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DIY smartphone car dock: 10 minutes, $2, and worthy of a MacGyver sense of accomplishment
The problem: you need a hands-free option for safely espying your smartphone while behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. Your equipment: Adhesive-backed craft foam, heavy duty plastic coated wiring, assorted PVC tubes and pieces. (Total value: approximately $2.) A "goofy vacant space" in the car dash for placement. Target time is 10 minutes or less. Hit up the Instructables source link for your solution!
DIY Lady Gaga 'Pop Music' shades: so magical, you'd be so fantastical
Next time you're out at a Lady Gaga tribute concert, leave the crowd speechless with your very own "Pop Music Will Never Be Low Brow" glasses. All it takes to give off that "Creative Director of Polaroid" vibe is just the touch of your hand, two keychain digital picture frames, and some garage glamorous sunglasses you don't mind seeing destroyed. Love the shades, baby? You won't be able to see straight anymore -- the frames aren't transparent, so keep that in mind when choreographing. DIY instructions via the source link, video example after the break. Spandex one-piece recommended, but we'd advise against Heartbeats earphones.
DIY cat feeder now enabled by a Cisco switch, streams food and video
You know, there are times when you have to part ways with your adorable kitties at home, and you might not be so keen on getting a cat sitter in case he or she touches your precious game consoles (even if it's an old granny). We've seen the lazy man's solution before, but Britain's Mathew Newton has brought us a new DIY internet-enabled cat feeder just in time for a new decade. Rather than using a CD-ROM tray to push-release unknown quantities of cat food, Mathew's version has a motor-driven cereal dispenser controlled by signal from port status LEDs on a Cisco switch -- an ingenious way to avoid expensive Ethernet relay units. When it's feeding time the user logs onto a web interface to choose the dispensing quantity, or you can also have an automatic feed schedule set up if you trust the system -- Mathew said he "can rely on it 100%," and his cats do appear to be healthy. Fortunately, you can always check the live video stream just in case you have doubts. All is explained in the video after the break.
Apple posts DIY info for new iMac memory installation
If you're looking to do a DIY memory upgrade on your brand-spanking new iMac, Apple's more than happy to tell you how. The Cupertino company has posted info in the Support section of its website telling people who aren't afraid to pop the hood on the new 21.5" and 27" iMacs what kind of memory modules the new machines use and how to install or replace memory modules themselves. While it's not the public's first look inside the machines, Apple lets the world know that the iMac (Late 2009) has four SDRAM slots, where to find them, and what types of modules will and won't fit happily inside. Would-be do it yourselfers can search Apple's site for support document HT3918. Godspeed – and Godcaution – to you. [via Softpedia]
(Castle) Crash Halloween with this Behemoth of a costume
The team at The Behemoth know you're having a hard time coming up with something original and awesome for Halloween, so the team has included an instructional guide to creating your very own Castle Crashers inspired costume on its blog. Taking a simple 5-gallon bucket, some foam and a pocket full of hopes and dreams, you can rock one of the best costumes we've seen (all week, at least). As an added bonus, the guide is simple and includes plenty of pictures to guide would-be costume designers -- and future "Best Costume of the Night" award winners.
PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe gets DIY compatibility fix
Recent connection issues have marred European PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe owners from participating in rousing online games against North American and Asian players. Thankfully, the PlayStation Blog has released a two-part DIY guide to help fix the PSP game's issues. The process is simple: Delete your game through the PSP Home Menu (select Game>Memory Stick>press the triangle button with PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe highlighted and select Delete). Connect to PlayStation Store > Select View Downloads and re-download PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe from the Download List. Users will still retain their previous progress and now (hopefully) be completely problem free in their quest for online Deluxe dominance.%Gallery-51376%
DIY Eee Keyboard is big, beautiful, and highly coveted
The ASUS Eee Keyboard is thin, sleek, and has a touchscreen pad. This do-it-yourself is bulky, uses a green backlight, and has instead a wireless mouse and numpad. Still, there's something magical and all kinds of wonderful about this home project, essentially an Eee PC 900 shoved into a Sven Multimedia EL 4002 keyboard. All you need is a VGA cable hooked up to a monitor and you're officially good to go. Itching to recreate this beaut for yourself? Hit up the read link for a plethora of in-process screenshots and some commentary from its maker. [Via Liliputing]
DIY HD projector hits the right note, sub-€500 price range
It's really hard to say how much of a value this DIY HD projector is, given we're missing some crucial specs like resolution (gotta be at least 720p, right?), contrast ratio, and luminosity. Still, at €500 (about $708 US) for the whole kit, it's not a bad deal if you planned on spending your weekend doing projects anyway. All the pieces come in four separate bundles -- HD optic, light, housing, and electronics -- and if you need some handholding (it's okay, so do we), there's a German-language instruction manual that's thankfully full of pictures and diagrams, and even more entertaining, we've got a video / picture slideshow of the process done to a playful techno ditty. Check it out after the break.Update: Yup, it's 1280x768.[Via Slashgear, thanks Gary K.]Read - DIY HD projector kitRead - Instruction manual
FLOW is like the Ikea bookshelf of Android phones
"You know, I could build a better phone than this." We've probably all uttered something to that effect in our past in a fit of frustrated rage -- some more than others -- but are you ready to put your money where your mouth is? If so, you can now part with some cash and cobble together a bunch of modules to create a do-it-yourself Android phone called FLOW -- just be aware that it's probably not going to solve your troubles. At nearly $500 for the bare minimum hardware, you're not saving any money over a phone expertly manufactured by an Asian OEM, and no offense, sport, but something tells us the OEM's craftsmanship is in a different league. Putting away the practical concerns for a moment, the project seems like it'd be a blast -- so the only trick is finding someone willing to use a phone that looks this clunky and geeky day in and day out. G1 owners, care to step forward?
DIY spring reverb from cassette player brings noise, nostalgia
Back when we were growing up, we had three cassette players all our own (one in the bedroom, one in the playroom for dancing, and one kept by the back door for travelling) which were tiny, pink, and had the audio quality of of a GBV record cranked thorough a baseball park sound system -- but still, many of us have at least one cassette player laying around the house, sad and disused. Make has posted a project by Leadtowill which puts an old cassette radio player's parts to use by removing the motor, adding an input to the amp part of the circuit, and adding a spring to convert the speaker to a driver. The end result is a spring reverb, which he plans on augmenting further by repurposing the radio as a white noise generator. Us? Well, we still use our tape player for the occasional outdoor rollerskating / baton routine so we'll leave this one to the pros. Hit the read link to check out the very cool photo set.[Via Make]
LittleBigPlanet commercials: The World of Fart
Whenever you have a do-it-yourself creation game like LittleBigPlanet, it's almost certain that obscene user-created levels (NSFW) are sure to follow. Sony's advertising gang know this too and thought it'd be fun to highlight something of that nature in its latest TV spot. From the UK comes "The World of Fart" -- a level filled with gas hazards and pull my finger jokes. Despite its childish concept, it looks like a well-designed and realized world. You'll want to watch the commercial after the break to refresh yourself.
LittleBigPlanet scores most nominations for February's AIAA
There are two things LittleBigPlanet is well-known for. One, is to have successfully peddled off Sackboy as a lovable PlayStation mascot and the other is to rack up nominations like they're handing out free candy at the market. Continuing this trend of making industry heads turn and getting recognition, the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) has announced the nominees for its 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards with LittleBigPlanet being noted as most-nominated. Is there an award for just that -- most nominated?All in all, the do-it-yourself platformer builder scored 10 nominations including "Overall Game of the Year" and "Outstanding Innovation in a Game"; however, we won't know if it won any of those until February 19 when the ceremony begins. Host Jay Mohr will surely bank on the opportunity to milk the LBP-crazed crowd with some Sackboy humor -- we just can't wait.[via press release]
Mod that: 5 of our favorite DIY Zappers
We're here with another stroll down memory lane, checking out some of the great mods the Wii community has come up with. This time, we focus on the Wii Zapper. Hit the button below and check out 5 of our favorite DIY Zappers. #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } Click here to continue >> We're always talking about mods here at Wii Fanboy. Be sure to check out our retro mod gallery, as well as 5 of our favorite Wiimote mods, 5 of our favorite Wii mods and 5 of our favorite GameCube mods. Keep up with the modding scene by staying up to date with Wii Fanboy!
Cat Faucet solves elusive cat drinking from sink issue, we sigh in relief
Cats like to drink from everywhere but the places they're supposed to drink from, and for that they offer no excuses, reasons, and just walk away, tails in the air. This independent spirit, though, means that we're often stuck turning faucets on and off for thirsty felines because heaven forbid they drink from a dish. One crafty soul has solved this gripping conundrum with an IR detector, valves, some plastic tubing, and a whole lot of moxie. The detector can even suss out if the subject is human or feline in order to keep the faucet from triggering every time someone walks by. Our test subjects won't comment on the new tech, but they've stopped complaining and have become extremely athletic and hydrated super-cats of doom. Still reading? Peep the video after the break of hot kitty drinking action. [Via Make]
DIY musical gear: just add talent
While browsing the 'net recently, we came across three separate DIY / mod articles (all stemming from our friends at Make) related to musical instruments, and realized that if combined... it's almost a band (or at least the White Stripes). The first is a step-by-step guide to making your own Rock Band-esque drum triggers that can interface with your PC, allowing you to perform freestyle -- though you can still bang away at games with them. The second experiment lets you add USB to a standard electric guitar, thus enabling you to record directly out of your Firebird (or other axe) straight to disk, reducing your time in the studio and freeing up your schedule for rehab. Finally, if you've got a USB guitar, you'll probably want some effects as well -- we suggest making them yourself using the handy kits in the link below. Okay, so it's not technically a band quite yet, but with a little elbow grease, questionable hairstyles, and a cash-embezzling manager, you'll be on your way to a Behind the Music (or passing reference on Pitchfork) in no time.[Via Make, Make, and Make]Read - Electronic Drum Set with ControllerRead - How to Build a USB GuitarRead - Build your own effects pedal
The Soloist: Why I do it
After this post, I had it in mind to think through why I prefer to solo, and whether the reasons why are valid ones, given that I'm playing in a genre meant to provide a social experience. I'm going to try to list as many reasons as I can think of in favor of grouping and playing with buddies, and provide a counter-argument if I can. Bear in mind, this is not me telling you that you should go solo; this is just me trying to 1) explain why I do it, and 2) understand for myself whether my reasons hold water.Enough said; excelsior!
Make your own sprite coasters
Crafty gamers -- or gamey crafters -- take note of these homemade NES coasters. The Wiicast used iron-on Perler beads and a pegboard to build these sprightly squares. The simple process yields strong results, scoring high -- eight rings -- on our just-made-up phone-it-in scale. Of course, the project works best on retro sprites that end up being about the same size as a typical glass. Go too old-school, and the coasters will be suited only for shot glasses. Or adapt the technique to a modern screenshot to craft the coolest doormat in your apartment building.
Flickr Find: DIY iCurve with Legos
DIYer Extensor posted pics of a self-built iCurve replacement over at flickr. Created to support his (or her, the page doesn't say) 15-inch Powerbook, the do-it-yourself-Curve is made from spare legos and a $7 Container Store wire shelf. The shelf is colorfully made, surprisingly attractive and looks sturdy enough to handle the weight of the Powerbook. We at TUAW love to see this kind of initiative and welcome your DIY Mac submissions. Drop us a line at our Tips form.
DIY iPod Dock
iPod: $79 - $349MacBook to sync said iPod: $1099Making an iPod dock out of a cardboard box and some tape: pricelessSorry, but I couldn't resist, this is just too classic: Flickr user flickrflick151, stating "When you can't afford the real thing, you improvise" on his photoset, decided to create his own iPod dock from an AirPort Express card box (bonus points) and some tape. The oversized "iPod Dock" label (accessory makers - take note) tops off an altogether clever solution to a dockless iPod. Check out the Flickr set for more pics if you're looking to roll your own.[via Engadget]
Make your own touch-screen barcode scanner
For all you obsessive-compulsive types out there who need to keep track of every single box of paper clips and old Popular Mechanics magazines crammed into your overstuffed desk drawers, Max's App Note Blog has posted an easy way to categorize your useless swag with a do-it-yourself touch-screen barcode scanner. Little more than a standard commercial touch-screen attached to a Metrologic Voyager scanner with a RS232 null-modem cable (instructions for building your own are included), this project has all sorts of practical applications, from making sure the nano you just bought isn't some cheap knockoff to giving your kids a head start on the technology they'll need to master in order to become successful grocery store cashiers. And if for some reason you fall upon hard times and are forced to sell off most of your possessions, the touch-screen barcode scanner will make your fire sale look that much more professional to the folks snatching up your treasured gear at insultingly low prices.[Via Make]
