DIY Projects

The 20 Blackberry project challenge…

The 20 Blackberry project challenge…

BlackberriesIf you can think of a project that uses 20 Blackberries, they can be yours – Bruno writes “I’ve got two boxes of Blackberries that must be at least 5 years old. They’re not stolen, they’re surpluss from the company I work for (got lost at the back of a storage room and forgotten). If you can think of anything fun to make out of them, they’re yours, just let me know.” Post in the comments if you’d like them and what your project is. I think the batteries, LCDs, chargers and keypads could be useful for a few things…

HOW TO – External Winamp Control

HOW TO – External Winamp Control

63922535 Fd76B97Bc6 MPastelero has a great how to on controlling WinAmp via a serial port “Nowadays, winamp has full support to keyboard shortcuts. But some time, when winamp didn’t have this feature, I was thinking in some way to make a easy way to change music by simply pressing one button, it would make things faster and would help me to change music during games. So I decided to make a external control panel, to make it easier to change musics, volume up or down, toggle shuffle and many other features by pressing just one button. I found one winamp plugin that shows how to configure a external control using the Serial Port, being able to make 4 or 15 buttons control…” [via] Link.

Laptop to Homemade Digital Picture Frame Resources

Laptop to Homemade Digital Picture Frame Resources

JuiceIf you’re thinking of building a LCD picture frame from an old computer, here’s a great resource to get started “This site was inspired by a MacWorld article on turning an old mac laptop into a digital picture frame. I decided to try my hand at creating my own digital frame. While looking around for information to help me with my project, I soon realized that there are quite a number of people who have been building digital picture frames. This page is a resource for anyone who would like to create their own digital picture frames.” Link.

HOW TO – Build a PVC greenhouse

HOW TO – Build a PVC greenhouse

Greenhouse12.0Excellent blog detailing the construction of a PVC greenhouse – Adami writes “I have 270 feet of PVC pipe, about 50 pipe fittings (elbows, tees, crosses) for the joints, metals screws, some wire ties, and PVC pipe glue ready to go. The goal is to have a sturdy structure, that is light weight, as air-tight as possible, that can be broken down in the spring and stored behind the fence.” Link.

DIY Skype VoIP Phone Adapter

DIY Skype VoIP Phone Adapter

Small Picture 038Here’s a cheap Skype/VoIP interface to your wired or wireless phone. “Just imagine: You can walk with your wireless phone chatting with Skype friends for free, you can make free call to your mom if she is connected to the Internet. You can make your telephone network with servises, voicemail, etc and chat there using your old phone. Skype wireless phones are expensive, VoIP adapters cost ~$60, but you can make it for free if your have details.. from old TV, Radio or other electronics.” Link.

Deconstructing the Garmin Etrex Vista GPS

Deconstructing the Garmin Etrex Vista GPS

Vistarepair6-746101El Hombre writes “The Vista is a nice unit and I quite like it (mainly for biking and hiking) but it must be said that Garmin’s service and repair policy stinks. There is a default warranty of one year, and after the warranty has expired, you are charged a flat rate for any repair. The flat rate depends on the model and for the Vista it will set you back about $150. Right, that’s half the price of a new unit.”… Here the how to on a DIY fix for a bad electrical contact on the Garmin Etrex Vista. Thanks Tom! Link.

DIY iSight Tripod Mount

DIY iSight Tripod Mount

Isight I was just making one of these when MAKE pal Steve sent this in! – “Well, as you may know I like to shoot a timelapse video now and then… I’ve been using an earlier version of this iSight tripod mount for about a year, so today I thought I’d share the new and improved version: It consists of a couple of pieces of hardwood braced at a 90 degree angle… I have one piece of wood with two holes in it (the mounting plate), and then a piece of wood that is 90 degrees to the mounting plate for the iSight bracket to grab on to, and then two triangles (with the corners cut off)… “ Link.