Blog

Seems like everyone is tired of waiting for others to fix the problems, so they’re doing it themselves, even if it’s not quite perfect. The UK is turning into a nation of unwilling DIY desktop-security installers, research has revealed. ISPs’ failure to provide desktop protection against internet threats has forced two-thirds of home PC users to take the DIY option, despite the majority lacking the necessary know-how to ensure they are not left vulnerable. Link.

Mac SE/30 running an Apache web server on Debian Linux (woody). It was quite easy to set up this system. Here are some details. Mac SE/30 with 4 GB Quantum FireBall hard drive, and 80 MB of RAM (using MODE32). There is an 80 MB Mac OS partition for System 7.5.3 Revision 2 and a Mac application that is required to boot Linux, called ‘Penguin’. You cannot boot the Mac directly into Linux – it must be done from the Mac OS. Link.

Here’s an ethernet-powered alarm clock. It was made from an old ethernet-to-serial connector and POE wires run to the battery terminals. As someone noted on in the comments, it would be cool to have the clock grab time from time.gov and set the clock that way too… Link. See the other alarm clock hacks here.

MAKE in NYC for a couple days- Hacking and Building. In this session, Torrone shows, hacks and builds dozens of projects from the popular do-it-yourself pages of Make magazine. Make brings the DIY mindset to all technology and is loaded with projects to make the most of technology in and outside the home. Torrone talks about a magazine that “celebrates your right to tweak, hack, and bend any technology to your own will.” Link.

I think we’ll see lots of virtual time pieces become physical soon…it has 4 alarms to alert you of ferry and airship departures, guild shop opening times, or recharge times of your characters special ability or recast times. What makes this so crazy, you may ask? Final Fantasy XI is a persistent virtual world in which events take place in real time, or “Vana’diel Time” as it were. Link.

Squid Labs is hosting a tech night tomorrow in Emeryville as a broad outlet for your creative expertise and artistic expression. Bring a slide show of the coolest thing you’ve done recently, or a neat object you have crafted, or a problem you’d like to brainstorm, or a paper you found buried in the literature that illuminates the secrets of the universe, or just something that burns or explodes in an elegant way. [via] Link.

Artist Joe Scanlan created a DIY guide (subtitled “How to kill yourself anywhere in the world for under $399”) for a coffin made of the components from three pieces of IKEA furniture. The fully illustrated book retails for $27.50 shipped (some assembly required). The assembled project includes flower stands, pictured above. [via] Link.