The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for digital gadgetry, open code, smart hacks, and more. Processing power to the people!
Google Areometer measures areas using Google Maps – handy. Drag the map with your mouse, or double-click to center. Click on the map to place points. Once you have placed at least three points, the enclosed area will be computed. Link.
Excellent article by MAKE pal Carlo Longino – As mobile phones become more powerful and pervasive, it was inevitable that they’d spawn the same kind of homebrew hacking culture as computers and the Internet. While the locked-down nature of cell phones and the closemindedness of wireless carriers has stunted that culture’s growth, a few developments are afoot that promise to give a big boost to DIY mobile programming… Link.
Handy, I put mind on an iPod…Cross-platform Portable Firefox works by using John Haller’s excellent Portable Firefox 1.0.6 on the Windows side of things, and a little script I made on the Mac side of things. The script basically keeps two versions of all user profile files. The reason why is simple: as I am sure some of you have figured out, Windows Firefox profiles are not completely compatible with Mac Firefox, only certian files. Link.
NerdTV is out and it’s great! NerdTV is a new weekly online TV show from PBS.org technology columnist Robert X. Cringely. NerdTV is essentially Charlie Rose for geeks – a one-hour interview show with a single guest from the world of technology. Guests like Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy or Apple computer inventor Steve Wozniak are household names if your household is nerdy enough, but as historical figures and geniuses in their own right, they have plenty to say to ALL of us. NerdTV is distributed under a Creative Commons license so viewers can legally share the shows with their friends and even edit their own versions. If not THE future of television, NerdTV represents A future of television for niche audiences that have deep interest in certain topics. Link.
I always carry a live CD of Ubuntu, works great – The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the Preview Release of Ubuntu 5.10 – codenamed “Breezy Badger”. The Preview Release includes both Install CDs and bootable Live CDs for three architectures. Ubuntu is a Linux distribution for your desktop or server, with a fast and easy install, regular releases, a tight selection of excellent packages installed by default, every other package you can imagine available from the network, a commitment to security updates for 18 months after each release and professional technical support from many companies around the world. Link.
Nice community site for Makers – Get those technical questions answered. Wide range of experts on line including NASA engineers, Scientists, Pilots, Mechanical – electrical – computer engineers,Business men, Linguists, Teachers and just plain smart people from all over the world. Something technical or scientific always bugged you? Ask away, even if we don’t get to the bottom of it we will enjoy the discussion on the way. Link.
Apple has Widgets, Yahoo has Konfabulator, now Microsoft will have gadgets – What are Gadgets? Gadgets are a new category of mini-application designed to provide information, useful lookup, or enhance an application or service on your Windows PC or the Web. [