The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for digital gadgetry, open code, smart hacks, and more. Processing power to the people!
Ask Slashdot has posed an interesting question looking for a cheap (under $50) word processor for banging out notes on the go. I think my favorite one is the $9 (Ebay) DreamWriter NTS 325. Seems like you can get the data off fairly easily too. Link.
If you’ve been using PCs for a while, you’re bound to have an old one you don’t use much, if at all. With 2-GHz computers available for well under $1,000, what good is an old 300-MHz Pentium II system? The answer depends on your willingness to experiment, have fun, learn, and prevent pollution. Here are ten things you can do with that old PC, starting with tasks for relatively “better” old PCs, and working our way down to the real junkers. [via] Link.
Graphics Demo is a modified Commodore CBM 3032 computer. Its inner life was replaced by a mechanics. A wireframe model of a teapot, soldered out of silvered copper wire, is gimballed inside the monitor cabinet. The model is varnished with green uv-active paint and lighted by four blacklight tubes, which are installed invisible inside the cabinet. The teapot can be rotated in any direction by using the numeric keypad. During the rotation, you can hear the electric motors and feel their vibrations. [via] Link.
Mashing up Google maps and Gasbuddy = locations of cheap gas in your area on a Google map (map or satellite view). Just choose a city- then the data on the right side is updated cheapest gas prices. If you have mobile high speed access you could add a GPS and have this running while you drive. In the future, maybe our cars will do this for us. Via Robotwisdom. Link.
Over on BoingBoing there’s a post about the new Dave Mattews CD that tries to install weird stuff when inserted, crashes and all sorts of things when used on a Windows based PC. I don’t have the CD but it sounds like MediaMax from SunnComm (SunnComm tried to sue a student awhile back). The simple solution is to hold the Shift key when you pop the CD in or disable Autorun (a good idea in general) here’s how.
IBM has a cool series of articles where they build an embedded application using a Mac Mini. The application itself is the classic photo booth: you pay a bit of money, a flashbulb goes off, and a minute later you’ve got some pictures of yourself, or perhaps yourselves if you’re out with a friend. More recent versions of this booth create more complicated pictures, adding additional features, such as overlays, or possibly adding video to the mix. The test application starts as a a fairly simplistic form of the photo booth application, with room for further development. By the end of this series, you’ll be accepting money and printing pictures. Link.
