HOW TO – Western Electric Classic Cell Phone Handset
“The Bell Model 500 desk phone manufactured for decades by Western Electric is an icon of Twentieth Century product design. The evolution of the Model 500’s receiver begun with the first telephones produced in the late 19th Century and it’s longevity has taken it into the 21st. I have always found it to be ergonomically designed and comfortably to use, It is the embodiment of “form follows function”.” Here’s how to make it a cell phone handset. Thanks Jake! Link.
Chris writes “Considering how many people bought the HP Bluetooth stereo headphones and got disappointed when the headband snapped, I thought that it was time to do something useful with the ‘broken’ headphone. We’ll take you through all steps of dismantling the Bluetooth receiver and building it into a nice mouse housing with 12v in and line out. And as the device keeps its battery, you can also use this as a portable Bluetooth stereo receiver and plug in you high quality headphones or even connect it to your stereo at home.” 
Alex (who tried to convince me to race in the Gumball Rally on more than one occasion) has a great article detailing his experiences with radio scanners “When was the last time you saw a trucker pulled over for speeding? I’d always assumed that truckers tipped each other off about speed traps via CB radio. But their secret weapon is the humble radio scanner. Here’s how to pick a scanner…” 
After AmBio observed some “Maker-like” contraptions using mesh networks and PC panels to track dead mosquitos and propane levels (used to kill the bugs) – they’re “upping the ante with a “smart” mosquito net, or computerized defense system, to serve the corporate and public health sectors. By the first quarter of 2006, AmBio executives hope to have finalized sophisticated software to control a network of magnets–forming a kind of wide-scale fence–which will be able to communicate with a central network through wireless 802.11b technology.” 
Chris writes “Getting your hands on an good sector panel antenna is not easy – if you live in Saudi Arabia. Dan does and hence did he need to build one himself but it took him 8 months to find a page about the Franklin array and that became his starting point when he developed his 2.4GHz 14dBi sector panel.” 
“In these disaster-ravaged times, whether natural or otherwise, the refugee radio is more than an object of convenience. Mareike Gas has created this handy, energy-independent AM-receiver radio. The Refugee Radio is powered by the energy of radio waves (crystal radio) and was primarily conceived for two situations in mind – any emergency crisis and a long-term refugee circumstance. The Refugee Radio is a great device for calamity-prone/conflict-plagued areas or simply for those insufferable power blackouts.” [
How to make a war driving box – “It’s very easy, but this is not a step by step HOWTO, only a guide to build your own box. To start, you need a small up and running OpenBSD System on an Intel based System. This Sytem can run on in VMWare or on a older PC System (I use a 500 Mhz Pentuim System with 4 GB HD and 128 MB Ram)” – Thanks Jason! 
