NPR’s Talk of the Nation Science Friday have been delivering great science news and interviews since 1991- now you can get the shows, usually a week after they’re broadcasted on the Science Friday site via their Podcast (MP3s). We were on the show back in April and usually record shows via a RadioShark or purchase through audible- now just add it to a podcast application. Last week’s letters of Richard Feynman, and talk with Alan Lightman was great. Link.
Looking to take VR photos of objects? Here’s an interesting DIY way…“Used together with my Coolpix 990 remote control, this turntable forms an automatic studio for simple VR-object movies. It rotates the object on 360° and shoots photographs with equally spaced angles. You can then animate these images with a VR-object viewer such as PTviewer, Freedom-VR or Objplay. Remote and turntable can both be built with Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System (only parts included in this box are needed)”. Link.
Last week or so we mentioned there was something happening over on WhiteBox Robotics and now they’ve announced their new Model 914 PC-BOT for pre-order. The PC-BOTs come in a couple flavors, and you’ll need to add your own PC, but they’ve taken care of the hard parts- locomotion, motors, power, sensors, etc… for $1,200 or so it’s not exactly cheap, but once you add up all the components and software it’s not bad (the under $2k home robot is finally here). Link.
Perhaps the whole spring and summer thing isn’t your thing- here’s how to make an Arctic sled. Materials cost around $10, weight is under 3lb, and it took 30 mins to build with a Swiss army knife. Not complicated at all, but could be very hand if you plan on going on that snowy expedition any time soon. Link.
...Davin Risk, master food sculptor and photographer from Toronto, Canada, is the winner of the Mike Industries “Make a Meatspace Shuffle” creativity competition. Davin’s first entry, made entirely of goat butter, arrived only hours after the contest began and set the pace for a field of over 40 excellent “interpretations of iPod Shuffle as food“. Link.
Health24.com has a friendly reminder that DIY projects can get you hurt if you’re not careful (Ladders always make me nervous too)…many people underestimate the dangers in doing their own home repairs. In the UK alone, 70 people die per year while fixing their homes. Most of them fall off ladders…The largest single cause worldwide of DIY injuries, is falling off ladders. Power tools and electricity are also high up on the list. We’ve all been zapped, zorked and have had some close calls- be careful out there. Link.
Amazon has 10 pages of Volume 2 up. Go check’em out- Made on Earth “Report from the world of backyard technology ” Mousey the Junkbot “With a few spare parts, you can turn an old computer mouse into an amusing little robot” DIY home and Toolbox are also up there at the moment. Just a taste, subscribe or order the mag! Link.
