The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for digital gadgetry, open code, smart hacks, and more. Processing power to the people!
The Dark Blade PC case was started in 2004, and it’s looking like it’s almost done. Made from milling a lot of metal, comes with 2 hydraulic pumps to keep it cool, it’s gorgeous. This is the type of PC case design you’ll see in some futuristic version of MoMa. [via] Link.
Front Row is a new media center application from Apple, it’s shipping on the new iMacs and you use it to manage movies, photos, music, DVDs and more from your couch – with a slick interface. No word if Apple will sell or distribute versions for that Mac you already have, but a couple folks have already hacked up a version of Front Row and have it working. Here’s a HOW TO of sorts via Digg and here’s a video over on TUAW + Flickr shots.
Old phone, with new cell guts, and functional. This project is a working cellular push-button telephone. The phone is an old telephone from my kitchen growing up that I modified into a working cellphone. The old bell ringer functions. You can talk and listen on the old handset. The phone is dialed with the buttons on its front. And it can be powered via a power cord spliced into the phone jack at the back. No text messaging, phone book, or camera phone junk. Smile. [via] Link.
The 8th annual Vintage Computer Festival is being held on November 5th – 6th at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. The highlight of this year’s event is a Homebrew Computer Club retrospective featuring a panel of original members of the Club including Steve Wozniak, Lee Felsenstein, and others. [via] Link.
Wonderful way to learn about computing – these ought to be on the back of cereal boxes. CARDIAC (cardboard illustrative aid to computation) illustrates the operation of a computer without actually being a computer. It is a very practical aid to understanding computers and computer programming. [via] Link. We have a ton of great Maker-like kits on Make 04 too.
Here’s a great site that shows you how to upgrade Apple’s eMac. Overclock to 1.3Ghz, add a new hard drive, run dual screens and cut down on fan noise. These eMacs are usually pretty cheap on eBay too, so it might be worth grabbing one and sup’ing it up. [
Here’s an incredible case mod made to look like the iconic droid, R2-D2 – the Maker used a white plastic barrel for R2’s body and a weber grill for R2’s head. It’s not Jawa junk though, the unit cools a 3.2Ghz P4 running at 3.7Ghz to -38 degrees celsius. [