Great article for salvaging parts from a camera for robots…how-to steps for getting the SONAR unit safely out of the camera and how to modify it so you can use it in your projects. There is minimal electronics knowledge needed and in fact I got much of this information right from the “horses mouth”, Polaroid. [via] Link.
If you like the enhanced podcasts we do here on MAKE, you might like this one from G4’s – Attack of the Show. They’re starting to record their production meetings- then adding images and links. You can get see and listen in on how a TV show is created. Link. See our HOW TO here on making enhanced podcasts if you want make your own.
Looks like NPR is dropping Audible – As we formulate a more comprehensive strategy, we chose not to renew our agreement with Audible when it recently expired. We are now developing a new strategy for making NPR content downloadable and portable. Once the plan is finalized, we will announce it publicly. [via] Link. Here’s my review / HOW TO of Audible with their podcasting features…and on that note, I’ve been using CD audio books for the last month, and so far, working out great.
If you’re in themarket for a used car, you should be suspicious of old cars with low mileage. Here’s a $2500 gadget that supposedly lets the owner change the mileage indicated on digital odometers. [via] Link. and spotted on eBay.
Grower is a small ‘rover’ vehicle which navigates around the periphery of a room. It hugs the room’s walls and responds to the carbon dioxide levels in the air by actually drawing varying heights of ‘grass’ on the walls in green ink. The Grower robot senses the carbon dioxide (CO2) level in the air via a small digital CO2 sensor. This sensor is mounted high on a wall of the exhibition space and sends data wirelessly to the robot. The number of people in an exhibit space breathing in oxygen and exhaling CO2 has an immediate effect on the sensor. My robot takes a reading of the CO2 level every few seconds and in response it draws a vertical line in green ink on the wall. Thanks Doug! Link.
Etsy is a website where people can sell anything they want, as long as it’s handmade. Etsy is a site by crafters for crafters. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to sell their handmade items, without the hassle of setting up an entire website and with much lower fees than eBay. Etsy is for selling anything that is handmade, from clothes to furniture to computer cases, so let your crafting run wild. [via] Link.
Great write up, background and tinkering- a homemade PBX system! Eight telephone extensions with roughly telco spec voltages and currents (48V onhook, 90VRMS 20Hz sinusoidal ringing, about 25mA loop current offhook.) Ring trip is sub-spec but can handle at least 3 “500” type rotary dial telephone sets in parallel without false tripping. Lines are not balanced, nor is one side ground. [via] Link.
