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An old how-to, but still useful- Laptops are different from desktops/towers. They use certain hardware such as PCMCIA cards, infrared ports, batteries, docking stations. Often their hardware is more limited (e.g. disk space, CPU speed), though the performance gap is becoming smaller. In many instances, laptops can become a desktop replacement. Hardware support for Linux (and other operating systems) on laptops is sometimes more limited (e.g. graphic chips, internal modems). Laptops often use specialized hardware, hence finding a driver can be more difficult. Link.

If you think engraving is just for having your name etched on a trophy, think again: most materials can be engraved and it can produce some great modding results. With a little practise, anyone with the time and inclination can add an Engraving badge to their modding armoury. Sit back and relax as engraving extraordinaire Micke Gustafsson shows you how… Link.

“From Waste to Wonderful!” Unique in house product used to recycle kitchen waste into an organic compost soil conditioner. This system ferments and pickles food waste in less than half the time of conventional composting methods w/o odors. “Bokashi” is a Japanese word meaning “fermented organic matter”. It is a system of odorless composting, where carefully selected, “effective” microbes or “EM” are used to decompose organic kitchen waste. [via] Link.

The PICDEM Z demonstration kit is an easy-to-use ZigBee Technology wireless communication protocol development and demonstration platform. The demonstration kit includes the ZigBee protocol stack and two PICDEM Z boards, each with an RF daughter card. The demonstration board is also equipped with a 6-pin modular connector to interface directly with Microchip’s MPLAB ICD 2 in-circuit debugger (DV164005). With MPLAB ICD 2, the developer can reprogram or modify the PIC18 MCU Flash memory and develop and debug application code all on the same platform. Link.

Camouflage, you might think, is about blending in. But just as often, and especially these days, it’s about standing out. Camouflage hides shapes by generating hints of many other possible shapes. Instead of staying silent, in other words, camouflage succeeds by being noisy: it hides signal with noise. Socially and esthetically, too, camouflage is more and more often about advertising allegiance. Link.

Tim Hunkin has a neat page with the history of safes and how to crack some of them- An illustrated lecture about the history of Safes and Safe breaking. The lecture is based round a large wooden safe with a video camera inside, projecting the inside of the door mechanism on a screen. This is currently my favourite lecture to perform. There’s something very satisfying about the simple ingenuity of safes and locks. Its also an area of engineering design that has not been transformed by science or maths, and to me illustrates intuitive aspect of the subject, which often now gets forgotten. Link.

Here’s an origami-liek chair project. The site has the history and step-by-step of making chairs from the from the “spam signs” you see all over towns, especially during election time. The street spam lounger uses more than 95% of the material from 21 of the picket-sized signs, and more than 50% of the material from 1 of the “election” signs. There are only two different part blanks–one for the picket signs that form the “skin” of the chair, and one for the election sign which makes the structure. Link.