Technology

Mikey, one of my favorite Makers (and appearing in our book Makers) writes in with a great POV project – “A entirely open source persistence of vision project using surface mount parts. The web page includes a helpful three minute video of soldering surface mount parts for this project. This is the first POV project I have seen that has a optional Bluetooth connector for updating content.” Link.

Great how-to on making your own binary clock! John writes “I saw your blog entry that linked to a project to build a binary LED clock. I built my own binary clock a few years ago, and I recently posted a detailed article on how I built it…” The site has many iterations of the 3 clocks John built along with the circuit diagrams. Link.

Here’s how to disassemble a DC WMATA’s SmarTrip card and turn it into a keychain-ready size –“The SmartTrip card is composed of three sheets of laminated cardboard (or plastic; it’s tough to tell). The middle one is where the important guts are located. The outer two serve a decorative and protective function. The first order of business is to remove those outer layers. But before you do, resign yourself to destroying the card. You might be able to transplant its brain into a new body, but DCist doesn’t want any angry emails demanding money for replacement cards.” Link.

Gina writes “…my crafty father-in-law had built a lighting system for his kitchen pantry out of Christmas lights and a Timex watch holder. He drilled a hole in the plastic watch holder just under the tension flap that holds the watch up, and inserted a reverse switch inside the hole. Once the switch was connected to the lights, when the pantry door closes, the circuit breaks and the lights go off. When the pantry door is opened, the circuit closes and lights go on and Mom can see which can she’s plucking off the shelf.” Link and photos.