MAKE’s Kits For The Holidays!
In MAKE 04 we featured some great kit gift ideas in the magazine, “Kits for the Holidays”. But we didn’t have room for all the kits we found, so here’s another round for elves with makers on their list. MAKE subscribers can log in and view the full article here…Link. We also have our own kit for taking high speed flash photography to capture high-speed events — A splash. Popping balloons. Breaking glass. It’s an amazing adjustable flash controller triggered by light or sound. Link.
These are pretty clever to make or buy – “4 way rubber bands…a great new way to hold boxes or books or large stacks of paper together. (Sample shown above holding a Nuclear War box together). If your game box is starting to fall apart, or if it is so stuffed with supplements things start to slip out, or if you just want to organize your books, this is for you. Package of 6 for $5. You can order small (4″), regular (8″) and large (10″).” [
Rocket writes in regarding our 
“In case you lose your iPod (or any other external drive for that matter) or it gets stolen your data is in danger. Here is a brief tutorial aimed at those that want their data protected without investing in commercial software.” [
After AmBio observed some “Maker-like” contraptions using mesh networks and PC panels to track dead mosquitos and propane levels (used to kill the bugs) – they’re “upping the ante with a “smart” mosquito net, or computerized defense system, to serve the corporate and public health sectors. By the first quarter of 2006, AmBio executives hope to have finalized sophisticated software to control a network of magnets–forming a kind of wide-scale fence–which will be able to communicate with a central network through wireless 802.11b technology.” 
A Multifunction Led Display is the easiest way to create your own information system display. This display is a kind of colored LEDs controller through the parallel port using a very, really very easy scheme. The software is a Perl script under GNU(GLP) license and works only under GNU with Linux. This version display 3 system views modes: a Binary Clock (Only for Geeks), a Memory Status Bar and HDD Status Bar, the script have a auto mode to change the system views (10 seconds Binary Clock, 4 seconds Memory Status Bar and 4 seconds HDD Status Bar). 
Trevor writes “When I got my first iTrip, I loved it. Yea, the range and quality could be better, but hey, I’ve got my iPod playing in my car. Then I found a tutorial online which explained how to increase the iTrip’s range simply by taking the antenna out of the case. When I did it, I was amazed at the increase in audio quality. Such a simple hack can easily make your iTrip much better. Then, I got the new iTrip LCD from Griffin, which has an LCD screen to display the station and a knob to change it. Griffin says the LCD version has better audio quality and range than the old iTrip, but it still didn’t match my hacked iTrip. Since I couldn’t find a tutorial online, I decided to just dive in. I used the same basic method as with the old iTrip, with a few small changes. If you decide to do this to your iTrip, know that it does void the warranty, and you need to be very careful.” 