Master modder Ben Heck has created a masterpiece “Of all the portable videogame devices I’ve ever built over the years one system has always been my “Holy Grail” to make – my “dream portable” if you will. (Yes, even more so than my Neo Geo arcade machine) And now after a couple years of tinkering it is complete! Without further ado – the Atari 800 XE Laptop!” Link.
This looks like an excellent book “What Would MacGyver Do? is a book-in-progress. When it is finished, it will be a collection of 75 to 100 original stories by and about people who have exercised MacGyver-like ingenuity in solving their everyday problems. The stories will be selected and edited by Brendan Vaughan, an editor at Esquire magazine.” Link.
“In these disaster-ravaged times, whether natural or otherwise, the refugee radio is more than an object of convenience. Mareike Gas has created this handy, energy-independent AM-receiver radio. The Refugee Radio is powered by the energy of radio waves (crystal radio) and was primarily conceived for two situations in mind – any emergency crisis and a long-term refugee circumstance. The Refugee Radio is a great device for calamity-prone/conflict-plagued areas or simply for those insufferable power blackouts.” [via] Link.
“Most barcodes are 12-digit UPC barcodes, with ten digits at the bottom of the code and one small number to each side. Impress your friends by asking them to select a random item from the kitchen with a removable label and cut the numbers off of the UPC barcode; you can then proceed to read the numbers encoded in the lines.” Link.
We’ve added a badge on our /blog section for the EFF Bloggers Rights fundraiser, we hope Makers out there will consider supporing the EFF too – “EFF is a donor-funded nonprofit group of passionate people—lawyers, technologists, volunteers, and visionaries — who depend on your support to continue successfully defending your digital rights. Litigation is particularly expensive; because two-thirds of our budget comes from individual donors, every contribution is critical to helping EFF fight —and win—more cases.” [via] Link.
Here’s a great way to take old books and make them new again. Find some of your old children’s books, scour used bookstores or garage sales for unique covers and convert it into your own personal journal or sketchbook. Deborah Merlo takes her favorite Nancy Drew book and shows you how to do it yourself step-by-step. Link.
If you have some old CPUs laying around, you can turn them in to great geeky keychains, perfect for holiday gifts. The process is pretty simple, drill a hole, get a keyring and that’s about it. 