Interesting game hack… apparently Counter-Strike removed the cross-hairs for the sniper rifle to make it a bit more realistic (that is, they remove the cross-hair when the scope is not in use). With this trick a sniper will be able to accurately shoot in short-distance battles, all using a Sharpie. Thanks Ghia! Link.
Reven writes “Yesterday I received my minipov kit from adafruit industries (MiniPOV 2 kit) [from the MAKE gift guide]. I just love it. It is very easy to make. Clear instructions on the web with lots of great photos (I definitively need a tripod). It’s easy to program too and all the source code files have a lot of useful comments. Overall it’s a great gadget and the price is quite good. I did have to pay $6.60 for postage, though. At least adafruit does post overseas. I did some tricks in front of a mirror. Almost had more fun taking photos than building. I’ve even set up a flickr POV set. For your pleasure.” Link.
Here’s the latest on the iPod breakout box, now you can control it, and poke at it…Panocamera writes – “The iPod breakout dock was the first step in creating a microcontroller interface to the iPod. The next step was to create a serial command protocol testing program so that I could send the iPod command sequences and watch the responses from the iPod in order to figure out a sequence to reliably control and command an iPod externally.” Link.
A Make reader writes “Kleinbauer sells plans for building cnc mills from scratch, using surplus available materials. I was thinking about ordering plans for his “Brute” pcb mill. It might be an interesting feature in Make if someone were to buy one of his plans and build a mill from it, to give a feel for the cost and complexity of the project, as well as the quality of the plans.” Link. Has anyone out there used these plans?
Nick writes “Hikers continue to strive for lighter equipment, and while many times this leads to buying expensive gear, several people are experimenting with making small alcohol stoves out of Soda cans. Running on plain alcohol, they can weigh only tens of grams and heat almost as good as their professional counterparts.” Link.
Unsat_rbd writes “A few years ago I was unable to find a desk that fit all of my needs, so I built one using simple components from a local hardware store. The finished product was inexpensive, durable, and portable (I just moved for the 3rd time in as many years). The design was meant for 3 21″ CRT monitors, A/V equipment, rackmount computers, and a mini-fridge.” Link.
I think the Double-slit electron diffraction is my favorite – “Robert P. Crease, a member of the philosophy department at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the historian at Brookhaven National Laboratory, recently asked physicists to nominate the most beautiful experiment of all time. Based on the paper of George Johnson in The New York Times we list below 10 winners of this polling and accompany the short explanations of the physical experiments with computer animations.” Link.
