Brian has a nice write up of GameTap, you can of course always roll your own too… “GameTap is Turner Broadcasting’s subscription-based gaming on demand service. The list of games is pretty impressive, but what really jumps out at me is the platforms represented: Dreamcast, Sega Master System, Intellivision, Genesis, Atari 2600, Arcade games, and more. It looks like they’ll have a decent selection of modern games, but retro games currently dominate the list”... Link.
Handy non-techy HOW TO on fixing a Palm with a dead battery. There are tons of PDAs in desk drawers and on eBay that could use a little lovin’ – If you own a PDA that is a couple of years old that needs a new internal battery, but don’t want to shell out the extra 50 – 100 dollars to get it professionally replaced then this is the place for you! Thanks Andrew! Link.
Earlier I posted about Google’s secure VPN access, turns out you can use it with a Mac as well (here’s how) – and if you’re looking for another VPN client – Tom writes “There is a free and more trustworthy free VPN client software (called “iPig”) and the iPig server, so you can set up your own (WiFi) VPN in a few minutes. Worked very well for me!”
Sean writes “The three finalists from our DIY Eco-Tech Contest were nothing short of impressive. Now, we want to know which entry you thought was the creme de la creme. Before you decide, make sure to visit (or revisit) each of the finalist’s entries. The finalists: A solar-powered hydrofoil, a solar-powered bubble machine and a solar-powered FM transmitter/headphone combo. Go vote for your favorite DIY eco-tech!”… Link.
Interesting development, homebrew might be coming to the PSP 2.0 soon- Set wallpaper to frame_buffer.png (without overflow.tif present in the PHOTO directory, or it will crash). Add overflow.tif to the PHOTO directory, and open into the photo viewer. Custom code to paint the screen! Or to write a homebrew app – This proof of concept has now been confirmed as a working exploit for the 2.0 firmware. Now we have to wait until some more useful code using this exploit is released… [via] Link.
Patrick writes “Low tech sensors and actuators -A cool project with details on canibalising cheap toys for sensors to use in interactive electronic projects”. MAKE’s David Pescovitz has a great article in thefeature archives with more about Usman Haque’s projects. Link.
Here’s a free 411 service (800-free-411) instead of paying your cell carrier (92 percent of the $8 billion the carriers earn annually on directory assistance calls is profit) you get the same 411 information plus a location based audio ad. I’m going to try it and see how it goes. [