Blog
How much are gadgets really worth? The teardown…
Master of the ‘teardown’, Eric Pratt from iSuppli Corp. specializes in stripping down gadgets and finding out how much they’re really worth…The Mac mini which retails for $499 is actually worth $283 in parts and labor. The 2 Gig iPod Nano retails for $199, but is actually worth $103 in parts and labor. The most expensive component is actually the iPod Nano’s 2 Gigs of memory. Eric finished up with a G4 exclusive teardown of the Game Boy Micro which retails for $100. The actual cost of the Micro is only $44. The screen on the GB Micro is actually the most expensive component. Link.
Visions of Science 2005
Captured using a wide range of techniques, from state-of-the art scientific microscopes to standard and digital cameras, the images cover many different areas of science. For example, amongst the winning images we see a hatching mosquito, a close-up of salt and pepper, an artist’s impression of a migraine attack and care of a premature baby. [via] Link. The images are small, but larger ones can be found here and here. In MAKE 04 we have a great HOW TO on homemade strobe photography.
Survivorman
Bitbot writes “I’ve been watching this [Survivorman] for a few weeks now and thought it would make a great addition to the Make blog. Good tips for those times when your stuck without any type of gadget or technology. Living off the land takes on a new meaning when wilderness survival expert and filmmaker Les “Survivorman” Stroud spends nine harrowing weeks alone in a variety of survival simulations.” Link.
Making Toys
Making Toys is “The Insides and Outsides of Electronic Toy Design” blog from Professor Yury Gitman at Parsons. The assignments are doled out on the site, you can peek in on many electronic toy dissections, autopsies and see how many of the cheap electronic doo-dads are made with wonderful parts to be procured. Link.
Robots and TV to be big in 2006
We’re not living on the moon yet, but this is encouraging – Specialized robots, devices for DIY content creation and new TV displays are among the trends to watch in 2006. That is according to the American-based Consumer Electronic Association which has published its view of technologies set to influence in next 12 months. Link.
Some Halloween projects…

A ton of Halloween DIY projects over on Derek Greenwood’s Halloween pages. There you’ll find how to make a “head in a jar“, perfect for any occasion really, along with many many more. And last up, here’s a Doctor Octopus costume from one of my fave Makers, Rob Cockerham – Link.
Here’s a game of paper chess. This pdf file from Peter Visser’s Site has a pattern for each chess piece. Use your own board or make one of your own. There are a lot of other interesting paper-craft projects and art on paper forest blog to check out too. [