_the_w writes “I started into my main electronics classes, and needed a good power supply for working on lab projects at home in my room. My roommate Adam told me about somebody online who had converted a spare ATX computer power supply into a lab bench power supply, so I decided to do the same thing.” 
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.” 
Matt writes “Strangely aesthetically pleasing window blinds made out of junk mail. By affixing strips of junk mail to an existing set of venetian blinds, one can drastically reduce the amount of light allowed through without losing the ability to raise and lower the blinds. In my case, about three months’ worth of junk mail, but your mileage will vary. Your trusty roll of duct tape (color to suit). Two rolls of scotch tape. A ruler. A spool of uninsulated wire. A pair of needle-nosed pliers. A thumbtack. Space to work.” 
Great LEGO project, I’m hoping they release the code – “Introducing GameByEmail’s Dice-O-Matic. Made from Legos, a USB camera, and a bit of software, it’s a home-grown, dice-rolling monster. Don’t let it’s rickety looks deceive you; this puppy can easily crank out the 20,000 rolls a day consumed by GamesByEmail. In fact, at full speed it averages almost one roll a second, well over 80,000 a day!.” [
