Google Maps Mania always has excellent finds like this one for MCE and Xbox 360 owners…“Here’s a great tip for browsing Google Maps from the comfort of your couch using the Microsoft Windows Media Center. Colin Savage picked up the Google Maps API and the Software Development Kit for the Media Center to create this page. Colin explains how to add the page to your own Media Center so you can use it to browse Google Maps.” Link.
Nicrosin writes – “My Lexar JumpDrive gave out on me, I ended up fixing it (a piece was loose on the pcb) but destroyed the case in the process. So I found an Altoids Strips tin and used that for the case. Check out the set for the process.” Link.
Greg from DIY live writes “I know that starting out in Electronics can be intimidating. There is a lot that you have to understand in order to really get a grasp of electronics. Sure, you can find some schematics, and put them together, but without understanding what resistor to put with a LED, and why you pick that resistor for that LED, then you can’t really do much except for just copy other people’s designs. I decided to find a few links for everyone to go to that will help them understand circuits, and circuit design.” Link.
Erinys writes “Here’s how to build a contact microphone. A step by step I put together years ago, but it is surprisingly still of use. Contact microphones may be used to record acoustic waves that propagate through media such as wood, sheet metal, or a block of ice. Doesn’t sound “pretty” in a classical sense, but if you’re into noise and field recordings, you’ll love what you can coax out of an old tin can with one of these attached.” Link.
Hans writes – “This LED Matrix Clock is a feasability study for a much larger project I am building for my employer, the intention was to prove to myself (and my employer!) that I am able to drive an LED matrix from a PC. This is the first project I have made which is driven by a PC. The clock uses 3 B64CDM8/B48CDM8 8×8 5mm LED Matrix modules from Nexus Machines, each having an onboard MAX7219 display driver chip. These require an SPI serial interface, which I by toggling pins of the host PC’s parallel port (printer port). The small software application which drives the displays is written in Delphi 5 and runs on Windows NT 4.” Link.
I met Bruce from “The Tao of motion control” he makes incredible X,Y machines “The purpose of this site is to suggest that motion control is also an emerging medium for artistic expression. Despite the universal use of motion control in industrial settings, its use by artists has been hampered by the enormous cost of commercial equipment. Because access to the tools of this medium is crucial for its exploration, one strategy open to motivated artists is building their own equipment from scrapped components flowing out of industrial sources.” This one moves a metal ball over sand to make a zen garden. Link.
Quick and easy how to on Apartment therapy “Stretching a canvas is easy. You take four planks of wood, make a rectangle and pull the canvas over it. (Or pay framing stores a lot of money to do it for you…). Before you get frustrated starting from scratch get ready made heavy duty stretcher bars (best & cheapest:Utrecht Art Supplies). Their ends fit together so precisely that you don´t need glue or nails. Asembly time for the perfect rectangle: 60 seconds.” [via] Link.
