Altoids and tin cases

Once an Altoids tin, now a pinhole camera…

Once an Altoids tin, now a pinhole camera…

AltDaniel on CNET has a great article about the excellent Altoids contest that just wrapped up “If you happen to find yourself looking to remake your leftover Altoids tins, the company that makes the mints says the creative bar is a whole lot higher than an ashtray or a trinket box. Earlier this year, Altoids invited customers to enter its Tin Million Uses competition. The idea? Challenge people to come up with the most innovative way to reuse the ubiquitous tins.” Link. Many of the projects can be found in the pages of MAKE if you want to build your own too!

9V USB Altoid charger kits…

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Aaron made a great little kit for anyone who’d like to make their own 9V USB charger that will charge just about any gadget that uses USB, all inside, you guessed it, an Altoids tin. It’s pretty simple to construct one of these, but Aaron put everything together in kit form if you’re not a hardcore Maker yet. For $8.50 it’s a good deal, and it’s always good to support a Maker who’s turning their ideas in to little businesses. Link.

Altoids tin survival kit…

Altoids tin survival kit…

Kit-UnpackedThis kit is designed to be a 72-hour kit. It is designed to be small and portable, but also to be effective in providing for the Survival “Rule of Threes.” The basic kit is enclosed in an Altoids tin, wrapped with 10 feet of 550 parachute cord. Note the 3/32″ diameter hole drilled in the upper right hand corner of the tin. This kit provides for shelter preparation, fire making, water storage and treatment, signaling capability, basic medical needs and food procurement. [via] Link. I think Altoids should sell these in the check out lanes at grocery stores (with mints too).