Paolo writes “Here’s a project developed by the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne to build insect robots that are able interact with cockroachs communities.” On the site there are photos, videos, PDF schematics and software to download. Link. In MAKE 02 we had a Made on Earth with a roach controlled robot…something for these little guys to look forward to I suppose.
Robie from Pirateweather writes about a new service called Feed2Podcast that will turn your RSS feed (or any RSS feed) into a audio player so you can listen to the feed “They/we use new text to speech engine and your rss feed and turn your blog into a podcast instantly” It’s a pretty good text to speech engine – here’s what it sounds like with their preview audio player, click here to listen. Neat!
Chris has a great arcade building how to, he writes – “…the cabinet construction was completed in 24 hours, but it took about three months to get around to the last few bits (like decorating the unit), so don’t complain if after one day you don’t get something that looks like the unit on the left! Please browse through the links at the top and bottom of each page. They will cover the construction diary (in blow-by-blow detail), the finishing of the unit together with a shopping list, prices and then information on the PC inside the unit. Finally you will be able to download some plans we created after building the device, together with some of the graphics that are on the unit.” Thanks Rick! Link.
Rob writes “One of my co-workers and his brother are somewhat serious about their Christmas lights. They welcomed the introduction of LED lights, because it meant that they could stop adding new electrical panels to their house. Of particular interest to MAKE readers are the technical notes on the sidebar of their site.” Link. But wait, there’s more! Snopes on another music sync’d home, and you can see it on Google video. Lastly, build your own – with MAKE!
Here’s a cool idea to make a windchime out of silverware to get rid of pesky birds around your garden. Shauna says “A creative and fun alternative to store bought chimes is a homemade creation that will become a conversation piece. Using old silverware and some string, you can make a set of loud wind chimes that are whimsical and practical. And what better location for silverware wind chimes than in the garden, where your food originates?”
Link.
Great step-by-step guide on hacking the Atari Flashback 2 Console, adding a cartridge port to play old 2600 games – “So, you’ve decided to take your Atari Flashback 2 console to the next level? Well then, here are the basic details to help assist you in hacking/modding your console into a full fledged Atari 2600 system that can use your original cartridges.” Link.
MAKE reader Matthew writes “I woud like to suggest a make project to design and build a hard drive/electronics shredder, not one to shred software but something to shred actual metal hard drives, they have commercial versions. The end product can be recylced.” Awhile back there was a round up on G4’s Destroy All Data and I’ve also seen this company and their crazy couch shredding, computer devouring videos, as far as DIY solutions – how about a hard drive clock? Post suggestions in the comments!
