HOW TO – Alarm clock of the short now
A beginner’s PIC project, the Maker writes “I am unemployed at the moment, but I’m very busy. I tend to work late nights and wander over to bed when I run completely out of steam. The problem is that this happens at a different time every day. I end up being too lazy and stupid to re-set the alarm clock, so I don’t bother. I oversleep. Recently I realized that I need a special alarm clock that instead of going off at a particular time goes off after a set duration. Like an egg timer, but grand!. So, I made one, and I realized that it would be a great beginner’s project. It includes a very basic C program and a simple PIC schematic.” Thanks Zantor! Link.
Here’s a Flickr photo set on making a belt buckle from a hard drive. Ingredients: Hard Drive platter (Jaz disk), paper clip, hacksaw, screw(s), and small sheet of basswood (for guide). Out of the recent “technology” on a belt projects, I think I like this one the most – it’s subtle but still recognizable. [
Bruce writes “There’s been some hype about Nokia offering music downloads over Bluetooth to phones. This article shows you how to make your own MP3 file server, called the Bluetooth Music Store, that pushes MP3 to any Bluetooth device that supports OBEX.” 
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We’ve covered some of the LEGO software, but it’s always worth another looksie, it appears LEGO has added more resources for designing your own LEGO bot – JBB writes “Lego factory A boon to lego robot builders, the lego factory lets you build a virtual model of your unique lego structure and order those blocks as a custom set. Add your robot’s sensors and other such items, and you’ve got a beautiful custom robot.” 
Tom writes “Inventgeek.com has a great article on rescuing your LCD monitors from the dumpster. Those of us that have used LCD monitors for a while know that over time the backlight starts to dim and can eventually completely fail. Well for less than $20.00 and about a half hour of your time you can replace the backlight and rejuvenate that monitor to as good as new condition. Now if they can only come up with a way to do this with my old Plasma TV tube.”