David writes “This is a PC Case mod that installs four binding posts that are linked to the PC’s power supply into an empty drive bay so that you can use it as a bench 5V or 12V power supply……..especially useful if you’re messing around with PIC programming, etc.” This is an excellent mod, this could make a great accessory for Maker types too if it were to go in production (or just make one with this how to). Link.
Krazydad writes – “I decided a few weeks ago to build a wooden gear clock because I wanted to understand the clock mechanism better. There are a number of websites that offer plans for wooden gear clocks, but as someone with absolutely no woodworkng experience (band practice generally interferes with taking shop class), and no tools, I needed something that was ready to build. I found three sites that offer such kits…” Here’s a review of the Ascent Wooden Gear Clock kit. Link.
wireless.gumph.org has a how to on making a small WiFi antenna – “A small antenna to boost the signal of a laptop wireless card, that can be stuck to the back of the laptop screen. The design is the same as for the larger homemade antenna, but uses thin RG58 cable and is only 2 sectors long. The size was chosen so it could be housed inside the tube of an old pen, to provide rigidity and protection to the antenna.” Thanks Star! Link.
We do cover a lot of food how to’s here, but this one is one I’ll actually make – “Ever had a big lunch and then fall into a food coma when you go back to work/class? Here’s a nice ‘pick me up’ treat that’s simple to make and delicious as well! Here are the stuff you need: Semi-Sweet Chocolate chips (or block), Coffee beans (maybe canned), wax paper, butter knife (or sm. offset spatula).” Link.
Michael writes “While looking up the Firebug extension for Firefox, I ran into this site about a simple-to-build sailboat from New Zealand called the Firebug. They sell plans and their intention is to foster the skill of amateur boat building. This looks really quite cool.” Link. Anyone ever build one of these?
I’m going to try and get to ETel to check out this new JabPhone. Nat writes – “The Poly9 hackers who were at Where 2.0 in 2005, showed up at Emerging Telephony today with Jabphone, a service built on libjingle, Jabber, and Asterisk that lets you call out to regular telephone numbers from Google Talk. This is the power of open standards and open source, folks–they’ve been able to add the Skype Out feature to Google Talk without any assistance from Google.” [via] Link.
Ryan Clarke from the Parallax support forums is hacking the Sharper image chimp head – “Getting the skin off isn’t that bad…it’s a stubborn rubber cement type glue…Opening the skull only requires the removal a few screws in the back of the skull…the two touch sensors on the back part of the skull (top and back of head) are the only wires you need to be careful of when opening the skull…The touch sensors scope out in a very similar fashion to the flexiforce sensors (Parallax part #30056). Running the flex sensors in the same circuit with the same code as the FlexiforceSimple.BS2 (available on the product page above) you get a distinct 0 or 1 for output (with a bit of button bounce at the beginning of a press)- It does not appear as though the sensors will be useful for ‘analog’ input proportional to the strength of the touch, but I have not verified this as of yet.” Link.
