Month: April 2005

Here are some of the first photos of the 2006 Lexus RX 400h Hybrid. It’s pretty weird to “start it up” it’s just on, and then later after you’re moving the engine will kick in. I’ll have more later, but here are some geek features: 3 power ports for things like a Stompbox, Tablet PC display for live Google maps, etc.. Bluetooth which I’m not sure what exactly it can do with yet, but will know soon. And of course, it’s hybrid so you can get over 600 miles before needing to fill up.

Wow, this sounds like our Maker fair! I’m going to check this out and report back. Explore the world of engineering and science at the UW College of Engineering Open House held on April 22 (9am – 3pm) and April 23 (10am – 2pm). From water rockets to robot games to making liquid nitrogen ice cream, the college offers more than 100 hands-on exhibits, making this educational event truly interactive and fun. More at the UW College of Engineering Open House site.

It’s fun to make MIDI out of game controllers, but it might be more fun to control games using MIDI! Peter asks…“The real question is, can we get two MIDI guitars together and manage to pull off “dueling banjos” AND get a decent Pong score?”. The wait is over, MIDI controlled pong– Download PongKong here.

There’s a group called Flickr hacks which has some interesting things you can do with photos and more. I had posted an idea about using Flickr as a universal translator- you type in what you want to do, say, find, eat or whatever on your phone and you get a picture back that you can show someone you’re trying to communicate with. It’s based on a book called “Point to it“. Steeev from the group made a prototype which can found here. Neat!

Warning! Materials and ideas listed here are in part unproven and may be hazardous to use in the construction and operation of experimental hot air balloons and airships. Building and flying experimental aircraft involves significant risk and may lead to serious injury or death. That said, go check it out!

Here’s a great step by step on making a DIY Logitech Driving Force Pro Steering Wheel mount. Logitech makes a “Playseat chair” that’s pretty cool, but it’s about $200 and the maker in this project didn’t have space for it- so he made his own for about $13.

Here comes one of the first waves of DIY technology TV (like) shows. “From the shadows” -This first episode is about mobile gaming. The shadows crew test the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS wireless in all sorts of ways including jumping out of a plane and using the units while skydiving. Expect to see lots of DIY “shows” distributed via Bit torrent with content and production quality as good as regular ole’ TV. Horray for the longtail. I’m also looking forward to systm from Kevin Rose and gang.