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Here’s a radio modem using an “iPod” FM Transmitter and a regular FM receiver. Using the programs provided, you can send messages between two computers at 9600 bps - Link.

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Originally from MAKE Magazine on December 21, 2007, 6:00am

Neat (and cheap) way to store stuff using PVC pipe - Link.

Related:

PVC Light box / light tent - Link.

Portable PVC conduit antenna mast - Link.

DIY PVC multiple guitar stand - Link.

More DIY Musical Instruments: PVC Recorder - Link.

Low power LED PVC flashlight - Link.

PVC Sprinkler water toy - The KidWash! - Link.

HOW TO - Make a PVC bike rack - Link.

More PVC - Link.

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Originally from MAKE Magazine on December 21, 2007, 8:00am

Webcam + cardboard = joystick!

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Originally from MAKE Magazine on December 22, 2007, 11:00am

Patricia Piccinini’s “Nature’s Little Helpers” - amazing! Link.

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Originally from MAKE Magazine on December 22, 2007, 2:00am

flickr.com/photos/bre/2131807572/” title=”A Calendar Laser Etched Into Fingernails by brex, on Flickr”>

Martin and I engraved a calendar on our fingernails. As the months pass, we’ll cut them off!

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Originally from MAKE Magazine on December 23, 2007, 5:32pm

MAKE Flickr photo pool member’s unboxing and assembly of the monome 40h kit - Link.

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Originally from MAKE Magazine on December 22, 2007, 5:00pm

ach! - Link.

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Originally from MAKE Magazine on December 20, 2007, 2:00pm

Tim writes -

Well, after seeing the many houses dancing to Trans-Siberian Music, I decided it was time to do the same to my house. The problem is that I currently live in Hong Kong and in a 52 story building. Instead I wired up my living. At first the project was going to simply be mood lighting, but then I added DMX to my controller and Vixen Lights and this is what I got. The projects uses 96 SMD RGB LEDs (how is the for acronyms?). There are six TI TLC5940 16 ch controller chips on a custom board I made myself. There is a Parallax Propeller controlling the whole thing. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

DMX controlled bookshelf - Link.

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Originally from MAKE Magazine on December 21, 2007, 5:00am

Lendorff Kaywa’s Space Invader AND QR code scarf. I really like the idea QR codes on knitted things… - [via] Link.

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Originally from MAKE Magazine on December 21, 2007, 4:00am

Frank writes -

I connected a Wii Nunchuck controller to an Arduino, which takes the data from the controller’s I2C data bus, decodes it, and send the data to the robot with a radio transmitter. Charlie uses a radio receiver to get the data, and it will control the drive servo system and the pan tilt servo system using the data. The Nunchuck has a 3 axis accelerometer, a joystick, and 2 buttons, it is absolutely awesome to use with a RC robot like this.

Wii Nunchuck Controlled Robot - Link.

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Originally from MAKE Magazine on December 20, 2007, 9:00pm

Interesting concept video of chairs that follow you around in the library…

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Originally from MAKE Magazine on December 20, 2007, 5:00pm

Originally from BLDGBLOG on December 24, 2007, 9:52am

Originally from BLDGBLOG on December 24, 2007, 9:52am

The Washington Post reports today that the FBI is launching a $1 billion project to build the world’s largest database of individuals’ physical characteristics. The effort would give the American government unprecedented abilities to ID people here and overseas. Snip:

Digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns are already flowing into FBI systems in a climate-controlled, secure basement here. Next month, the FBI intends to award a 10-year contract that would significantly expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives. And in the coming years, law enforcement authorities around the world will be able to rely on iris patterns, face-shape data, scars and perhaps even the unique ways people walk and talk, to solve crimes and identify criminals and terrorists. The FBI will also retain, upon request by employers, the fingerprints of employees who have undergone criminal background checks so the employers can be notified if employees have brushes with the law.

“Bigger. Faster. Better. That’s the bottom line,” said Thomas E. Bush III , assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division, which operates the database from its headquarters in the Appalachian foothills.

Originally by Xeni Jardin from Boing Boing on December 21, 2007, 11:07pm

Here’s George W. Bush’s marvelous cover of REM’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine).” George’s vocal stylings remind me of his father’s excellent collaboration with Emergency Broadcast Network, the 1991 cover of “We Will Rock You.” Link to “End of the World,” Link to “We Will Rock You.” (Thanks, Vann Hall and David Fox!)

Originally by David Pescovitz from Boing Boing on December 21, 2007, 8:16pm

The Smart Car is coming to the United States! And very soon too. The little car that could, manufactured by Daimler, is expected to join the ranks of available subcompact vehicles in the US in 2008, and hopefully, convince more people that when personal transportation is concerned, bigger is most certainly not better.

(more…)

p://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Inhabitat?a=xw6Mg6″>

Originally posted by Jorge from INHABITAT, ReBlogged by Steve on Dec 20, 2007 at 09:24 AM

Originally from Eyebeam reBlog on December 20, 2007, 8:24am

a visual encyclopedia of radio waves that contains a selection of fictional radio ‘species’, such as Bluetooth, DMB, GSM, RFID, Wifi & Zigbee. the encyclopedia contains fictional visualisations of the ways in which radio waves inhabit space. each hand-drawn illustration includes a scale, & a shape, texture, direction & density, to provide readers a sense of each technology.

these “fictional radio spaces” are not intended to be technically accurate or to offer actionable information. instead they provide a playful cue to reflect & consider radio as something tangible & physical to be experienced by alternative senses, not just through a screen.

[link: nearfield.org & immelie.wordpress.com]

Originally from information aesthetics on December 18, 2007, 9:21pm

an external hard disk that shows the content of the hard disk on its outside skin. by storing data, the skin starts visualizing the content of the hard disk, using a light-emitting OLED screen. the representation of the data is abstract and unique, based on the Sequoia View treemap algorithm. as the content of the IVY hard disk changes over time, the representation of the data will adopt along.

[link: tue.nl]

see also twisted hard drive & hard drive capacity gauge.

Originally from information aesthetics on December 18, 2007, 8:50pm

Cyclists protest on Sixth Avenue following the death of David Smith

Last week, we criticized accounts of the death of 63-year-old cyclist David Smith, who was memorialized Wednesday with a Ghost Bike and a die-in on Sixth Avenue. Though Smith was riding in the bike lane and was knocked into traffic by an illegally parked driver who opened his door in Smith’s path, initial media reports portrayed the crash as a blameless "freak mishap."

That was only a taste of what was to come. Here, verbatim, are the first five paragraphs of the Daily News story on Saturday, after another cyclist, Franco Scorcia, was killed at W. 40th and Broadway:

Only one person thought it was still safe for Franco Scorcia to take to the streets by bike - and that was Franco Scorcia.

For years, friends told the 72-year-old Bronx father to "leave the bike alone."

The ex-cabbie’s two sons were so worried about their dad they offered him a car.

"We told him so many times, ‘Don’t ride the bike,’" Scorcia’s son, Vito, 37, recalled Friday.

The elder Scorcia brushed such demands aside, saying he loved cycling too much to quit. It was that fondness for experiencing the city on two wheels that cost him his life Thursday night when he crashed into a charter bus in midtown.

Given such a loaded lede, you’d expect some exposition describing the mistakes Scorcia must have made that led to his death. But aside from strongly implying that Scorcia’s age was somehow a factor, the article includes no details of the crash, other than to say the bus driver was issued six summonses. Regardless, to the writers and editors of this story, Scorcia’s mistake was riding a bike on the streets of New York: "It was that fondness for experiencing the city on two wheels that cost him his life."

As such biased coverage is fairly commonplace, it’s no wonder the causes of cyclist fatalities and the lack of consequences for motorists go unchallenged, especially when the driver is the sole living witness.

Negating the Daily News’ own follow-up coverage that told of how David Smith was known as a safe rider, the Scorcia article links the two deaths — not because they were both killed at the hands of drivers, but because they were both "elderly cyclists" who, readers are to presume, had no business being on bikes. In so many words, the piece says Scorcia was asking for it.

On average this year, a city cyclist has been killed about every 16 days. Conveniently for much of the mainstream New York press — not to mention hostile police, indifferent prosecutors, and reckless motorists — they can’t defend themselves against such charges.

Photo: cultshaman/Flickr

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Originally posted by Brad Aaron from Streetsblog, ReBlogged by Steve on Dec 22, 2007 at 10:04 AM

Originally from Eyebeam reBlog on December 22, 2007, 9:04am