Gareth’s 2010 post about Petaluma, CA, propmaker Shawn Thorsson’s insane HALO costumes was one of our ten most-trafficked posts of the year, so when Shawn sends in a link, we sit up and take notice. This time it’s a ray gun propcasting project featuring one of the pistols from Mass Effect 2. Among other clever tricks, Shawn shows you how to recycle old, cured molds to use as filler when making new ones, thereby saving on expensive silicone.
Pete Prodoehl needed a button. A button with a USB connection that would emulate a single keypress. He’s built two now. They’re dead simple. I have no particular need for such a button, but this photo is making me itch to build one of my own.
Make intern, Tyler Moskowite, sent over this clever bread bag closure power strip organization hack he found on the Interwebs. I have yet to find the original source for this hack, but hopefully someone will leave their name in the comments and we can all congratulate them for a job well done. This hack reminds […]
The USB Infrared Toy, available in the Maker Shed, is an assembled, open source, USB infrared remote control receiver/transmitter designed by DangerousPrototypes. Use it as a remote control with your computer, to view infrared signals on a logic analyzer, to capture and clone infrared signals, and to play IR codes.
The DrinkShield, available in the Maker Shed, is an open source breathalyzer kit that is used with an Arduino. The sensor reacts to alcohol content in your breath and can be programmed to light the attached LEDs to act as a standalone breathalyzer or hooked up to a computer for a more interactive experience.
We have covered Alan’s Biocca’s fantastic clearinghouse site antennalaunchers.com before, and Brookfield, CT, resident Andrew Stoev’s basic launcher design appears to be a slightly up-gunned version of Alan’s CSV19 pneumatic antenna launcher. It’s a beautiful build, but my favorite feature is the quick-release mount he added for his Android device. Using a free app called GeoCam, his phone, when so mounted, becomes an augmented-reality aiming scope that provides GPS location, compass orientation, and (probably most usefully for this purpose) phone inclination data.
Above is Sony’s teaser video for their giant-looking tablets. Sony, the company that sues makers, hackers and innovators (which are usually associated with actually building Rube Goldberg Machines) thinks a video like this will drive demand. I don’t think it will. This caught my eye for two reasons. 1) Sony wants to be clever and […]
