Casio has two new simple-yet-useful products that come to rescue. The Casio MZ-120WL and Casio JZ-120WL look like normal calculators, except they come with USB dongles to enable them to be used as number keypads over wireless connection. Effective range is around 1m, and they can be used as cursor keys to control the flow of your presentation too. [via] Link.
A while ago I mentioned an idea that I had about creating a “work blind”. I actually ended up doing it. I had [info]buttercup666 stand in my neighbor’s cubicle and take a picture of me hard at work. Then I straightened the photo, undistorted it, and cropped it to the area in the doorway. I took it to Kinko’s where they printed it onto vinyl, and grommeted the top with a kit that [info]matrushkaka bought me. The result: The Work Blind. Think of it as the modern version of Jughead drawing eyes on his eyelids so that everyone thinks he’s awake and paying attention all day. [via] Link.
On Saturday, September 17th, MAKE will present Podcasting 101: How to Make, Produce and Publish Podcasts – 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Learn what a podcast is and how to make them using your Mac and GarageBand. Also learn how to get listed in iTunes, RSS and more. I’ll also show how we make our enhanced podcasts and a lot more! Link.
Do you have a messenger bag or backpack you use regularly? Do you have a laptop or other device with wifi in said bag? Wouldn’t it be cool to integrate wifi sniffing into your bag and not have yet another device on your keychain? Today we will show you how to take an existing inexpensive passive wifi detector and embed it into the strap of your messenger bag or backpack… Link.
Excellent article by MAKE pal Carlo Longino – As mobile phones become more powerful and pervasive, it was inevitable that they’d spawn the same kind of homebrew hacking culture as computers and the Internet. While the locked-down nature of cell phones and the closemindedness of wireless carriers has stunted that culture’s growth, a few developments are afoot that promise to give a big boost to DIY mobile programming… Link.
It might be time to build that MythTV box…I recently got a sample of Tivo DRM, accidentally I suspect. Recently a Simpson’s rerun recorded with a red-flag next to it (an icon I’ve never seen before). When I selected the episode, I got a message to the effect that “the copyright holder prohibited saving the episode past date mm/dd”. I also noted that this episode could not be copied using Tivo Togo (but ironically it could be “saved to tape” – I guess that is the analog hole). [via] Link.
Apple has Widgets, Yahoo has Konfabulator, now Microsoft will have gadgets – What are Gadgets? Gadgets are a new category of mini-application designed to provide information, useful lookup, or enhance an application or service on your Windows PC or the Web. [