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Science through graphic novels

Phillip Torrone — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:00:36 -0800

Science Friday's "Science Through Graphic Novels"... Great interview(s)! Using graphic novels to teach science...

In this segment, we'll take a look at two graphic novels that approach science from a different direction. One tackles Darwin's 'Origin of Species,' while the other deals with the life and ideas of philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell.
Michael Keller - Journalist, Author, "Charles Darwin's On The Origin Of Species: A Graphic Adaptation" (Rodale Books, 2009) 
Apostolos Doxiadis - Co-author, "Logicomix: An Epic Search For Truth" (Bloomsbury, 2009)

How to SAFELY fry a Turkey

Lextone — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:53:28 -0800

I know there are many how-to Fry a turkey Instructables already so I will refrain from reiterating proper oil levels, having fire extinguishers on hand, keeping away from combustibles, completely thawing and drying the birds and the such. The most dangerous time in turkey frying is putting it in, an...
By: Lextone

Oh sew stylish - iPod control in a bag's handle

craft-tech — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:53:27 -0800

We recently introduced the Magic Dock connector for iPod and iPhone which allows you to quickly and easily control your music player with just two soft, eTextile buttons. We posted this Instructable on how to make a cute cat accessory using conductive yarn. Please see that I'ble for a discussion on ...
By: craft-tech

Tiny solar-powered brass engine in a wineglass

Sean Michael Ragan — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:00:00 -0800

This is the work of Szymon Klimek, who has been honored by the Internet Craftsmanship Museum. [via The Automata / Automaton Blog]

Maker Shed kiosks at Fry's

Gareth Branwyn — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:01:00 -0800

We're ecstatic about the fact that we now have Maker Shed kiosks, with magazines, books, and electronics kits, in several California Fry's stores. We think this is big news, not only for Maker Media, but for all indie makers -- a major retail chain is now giving small kit-makers this level of exposure. And, we think it's particularly cool that we designed and built these kiosks in-house, and even personally delivered them to the stores! What other publisher could claim that?

Here, Assoc. Publisher and General Manager of Maker retail, Dan Woods explains more:

Maker Shed kiosks are now installed in four of Fry's largest superstores. Each kiosk merchandises current and back issues of MAKE, Make: Project books, and kits, with an emphasis on maker-made kits produced by indie makers like Limor Fried's MintyBoost, Mitch Altman's Brain Machine, Ken Murphy's Blinky Bugs, Dale Wheat's Tiny Cylon and Wee Blinky kits, and Amy Parness and Ariel Churi's DIY Design Electronics kits. This indie maker angle was a really important selling point to Fry's. The kiosk's themselves are all-MAKE in their design and construction. The challenge was to create a merchandising/branding kiosk that could show off maker-made kits, as well as our books and magazines, all in a 2' X 2' footprint. The design we came up with incorporates the Maker Faire workbench framing as the internal structure, refurbished fence boards from West Sonoma, and some nicely weathered corrugated shed aluminum that was locally salvaged. The result is a nice combination of weathered shed and repurposed industrial tubing. They're uniquely MAKE, and Fry's is ecstatic. In fact, they were even trucked down and setup by Heather (Harmon-Cochran) and Rob (Bullington) in one day.

These are the stores that currently have kiosks. (San Diego will be set up by Fry's staff next week)

San Diego, CA
9825 Stonecrest Boulevard
(858) 514-4500

San Jose, CA
550 E. Brokaw Road
(408) 487-1000

Fremont, CA
43800 Osgood Road
(510) 252-5300

Sunnyvale, CA
1077 East Arques Avenue
(408) 617-1300

New hackerspace in Chicagoland: Workshop 88

Matt Mets — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0800

Good news for those in Chicagoland! Planning is underway to form Workshop 88, a hackerspace in the west suburbs of Chicago. Here's your chance to get in on the ground floor!

We're currently in the planning stage, and we're looking for interested people in the area to help us get started. We're holding bi-weekly meetings Mondays at 6:30 until we're ready to rent some space and move in. The first meeting is this Monday, November 23, at the Boilerhouse Cafe, on the campus of North Central College in Naperville (29 N Loomis St Naperville, IL 60540).
Some of the things we'll be discussing:

Legal structure of the hackerspace

Membership structure and guidelines

Work that still needs to be done to build out our online presence

Current projects

This information is also available on our blog, at http://blog.workshop88.com. Updates and meeting notices will be posted there, as well as on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Workshop88. For additional information, we have a mailing list at info@workshop88.com.

Workshop 88 Planning Meeting
Monday, November 23, 2009, 6:30pm
Boilerhouse Cafe
29 N Loomis St, Naperville, IL 60540

"Knotted" Headpin

Gailavira — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:49:46 -0800

Headpins are used very often when creating jewelry. If you have a torch, it?s easy to create your own headpins. However, if you don?t have one, or if you are like me and don?t trust yourself with a torch, buying pre-made headpins may seem like the only option.This tutorial teaches you to make your o...
By: Gailavira

Mint tin electronics dev kit packs the essentials

Collin Cunningham — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:30:00 -0800

From the MAKE Flickr pool

Once you've caught the 'electronics bug', spending time away from the workbench/lab can seem an unpleasant prospect. Luckily, one can carry on learning and experimenting with a minimal amount of hardware. Nick shares his own recipe for ultra-compact electronics prototyping - the Altoids Tin Electronics Lab

This is a small electronics lab in an altoids tin. It contains nearly everything to work on small projects, such as a breadboard, components (including several ICs), and a adjustable power supply. The power supply is a simple LM317 circuit, with the 317's metal tab cut off to make it fit.

For details, check out Nick's essential part list. I'm guessing quite a few of us have mobile kits along these lines. Share pics of your setup via the MAKE Flickr pool - we'd love to see 'em!

Olympus BioScapes competition winners

Phillip Torrone — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:00:16 -0800

Olympus BioScapes competition winners, amazing photos!

Mac mailbox

Phillip Torrone — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:00:43 -0800

Mac mailbox from Te Atatu in Auckland...

LHC tweets its first circulating beam of 2009

Phillip Torrone — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:45:09 -0800

LHC tweets its first circulating beam of 2009, good luck finding the Higgs gang. Photos here...

Building a shop presence notification system

Matt Mets — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:00:00 -0800

As a member of Hack Pittsburgh, our local hackerspace, one thing I've wanted to know if anyone else is there before I make the trek over. Well, so did Andy Leer and Marty McGuire, so they decided to build a shop presence notification system. They reasoned that they could measure the ambient light level to determine if someone was around, because people tend to turn on the lights when they show up. With this in mind, they hooked up a photocell to a donated iobridge module, and had a notification widget up on the website in record time. Excellent work!

Free LED Cookbook from TI

Gareth Branwyn — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0800

By way of Andrew Q Righter of HacDC comes word of this free PDF from Texas Instruments, a 41-page "cookbook" of circuit designs and application notes for TI's LED-related components. [Thanks, Andrew!]

LED Reference Design Cookbook [PDF]

Vacuum tube prototyping board

Gareth Branwyn — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0800

Bruce Heran made this prototyping board for his tube projects. He writes:

This is a project that I made to take care of an ever increasing need to prototype vacuum tube (valve) circuits. As you can see from the photos, it really is a test "board." I do a lot of work with tubes and love to design and improve circuits. In the process I often use various CAD type programs to rough out the designs. I have frequently found that the models do not agree with the final build. Some are right on, but most are off enough to turn a good idea into a waste of time. Thus the need to quickly prototype designs. Now I could have created this board with many additional features - speakers, output transformers, LEDs... But what I needed was a simple way to test single stage tube circuits. So for simplicity I wired the tube pins together (pin 1 to pin 1 and so on). The leads from the pins are brought out to terminals on a "Euro" style terminal strip. I included several other "Euro" strips, a pair of RCA jacks, a 100 k-ohm variable resistor and solderless prototype breadboard. This solderless breadboard is available in various sizes from several sources. If you build one of these boards, feel free to use the idea to adapt it to your needs and use whatever parts you so desire.

[Thanks, Gio!]

DIY Vacuum Tube Prototyping Board

How-To: Open source intervalometer for Canon, Nikon cameras

Sean Michael Ragan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:05:44 -0800

Instructables user peterdr has put together a really excellent tutorial on how to build his CT-1 open-source hardware intervalometer for Canon and Nikon digital cameras. There's more info about the project at his personal website, and a parts kit is for sale on Amazon.com.

make a child's sleep cap from an old T-shirt

shabbychef — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:50:18 -0800

you know the scenario: it's 3 am, your newborn has just puked on his last clean hat, you have a pile of old T shirts from when you were punk rawk, a serger, and 15 minutes, you're wearing sunglasses, and drinking from a jelly jar. time to get crafty, keep the child's head warm, and reduce the stockp...
By: shabbychef

PYMT, a multi-touch library for Python

Matt Mets — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0800

Interested in building programs with fancy multi-touch interfaces? Speak Python? Well, in that case you might want to have a look at PYMT. Designed for rapid interface design, it looks like it would be fun to play around with. [via the space station]

Make: Projects - Pneumatic trough, part II

Sean Michael Ragan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:30:00 -0800

Last week I wrote about how to construct a simple sheet metal "bridge," which, in combination with an ice cube bucket and an olive jar, makes an effective pneumatic trough for collecting gas samples over water. This week I'm going to show you how to use this apparatus to generate and collect pure oxygen, and how to use that oxygen to observe the brilliant blue flame of sulfur oxidation.

Tools:

Pneumatic trough apparatus from part I
Small piece of plate glass (I used the mirror from a makeup compact)
Lighter
Twisted wire sample loop
250 mL Erlenmeyer flask (I got mine from The Maker Shed)
#7 two-hole rubber stopper to fit Erlenmeyer (mine came from this assortment)
Two 80 mm lengths of 5 mm glass tubing to fit stopper (such as this)
Approximately 18" length of 5/16" OD x 3/16" ID PVC tubing to fit glass tubing (common hardware store item)

Materials:

Water to fill bucket
Elemental sulfur powder (also called "Flowers of Sulfur," available at some drugstores and here.)
3% hydrogen peroxide (common drugstore item)
Manganese dioxide (can be recovered from an alkaline dry-cell battery or purchased here)
Petroleum jelly (drugstore)

Cardboard tube battle

Chris Connors — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:00:09 -0800

My local library picked up on the festive trend of Cardboard Tube Fighting. The Boston Globe covered the preparations:

The group discovered cardboard tube fighting last summer in time to incorporate a bit of it into a presentation on Greek mythology at a reading program party.

The weapons are cylindrical pieces of thick cardboard about 4 feet long. The appeal, explains young-adult librarian Ellen Snoeyenbos: "It's totally ridiculous.''

As word of mock combat with reliably harmless weaponry spread among the town's youthful warriors, Snoeyenbos and the Bookmarks seized on the fund-raiser as a chance to exploit their discovery of the fighting fad made popular by YouTube.

Saturday's event will feature one-on-one tournaments, guild-on-guild skirmishes (up to 10 fighters per team), "and an all-out battle for possession of the Royal Crown,'' according to the club.

They've gathered hundreds of tubes, and youth of all ages are uparmoring in a pulpy way.

More:
Cardboard Tube Fighting League

Make: Holiday Gift Guide 2009: Gifts for dads

John Baichtal — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:01:00 -0800

There's a funny thing about dads' toys. Very often, kids borrow dad's supposedly grown-up toys and dad plays with toys designed for a much younger demographic. With that in mind, we present the Gifts for Dads list, filled with stuff that may appeal to more than one generation in your household. And you may also want to check out the holiday gift guides over on the GeekDad blog.

LEGO-sized hole punch by MUJI

Becky Stern — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:00:11 -0800

Paper craft meets LEGO with MUJI's quad hole punch and kits, available November 27th at MUJI Japan. [via CRAFT]

Twice Baked Potatoes

fungus amungus — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:04:34 -0800

Twice-baked potatoes are a great holiday meal. To be honest, they're great for any day and are super tasty and filling. Potatoes with cheese, bacon, green onions, and more cheese? How can that be wrong?They're also super easy to make. Aside from the baking of the potatoes, these only take about 15 m...
By: fungus amungus

Cross multi-tool

Sean Michael Ragan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:58:51 -0800

Dutch designer Michiel Cornelissen sells these cruciform screwdrivers, which are laser-sintered stainless steel. There's a flat-blade, a Phillips head, and an IKEA-sized hex bit. [via Dude Craft]

Wire Jewelry Making - Basic Weaving Techniques

Gailavira — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:35:48 -0800

This tutorial teaches a few basic weaving techniques. These techniques are very important to know when you first start weaving with wire. Most weaving projects you encounter will incorporate some form of at least one of these techniques.For this tutorial, I am using 16g wire for the frame wires and ...
By: Gailavira

How PCBs are routed

Becky Stern — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:00:49 -0800

One hour of PCB routing with EAGLE, compressed to seven minutes, over at adafruit.

NEC announces universal translator … sorta, kinda

Collin Cunningham — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:00:23 -0800

NEC announced what could be an early, real-life version of the universal translator -

NEC said the Tele Scouter was intended to be a business tool that could aid sales staff who would have information about a client's buying history beamed into their eye during a conversation.
But, it said, it could also be put to a more exotic use as a translation aid. In this scenario the microphone on the headset picks up the voices of both people in a conversation, pipes it through translation software and voice-to-text systems and then sends the translation back to the headset.
[…]
NEC said the Tele Scouter would be launched in Japan in November, 2010 but would initially lack the translation feature. A version that can provide subtitles would follow in 2011, it said.

Now we just have to see how good that translation software really is (please be good!). Read more over at BBC News.

Arcade button MIDI controller kit

Collin Cunningham — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:30:21 -0800

DJTechTools' upcoming solder-free MIDI controller kit provides users with 16 arcade button triggers + LEDs and will apparently be released as an open source product at launch -

• Release Date: November 30th • Price: Aprox $125 for the Kit + Arcade Buttons ($2.50 each) optional wood case- $40 • Plug and Play-compatible device, compliant MIDI controller • USB powered • Must be assembled (no expertise required) • 16 programmable buttons • 16 programmable LEDs • Expandable to 20 programmable buttons and 4 analog controls • Limited-edition 200-piece run in this configuration (black PCB with blue LEDs)

Should the $165 asking price seem a bit much, do consider the full DIY options. [via Synthtopia]

Related:

Midibox rox your sox

DIY Devo domes

Collin Cunningham — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:31:20 -0800

Troy Davis created some very awesome recreations of Devo's signature Energy Domes. Beginning with a tiered stack of fiberboard for the mold, through to vacuum forming, paint job, and padding - a thorough explanation can be found in his project pictorial. sweet.

Weekend Project: Beetlebot

KipKay — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:01:00 -0800

Simple robot from your parts bin that avoids obstacles. Thanks go to Jerome Demers for the original article in MAKE, Volume 12.

To download the Beetlebot video, click here or subscribe in iTunes.

Check out the complete Beetlebot article in MAKE, Volume 12 or you can also see it in our Digital Edition.

In the Maker Shed:

In the Maker Shed: The Make Beetlebot Bundle

Weekend Project: Beetlebot (PDF)

KipKay — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -0800

Simple robot from your parts bin that avoids obstacles.
Thanks go to Jerome Demers for the original article in MAKE, Volume 12.
View the PDF of this project. and then subscribe to MAKE Magazine for other great projects
you can do over the weekend.

DIY accelerometer controlled USB gamepad

Adam Flaherty — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0800

Check out this homebrew accelerometer controlled USB gamepad using a PIC18F2550 from Starlino. You'll find code and schematics on their site.

The code for the firmware was written in PicBasic Pro and it implements a HID USB device with 2 axes and 4 buttons (only 2 buttons connected in the prototype). The device is detected by Windows XP/Vista as a standard USB gamepad and can be used with many games and applications.
I am using a 2 Axes Buffered ±2g Accelerometer from DIMENSION ENGINEERING, it has a built in voltage regulator that allows powering the accelerometer directly from the USB bus (5V)

New in the Maker Shed: Mystery Box kit

Maker Shed — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:00:00 -0800

The Mystery Box kit is a clever puzzle box made by our very own John Park, host of Make: television. Here is how it works: first you assemble the laser-cut wooden box, placing a treasure inside. Next, you present the Mystery Box and its hidden contents to a friend, loved one, or enemy. Ask them to not open it, instead encourage them to cherish the Mystery Box and its contents. Maybe they will listen to your suggestion, enjoying the mystery within for generations to come. Then again, maybe they will wait until you leave and eventually figure out how to open this clever wooden box? Who knows? One thing we do know, whoever receives the Mystery Box as a gift will certainly love it!

Bathroom Status Indicator Lights and Automatic Switch

Mr.Nelson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:41:39 -0800

This project uses proximity switches and relays to control a bank of indicator lights.? The lights convey the occupancy status of two bathrooms.Problem: Two single user bathrooms - in a dorm style house - are shared by multiple people, but the bathroom doors are not visible from the main hallway. Th...
By: Mr.Nelson

Popsci sees our gift guide...

Gareth Branwyn — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:30:00 -0800

Popsci's Mike Haney liked our Under $20 Gift Guide so much, he raised us another five, adding additional under $20 gifts from the Maker Shed. Thanks, Mike! We love you guys, too.

[And in the spirit of Phil's guide, where he included an item he couldn't resist over $20, Mike includes the MAKE Warranty Voider/Bomb Diffuser Leatherman, which is $39.95. Hey, count it as two gifts under $20.]

Great Gifts For Electronics Geeks For Less Than $20

Money hats

Phillip Torrone — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:00:09 -0800

Origami money hats, sent in by a maker - anyone know where this is from?

Quality Duct Tape Wallet with (optional) Change Pouch

PhilmanJ — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:13:35 -0800

Another take on the duct tape wallet.As a Canadian I end up with lots of coins, so I needed a coin pouch. My build adds a change pouch and tries to use as little tape as possible. Forgive the photos, the brightness got messed up on upload.Materials required:Duct tapePlastic card for sizingScissors R...
By: PhilmanJ

BEAM turns 20

Gareth Branwyn — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:30:00 -0800

Speaking of BEAM robotics, this "school" of robotic architecture celebrated its 20th anniversary on Nov 10th. Twenty years ago, on that date, BEAM creator Mark Tilden built his first BEAMbot, the Solarover 1.0, out of two dead calculators, two dead Phillips cassette mechanisms, and parts from Laser printer cartridges. Solarbotics has a little celebratory post, with some thoughts from Mark Tilden. Mark writes:

...I went on to build dozens of similar robots based on the primitive Solarengine neurons that year, which led to the BEAM International Robot games, international lectures, the 1992 Santa Fe Artificial Life conference (lecturing alongside Brooks), publications, books, TV, kits, Solarbotics, Los Alamos National Laboratory research, NASA, and a broad line of WowWee robots which have sold around 20 million units to date (not forgetting the thousands of hand-built robots by colleagues, enthusiasts, and steampunks internationally).

Oh, and Solarbotics is also having a sale of a bunch of BEAMbots and components through the end of the month.

20 Years of BEAM Technology

More:
BEAM coverage on Make: Online

MakeShift 19 deadline November 20th

Goli Mohammadi — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:00:00 -0800

The deadline for submitting your solution to the MakeShift challenge from MAKE Volume 19 is fast approaching. Napping in an ocean kayak is generally never a good idea, but what would you do if you stuck in this predicament? Work your brain, get creative, and win stuff! Here's the MakeShift in its entirety:

The Scenario: You're an experienced and avid open-ocean kayaker, setting off early from your favorite coastal launch point for a restorative and invigorating day on the water. You've checked with the Weather Channel and the National Weather Service, and both have predicted sunny weather, slight clouds, and virtually no wind. So, after donning some sunblock and checking your gear and supplies, you're off.

The launching goes OK, but you take on a little water fighting the breakers. When you finally clear them, you paddle steadily until you're about 1 mile offshore, which you confirm with your GPS. Venturing out a little farther, you paddle parallel to the shore for a few hours. Then, adjusting your life vest and seat cushion to make yourself more comfortable, you stop to relax and enjoy the scenery, but between the warm sunshine, the gentle roll of the ocean, and the hypnotically reflective water, you nod off.

The Challenge: When you wake several hours later, the ocean is choppy and a strong, southerly wind has picked up, which has pushed you at least 3 miles from shore and continues to grow in strength. You dig for your cellphone just in case you need to call for help, only to discover that the saltwater you took on earlier has rendered it useless. You paddle hard for shore, but even after a relentless hour, the winds and currents seem to erase all your progress and the tall beachfront hotels are becoming mere dots on the horizon. You realize more paddling might be fruitless and only exhaust you completely. So what do you do now?

What You've Got: Two gallons of fresh drinking water and a basic survival kit with a compass, a lightweight 6×7-foot survival blanket (silvered on one side and dark on the other, in a pouch), heavy-duty nylon tape, and a coil of thin but strong nylon rope. You've also got a Swiss Army knife (or similar tool), some marine binoculars, a GPS unit, your waterlogged cellphone, some basic medical supplies in their own self-contained marine emergency medical kit, and an extra paddle. You also have a lightweight, waterproof windbreaker and some foul-weather gear stashed in the small but useful front storage compartment.

To Enter: Send a detailed description of your MakeShift solution with sketches and/or photos to makeshift@makezine.com by Nov. 20, 2009. If duplicate solutions are submitted, the winner will be determined by the quality of the explanation and presentation. The most plausible and most creative solutions will each win a MAKE T-shirt and a MAKE Pocket Ref. Think positive and include your shirt size and contact information with your solution. Good luck! For readers' solutions to previous MakeShift challenges, visit makezine.com/makeshift.

NO-SEW LEATHER KIPPAH (Yamulkah)

Britex_Fabrics — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:12:29 -0800

Just in time for Hanukkah, here are directions for a beauteous no-sew leather kippah (yamulkah). Make kippahs as gifts?and then later fry latkes and sing "S'vivon Sov Sov Sov".?Read Me First!The leather or suede should be 2-4 oz./sq. ft. or 1-3 mm thick. It should be fairly stiff, such as the type u...
By: Britex_Fabrics

Solar-powered miniball

Gareth Branwyn — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:00:00 -0800

It may look like some futuristic Christmas tree ornament, but the miniball is part of the BEAM robot family of "rollers." A miniball is a motorized hamster ball that, sadly, you don't see in the wild too often. Solarbotics used to sell a miniball kit. This Instructable, by MAKE contributor and Solarbotics intern, Jérôme Demers, shows you how to make your own.

Solar Powered Miniball Wannabe

More:
How-To Tuesday: Make a Beetlebot
BeetleBot Revisited
Mousey the BeetleBot?

Did he say "cheesemakers?"

Gareth Branwyn — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0800

MAKE editor and publisher Dale Dougherty has his five minutes of creativity fire-starting with this recent presentation of "Blessed are the Cheesemakers," at Ignite Sebastopol II. Take a whiff of "the feet of God."

Ignite

Hand Blown Glass Ornaments

StumpChunkman — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:52:03 -0800

I've been blowing glass for a very short amount of time, and figured it would be nice to show a simple tutorial on making something easy like a Christmas ornament, that you can give to anyone you wanted.I'm currently taking this glass blowing class at San Francisco State University, it's offered as ...
By: StumpChunkman

Photographing Spiral Jetty

Collin Cunningham — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:30:09 -0800

On a tight budget, documenting art that lives in a lake can be quite a challenge - especially when it's composed of "6,000 tons of rock and soil" -

After considering nearly every possible way to document "Spiral Jetty" from above -- Rent a weather satellite? An airplane? A helicopter? Use a kite? -- the institute, which often works in countries where conservation projects are carried out on shoestring budgets, came up with a remarkably simple solution: a $50 disposable latex weather balloon, easily bought online. Along with a little helium, some fishing line, a slightly hacked Canon PowerShot G9 point-and-shoot digital camera, an improvised plywood and metal cradle for the camera and some plastic zip ties (to keep the cradle attached and the neck of the balloon cinched), a floating land-art documentation machine was improvised, MacGyver-like.

Full Story over at NYTimes. [Thanks, Erica!]

How-To: Custom wooden case for wireless charging mat

Sean Michael Ragan — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:00:00 -0800

Instructables user jvalal didn't like the look of his Powermat inductive device charging station, so he stripped out the guts and "re-skinned" it with a handmade wooden case.

Ask MAKE: Software for designing circuits

Matt Mets — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0800

Ask MAKE is a weekly column where we answer reader questions, like yours. Write them in to mattm@makezine.comor drop us a line on Twitter. We can't wait to tackle your conundrums!

Bjorn writes in:

I'm doing my 2nd Arduino project (and 2nd electronics project ever) and am trying to design some of the circuit stuff on computer instead of just wiring it up or scribbling some stuff on paper. I'm trying out Fritzing and am wondering if you have any other suggestions for software that can be used for breadboard, schematic and/or PCB design. I would like to maybe figure out/learn/teach myself enough about electronics to be able to design my own PCBs, so it'd be nice if I could do all the types of designing in one program. I downloaded Eagle but haven't really tried that out yet and am not entirely sure what that's used for, but I think it relates to PCBs.

You sound like you are off to a good start. The kind of programs you are looking for are referred to as Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools, and traditionally allow you to draw out a symbolic representation of a circuit using a schematic capture interface, (sometimes) simulate it with a circuit simulator, and then finally lay out the circuit on a printed circuit board (PCB). In the commercial world, many companies use tools designed by Synopsys, Cadence or Mentor graphics, but these are prohibitively expensive and overly complex for most hobbyist use. You are on the right track with Fritzing and Eagle. They are both good choices for documenting your circuits and designing PCBs, although they have been designed for somewhat different purposes.

For people who don't already have a strong background in electronics, Fritzing is a great place to start. Instead of forcing you to understand the circuit schematics for each piece, you can use it's pictorial 'breadboard' mode to connect drawings that look like the actual pieces that you would place on your breadboard. It sounds kind of cutesy, but it is pretty powerful because it also generates a schematic view of your circuit. This way, you can learn what the symbols for all of your parts look like by just connecting them up and flipping between the two views. You can either leave it at that to document a project that you made on a breadboard, or try out the PCB mode to design a simple 1-layer board that you can then etch yourself. To get started, check out their tutorials.

While Fritzing is a great way to get started with electronics, if you start to do more complex things, you will eventually need to turn to a more powerful tool. The second program that you mentioned, Eagle (Easily Applicable Graphical Layout Editor), is a good choice for this. It isn't open source software, however they offer a freeware version that is powerful enough to build many useful circuits. It doesn't have a breadboard mode, so you have to start by making your circuit as a schematic. Once you have a schematic drawn up and have checked to make sure everything is connected properly, you create a new PCB and lay the components out. To get started, check out this tutorial by the folks at Sparkfun.

There are a multitude of other free PCB design programs out there. For instance, ExpressPCB is a proprietary schematic capture/PCB layout program that is closely integrated with the companies PCB fabrication service. gEDA aims to be a comprehensive open source circuit simulation/design environment, but appears to be quite complex. FreePCB looks good for designing PCBs, however it doesn't appear to include a schematic capture program.

My advice would be to stick with Fritzing and Eagle for a while, use them to design and build a few PCBs, and if you aren't satisfied with them, try out one of the other tools to see if it works better for you. Good luck!

[photo by Flickr user Zach Hoeken]

Little Gem guitar amp

Becky Stern — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:19:15 -0800

Instructables user garagemonkeysan made this guitar amp from the popular Little Gem circuit, and put it in this useful little case with a cord reel on the back. Nice work!

More:

Flashback: The $5 Cracker Box Amplifier

Make: Holiday Gift Guide 2009: Science and Chemistry

Sean Michael Ragan — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:30:00 -0800

Those of you who know me will know I'm slightly biased toward chemistry, the discipline in which I'm trained, so it's hard for me to resist the natural temptation to focus on gifts that I might like for myself. So, if you astronomers, physicists, biologists, geologists, mathematicians, ecologists, computer scientists (and anybody else I may have accidentally left out) have suggestions for those in your own disciplines, please feel free to submit them in the comments! Chemists, too, of course!

Molar beach ball ($7.50 from the American Chemical Society)
A "mole," in case you don't know, is the unit used by chemists to enumerate atoms or molecules. One mole is Avogadro's number (6.02 x 10²³) of individual atoms or molecules. One of the remarkable things a person learns in general chemistry is the huge difference in molar volumes between liquid and gas phases. A mole of liquid water, for instance, takes up 18 mL, whereas the same number of water molecules in the gas phase takes up 22400 mL! Another interesting fact is that, because molecules interact so little with each other in the gas phase, all gases have effectively the same molar volume, which, again, is 22400 mL, or 22.4 L, at average atmospheric temperatures and pressures. The American Chemical Society has designed this cool beach ball to contain 22.4 L, or one mole, of gas. It's a great teaching aid and a nifty idea in general.

Borosilicate coffee cup ($9.99 from ThinkGeek)
Part of the experience of becoming a chemist is learning to appreciate glass. Glass is totally ubiquitous in our world, but only after working with it under the relatively extreme conditions of the lab does one really begin to appreciate how truly amazing its properties are. Worked with relative ease, resistant to almost all chemicals, capable of enduring extremes of temperature and pressure, and to top it all off, transparent so you can see what's going on, borosilicate glass is surely one of the greatest achievements of materials science. Besides these reasons, chemists and other scientists tend to run on coffee (I've even gone so far as to suggest that coffee causes scientific thinking, to some extent), and at ten bucks, you'd be hard pressed to find a more cost-effective gift for one than this borosilicate coffee mug from ThinkGeek.

Water aspirator ($19.90 from Science Kit)
Every hobby chemist wants a vacuum pump, but many of us can't afford one, either in terms of absolute cost or in terms of available space. Fortunately, there's a wonderful low-tech way to generate a low vacuum, suitable for filtration and many distillations, using an ordinary sink and this inexpensive bit of kit called an "aspirator." The aspirator exploits the Venturi effect (Wikipedia) to generate negative air pressure at the sidearm from the flow of water out the bottom. And while it may look like the sort of thing you could build yourself from hardware store bits and pieces, in point of fact the hydrodynamics of a good aspirator are fairly complicated and it makes much more sense to just buy one. You may have to buy an adapter to make it fit your particular sink, but these can almost always be found at the corner hardware store for a couple of extra bucks.

Theo Gray's Mad Science ($24.95 from The Maker Shed)
I reviewed Theo Gray's newest book for MAKE, Volume 19, and had this to say about it:

If you've ever thrilled to a chemistry demonstration, Mad Science will bring you great joy. If, like me, you've ever wiled away an evening (or eight) figuring out just how hard it would really be to construct your own 3 MeV linear accelerator for making Lichtenberg figures, you may be unable to put it down. My review copy is dog-eared at nearly half of the fifty chemical wonders included: Investigate this. Build that. Would it be possible to...?. In the week since I got it, I've already been to the shop more than once to fan some spark that struck while leafing through its pages.

The book has beautiful photos of those experiments that are too dangerous for most of us to try on our own, and plenty of safer fare for those who want to play along at home.

Robert Bruce Thompson's Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments ($29.99 from The Maker Shed)
Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments is absolutely the best guide to hobby chemistry that I have ever encountered. In 22 chapters across 413 pages, Bob takes his readers through the basics of keeping a notebook and safely storing chemicals to the subtleties of organic synthesis and forensic analysis, and all with a ferociously independent, hands on, less-is-more DIY style. I really love this book.

1000 mL separatory funnel ($39.95 from The Science Company)
The dedicated amateur or hobby chemist can achieve amazing things using old jelly jars and coffee pots, but there are several pieces of "professional" laboratory glass that are difficult to improvise from common materials, and the most useful of these is probably the separatory funnel. A good sep funnel, with a teflon stopcock and a ground-glass joint and stopper, is essential to perform the liquid-liquid extractions that are a routine part of even the most basic isolations and syntheses. And you can almost never have too many. This 1000 mL version from The Science Company is large enough for nearly any purpose. A ring stand and 4" support ring to hold it in place makes a nice afterthought.

Distilling apparatus ($49.95 from The Maker Shed)
The Maker Shed offers this really beautiful borosilicate glass distillation kit, including a 1000 mL sidearm flask with stopper and a 200 mm spiral "Graham" condenser, all at the truly astounding price of $49.95. All the joints are easily demountable gas/liquid-tight ground glass, so there's no monkeying around with rubber stoppers or bits of glass or rubber tubing to make the connections. Distillation is used for separating mixtures of liquids having different boiling points, and the most common use, of course, is in making liquors like whiskey or brandy from beer, wine, or mash. Again, you might want to throw in a couple of ring stands and utility clamps.

Electronic tabletop balance ($117.00 from The Maker Shed)
A good balance is a totally indispensable tool for quantitative chemistry of almost any type. The important figures of merit for a balance, in rough order from most to least vital, are resolution (the number of zeroes after the decimal point), capacity (the maximum upper mass limit), precision (the consistency of repeated measurements of the same mass), accuracy (how close it reads to the "true" value, which is easily corrected by calibration), and linearity (how well precision and accuracy are maintained across the balance's mass capacity). The better each of these figures, the more the balance will cost. Professional "analytical" balances, capable of weighing to a milligram (0.001 g) or less, cost thousands of dollars and include an enclosed glass cabinet over the weighing pan to prevent interference from air currents, which they are sensitive enough to detect. Hobby chemists generally have to compromise, but good centigram (0.01 g) balances are quite accessible and are adequate for most purposes. This My-Weigh iBalance 201 digital balance from The Maker Shed has centigram resolution and a capacity of 200 g, and was recommended to us by Robert Bruce Thompson, author of our Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments.

Laboratory hotplate / stirrer ($149.95 from The Maker Shed)
After using a stirring hotplate for awhile, you'll start to get annoyed that your kitchen stove doesn't include a magnetic stirrer. And for $150 new, you'd be hard-pressed to beat this combination unit from The Maker Shed, which includes a built-in ring stand support, rod, and thermometer clamp. Don't forget a couple of teflon stir bars to actually do the stirring.

For many more chemistry and science-related gift ideas, check out the Science Room in the Maker Shed.

The Maker Shed has all sorts of other great holiday gift ideas, Arduino & Arduino accessories, electronic kits, science kits, smart stuff for kids, back issues of MAKE & CRAFT, box sets, books, robots, kits from Japan and more.

Holiday Shipping Deadlines in December:

04 (Fri) - Deadline for microscope shipping
11 (Fri) - postal shipping deadline
14 (Mon) - ground shipping deadline
18 (Fri) - FedEx 3-day shipping deadline
21 (Mon) - FedEx 2-day shipping deadline
22 (Tue) - FedEx overnight shipping deadline

*Customers experiences on orders with these ship methods placed after these dates may vary, the dates listed are what we call "safe dates"

USPS (Any Method):
Due to the high volume of mail that the postal service deals with around the holidays, order by Dec. 10th, however, many packages are lost or delayed in transit and we do not replace or refund any orders lost using this ship method, we strongly encourage you to not use this method in December.

Visualizing sound with fire

Becky Stern — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:00:58 -0800

Wow, rad physics experiment in which FIRE is used to visualize sound. Don't try it at home, unless you're a physics teacher, in which case please show this to your students. [Thanks, Tyler!]

Sundial cannon fires at noon

Sean Michael Ragan — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0800

The glass is aligned to concentrate the sun's rays, lighting the cannon's fuse at high noon. More pics here, and a very detailed .pdf from the British Sundial Society on so-called "noon cannons" here. [via Neatorama]

MIDI kit test-drive

Collin Cunningham — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:26 -0800

MAKE contributor Michael Una posted a review of Highly Liquid's MD24 kit which converts MIDI events over to an array of 24 +5V outputs -

The new MD24 falls into the latter category. It takes a MIDI input and gives you 24 discrete +5V outputs that can be used to drive relays, transistors, or servo motors. Functionally, the MD24 is similar to HighlyLiquid's MSA-T or MSA-R kits, except that you now have 24 outputs instead of just 8- a significant improvement.

More over at Create Digital Music.

From the pages of MAKE:

Make - Volume 15 - Drumbot Activate!

Synth Frog tours DIY workshops

Collin Cunningham — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:30:24 -0800

Synth DIY's amphibious mascot, better known as "Mr. Braska", has been visiting a series of home labs via postal transport. The photo galleries of his modeling efforts serve as a nice way to bring together otherwise unconnected, private workspaces - plus he's getting pretty good with an iron -

See a whole lot more from Mr. Braska's travels over at SynthFrog.

Arduino in Unity3D

Adam Flaherty — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0800

Unity3D hacker Pieter Floris writes in to say that ~~he's~~ Patrick Gutlich has finally got his Arduino connected compass controlling a camera in Unity3D. The barrier of entry continues to be lowered by projects like this. Kudos, Patrick!

More:

Updated Power Glove with Bluetooth and Arduino

New in the Maker Shed: 6-in-1 Educational Solar Robotic kit

Maker Shed — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:00:00 -0800

The 6-in-1 Educational Solar Robotic Kit is an excellent beginner building kit designed to teach how solar power is used to drive a small motor. Kids use the 21 snap-together parts (no tools required) to build 6 different working models including an airboat, car, windmill, puppy, and 2 different airplanes.

Blueberry Chocolate Chip Pancakes

randofo — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:21 -0800

Blueberry chocolate chip pancakes are a gift from the cosmos and are undoubtedly an elemental part of the universe. It is unlikely that mankind could exist without blueberry chocolate chip pancakes. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that when they finally get the LHC up and running, the high spee...
By: randofo

Robot body by Lego, brains by Arduino

Gareth Branwyn — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:30:00 -0800

Hector of Make: en Español sent us this piece from the site:

What happens when you give an Arduino to a student whose resources barely provide for the most basic maker needs, but is nonetheless eager to create something awesome? You get tech-art in the making.

David Busto Torres, the newest member of the elite robotics club from ITESM SLP campus (Mexico), shares with us his creation. It is a robot made only with an Arduino, some Ethernet cable, a couple of IR LEDs, two salvaged DC motors, an improvised H-bridge, and of course, some Lego bricks.

The total cost was less than US$10 (around $100 Mexican pesos) -- the Arduino was provided by the crew at Make: en Español.

David promised to share a video with us once he's finished creating an Arduino shield to replace all the cables and improve the robot's aesthetics, but for me, what could be more beautiful than the pictures above?

[Thanks, Hector!]

Line-following chassis from RepRap

Gareth Branwyn — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:00:00 -0800

Here's a set of chassis parts for a line-following robot, made on a RepRap machine, by a member of the IEEE Robotic Club at Rutgers. The mechanical and electronics parts were part of a kit everybody got. This builder created this RepRap body to go with his kit.

RepRapBot Mrk II
Chassis for Line Following Bot (on Thingiverse)

Recycled paper hawaiian lei

ziggiau — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:49:58 -0800

A lei made from recycled paper which is a great alternative for your next Hawaiian themed party.I love using paper for any application possible, and even better when I?can recycle something that would otherwise be thrown away. Of course you can use any paper you have available, but do consider givin...
By: ziggiau

Easy CO2-powered Squib for Self-contained Blood and Gunshot Special Effects

RavingMadStudios — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:08:42 -0800

So you're doing a play, making a film, staging a zombie massacre for Halloween or whatever, and you need a special effect to simulate a person being shot. You don't have access to a licensed pyrotechnician, so explosive squibs like they use in the movies are not an option. You're on a limited budget...
By: RavingMadStudios

$6 Ipod Nano Projector

tewharau — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:18:57 -0800

First, I should start by saying that I got this idea from Killa-X's comments and photos on Tanntraad's "Make an Ipod Video Projector" Instructable. ?What I really wanted to do was take out a functional LCD screen that was roughly "slide sized" and place it where the slide would have gone in a slide ...
By: tewharau

iPhone Magnifying Camera Mod

t-skware — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:02:30 -0800

I had some lenses from various sources sitting around and wanted to devise an easy way to use them with my camera phone to take magnified pictures and videos.? At first, I just had small metal bezels that I used to hold the lenses up to the camera lens.? This was clumsy and upon getting the camera c...
By: t-skware

Instructions on how to climb a staircase

absurdables — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:14:45 -0800

No one will have failed to observe that frequently the floor bends in such a way that one part rises at a right angle to the plane formed by the floor and then the following section arranges itself parallel to the flatness, so as to provide a step to a new perpendicular, a process which is repeated ...
By: absurdables

Challah French Toast

randofo — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:22:57 -0800

Challah french toast is undoubtedly the king of all french toast. It's fluffy, flavorful and filling. It's everything you could possibly ask for in french toast. Follows are simple and easy to follow instructions for you to make your own killer french toast. It starts with slicing challah and goes a...
By: randofo

"Godzilla" the Giant Sparkleball

vwluvrs — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:34:25 -0800

Ok Instructable family, not to be out done, we decided to take our 5 years of 'standard' sparkleball experience and make the Godzilla version. When you done with this instructable, you will have built a light ball that has at least 400 cups, and over 500 lights in it. It will be approximately 30" to...
By: vwluvrs

XMOS Dev Kit Arrives and Contest Information

admin — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:03:38 -0700

Arduino gets a Wave!

admin — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:10:06 -0700

DIY USB to Serial Cable For $3!

admin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:31:36 -0700

CPLD Starter Kit at Maker Shed

admin — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:36:00 -0700

IPhone Audio Breadboard Adaptor

admin — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:33:53 -0700

TGIMBOJ Palookaville

admin — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:59:15 -0700

TGIMBOEJ Code Named uCHobby2 Sent

admin — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:00:00 -0700

Arduino Pointers and the Ping for Automated High Five

admin — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:19:00 -0700

TGIMBOEJ Code Named uCHobby1 Shipped

admin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 19:41:59 -0700

Project ideas for LM158H Dual Op-Amp

admin — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:37:00 -0700

Easy DIY Home Automation (using servo switches)

oomlout — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 09:36:54 -0800

This Instructable is all about one of life's simple actions, flipping a light switch on and off. At oomlout we do it many times a day, so many in fact it came to a point where we asked ourselves "Can't we get an Arduino to do this?". Of course we can, what follows is how we went about doing it.With ...
By: oomlout

How to fry a turkey

rbhays — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 15:03:14 -0800

This is a recipe for frying a turkey. This is something I learned from my family in Louisiana. I think it tastes better than baking, and it's quite a bit faster as well! Ingredients Ingredients and special tools: 1. Turkey 2. Turkey Frier 3. Oil (I use peanut oil but other oils would work) ...
By: rbhays