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The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for the kitchen, garage and backyard from food to furniture to fun & games for your family.

Get DIY news…Rocketboom, on your TiVo!

Get DIY news…Rocketboom, on your TiVo!

Rocketboom Logo MasterStarting Monday, you can get Rocketboom on your TiVo – this is amazing news. Dave Zatz has the scoop – “Rocketboom is a three minute daily videoblog based in New York City, covering a wide range of information and commentary from top news stories to quirky internet culture. With a heavy emphasis on international arts, technology and weblog drama, Rocketboom is presented via online video and widely distributed through RSS. Now, Rocketboom is available on TiVo as part of the TiVo Video Download Trial.” [via] Link. You can listen to our interview with Andrew Baron from Rocketboom here.

The SuperCap Battery…

SupercapClever idea – use capacitors instead of batteries that could go dead in some devices – all in a 9volt form factor – “GoldCap capacitors offer an interesting alternative power source when compared to conventional disposable or even rechargeable batteries. They can be charged very rapidly and can also deliver a high peak output current. Their voltage however is quite low so a little electronic assistance is necessary to raise the output voltage to a more useful level.” [via] Link (PDF).

Make a Solar Engine

Make a Solar Engine

Ssolar1How to make the engine usually found in the BEAM solar roller“…the most common use is in a solaroller which is a small wheeled car that charges up and then moves in a quick burst of speed. Since you can only use motors and coils with this circuit robots built with this circuit are mainly mechanical such as my artistic butterflies. One other common use is a little thing called a symet which can roam around and not get stuck using only one motor.” Link.

Make your own MMORPG

Make your own MMORPG

Screen2I think most of the online worlds will eventually swing this way – Multiverse is in beta “Make a complete Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) or virtual world for less money and in less time than you could have dreamed possible. Participate in the game industry’s most exciting frontier. Build the features that make your game unique, leveraging the expertise of the networking and infrastructure experts who helped build the web. Deliver your vision to a built-in market of players–without having to ask a publisher’s permission or give up your intellectual property.” [via] Link.

Panorama of a human head…

Panorama of a human head…

PanoThis is an incredibly cool, yet creepy panorama of a human head. I’d like to use this to make my Second Life avatar! “We’re trying to make high quality texture maps for game models. Using an FX-1 psuedo HD Sony camera, (its 1440 pixels, which is Sony’s anamorphic short-hand for a 1920 16:9 image,) placed sideways, I filmed Yoshi as he rotated on a turntable in front of the camera. The bank-robber cap was his idea. This resulted in about 1200 frames of a 360 degree pass around the head.” Thanks TowMater! Link.

HOW TO – Make a force feedback racing simulator

HOW TO – Make a force feedback racing simulator

01If you’ve ever taken a spin on one of those theme park rides that show movies, shift/thrash the audience simulator-style you might like the idea of building your own. Jared, the Maker writes – “For some time I have wanted to make my own, seeing the NASA shuttle simulator and other similar training simulators all over. Well one day while playing mech 4 I realized that I had the power to do so literally in the palm of my hand. So I decided to mod out my simulator. Well a lot of R & D went into this and this is actually a prototype for the main build to come.” Link.