Marker

Wi-Fi Plushie

Wi-Fi Plushie

A Chumby is a small wi-fi device with a screen that uses your wireless internet connection to grab cool widgets (music, video, news, messages, photos) from the web. It’s always on, and can act as a simple alarm clock, digital photo album, news source, music player, or anything else you program. Last year at O’Reilly’s […]

Continue Reading
Balancing Robot from Recycled Materials

Balancing Robot from Recycled Materials

Amaze your kids by transforming two old toilet rolls and a few other recycled bits and bobs into a cool steampunk-inspired robot. Amaze them even further by balancing your robot on the edge of a ruler, table, shelf, or even your finger. And then triple amaze them by rotating the arms and revealing the steel […]

Continue Reading
Civilized Cat Toilet Training

Civilized Cat Toilet Training

Would you let your guests crap in a box on your floor? No? Then why would you let your cats? Here’s how to get them using the toilet like civilized members of the family. Aside from the risks of toxoplasmosis and other diseases transmitted by cat feces, there’s significant labor for the owner involved in […]

Continue Reading
Toy Car Launcher

Toy Car Launcher

This project was inspired by my son’s love of Hot Wheels cars and making them go fast, as well as my husband’s love of making cool toys for him and wanting any excuse to play with power tools. This car launcher shoots out Hot Wheels-type cars using rubber band power, and it’s makeable using materials […]

Continue Reading
Carbon Fiber Primer

Carbon Fiber Primer

It seems as though nearly everything “high performance” these days boasts some amount of carbon fiber in its construction. Originally used in aerospace, carbon fiber has moved into the mainstream and can be found in luxury automobiles, mountain bikes, and sports equipment. Some laptops and cellphones even use printed decals to simulate this lightweight material’s […]

Continue Reading
Rock ‘n’ Roll Speakers

Rock ‘n’ Roll Speakers

Whether you’re at a Bangkok hostel or backpacking in Goa, you can rock out to your favorite tunes with these portable Rock ’n’ Roll Speakers, a set of customizable, low-fi travel speakers that allow you to take your music everywhere. The speakers are driven by a simple power amplifier circuit and a tilt switch. With […]

Continue Reading
Solar Food Dryer

Solar Food Dryer

If you’re growing your own fruit and vegetables, or just trying to eat food that’s produced locally, you come across one obvious problem: when something is in season, you have more than you can handle, and then there’s nothing for the rest of the year. The obvious solution is to preserve your food when you […]

Continue Reading