MAKE has forums!
You asked, you sent us emails, you called our Skype payphone at 3am – and now they’re here – MAKE has forums!@!@! We’ll be fine-tuning things in days to come, so please be sure to let us know if you notice any problems (either by posting a message or by sending email to webmaster@makezine.com). So far we’ve been thrilled with the Vanilla forums software we’re using, and want to thank Mark O’Sullivan at Lussumo for helping with the implementation. And it couldn’t have happened without the great development support from our own Jay Laney. These forums have RSS, so you can subscribe to anything you post or other topics. The MAKEbot will also tell you the latest posts, by typing “forums.” Link.
Rick writes “Two years ago I made a recumbent tricycle for riding on the skating trails cleared on the frozen rivers here in Winnipeg. My friend built one for himself a few years back as well. Both trikes have front-wheel drive & rear-wheel steering, and they are a blast to ride!. My trike is a front-wheel drive, rear-wheel steered, recumbent tricycle in a delta configuration. I designed it so that the rear part of the frame folds in towards the front for storage. It makes it nice & compact but quickly unfolds for use. Rather than paint the frame, I covered it in “poor man’s chrome”: aluminum duct tape. Even the rims & wheel discs are covered in the tape.” 
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?” 
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. 
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. 
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. 
Inverarity writes in regarding serial port projects for PCs – “There’s a great book for this stuff,