Hacks

How-To: Make high-voltage sparks using a spark-plug

How-To: Make high-voltage sparks using a spark-plug

We went to the hardware store and came home with lots of PVC bits that we assembled into a barrel and a chamber. Then we waffled for some time about how to hack together an electric ignition system. Our thoughts went immediately to using an automotive spark-plug, but none of us really understood enough about electricity to know how to separate the spark-plug from the car. We were pretty sure you couldn’t just take a spark-plug and wire it up to a car battery and expect results, but beyond that we were clueless. We ended up using a piezoelectric barbecue grill igniter, which gave satisfactory results but often required several “clicks” to actually fire the thing.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan4
Tivo’s 30-second commercial skip easter egg

Tivo’s 30-second commercial skip easter egg

If you’ll recall, there was a lot of industry flap when DVRs were becoming available because of the effect that automatic pre-recording of programming would have on TV advertising. Automatic commercial-skipping features introduced the possibility that viewers could watch TV for the rest of their lives and never have to see another ad. ReplayTV, an early and promising competitor to Tivo, was basically destroyed by industry legal action over its automatic commercial-skipping feature. The fact that you have to fast-forward through commercials on your Tivo today, using that clunky pop-goes-the-weasel scan routine, is basically a concession to TV advertisers who would not abide a system that didn’t require you to at least watch the ads on fast-forward.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan16

Circuit bent toy frog

Spotted in the MAKE Forums: Mischka modified this motion-activated greeting toy, making it into a simple sample and loop frog noise machine. There don’t seem to an explanation of how it was done, but it looks like a fun project! More: Flashback: Circuit Bending How-To: Circuit-bending the VL-Tone Circuit bending work station MIDI-controlled circuit bending […]

Continue Reading Matt Mets