The V8 snowblower
A 454 cubic inch big block Chevrolet in a walk-behind snowblower? This custom unit blows the snow back to where it came from! It features heated handle bars (with engine coolant), full instrumentation with monster tach, hydraulic drive wheels and a host of other gotta have blower ‘Bling’ Link. Thanks Roland!
In MAKE 03 we have a VCR cat feeder project, but Peter from NYC sent in another way sans VCR…“When I had to feed ol’ Skippy upon leaving my apartment for a few days or so, I’d hot-glue a standing box of kittyvittles in the center of a piece of 2′-square cardboard, and cut a paw-sized hole in the bottom. After making sure the bathtub faucet was dripping slightly into a dish, I was good for as many as 3 or 4 days, and no worrying about power outages. Skippy had to work for his meals, but all the better. Now, an electric self-cleaning litterbox – THAT would be something worth warming up a soldering gun for.”
Inside that $15 Farnsworth radio cabinet is a Sansui tuner, a replacement Panasonic turntable, a Griffin AirShark, an 8 port USB hub, a cheap-o LCD panel, a Griffin iMic, a Griffin Powermate, a Logitech wireless keyboard transmitter, a power strip, a Griffin AirClick, a Sony bookshelf speaker, a Mac Mini and enough patch cables to encircle the world 7 times.
Dennis Stevens is a ceramic artist and thinker living in San Jose, California. His weblog, Redefining Craft always has novel takes on Craft, the Universe, and Everything. His most recent salvo involves imagining a scenario in which crafty folks actually benefit from PEAK OIL. His article quotes Robert Heinlein, references William Morris, and quotes the great craft philosopher…erm..Hank Williams Jr.

MAKE pals Squid Labs hit CNN! High-tech is not a word often used to describe a piece of rope, but add a data sensor to its fibers and you have what its creators call electronic rope technology. The intelligent rope is the brainchild of California-based Squid Labs, an “early stage research and development company” made up of mostly MIT Media Lab graduates.