Paper replicas of vintage Panasonic household appliances, from Panasonic’s World of Discovery. PDF models available: a 1959 automatic rice cooker, a 1931′ radio, a 1952′ TV Set, a fridge from 1954 and a washing machine made on the year after, a character from the National company and of two pop-up cards with fireworks and fish. [via] Link.
Just like video game cars, real cars have cheat codes too…“Here’s a(n) [alleged] way to disable the traction/skid control systems called VDIM on the Lexus IS: “start the car with the parking brake on…then foot brake twice. (keep the foot brake down). then parking brake twice (keep it down ) and repeat till skid light is on the dash…..it will reset when you restart the car” [via] Link.
Great (and funny) instructable by sMoRTy71 “One of my co-workers was giving away and old Atari 800XL and Macintosh SE case. He had been planning to do a mini-ITX project, but had never gotten around to it. Always wanting an excuse to tinker with something, I decided to take them off of his hands. Well, as soon as I saw the Mac SE case, I realized that this one had the most potential. So this weekend, I bought a few things at Home Depot and got started making my Apple-powered, wireless, portable toilet paper dispenser — the iWipe. The whole project took a couple of hours and cost about $15.” Thanks Saul! Link.
Daniel writes “I purchased a first generation Tivo unit a few years ago and used it in the “normal ” way. But since then I have moved and I do not have a use for a landline. I am relutant to toss it because it is still good hardware. Which brings me to the question: What alternative use is there for a first generation Tivo unit?.” Link to Tivo hacks…add your suggestions in the comments!
The Third annual Art vs. Craft Fair is here tonight and Saturday in Milwaukee, WI. Art vs. Craft is an indoor market for artists, crafters and designers of all types to set up shop and sell their creations. Check it out and report back to us with photos if you happen to attend! Link.
Good how to on surface mounting with hand-soldering tools. “Integrated-circuit (IC) manufacturers produce fewer new designs in dual in-line package (DIP), shrink dual in-line package (SDIP), or other through-hole forms. These are the classic looking chips that have legs that extend through the circuit board and are soldered on the other side. They’re easy to put into sockets and easy to use on solderless breadboards. Most of the new families appear only in surface-mount technology (SMT), surface mount device (Philips SMD), or surface mount component (SMC) packaging such as small outline integrated circuit (SOIC), small outline J-leaded (SOJ), small outline transistor (SOT), plastic leaded chip carrier (PLCC), quad flat pack (QFP), or thin small outline package (TSOP). Without special adapter (carrier) boards, surface-mounted components make breadboarding and hobbyist experimentation difficult.” Thanks Greg! Link.
