The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for digital gadgetry, open code, smart hacks, and more. Processing power to the people!
Brian Dereu of Hollow Spy Coins showed us how to make this hollow dead-drop bolt for stashing secret messages back in MAKE 16. It’s not hard to do if you have access to the necessary equipment–a drill press, hacksaw, vise, grinder, and the appropriate taps and dies. But if you don’t have those tools, or you don’t have the time to use them, and you still want a spy bolt, Brian will gladly sell you one hand-made by his family and him for the not-unreasonable price of $37.
Portland, OR company Grove makes these customizable (upload your artwork) engraved iPhone cases from bamboo. [Thanks, Michael Mandiberg!] Commenter Chris notes that the artful designs are laser-etched, but do you think they CNC mill the bamboo into the shape of the iPhone?
Some of the folks over in the Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory at The University of Tokyo have prototyped a Minority Report-like touchless gestural mobile interface that, in addition to the ubiquitous air typing, also allows the user to interact with with the interface in 3D.
This clever clock kit from EMSL has an analog-style face, but no hands. Instead, kinda like a sundial, it has a “gnomon” that sticks up in the middle. Three rings of inward-pointing LEDs are positioned around the rim, each a different color and each at a different angle relative to the face. The blue ring is at the shallowest angle, and thus casts the longest shadow representing the “seconds” hand. The red ring is at the steepest angle and casts the shortest shadow to make the “hours” hand. The green ring, in the middle, is minutes. Check the video above, courtesy YouTube user amandachou, to see it in action.
The “Bulbdial” clock is available as a kit with four different case options, but the clear/black variety shown above is definitely my favorite because it shows off the cool retro-futurist logo on the circuit board. Here’s a time-lapse video of YouTuber jcorsaro building one from a kit.
Maker Bob Alexander has built this awesome small form factor, Core i5, Windows 7 computer inside of a case that’s an homage to the Altair 8800. He found the case on eBay and it looks like the type used on the Altair 680. He built the front panel himself. Nice work, Bob! Mini Altair 8800 […]
Why does he have my avatar in 8-bit? Because he took an Apple //e and wrote a bootable 5.25″ Twitter floppy for it! This all makes me immensely happy, because I, too, spent my formative years in front of an Apple //e.
We’re coming up on the end of April, and the end of our annual “Geek Chic” theme. But I didn’t wanna let the month go buy without at least mentioning the fact that we’ve got an entire collection in the Makers Market full of awesome stuff that is both geeky and, um, chic-y. If you or someone you love finds themselves in the intersection of that particular Venn diagram, you might take a moment to check it out. There’s stuff here you can’t find anywhere else, and it’s all lovingly made, sold, and shipped direct to you by indie makers trying their hands as entrepreneurs.
