Google Maps Mania always has excellent finds like this one for MCE and Xbox 360 owners…“Here’s a great tip for browsing Google Maps from the comfort of your couch using the Microsoft Windows Media Center. Colin Savage picked up the Google Maps API and the Software Development Kit for the Media Center to create this page. Colin explains how to add the page to your own Media Center so you can use it to browse Google Maps.” Link.
Derek Yu writes “Creating pixel art is a skill I picked up because I needed graphics for my games. After a lot of practice, I became rather handy with it, and started to see it more as “real” art rather than just a tool. These days, pixel art is quite popular for gaming and illustration…In this 10-step tutorial, I’ll teach you how to create a “sprite”, which is a stand-alone two-dimensional character or object. The term comes from video games, of course.” [via] Link.
Nick-oshean in the Gentoo forums writes – “This how-to will discuss how to get EVDO on Gentoo Linux. Specifically Verizon EVDO using the Keyocera KPC650 EVDO PCMCIA card. Most if not all EVDO PCMCIA cards are just serial modems with usb-serial hardware. So they basically just show up as USB devices. They could have just been serial devices but I guess it’s easier in windows to make it a USB device that converts to/from serial, maybe it’s easier to write drivers for or easier to work with. But it makes it relatively easy for us to support it in Linux.” Link.
A ton of MAKE readers sent word that their favorite alpha-Maker Macgyver made the super bowl “Entitled “MacGyver” the ad finds Richard Dean Anderson’s character in typical fashion: held hostage in a remote warehouse with time running out on a self-destructing bomb. Cleverly, MacGyver uses the purchases he had made with his debit card – everyday items at a convenience store – to free himself and escape to safety.” More info & Link to view ad. But wait, there’s more – MAKE is please to announce Lee David Zlotoff (creator of MacGyver) will be doing a regular column in MAKE!!!
Mattr’s handy Instructable “The “Notebook Akku Hot-swapper” is a device which allows to exchange the rechargeable battery of a Notebook during runtime avoiding the need to shutdown/poweroff the system before the exchange.” Link.
Janos’s awesome case mod! “I already had a powerful computer setup so I wanted something more quiet, small and low power consumptioning to function as a basic home server. I love to tinker with hardware etc. so I wanted to make something quite unique for a case. I have seen many nice and creative cases before but none of them were made out of a bottle. In November I bought an industrial 3.5″ SBC board (with Socket370). For the project I selected a 1.5 litre Ballantine’s bottle for case. That was the proper size and shape for the task at hand.” [via] Link.
Chris writes “You can save money on an expensive hard drive enclosure, by adding a connector for a cooling fan, replacing some LEDs, and lengthening a power cord. A relatively simple mod, it fixes almost everything that makes this cheap enclosure so cheap, using only materials found in a nerdy basement.” Link.
