MAKE Flickr photo pool member pftburger writes “I found a whole bunch of old display board panels at the local scrap yard, so i built a computer interface and set them in resin, now they can function as a simple VU meter, jumping to the music.” Link.
Master of the ‘teardown’, Eric Pratt from iSuppli Corp. specializes in stripping down gadgets and finding out how much they’re really worth…The Mac mini which retails for $499 is actually worth $283 in parts and labor. The 2 Gig iPod Nano retails for $199, but is actually worth $103 in parts and labor. The most expensive component is actually the iPod Nano’s 2 Gigs of memory. Eric finished up with a G4 exclusive teardown of the Game Boy Micro which retails for $100. The actual cost of the Micro is only $44. The screen on the GB Micro is actually the most expensive component. Link.
Captured using a wide range of techniques, from state-of-the art scientific microscopes to standard and digital cameras, the images cover many different areas of science. For example, amongst the winning images we see a hatching mosquito, a close-up of salt and pepper, an artist’s impression of a migraine attack and care of a premature baby. [via] Link. The images are small, but larger ones can be found here and here. In MAKE 04 we have a great HOW TO on homemade strobe photography.
Bitbot writes “I’ve been watching this [Survivorman] for a few weeks now and thought it would make a great addition to the Make blog. Good tips for those times when your stuck without any type of gadget or technology. Living off the land takes on a new meaning when wilderness survival expert and filmmaker Les “Survivorman” Stroud spends nine harrowing weeks alone in a variety of survival simulations.” Link.
Making Toys is “The Insides and Outsides of Electronic Toy Design” blog from Professor Yury Gitman at Parsons. The assignments are doled out on the site, you can peek in on many electronic toy dissections, autopsies and see how many of the cheap electronic doo-dads are made with wonderful parts to be procured. Link.
Here’s a game of paper chess. This pdf file from Peter Visser’s Site has a pattern for each chess piece. Use your own board or make one of your own. There are a lot of other interesting paper-craft projects and art on paper forest blog to check out too. [