The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for digital gadgetry, open code, smart hacks, and more. Processing power to the people!
It’s uncanny how well even the most basic passive acoustic amplifier can improve the sound that emanates from tiny handset speakers. Even though I have yet to experience the pure acoustic awesomeness of the iBamboo from New York area Etsy member Anatoliy Omelchenko, I still find that the design compliments the elegance of the iPhone 4.
Use the camera in your Android smartphone to detect radiation with the Radioactivity Counter app from Rolf-Dieter Klein. Just place a small piece of black tape over the camera lens, calibrate for ambient noise, and you’ll be ready to take readings in no time. The app uses the device’s built-in CMOS sensor to detect primary […]
Zigurd Mednieks checks in from CES In trying to find interesting products for makers, I came across some machine screws that are smaller than fleas, 0.2mm across the shaft. The Matsumoto Industries product was exhibited using a microscope. If you are making something very small, that’s your screw. They were too small for me to […]
Our featured image from the MAKE Flickr pool, this week, from Robert Birkenes, is a lovely work-in-progress shot showing off his build of Ross Orr’s Panoramic Pinhole Camera project from MAKE Vol 09.I’m also partial to Michael Jones’ shot of the wooden clockworks he’s building based on Clayton Boyer’s plans. Oh, and that wooden spool […]
Since CES is such a big show, some companies do outrageous things to get noticed. Whether it’s building a $30k iPod dock or hiring stuntmen to ride around town on top of cars, the idea is to stick out. The thing is, there’s a fine line between causing a little buzz and accidental product development. […]
Maker Shed’s Marc de Vinck sent us this pic from the Isotoner booth where they’re hawking their SmarTouch 2.0 glove “Now with 3rd finger function.” Woot. Why not make your own, use any gloves you like, and enable all the finger functions you like. Here, let Becky show you how…
It’s hard not to get excited when you see assistive technology like the sign language interpreting Show and Tell Glove from Tel Aviv area makers Oleg Imanilov, Zvika Markfield, and Tomer Daniel. The glove uses a LillyPad Arduino to sample flex sensors, an accelerometer, and gyro into an ADK board that then talks to an Android app that translates sign language and gestures into written text. To improve performance, a neural network is fed gestures manually to compensate for varying hand sizes directly on the handset. They’re still working out the bugs, but the current results are more than encouraging.
