The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for digital gadgetry, open code, smart hacks, and more. Processing power to the people!
If you’re building a standalone project with an embedded PC (say, a CNC rig or a MAME cabinet) one of the easiest ways to get instructions to the software is using the PC’s baked-in keyboard interface. But if you don’t want to actually use a keyboard to control the thing, you need some way to convert button presses and/or joystick movements from your custom control panel into signals that look like keyboard input.
In a pinch, you can clip the earbuds off an iPhone headset to get a quick and dirty lav mic. Add a safety pin with a little hot glue and camouflage it with a smattering of sharpie and you’re good to go. If you’re curious about the quality of the audio produced with such a setup, check out the above video from maker Levi Allen, where he runs through a build while capturing the audio with his iPhone. It won’t win any awards, however it’ll get the job done.
Our featured image from the MAKE Flickr pool this week is by regular contributor Peter Barvoets, aka lookseeseen. Its subject is a glowing Geissler tube (Wikipedia), an early type of low-pressure gas discharge tube invented in Germany in 1857. Peter has another great shot of the same tube here.
If you’ve ever used a tablet in the kitchen, you know there’s a uniquely optimum viewing angle that’s just right for you. And you’re likely going to want to get it out of the cooking area, yet still keep it viewable, right? You’re set if you have one of those cookbook stands to prop it up against, but if you don’t, you might want to check out the Steelie Mobile Device Holder from makers Frank Vogel and Paul Turner.
Congrats to Maker Shed Product Development Sensei Marc de Vinck (and his adorable cat) for the coverage of his Kitty Twitty twittering cat toy in the UK’s Daily Mail.
We have covered these spherical ice molds before. I have used one, myself, and they work pretty well. A chunk of ice is sandwiched between two halves of a metal mold, and fast conduction of heat away from the ice, through the metal, causes it to melt wherever the mold makes contact. The mold halves slide on rods to maintain their alignment, and gravity does the rest. With a mold that starts at room temperature, it only takes a few minutes to make a nice shiny ice sphere.
Don’t you just hate it when your smartphone runs out of juice? If you’re like me, you’re probably not far from an open USB port, so you’re set if you’re the type that always carries around a spare cord. But that rarely happens, right? Not if makers Lucky, Nate, and Mark have anything to do about it. Their Cord-On-Board case for the iPhone 4 takes care of the need to always carry around a cord because it keeps one handy inside its durable PVC shell.
