This is a project that will surely please guitarists, singers, or any other musicians that play on stage. Basically, you gut out a USB keyboard, keeping only the electronics and you build a pedal that you map to specific keys. This allows you to either scroll down a document (partitions, tablatures, lyrics, etc.) or even control a slide show or audio software.
My white Intel iMac has been working great ever since I bought it. Then along came Leopard. After getting the upgrade and installing it, my iMac became instable. All of a suddain, it would hang. Or at least, the video card would freeze. I could still connect to my computer with ssh from my laptop, but all the unsaved work I had going was lost. That’s until I realized that Leopard changed something to the machine’s firmware to slow down the fans - either that or Leopard runs hotter.
Anyways, if you’re stuck in a similar situation, go ahead and download the excellent SMCFanControl application. It lets you speed up your fans individually (my computer has 3 different ones). Apple, in its constant quest for the thinnest and most silent device on the market, tend to design dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. The computer’s ventilation system’s efficiency drops below the acceptable threshold once it gets a bit dusty.
Go ahead and install this little gem of a program.
How to cool down your Mac by speeding up its fans [link]
I’ve never been a sys admin or a network technician, but I bet that when you need your punch down tool (a.k.a. Krone tool) the most is when it’s most likely gone missing. This clever hack is a useful one for anybody that does a lot of wire patching.
Don’t let the title fool you, I’m quite certain you can also do this with your Victorinox Cybertool or your trusty Wenger camping knife. Just make sure you measure carefully before cutting your tool.
Leatherman Punchdown Tool [link]
What to do when the global stock of instant film has been depleted? Turn your old Polaroid camera into a web cam! Re-purposing this cultural icon (is it the theme of the week?) is a great idea, bringing this classic design into the 21st century. A great gift idea too.
Long live the Polaroid Webcam [link]
I altered the time stamp so this post shows up yesterday, because I was out having a nice dinner with friends instead of writing this entry. Hope you won’t mind.
Turn a Nintendo NES controller into a retro USB flash drive that’s also a cultural icon. Now, why didn’t I think of this?
NES Controller USB Flash Drive [link]
A confusing title indeed. Is it Mario that is super, or is it the table? Either way, this is a pretty cool piece of DIY furniture. And one could inspire himself from that table to create other things.
No instructions are provided, but non are really needed. Just ask the person at your favorite tiling store. They will explain how to lay out the glue and the grout, and everything else you need to know.
I added a Gallery of my Processing sketches to the site.
“Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions. It is used by students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. It is created to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context and to serve as a software sketchbook and professional production tool. Processing is developed by artists and designers as an alternative to proprietary software tools in the same domain.
Processing is an open project initiated by Ben Fry and Casey Reas. It evolved from ideas explored in the Aesthetics and Computation Group at the MIT Media Lab.”
You can find the Gallery in the right-hand site menu. For the moment, I added a single sketch called Circle Packing, but more will follow, as I experiment further. I’ll keep you posted as I add more content.
Processing: Gallery [link]
The classic urban planning simulator SimCity’s sources have been released under the Gnu Public License. Apart from a few modifications such as changing its title to Micropolis and removing the Airplane Crash disaster (9/11), the game is the same. You can dig in its code and roll out your own version of the ‘80 gaming classic or you can peek under the hood to see how games were made back then.
Either way, this is a nice gift to the community, albeit perhaps a little late.
This is a cool modded MacBook. Although no instructions are provided, it’s interesting, just to get the juices flowing if you want to bling your ‘book.
MacBook Modding [link]
