Computers & Mobile

The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for digital gadgetry, open code, smart hacks, and more. Processing power to the people!

125-piece puzzle in 6 different metals with hidden “Golden Gun”

Michigan machinist GarE Maxton makes many different types of interlocking solid puzzles of this type, but this one, which is he calls Intimidator, is his masterpiece. Starting the disassembly process requires a special key. Once diassembled, about 20 of the pieces can be recombined to make a functioning single-shot pistol. Other parts of the puzzle separately and securely store “a customized set of tools, all necessary hardware, 45 caliber bullets, a standard sight, a laser sight, a cannister containing black powder pellets, a secure storage area for 209 shotgun primers, a spent primer removal tool and a ramrod for loading the bullets.”

Making gestural music with the iPhone

My friend, experimental musician, media artist, and director of the Culture Lab at Newscastle University, Atau Tanaka, has tweaked up some iPhones to transform them into gestural musical devices. Here he performs with Adam Parkinson: In a duo, with one in each hand, they create a chamber music, 4-hands iPhone. The accelerometers which typically serve […]