DIY Projects

Julian writes “I am a traveler a tinkerer and a trouble maker, all things that require having the right gear at the right time for perfect execution of the adventure, but I hate carrying too much stuff with with me but having tools available at a moment’s notice allows for quick action and seizing otherwise missed opportunities. So what is a boy to do? Welcome the TTTk, the kit I built to provide access to a variety of tools and supplies at a moment’s notice. I constrained myself to an Altoids tin to make sure it was small enough for a pocket or bag with little inconvenience. The supplies render many McGuiver like solutions in the field but they are better then nothing.” Link. It’s all of course in an Altoids tin.

DIY GPS tracking with “disposable” phones – Mod a GPS enabled Nextel and fauxjack yourself…or your car, or your kid, or a big dog, or an elephant. We really, really want to track an elephant. Mologogo is a free service that will track a “friends” GPS enabled cell phone from another phone(gps not required) or on the web. It currently works on pretty much any Nextel phone with Java and GPS – even a $60 no-contract Boost Mobile phone. Link. My dog might be getting another GPS.

Neat HOW TO for keeping the mouse quieter if you have roommates – “Having used my silenced rodent for nearly 1/2 year at home, I finally decided to get rid of the clicking noise at work too and here’s the how-to. Some people wanted me to translate the original article, but I guess it’s better to start afresh with a revised and simplified approach”. Link.

leadingzero writes “The following is a fairly detailed explanation of the making of the rumble mouse. In this explanation I assume that the reader has some understanding of basic circuits and soldering. If you just want to see the final product in video form you can go ahead and skip to the bottom, I don’t mind”. Link.

Elliot writes “Among the problems that weigh on the minds of card-game players everywhere are these: Why do some games come in those annoying double-wide packages? Why do some games come in boxes that are fragile or don’t stay closed? Is there any alternative to those stupid plastic baseball card boxes or rubber bands? What do I do if I expand my deck so that it no longer fits in the original box? What do I do if the box my cards came in distintegrates? What do I do if the cards came in a big envelope instead of a box? I come to you with the following answers: Who knows? Beats me. Yes. Make your own boxes! Make your own boxes! Make your own boxes!” Link.

If you have a cheap generic flash MP3 player with a voice recording feature like this Virgin flash recorder you can mod it to accept a standard microphone. Great for lo-fi podcasting. First open it up. Inside you’ll probably find something like this… Link.