Mac OS X Tiger is out today, so that means we’re going to see a ton of really neat widgets, if you want to get started building here’s an overview…Based on Web Kit technologies, Dashboard Widgets are created using a mix of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. This extends the ability to develop Widgets to a very wide audience. If you know how to create a web page, then you know how to create a capable Widget. Link. We’ll have some examples once we make a few too.
Jim writes…“I am presently in the process of rebuilding my house. I have been seriously considering a bundled wire of 2 coax, 1 cat5, 1 cat6 and 2 fiber optic. Might as well bring it in to the 21st century while I’m at it. Yet, I am looking for some kind of module, or brain command center that will handle the distribution to all rooms. I was wondering if you know were going to write about a build your own type of distribution system rather than the old splitters. I wanted to bring in one feed and run direct home runs to all rooms. No jumping from room to room. No multiple splitters down the line, etc… Of course, I want to have wireless access, but we all know that there are still signal drops in that configuration”. What are some suggestions for Jim? Post them in the comments!
This guy has built a pro-quality condenser mic from a beer can and some other bits and pieces. Omnidirectional small diaphragm capsule, ruler flat freq. response from 100 Hz to around 15kHz, attached to the power supply by approx. 7 ft. of cable, fits most mic clips, and runs on a 9v battery. He’s built them out of Pabst Blue Ribbon and Schlitz, selling them from $15 to $51 on ebay. Thanks Tom! Link.
Here’s a fascinating project and history of the Dirkon paper camera. The name Dirkon is a play on words based on the combination of the parts of two words: Dirk- is the beginning of the Czech word dirka – pinhole, and -kon is the end of the name of a well-known Japanese camera. The site has a gallery, instructions, tips and printable templates to make your own. Link.
The BENT 2005 Circuit Bending Festival is a four day exploration of the art of circuit bending. The festival is in NYC from April 27th to the 30th. What is Circuit Bending? The term circuit bending refers to the act of modifying the circuitry of battery-powered children’s toys to create strange, new, and unintended sounds for creative purposes. Link.
Awhile back I did some testing of using a USB based Geiger counter on a plane ride from Seattle to San Fran to detect cosmic rays- Dean used a Aware Electronics RM-70 to do the same on more on a Southwest Airlines flight to LAX. On the site you can see graphs from the flight as well as the decay of radioactive daughter products of radon-222 being captured on a coffee filter that filtered 15 minutes of air through a vacuum cleaner in someone’s basement in Ohio. Link.
We now have a mobile version of MAKE via Winksite. It took about 10 minutes to sign up, add our feed and publish the mobile version. Here’s a picture of it on a Sidekick. Here’s the direct link to the mobile version of the blog section of MAKE. We’ll have a link somewhere on the site soon so you can always find it. Link.
