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How To: Get started playing the banjo again

A bit rusty on the banjo? This video lesson from the BCC will get you going again. If your banjo hasn't been played for some time it's possible the vellum might need replacing - this is the skin, like the head on a drum, which is stretched over the banjo's circular sound body, and tightened using tensioning nuts. Plastic is a good option these days, as it's more constant and less likely to attract moisture and slacken.

How To: Make a Prank Stun-Baton

In this article, I'll show you how to make a portable prank stun-baton. Powered by static electricity, simply charge up the baton, and discharge it for a static surprise. The concept behind this device ties in with Leyden jars, and their tendencies to retain static electricity.

News: First Things First

Welcome to Compute & Conquer! This article may seem a little basic. We all have an idea of what a computer is but the fundamentals are necessary. Without knowing how something works, how can we determine a problem and find a solution when something goes awry? Way too often, I find myself helping someone with a very "easy to fix" problem on their computer. A problem which could have either been avoided or fixed had they had the basic knowledge of how to use a computer. Even worse, I've seen to...

How To: Build Your Own "Pogo Mo Thoin" to Flash Any Xbox 360 DVD Drive for Under $5

The biggest struggle with flashing DVD drives on Xbox 360s has been the price tag of the probe to extract keys on some drives. The probe and kit is required to extract the DVD key, which is needed to perform a drive repair, flash, or backup of any kind. Who wants to pay big bucks for the "pro" kit and then get added to a huge waiting list behind a million other people looking to buy the same product? We can hack the same thing together at home!

News: Math Craft Inspiration of the Week: The Curve-Crease Sculptures of Erik Demaine

Erik Demaine is a Professor of Electronic Engineering and Comp Sci at MI, but he is also an origami folder who has had work displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. He makes some beautiful models and intricate puzzles, but in my opinion the really inspirational work is the curved creased models. In Erik's own words describing the above models: "Each piece in this series connects together multiple circular pieces of paper (between two and three full circles) to make a large circular ramp ...

News: Math Craft Inspiration of the Week: The Kinetic Wave Sculptures of Reuben Margolin

Reuben Margolin builds large scale kinetic sculptures based off of mechanical waves. Some of his sculptures contain hundreds of pulleys all working in harmony with each other to create sinusoidal waves and their resulting interference patterns. He designs them all on paper and does all of the complicated trigonometric calculations by hand. Everything is mechanical; there are no electronic controllers.

Receipt Racer: A Paper and Laser Tangible Video Game

Video games have been a purely digital medium for some decades now. They exist in the electronic nether, embedded on discs and projected on screens. Since digital distribution has gained popularity, even the physical manifestation of the game disc is going away, leaving games (especially digitally distributed indie games) more ethereal than ever before. It is unclear whether this slightly unsettling fact was on the minds of the three people who made Receipt Racer, but regardless, it stands as...

News: Polish Artist Recycles 300 Dead Computers into Giant Installation

Electronic waste (or e-waste) is becoming a bigger and bigger problem thanks to the rapid growth of technology. In 2009, the United States produced 3.19 million tons of e-waste in the form of cell phones and computers. It's estimated that 2.59 million tons went into landfills and incinerators with only 600,000 tons actually being recycled or exported. Recycling programs just aren't cutting it, so what's the next best thing? Art.

News: Flickr Images Corrupted by GlitchBot

The term glitch always seemed best suited for computer programs, video games and electronic equipment, where a slight irregularity in the device or system would create a temporary malfunction with annoying, sometimes even amazing unexpected results. Only the effect was never really considered artistic—until now.

LeafSnap: Identify Tree Species in Just One Click

Being a Southern Californian, I typically miss out on the incredible springtime bloom of flowering trees in the East. But not this year. By some stroke of luck, I was in Boston early last week, and witnessed the most spectacular trees and foliage at their prime—lilac, magnolias, crabapples, dogwood, and many more.

HowTo: Save Wet Electronics

It's one of the most popular queries on the web, meaning the wet electronic disaster is likely a common mishap. There are many answers out there, but if you're lucky enough to have never googled it, pay attention now. You never know when you may drop your cell phone or iPod in the sink...

News: The 'Electri-City' Tables by Ben Yates

I have an interest in using recycled materials in sculptures, particularly circuit boards and other wasted electronic and mechanical components with which I put together sprawling cities lit with fairy lights. These cityscapes can conjure an image of a parallel society built from what we throw away. Utopian or dystopian, the ‘Electri-Cities’ remain a feast for the eyes and the mind. What makes them particularly intriguing is the population of tiny model railway people—they bring a host of nev...

News: Creepy Talking-Piano Hack

Austrian composer Peter Ablinger has created a "speaking" piano. Ablinger digitized a child's voice reciting the Proclamation of the European Environmental Criminal Court to "play" on the piano via MIDI sequencer.  Apparently, the computer is connected to the piano, which analyzes the human speech, and then converts it to key-tapping.

How To: Build electronic circuits

Does this sound difficult? It probably does to most people. Don't feel overwhelmed. Iin this step by step video series it will not only be better explained but Ross Safronoff, our expert, will show you how simple it really is and how to put it to work for you. Electricity is very powerful when harnessed correctly. He will walk you through every piece of equipment and detail of how electricity works and how we use it to our advantage as well as show you how to put it to use on a garage door. B...