Hacks

On page 112 of MAKE Volume 05 (“How to Build a Power Tap”), we ran an illustration that could cause some confusion as well as a tripped circuit breaker. The illustration does not match the instructions (which are correct). The illustration shows a dual plug receptacle, which, when wired improperly, can cause a short circuit. If you attach the wires from the extension cord to the screws on the same side of the receptacle, it will create a short circuit. Don’t do that. Instead, follow the instructions and attach a wire to “each side of the electrical outlet.”

The MAKEbot has arrived! This is “beta”, so we’ll see how it goes. The MAKEbot is a AIM/iChat buddy you add to your list. When you type latest, he will give you the latest headlines from Makezine.com. You can type subscribe 1 and he’ll deliver the latest news each hour, lastly – if you type keywords like psp, welding, ipod or whatever he’ll search the Makezine.com site and pages from MAKE and give you a link from our search engine to help you find what you’re looking for…You can also type help to get a list of commands. Here are some screenshots and a little more information…

Michael Tiemann here at OSCON has a challenge “Many car audio systems have a feature that increases the volume of the program to keep the signal level constant over the noise level. But with cars like the Prius, we can control the level of the noise based on the signal–a better approach. The first hack is to mod the Prius power management system so that in addition to battery level, acceleration, and speed, it takes GPS data into account…”

OK, here’s the actual Google Talk client. It’s pretty nice, does IM, can email contacts very quickly (Gmail) and the VOIP feature is crystal clear. The freaky part- Google Talk uses the same voice technology as Skype it seems, but uses an open standard for IM. I’m working on a way to record for podcasts, we’ll see how that goes…You can get the Google Talk client for PCs here HACK: The play numbers on the about screen translate to, “wumpusgame”… so, “play wumpusgame” If you invite wumpus.game@gmail.com and IM that user, “play” you can play ‘HUNT THE WUMPUS’ and finally – here are all the screenshots…

There’s a somewhat little know and often-unused function of iPod called “Notes” which can actually be quite handy for storing and reading text, creating a locked “kiosk mode”, quizzes, games as well a full-length ebooks. The Notes reader is located in Menu > Extras > Notes. Only the more recent 3G and 4G iPods, including the iPod photo and iPod mini both have the iPod Notes application. Here’s our how-to on making them!…

Here’s the latest audio from MAKE Magazine! In this Make audio show- we talk with Thomas Burick, Founder and President of White Box Robotics. His DIY off-the-shelf PC based robots may indeed change the world of robotics and beyond! Right click or Control + click to download this MP3 to you local system or add the MAKE Audio feed to your podcasting application and get the show automatically! Show notes and image gallery after the jump…

Here’s the latest audio from MAKE Magazine! In this special Make audio show- we talk with Tom Jozwiak & Kelly Krider two fellows who build their own R2-D2 units! We feature these in MAKE issue 02 on sale now- bring along this audio and listen to it while you’re waiting in line for Episode III! Right click or Control + click to download this MP3 to you local system or add the MAKE Audio feed to your podcasting application and get the show automatically! Show notes and image gallery after the jump…