DIY FlashBender
If you’d like to get more control over you flash and a regular bounce card doesn’t cut it, then try this handy DIY FlashBender by Bob Jordan.
Gadgets
MAKE 23: How to shoot mosquitoes with lasers
Huge problem: Malaria kills millions, but you can’t just spray DDT anymore to wipe out disease-carrying mosquitoes (DDT also wipes out, oh, majestic bald eagles). What do do? You could search for another toxin to spray. Or, if you’re 3ric Johanson at Intellectual Ventures Laboratory, you could invent a new gadget. A gadget that tracks […]
2000V washer launcher
Bob Davis, whom some of you may remember for his high-voltage can crusher, is back at it with this 2KV, 1600A, 1500 μF 10-capacitor discharge bank that can be used to crush cans and, most amusingly IMHO, launch washers high into the air with a sound that really has to be heard to be appreciated. Bob’s video might benefit from a bit of editing; clicking the embedded player above should take you right to the money shot around 4:35. There’s also a good can-crushing right around 5:50.
How-To: Ball-In-Cage Switch
Sean Ragan just put up a tutorial for this simple analog tamper-detecting switch for guarding his garden over on Make: Projects: This clever mechanical switch remains open so long as it is balanced in an upright position. But disturb it in any way, and the ball falls against the bars of the cage and closes […]
Dirt cheap $50 Android tablet prototype
Seriously, I’ve spent more on dirt for our backyard garden than you’d end up paying for this tablet from Allgo Systems. Technology demonstrations, such as in the accompanying video, lower barriers of entry and expose new possibilities that normally wouldn’t exist. For a few dollars more than the leading name brand microcontroller board you could have a complete system with I/O, display, storage, etc. I know it’s like comparing apples to oranges, but it does get you wondering. What sort of projects would you build with access to cut-rate tablet hardware like this?
How-To: Snap-action Batarang prop
Instructables user spookylean shows us how to make this cool little folding prop based on a weapon from the video game Batman: Arkham Asylum. He does it the labor-intensive but inexpensive way–cutting the profiles by hand from clear hardware store Plexiglas and then painting them black. I am too lazy for that and would probably just have them laser-cut from black plastic to start with. Embedded magnets lock it in the deployed position.
Weyland-Yutani patents handy facehugger removal device
The worst thing about summertime in Austin is the facehuggers. They’re more than just a nuisance; if you’re allergic to alien embryos, like I am, they can actually be quite dangerous. Plus there’s that whole chestbursting thing–inconvenient, embarrassing, and uncomfortable to say the least. I’ve gotten pretty good at removing them using the old spork-and-a-defibrillator trick, but it’s terribly slow and, no matter how careful I am, I always seem to end up burning myself with molecular acid and having to stick those little bits of toilet paper to my face. Fortunately, thanks to space medic Ronald Renne, now there’s a better way. [via Gizmodo]
