Here’s another laptop to picture frame project – this one uses an iBook. The iBook screen was flipped around, a new color added and the whole thing uses a hockey puck to stand on its own. The power button was moved to a more accessible spot too. Link.
By using an old laptop, a home made chat-cord and some parts from an old telephone you can build a telephone tapping device. Add Atropos to the mix and you have yourself an telephone call archiving system that will save all incoming and outgoing calls. Maybe not that legal if you actually use it, as it’s illegal to tap phones in most contries. It’ss probably even illegal to tap you own phone but a fun project non the less. Step by step instructions and and even a sample of an incoming phone call. Link. Might be good for podcasting.
Peter writes “It’s toasters as musical instruments: people are stuffing guitar amps and effects and synths into vintage toasters, with tricked-out options like chrome paint, rubber tires, and flame throwers. And yes, they still make toast.” Link. Also worth mentioning, Peter has 3 great DIY music articles in MAKE 04.
Seems to me this would could be used with a GPS and low cost portable computer for the blind…“a belt which enables its user to feel his orientation in space via vibrotactile stimulation. This belt is equipped with a set of vibrators controlled by an electronic compass: the element pointing north is always slightly vibrating. That way, the person wearing the belt gets permanent input about his heading relative to the earth’s magnetic field.” [via] Link.
Here’s a pretty good overview and how to on setting up Linux on a Mac or PC. I usually carry a few Ubuntu “live CDs” when I travel – these CDs allow you to boot in to Linux, but it won’t mess up anything on the hard drive. More often than not, the folks I show it to start using Ubuntu, it’s a pretty nice system and this how to is really handy to get it up and running on that old computer gathering dust you might have. Link.
The most 30″ Apple Cinema displays, ever. Scientists at UC Irvine have completed the world’s highest-resolution grid-based display for visualizing and manipulating massive data sets. The Highly Interactive Parallelized Display Wall (HIPerWall) is a room-sized display that measures nearly 23 x 9 feet. The HIPerWall system, consisting of 50 flat-panel tiles, resides in the Calit2 Center of GRAVITY (Graphics, Visualization and Imaging Technology) at UCI, and provides a total resolution of 200 million pixels, bringing to life terabyte-sized data sets. HIPerWall’s resolution is nearly twice that of the world’s next-highest resolution display wall. [via] Link.
Interesting device built from a Sherline 5400 tabletop milling machine…information on a a portable, battery powered, electromechanical projectile launcher the author designed and built. It is a type of “centrifugal” launcher powered by a DC motor. The launcher fires primarily plastic spheres (or steel with some modifications) semi- or full- automatically that is more powerful than a typical airsoft gun. No compressed air or any other energy source besides the battery pack is needed to power the launcher, so it is capable of sustained full automatic fire. The device is called a “PEST”, or Portable Electromechanical Slug Thrower for short. *grin* The PEST has the following specifications… Link.
