If you’re in themarket for a used car, you should be suspicious of old cars with low mileage. Here’s a $2500 gadget that supposedly lets the owner change the mileage indicated on digital odometers. [via] Link. and spotted on eBay.
Grower is a small ‘rover’ vehicle which navigates around the periphery of a room. It hugs the room’s walls and responds to the carbon dioxide levels in the air by actually drawing varying heights of ‘grass’ on the walls in green ink. The Grower robot senses the carbon dioxide (CO2) level in the air via a small digital CO2 sensor. This sensor is mounted high on a wall of the exhibition space and sends data wirelessly to the robot. The number of people in an exhibit space breathing in oxygen and exhaling CO2 has an immediate effect on the sensor. My robot takes a reading of the CO2 level every few seconds and in response it draws a vertical line in green ink on the wall. Thanks Doug! Link.
Etsy is a website where people can sell anything they want, as long as it’s handmade. Etsy is a site by crafters for crafters. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to sell their handmade items, without the hassle of setting up an entire website and with much lower fees than eBay. Etsy is for selling anything that is handmade, from clothes to furniture to computer cases, so let your crafting run wild. [via] Link.
Great write up, background and tinkering- a homemade PBX system! Eight telephone extensions with roughly telco spec voltages and currents (48V onhook, 90VRMS 20Hz sinusoidal ringing, about 25mA loop current offhook.) Ring trip is sub-spec but can handle at least 3 “500” type rotary dial telephone sets in parallel without false tripping. Lines are not balanced, nor is one side ground. [via] Link.
I was getting tired of the aftermarket car scents that dangle from your rear view mirror. Besides, short of going to an automotive store, I was never able to find a coffee scented car freshner so I decided to make my own. Total cost= around 3 dollars. Here are the supplies you will need. Coffee beans, a small jar to hold the beans (preferably with an aluminum lid), a fork (I used a hammer and a small pick for making the holes in the lid). [via] Link.
Nice article (and MAKE mention!)…Creative types find tools, support to build PCs, robots – MIT gearheads aren’t the only ones wielding soldering guns these days. Do-it-yourselfers are making a comeback. A new how-to magazine devoted to gadget building is drawing fans. Computer buffs, bored with their dowdy beige machines, are creating personalized PCs with custom paint jobs and high-end components... Link.
This page has a ton of HOW TOs on upgrading that old Palm that’s likely in some box packed away. Palm IIs, m100s, Palm Vs – while it might not be that useful as a PDA, it could be a great way to learn how to solder better, uplocking and how the guts of a Palm work. Link.
