I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but it's awesome that you can now download music from the iTunes Store that's free of DRM (digital rights management) limitations. That was always my biggest problem with buying music from iTunes. Paying a buck for a song that I can only play on Apple devices? Really? That's what finally led me away to other legal music downloading services like eMusic and Amazon.
Sometimes an "analog" result is highly satisfying when the means for producing it is just the opposite. Enter Niklas Roy's "Electronic Instant Camera" project. The endeavor combines an analog black and white videocamera with a thermal receipt printer. The outcome is something in between a Polaroid camera and a digital camera. Like the olden days, the subject must sit still for a quite a while—3 full minutes—as their image is recorded and printed directly on a roll of receipt paper.
Too lazy to take your phone out of your pocket? If so, then here's a must-have: a customizable inPulse wristwatch that can check into Facebook Places. Created by inPulse designer Eric Migicovsky, the hacked watch uses Bluetooth to pull Facebook Places from a connected Android smartphone. The app sends real time latitude and longitude stats from the smartphone's GPS to Facebook, which then transmits nearby places to the watch, navigable by a one button interface.
Instructable user samsmith17's solution for riding in the dark is a lot snazzier than your typical bicycle light:
Budget Hack's cheap Wifi range extender works off of the age old concept of adding tin foil to your TV's rabbit ears. The materials are cheap, and the project is relatively easy (if you're willing to pick up some soldering skills).
That Kinect you bought for your Xbox 360? More than just a game controller, it's a bonafide hologram generator! In the clip below, UC Davis researcher Dr. Oliver Kreylos demos the process. The fun stuff begins at the :44 mark. Kreylos explains, "By combining the color and the depth image captured by the Microsoft Kinect, one can project the color image back out into space and create a 'holographic' representation of the persons or objects that were captured."
Jonathan Guberman of Site 3 coLaboratory hackerspace in Toronto has created an Arduino-controlled mechanical typewriter that can type on its own, detect what is being typed on it, and run text-based interactive fiction games such as the classic (and to most, all but forgotten) Zork. Guberman says:
What do these egg-carton lamps by American designer Victor Vetterlein have in common with Frankenstein's monster? More than you'd think! Both are green. Both have bolted necks. And both are assembled from materials most would be happy to let decompose.
Japanese artist and programmer Daito Manabe uses the face as an instrument. He makes the human face involuntarily dance using electric stimulators (which, by the way, look like the same kind used for electroshock therapy). The stimulators are taped to the face, and each musical beat delivers a shock, resulting in disturbing face contortions in time to the music.
Modder Bacteria presents his iNto64, a mini portable handheld of the classic Nintendo console. The iNto64 features:
Feeling ambitious in the hack department? Try taking on the DIY Pong Clock. Via Core77,
Wish you had $1000 to throw down for a projector? Well, if you have an old laptop lying around instead, here is a simple way to cheaply build your own digital projector. Lifehacker posts a HowTo excerpted from DIYer Randy Sarafan's 62 Projects to Make with a Dead Computer: (And Other Discarded Electronics).
Hacked Gadgets recently featured Csaba Bleuer's LED wave display, a device that projects LED messages midair. Bleuer had also previously created a similar device that spins on a fan motor.
This tutorial video will teach you to make your very own stripped down motor. This stripped down motor makes a great science project. Make a stripped down motor - Part 1 of 7.
This man's effect using Apple ARKit is both really cool and really freaky. In his tweet, John van der Zwaag said that this "alters reality" rather than just adding to it.
Looking for an (explosively) fun Thanksgiving project this week? Something that involves fire and lasers? Check it out. YouTube creator StyroPyro lights ten matches in 9 seconds with a modded laser. One word: Awesome. Luckily both StyroPyro and Kipkay provide HowTo's. First, How to building a burning blue/violet laser. Below, Kipkay demonstrates how to build one with a cheap Bic lighter casing (as well as store bought parts). Have fun.
The secret hideout - a thing of the past, a childhood luxury, an adult-less adventure. Those were the days. And remember the secret knock? The only way in. You either knew it or you didn't. The only way to keep the kids in and the grown-ups out.
Sure, unrolling toilet paper and tearing it from the roll is not difficult. But if Lego Mindstorms can do it for you, why not?
No matter if you've used one or not, you've got to admit that 3D printers are pretty darn awesome, especially the self-replicating ones that extrude molten plastic and the shoebox-sized versions that use mesmerizing stereolithography to build tiny objects layer by layer. But what's even cooler? A solar-powered printer that uses the sun's energy to melt sand and make 3D objects out of glass.
Got a knack for speeding? Like running red lights? Believe or not, the police have better things to be doing than pulling you over, like catching real criminals. That's why more and more cameras are popping up at known speeding zones and on street corners—so the cops can clean up the streets, compared to just ticketing them.
Understandably, the tragedy in Japan has substantially risen the level of worldwide radiation-related hysteria. So much so, as an alternative to stampeding health food stores for iodine tablets, crafty individuals and organizations are hacking together personal radiation detectors. Rather than relying on the government, the creation and modification of handheld Geiger counters provides a self-sufficient solution to today's questions regarding radiation. Profiled below, three admirable organiz...
It's amazing how the years seem to slip by. One day you're a dreamy, starry-eyed college student. Hopeful intern the next. Before you know it, you're just a hard working stiff like the rest of them. Even though those college years don't seem too far in the past, it's always a shock when you come across an old photo and see a somewhat fresher, baby-faced version of yourself. Think about how shocking it would be to see a time-lapse recording of years gone by, each day incrementally displaying t...
Let Forbes help you make a few do-it-yourself projects in record breaking time. This video tutorial contains information on how to make three various projects. Learn how to make your very own noise canceling earphones out of junk old headphones, make an LED light, and make a simple marshmallow shooter. This projects are not only easy and quick to make, but fun. Make noise canceling headphones and an LED light.
This video shows how to build a simple motor using a battery, magnet, a screw, and some wire. This is a fun project for children. Build simple motor.
