The new version of the best browser in the world, Firefox, is out. I just installed it, it’s faster, seems snappier and everything works as far as extensions except GreaseMonkey, but you can download a version from here that does work with 1.5. You can also make old extensions work with this little trick too. Last up, check out this great discussion on what extensions folks are using over on our Radar blog.
Here’s a Flickr photo set of another laser etched Powerbook – this one looks like a really intricate scene with the Maker’s initials. I really like this design as it uses the light up Apple as the centerpiece. Nice work! Link.
“The $100 laptop designed by the Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) and the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) association, previewed at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) conference in Tunisia last week, will be using a Redhat Linux variant as its operating system.” [via] Link. The article also mentions there might be $200 versions for the general public to purchase.
Gene is looking for a scriptable USB-IR controller – “So far I have not been able to find such an animal. I bought the first generation of Robosapian. The robot from wowwe toys. It comes with a real crazy remote control. You have to press many keys in certain combinations to make the robot do anything. If I could program a dynamic IR device with the codes and then create scripts.. It would be possible for me to make my robot do all kinds of neat things. Also I am into doing time lapse videos. That is where you setup a camera and let it run for about an hour.. I throw the video into my computer and use the editing software to speed things up. That is fine.. But I have an Olympus 8mp digital SLR camera. It also has an IR control out. A programmable IR device as I described above would really help me out with my camera. I could setup a high resolution picture every 15 seconds using a laptop on location replacing the IR controller. This would produce a very high quality time lapse once I put it in my editing software.” I think the USB-UIRT might be a good start, any other suggestions for Gene? Link.
Mike writes “While LED circuits are pretty simple by Make standards, they are essential to amateur astronomers. This is because red light affects the human eye less than other colors, allowing astronomers to see their gear without destroying their night vision. This article shows how easy it is to create red LED light sources and give some examples of how to use them, including map readers, flash lights and interior lights for an eyepiece case.” Link.
Ever wonder what an Oscilloscope is? Or how to use one? Here’s a good guide on getting starting “An oscilloscope is easily the most useful instrument available for testing circuits because it allows you to see the signals at different points in the circuit. The best way of investigating an electronic system is to monitor signals at the input and output of each system block, checking that each block is operating as expected and is correctly linked to the next. With a little practice, you will be able to find and correct faults quickly and accurately.” Link.
Chris writes “Remote controls are a consumption product. They fall in the floor, the get coffee spilled over them, the get stepped on (maybe not..) – and they wear out. In this how-to we will show you how to revive your remote by swapping the buttons around. Easier then you think actually.” Link.
