SpritesMods
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This homemade '3D printer' spikes jello shots with infused designs (video)
Barista Bots, one of the most popular attractions at this year's South by Southwest festival in Austin, printed scanned logos, smileys and other shapes atop comped lattes. Thirsty attendees with 20 minutes to spare for the queue walked away with a free coffee and a robot-extruded froth. The novelty will have surely worn off by next year's SXSW, and we think we've stumbled upon the perfect replacement. It was born from a desire to turn otherwise ordinary gelatin shots into an original alcoholic treat -- meet the 3D Jello Printer. SpritesMods managed to accomplish this feat with a lot of creativity and a few recycled parts. They repurposed the stepper motors from discarded CD-ROM drives to move a syringe along the necessary axes, and used an old ejector mechanism to push down the plunger. An AVR microcontroller stores several different designs, which materialize in tiny jello shots using a cocktail of banana liquor, food coloring and a bit of corn starch to turn the liquid into a gel. SpritesMods is kind enough to help you get started with creating your own. Just dig up some choice e-waste and follow the tutorial -- you'll be mass producing the perfect New Year's Eve consumable in no time.
Flatbed scanner becomes multitouch panel in five-fingered DIY documentary (video)
Few things do a better job at decimating desktop real estate than a bulky old flatbed scanner. Skinnier replacements are cheap these days, but what's one to do with the old ones? An enterprising hacker who goes by the handle Sprite_tm, the same bloke who brought us a knock-operated door, has managed to create a multitouch panel out of his. He extracted the single-line CCD and mounted that below the display. He then attached five LEDs above it to shine light down. When his finger touches the screen it casts a shadow on the CCD and, with a little (probably a lot) of custom software he's able to triangulate the position of the touch. The system even works with multiple fingers, though we're guessing should they overlap vertically the system might get a little finicky. Check out a demo below and then click on through the source link for one heck of a detailed how-to.
