Interesting article about the death of the fix it economy. Remember the old ad about the lonely washing machine technician? Well, he’s no longer lonely — he’s dying away. In this disposable age, the neighborhood appliance technician is disappearing. Link.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the iUke: a tenor-scale ukulele with an integrated USB port. Plug this uke into a Mac and GarageBand will see it as a standard digital audio device, without any additional boxes, adapters or special cables needed. And there’s no reason why it wouldn’t work with any Windows-based app that recognizes USB audio. [via] Link.
This site contains a two and one-half minute video clip highlighting a kinetic sculpture/machine that continuously ties and unties a necktie. Although it is artistically inspired and intended for entertainment, the machine, (name “Why Knot”), dramatically demonstrates how engineering principles and methods can be used to solve unusual problems not normally associated with technology. Link.
The selection of pots and pans can be a complicated affair. The shape of the cooking surface and handle(s), materials used in its construction, the intended purpose of the utensil’s design, and its flexibility of use in the kitchen all are important factors in choosing cookware. Understanding the materials used is a good first step in understanding how cookware works and what factors may be important to your cooking style. [via] Link.
MAKE Flickr photo pool member neonarcade says “i dressed up my old ikea lamp with some leftover post-it notes. just make sure you use a cool bulb, like a flourescent”. He and the Elvis Post-It makers should do a project together. Link.
Clever...hack runs a virtual needle around a scanned image of an LP to create a .wav file of the recorded music. You won’t want to rip your old LPs this way, though. Programmer Ofer Springer’s demonstration file, a reconstructed recording of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” Link.
We’ve all had to switch phone providers for one reason or another, but man–they really sock it to you with all sorts of fees. It turns out there are ways to get out of this, but you should only do it if you’re really really going to move :-] We finally have number portability, so perhaps we’ll eventually not have contract lock ins too. Link.
