Check out this capacitive touch brush stylus from Instructables user Margarita Benites. Using an old paint brush and some conductive thread, Benites recreates a traditional paint brush stylus that works with modern capacitive touch screen devices such as tablets and handsets for a fraction of the cost of a commercial version.
For some reason we seem to be stuck on the latest handset or tablet and can’t quite seem to break free of the allure of the $500 gewgaw. What happens when you want to read the morning news and aren’t quite satisfied with the handheld screen size? Well, if you’re like Martin Drashkov, you’ll grab some off-the-shelf components and cobble together a proof-of-concept and call it the Android MegaPad.
This man really belongs on Broadway, but he’s coming to Queens for World Maker Faire on Saturday, and will be doing David Pogue’s iPhone Brain Dump on the Main Stage at 4pm. In this half hour, he’ll dazzle you with the coolest apps, share some undocumented tips and tricks, look back at the iPhone’s unlikely origins, and look forward to the future of mobile phones and applications.
Josh Billions demonstrates the Mapbag at Maker Faire Bay Area 2011. It is a bicycle messenger bag with a ring of vibrating motors sewn into its strap, whose positions correspond to compass points. This soft circuit project uses a Lilypad in conjunction with the gps feature in an Iphone, allowing the user to set a destination and be given constant haptic feedback through the fabric in order to stay on course and in the right direction. This acts as an exploratory wayfinding tool – a fun and useful alternative to a standard turn-by-turn map.
Berkeley area maker, Milo, is really into Japanese joinery techniques and since his phone doesn’t have a fancy kickstand, he decided to make a smartphone stand using some scrap wood and his Japanese woodworking tools. If you’re looking for an easy to accomplish project, you can follow along with Milo in his step-by-step how-to.
Your smartphone is no DSLR, but chances are it’s the camera you’re carrying with you almost everywhere you go. We’ve seen many DIY smartphone tripod mounts, some clever, some not so much. The Glif being a prime example of a clever design. Of course there’s more than one way to do it, so it was just a matter of time before something just a clever came along. The Orbit is a swiveling smartphone suction mount in the final stages of development, and from the looks of it, seems to be a pretty versatile mounting device.
Silicon Valley legend Steve Jobs on Wednesday resigned as chief executive of Apple Inc in a stunning move that ended his 14-year reign at the technology giant he co-founded in a garage.
