International Day of Kitty Twitty
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.
Technology
CNC Milling a Spherical Ice Mold
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.
Daft Punk on 5 Floppy Drives
I love this floppy-drive rendition of Daft Punk’s “Derezzed” track from the Tron soundtrack, created by YouTube user MrSolidSnake745. [via Frankie]
iPhone Cord-On-Board Case
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.
MIDI Keyboard Teardown and Analysis
Here is a great article from Open Music Labs which details the teardown and design of an old-school MIDI keyboard.
Remembering Transistor Pioneer Norman Krim
Right before the Christmas holidays, Norm Krim, a pioneer of transistor technology and the father of the CK722 PNP Germanium Junction Transistor, died. He was 98 years old. IEEE Spectrum has a nice little “In Memoriam” piece which even includes a shout-out to MAKE (Krim was an early champion of DIY electronics and pushed to market the CK722 to hobbyists in the early 1950s)
New in the Maker Shed: ASCII Heart
This geeky necklace, available in the Maker Shed, depicts an ASCII heart, as seen in countless email and text messages: <3! The pieces are laser-cut in Sterling silver, then hand soldered to silver tubes that hang from the 20" curb chain. The necklace has a high-shine finish and is treated to reduce tarnishing.