Morph a McDonald's iZ toy into an IR repeater

Apparently this is the season to give IR-less, inanimate objects a bit of infrared love, as we've now got yet another IR installation duty for you handle once you've mastered the chore of getting the connectivity in your PlayStation 3. For those mums and pops who frequent McDonald's all too frequently, you've probably got a satisfactory stash of iZ toys laying around like landmines in the kitchen floor. If you've already got a (partial) multiroom IR channeling setup going, there's always the need for more coverage, so that's where the relatively useless "orange iZ" comes in, along with an IR receiver, soldering gun, and a dash of DIY prowess. This engineering dad cracked open the critter, carefully inserted the repeater, and made sure to clean up the mess by routing the cables through a rear opening, producing an impressively clean result. So if you're looking to make something worthwhile out of those otherwise ineffectual Happy Meal toys, be sure to hit the read link for all your instructions, and click on through for the repeatin' in action.

[Via MAKE]

[Mrfreezie @ Dec 26th 2006 1:15PM]

One of those beasts managed to sneak it's way into our house about a week ago. And out of all the annoying happy meal toys(and there are some annoying ones) this one takes the cake. It does nothing except squeak and scream in a high "voice", and it is loud! They put a military quality speaker in that thing.

[TomTheGeek @ Dec 26th 2006 5:27PM]

If you read TFA, he doesn't turn it into a repeater he simply mounts one into the toy and makes the nose flash when it receives an IR signal. Fun, but not really that cool.

[GUIonthePS3SUCKS! @ Dec 26th 2006 6:42PM]

i found this 2 days ago