Skateboards for schools!
Javier writes “Cool idea for enabling kids to actually make something usable in shop class: from the website: “The fact is, kids have always wanted to make skateboard decks in their woodshop classes but teachers and students never knew how to put the concave shapes and turned up nose and tail in the wood. Decks cut out of plywood and pine stock just don’t work! And where do you drill for correct wheel placement in order to get proper flex and balance? Well, Skateboardsforschools.com has taken care of all of that for you!” [via]. Link.
Peter writes “Soon, hackers will exceed Sony in developing cool stuff for the PSP: not only is the 2.60 firmware hacked, but there’s a sequencer in development to go along with the PSP drum machine! Tracker style, much like the homebrew Game Boy creations. Who’s up for starting a homebrew Game Boy / PSP orchestra?”
Patrick Keane writes “Here’s how to add a homelink to your car: 1) Buy homelink visors from ebay as cheap as you can get them from any car you like. 2) Tear them apart, and remove the Homelink module. 3) Cut small opening in headliner / dash panel / or opt to rewire the buttons and creatively locate them. 4) Attach +12V (black) and GND (brown) wires to nearby power source (overhead lamp). 5) Train it using your garage door opener(s) (see

Over in the new
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.”
Andrew writes- “I started this project when I had an idea to use a Mac to switch a solenoid on/off to control sprinklers around the house. Unfortunately I never took it that far, but I have been able to control a few other things, like a model train around the Christmas tree. Here I have documented how I did it.”