Chris writes in with something to do with a laptop keyboard: “Ever wanted a laptop keyboard to use with your stationary computer? Lee Char did and took a keyboard from an old Compaq and ‘converted’ it to be connected to his regular computer. This is something that would be interesting to spin further on by interfacing this keyboard with an PDA instead, like an iPAQ. Anyone have an idea on how to do this?” Link.
Sam writes: “One of my favorite sayings is ‘all a lock does is keep an honest man honest.’ Any time a new gadget comes out that speeds up the ability to pick a lock it is often extremely overpriced. Any vibrating lock pick is a bit overpriced in my opinion, so here is a way of making a good vibrating lock pick for about $9.00 and a half hour.” This project turns a vibrating Oral-B flosser into a lock pick. Link.
Steve writes “While I love my Playstation Portable as a both a game machine and portable media device, one of the biggest limiations is the fact you’re limited to the storage on the memory stick. Even with a 1GB stick, after you drop on a movie or two, you’re really limited in what you can store on it compared to an iPod.” This how-to shows how to use custom firmware on the WL-HDD 802.11g drive enclosure to add a built in webserver. By using RSS feeds, you can stream content directly from the drive to the PSP. Link.
This is a pretty fun “first:” here’s a how-to on Instructables on applying multiple textures to a single object in the virtual world of Second Life. The process is very simple and can greatly enhance the appearance of objects you build. There are lots of how-tos and in-world help for building things, but I think Instructables works for both atom- and electron-based Makers particularly well. Link.
Inverarity writes in regarding serial port projects for PCs – “There’s a great book for this stuff, Controlling the World with your PC, by Paul Bergsman. I loved this book when I was a young tinkerer (alas I have much less time for tinkering these days, which is why I live vicariously through Makezine.) Mr. Bergsman also used to write for Circuit Cellar, I think. The book has general tips for interfacing with the parallel port, as well as designs for driving LEDs, relays, stepper motors, and lots of other stuff. Great fun!” Link.
Come to the MAKE and #joiito IRC channel MacWorld Meetup, Thursday, January 12, 2006 (12:30 PM – 2:30 PM). Moscone Center, San Francisco, Calif. The plan is to meet at the O’Reilly Media Booth (#1017), where we’ll will be hacking iPods and showing how to get DVDs and videos on your iPod – then we will all migrate from there.” Link. If you need a free pass to get in, here’s a PDF.
William on GoRobotics writes “The popular educational and hobbiest company, Parallax is finally offering kits with USB support! The long-standing support of serial control in robotics and microcontrollers continues to be a problem, so it’s good to see some of the larger players begin to make the change.” Link.
