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Yet Another Holiday Gift Guide
ptorrone writes "I was tired of seeing all the gift guides that had a lot of useless junk, since I work at MAKE Magazine I thought I'd try another approach and write a gift guide for holidays that might be useful for people that like to make stuff." Most of the stuff here is under a hundred bucks. There are many great ideas in there that could get you on your way to some stupid hack.
TheOpenCD download - a few cents of ISP bills
Blank CD - dimes or less
Not having to disinfect my relative's PCs every few months - priceless
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
The 3rd Generation Ipod idea is great. I still have my 3G. Besides looking awesome (completley white in the front with ALL touch-sensitive buttons. It also looks bad ass when the backlight is on because the buttons glow red) it was the Linux Project's origional goal.
Just got my renewal notice today. I know there are some who like it and some who hate it. I am not too fond of MAKE and I find it quite an interesting coincidence that just around the time the first year of MAKE is almost over -- translate to: we have to all renew -- there is a shashdot post from a MAKE contributor. Good marketing. Very subliminal... Still, I will probably not renew. Go ahead, shoot me now.
Christmas Projector: $10
1/2 Roll Duct Tape: $2
Leftover Wires: $0
Fooling the World: PRICELESS!
Cost me a LOT more $$$ this time around (the webcams are a grand apiece), but hey, at least it is real this time. And note that theme for 2005 is Christmas Lights for Celiac as I try to raise money for the University of Maryland to find a cure for this malady.
Hulk SMASH Celiac Disease
For example, this is neat.
A variable 40W grounded soldering iron with replaceable element and a 0.8mm tip? FOR $35?! Where do I sign up?
Maybe not for true professionals, but even this would be a nice iron for just thier home projects. I already have a dual-tempreture Radio Shack, but I want to give this to myself for Christmas.
They mention an RFID kit from PhidgetsUSA in their list which look kind of cool (and they are definitely pretty cheap), but they only have the ability to be read like 1-4 inches away. Does anyone know good suppliers of RFIDs (readers & chips) that work in larger distances. I would love to make a tracking kit for objects around the home, i.e. keys and such, but this would require much longer distances to be any use. I have looked around some, but can't find any good ones, it seems you have to be in the business of ordering tons of RFIDs if you want to buy anything decent. And of course there's the FCC license thing, but this is slashdot... so let's not worry about that for now. Any insight would be appreciated.
Anyone know how the Griffin SmartDeck works? It appears to be a cassette deck adaptor that can respond to (changes in tension?) cassette deck commands, and relay them to an iPod.
The iPod shuffle (and the even cheaper thumbdrive form-factor MP3 players with drag-and-drop) is proof that you don't need much internal space to make an MP3 player.
Once upon a time, the Mobiblu folks (yeah, the same guys who did the 1-inch-cube MP3 player) built a player into the form of a cassette adaptor.
I'd like to wedge the Griffin SmartDeck's ability to use the tape player's controls into the form factor of the MobiBLU DAH-220 form factor, perhaps with the buttons carved into the shell of the "tape". No staticy FM-adaptor stuff. No dangly wires.
Something like this (or the sequel, here), but without the problems that caused this guy to give up and end up with a more dangly solution?
As far as I can tell, some tape decks respond well to this sort of treatment, and some require that the tape adaptor have the full-size gears/etc. to maintain proper tension.
The ideal product would fit in the tape's form factor, and use the tape's built-in buttons. No need to teach the old dogs any new tricks - it'd just work like a 900-minute cassette tape capable of infinitely-fast fast-forward/rewind, that would never break. (Every 5-10 hours, you'd eject the "tape", carry it inside with you, and recharge it (and fiddle with the music on it) by means of USB.)
Anyone ever tried this, and if so, how far did you get?
The coolest gadget I have seen so far this Christmas is this USB Rocket Launcher. I had picked one up in the shop before I remembered that I live on my own and I've got no-one to shoot them at!
Reality is defined by the maddest person in the room
LEGO Robotics Invention System 2.0
It looks like a big claw/arm
Picture
Back in my day it was called the Armatron
I didn't know that they made a Mobile Armatron
Since battery rechargers were pretty bad back in the day, I killed an excessive number of alkaline D-Cells playing with my Armatron.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Personally. I think that everyone should forget lego mindstorms and go for Vex Robotics. This kit is a full fledged robot waiting to be built. No more having to worry about only being able to use three sensors and two motors. http:http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?p roductId=2104567&cp=&pg=2&kw=vex&parentPage=search _ sculpture.cfm
If that doesn't tickle your fancy why not try a scrap metal toy. This is a neat piece of art work that uses rare earth magnets to hold the metal pieces together. http://www.toymagnets.com/gifts/gizmo_scrap_metal
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
I asked my relatives not to get me or my wife anything for Christmas. It's not as if anyone puts much thought into it anyway, so why waste the time and money and future storage space in my house? I've pleaded with my wife to get her relatives to stop giving us stuff. I really don't understand why people bother. I hate getting crap I don't want. It just underlines how little they are interested in who I am. I wish they'd give money to charities instead. As my wife has insisted on buying me stuff every year despite my pleading, I broke down and wrote out a long list for her to choose from so she can have packages to wrap for me and I don't have to bite my tongue on Xmas morn.
Here is the PVC flamsthrower project. Great for frying Zerglings!
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso
I've noticed that right now there are a shitload of *very* heavy duty Proliants available (Ebay, ubid, etc.) that are all coming off 5 year leases from dot-com companies with too much money and not enough sense. I got myself a nice Christmas present just recently for an insanely low price.