SkypePTT from Usefulapps is a push to talk client for Skype to be used in conjunction with a Bluetooth enabled PC (the PC links to Skype, the phone is effectively used as a PTT headset). The obvious limitation ishat you need to remain within Bluetooth distance of your PC. Interesting, I’d like to see a client like this for all phones since it basically just makes your Bluetooth phone in to a headset. Link.
ExtremeTech has a good guide on setting up a Linux based home theater PC. The article details many of the ups and downs of setting up a system like this- they got everything working mostly (KnoppMyth distro) CDs, video, TV, guide viewing and show recording, weather and media libraries. In the end they have some good ideas for additions to the current distribution. Link.
Neat DIY-comment about the new Xbox 360. Henshaw expects the new faceplates to include game-themes and plenty of home grown versions. “There will be different colors, game-themed face plates, a lot of people making their own face plate with fabrics,” said Henshaw, who is growing a Chia plant on his 360’s faceplate. “What we found is that people tend to like electronics that allows them to be entertained the way they want to be entertained and people love the kind of device that allows them to make it a reflection of their own personality.” Link.
MAKE author William Lidwell had his work cut out for him when it came to selecting the winners in MakeShift 01, where readers were challenged with a scenario of being stranded far from civilization with a dead car battery. As he reports, “MAKE readers answered the challenge with audacity and vigor”.
The winners have been selected, and you can read all about it in our web Extra, MakeShift 01: Analysis, Commentary, and Winners.
If you have to be stranded with a dead battery, you’d be lucky to be stranded with a group of MAKE readers. Unless, of course, you were the one who left the lights on. Then they might just hang you over the side of a cliff as part of their solution…
RoboCup soccer match results are in via Sportsdot.org- The American entry from CMDash from Carnegie Melon fell 2-0 in robot soccer to the powerhouse German squad, the MicroSoft HellHounds. After the match, the German robot dogs were programmed to flex their metal biceps. With the time to devote to development and the financial backing of a company like Microsoft, the German entries are much more polished than their American counterparts at the moment. Last month at the RoboCup German Open, the Germans dominated nearly every category. Link.
Here’s a pretty neat idea- inflatable laptop bags. Next visit to the mega-mart I’ll look for something cheap to make one out of clear plastic and then just inflate the whole thing while I’m traveling to expedite my trip through security. Although I suspect it might actually delay things more with the type of soldery / wirey things I usually carry. Via jorn . Link.
Great project on i-hacked.com. Using a simple laser pen pointer, a few misc parts, and about 15 minutes, you can make a simple laser communicator that converts a sound source into light that travels across a room, and back into sound with very little quality loss. Link.
