I swear, I didn’t see this until I posted yesterday’s post: it’s basically the same thing, but mono (so much for stereo separation anyways), and amplified! I’ll definitely build myself one of these. They’d also make great gifts for guitar playing friends. Refer to yesterday’s project for installing felt in the tin, as it probably helps with the overall sound quality.

Altoids Tin Amplified Mini Speaker [link]

I love just about every project that’s built around the Altoids tins. This one is no exception: mini speakers made of recycled headphones. You could also use those cheap mini-speakers that they sell at your local electronic parts store.

Altoids Tin Mini Speakers [link]

Here’s a great tutorial on how to make your iPod sound better by modding the analog data path after the Digital to Analog Converters. Basically, iPods are made to drive the shitty little white ear buds – not proper headphones like the ones in the picture. I do in fact own a couple of pairs of Grados. Some SR-225 for my computer and SR-80 for my iPod (they have a 1/8″ jack).

Basically, the mods involve replacing certain cheap components by some higher grade ones. While I haven’t tried this myself, I don’t have any difficulty believing that this makes a huge difference. I’d say go for it!

DIY iPod DAC modding [link]

TVs are everywhere, in public place, streaming mind-numbing contents to whatever eyeballs they might capture. The TV-B-Gone is basically a universal remote that shuts off virtually any model of TV ever produced. There’s one catch: if you go to your favorite electronics store and shut down their wall of TVs, you might get in trouble. Until now. Here’s a perfect disguise for the TV-B-Gone: an old iPod! You’ll be able to walk around and do everyone a favor without risking getting cought!

Note that it’s not always a good idea to turn off every TV you encounter: Airports, Train Stations and Sports Bars (especially during the big game) aren’t good targets. Please use them liberally around the holiday period!

The TV-B-Gone iPod Project [link] [via]

I’m guessing that there are thousands of tons of perfectly good earphones in landfills today, all because their owners threw them away when the mini jack connector came loose, broke off, or got all “squelchy”. This instructable should be printed on the packaging of the earphones when you buy them. It teaches you how to fix the connector when (intentionally not if) it gets damaged.

There’s one thing that bothers me about it though, it’s the look of the finished repair. Very sketchy. I would have used heat-shrink tubing instead, which would look much nicer and be super durable. This set aside, it’s still a nice and useful instructable.

Mini Audio Connector Repair [link]

Instructions on how to make a nice sleeve for the iPod Nano made from an recycled bicycle inner tube. Simple, functional, elegant.

iPod Nano Case from a Bike Inner-tube [link]