The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for digital gadgetry, open code, smart hacks, and more. Processing power to the people!
The Freedom Toaster is a conveniently located, self-contained ‘Bring ‘n Burn’ facility, where users bring their own blank discs and make copies of the open source software they require. The Freedom Toaster project began as a means of overcoming the difficulty in obtaining Linux and Open Source software due to the restrictive telecommunications environment in South Africa, where the easy downloading of large pieces of software is just not possible. Link.
…a Mac Mini-driven 4U rack with an eBay-rescued LCD screen, for playing soft synths on a keyboard and running guitar effects via Guitar Rig software. Next week, when creator Christopher is off the road, CDM will post his Logic Pro Environment file and talk about how you can use this feature for interactive live performances, switching between instruments and effects. Link.
I’ve been a fan of Orb for a long time, it allows you to watch all your media on your home PC from the road. And now they’ve opened up with a new API that allows developers to use their transcoding, transmission, and presentation frameworks inside the Orb server to gain access to any applications or content that is on (or accessible from) your home machine. Forums here and API
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Andrew writes “I saw your post on using Blogger to post emails from a mailing list and grabbing the RSS from that. Anyone who uses Bloglines already has this functionality built-in to their Bloglines account. There is an unobtrusive link down at the bottom (Create Email Subscription) that spits out a disposable email address (username.#######@bloglines.com) that can be used to sign up to mailing lists with. I have a few in my account and find them quite handy, but the feature is usually listed in with all the others, and I could see how it could get missed”. Thanks! Link.
Rich sent us a step-by-step on how he made a mineral-oil immersed PC. I like what he did in this project, adding bubbles really makes it seem more freaky that the PC is immersed in a liquid and still works. Link.
MacMod is pleased to announce and bring to you “The Great MacMod Challenge 2005 with dealmac.com”. Last years’ first annual challenge was a huge success. Everyone who competed last year was anxious to compete again and now is your chance as well. “The Great MacMod Challenge” is your opportunity to win some great prizes offered by our sponsors and have fun doing it, all while you reap the benefits of having a modded mac. All you have to do is mod an item that fits into one or more of the following categories… I can’t enter now, but I will help folks! Link.
Lan Game Reviews has posted an article on how to use an old computer and FreeBSD distro m0n0wall to create a gaming router. Gaming routers allow users to use their full bandwidth for downloads and other high bandwidth apps, and low latency applications at the same time. By keeping packet queues on the router side, rather than the modem side. Users are able to achive great pings in online games, while fully using their download bandwidth. This is a great alternitive to expensive gaming routers on the market today.” [via] Link.
