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Blogsnapper at 09:10 am
We’ve posted about Phillips’ Ambilight (Wikipedia) real-time multicolor display backlighting system, and various DIY versions thereof, before (see below). If you’re not familiar with the idea, watch a few seconds of the embedded video, as it’s hard to appreciate the effect from still images. If you believe the hype, this kind of dynamic backlighting improves viewing by making it more “immersive” and reducing “backlight bleed.” In any case, it’s certainly cool-looking.
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Posted by Blogsnapper at 09:10 am
Jake Ketchum’s Automatic Media Deactivation System attaches to a standard power strip and shuts off all power to a room’s electronics when its smart sensor detects that a person is no longer in the room. When someone re-enters, the system is switched back on. He demonstrated his invention at Maker Faire Bay Area 2011.
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Posted by Blogsnapper at 09:10 am
We’ve posted about Phillips’ Ambilight (Wikipedia) real-time multicolor display backlighting system, and various DIY versions thereof, before (see below). If you’re not familiar with the idea, watch a few seconds of the embedded video, as it’s hard to appreciate the effect from still images. If you believe the hype, this kind of dynamic backlighting improves viewing by making it more “immersive” and reducing “backlight bleed.” In any case, it’s certainly cool-looking.
More: continued here
Posted by Blogsnapper at 08:10 am
RIP Steve Jobs. You, and your Homebrew Computer cohort and Apple Computer, fundamentally changed our lives, through technology. Multiple times. You (and Apple) made magic with technology. I literally gasped the first time I picked up the new MacBook Air. Not a lot of consumer tech makes me gasp.
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Posted by Blogsnapper at 08:10 am
As I wrote about a month ago, one of the many unusual phenomena Ben Krasnow has produced in his garage is supercritical CO2. As you may recall, Ben machined a custom acrylic pressure vessel so he could get (and give) a good look at a state of matter that most of us have little experience of. Since then Ben has inadvertently had a chance to observe another extremely unusual effect: the carbonation of solid acrylic.
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Posted by Blogsnapper at 08:10 am
I am probably flattering myself, taking any sort of credit for inspiring this sweet custom temperature controller built by Adafruit reader Mike to keep his beer-brewing fridge at a constant temperature. Like my recent project, it simultaneously controls AC-powered heating and cooling equipment to maintain a constant temperature, and is mounted in a CANTEX PVC junction box. But there the similarities pretty much end: Whereas I used a cheap off-the-shelf thermostat module from China, Mike built and programmed his own controller using an Arduino for brains, an Xbee for remote temperature control and data logging, and a cool multicolor LED display with letters that turn red when the system is heating, blue when it is cooling, and green when it is at the correct temperature.
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Posted by Blogsnapper at 06:10 am
Sean Ragan has done a lot of cool projects for us here on Make: Online. One of my faves is his shrink-film gaming minis tutorial. And even better, in it, he makes gaming pieces for one of my all-time favorite Steve Jackson Games’ classic sci-fi wargames: OGRE!
We’re slowly, but surely, moving all of the projects we’ve posted here online (and many from the magazine) into our Make: Projects platform. There, they can grow and change as you do the project and update the (wiki-based) project articles. Did you build shrink-film minis based on Sean’s original post? If so, what did you learn in the process that you might share with other makers? Got any pictures of your minis? Add them to the piece. It’s easy!
Shrink-Film Gaming Minis
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Posted by Blogsnapper at 06:10 am
This past weekend I went on a group bike tour of five compost sites in Western Queens, NY, in the neighborhoods of Astoria, Long Island City and Sunnyside. The sites were as diverse as the borough’s residents, ranging from barrels in community gardens to a one-acre rooftop farm. And the compost was as stinky and steamy as you would expect it to be!
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Posted by Blogsnapper at 06:10 am
Want to hand out treats for Halloween, but too lazy to do it yourself prefer to hide in the bushes and scare kids as they come up? Then you might want to check out the Automatic Halloween Candy Dispenser® by Noel Portugal. Triggered by TextforTreat®, CallforTreat® and @TweetforTreat® technologies, lucky visitors can use any number modern technologies to release some sweets, or they can just press a big red button.
He has a nice write-up about the project on his blog, and promises video after Sunday.
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Posted by Blogsnapper at 05:10 am
All the kitchen chemistry at my last place left the sink in no condition for human habitation, so I replaced it when I moved out, and took the old one with me. After some diligent scrubbing, it was ready to serve as a utility sink in my garage/workshop, hooked up to the washer/dryer connection there. All I lacked was a stand, and since I’d recently scored a bunch of these cool orange-colored Blazemaster PVC fittings at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for a song, I decided to make one out of PVC.
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