In this article, I'll show you how to build a coil gun. A coil gun is a device that fires magnetic projectiles at high velocities, using electricity. Coil guns require no explosive propellant, therefor can be fired an infinite amount of time, providing that there is ammunition and available electricity.
With the Consumer Electronics Show opening tomorrow, it’s going to be a ‘breaking news’ week here at Edit on a Dime. Stop by often for updates on the latest cheap and easy apps to make your video just that little bit better.
Continuing the march of consumer electronics companies to put video editors in every possible device, it seems Sony is about to unveil a new video editor called PlayMemories Studio for the PlayStation 3.
Take $1.35 of thrift store bric-à-brac, toss in a few spare parts from your electronics drawer and mix it all up with an earnest desire to alienate your loved ones forevermore and what do you get? A booby-trapped Magic 8-Ball, that's what! Hacker arfink explains, "My idea was to make a Magic 8-Ball which would blind an unsuspecting victim with the camera flash. I had an old Honeywell thermostat at home which had a mercury tilt switch inside, and after cutting open the 8 ball and removing the ...
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Did you ever, as a know-nothing kid, push against your closed eyelids for the pleasure of the resultant light show? LCD bending takes the low-tech fun of physical retinal stimulation and updates it for the 21st century. And, as the title suggests, the end result looks very much like a sort of angelic, fractal-based fingerpainting.
Well, not just chicks. A couple LEGO dudes, too. (Oh, and a horse). All I can say is, I'm head over heels in love. With a LEGO People operated, felt tip pen printer. B3ta forum member Squirrelfantasy spent about three weeks building his LEGO printer, which uses a felt-tip pen in place of an ink cartridge.
To this day, the magnitude of Beatles mania is vast. For much of the world, the fabulous four are downright magical. Here on WonderHowTo we also enjoy the fine art of papercraft. So, why not combine the elaborate practice of paper construction with some good 'ol rock 'n' roll?
Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=244498 From the Article:
Wish you had $1000 to throw down for a projector? Well, if you have an old laptop lying around instead, here is a simple way to cheaply build your own digital projector. Lifehacker posts a HowTo excerpted from DIYer Randy Sarafan's 62 Projects to Make with a Dead Computer: (And Other Discarded Electronics).
Animatronics: the use of electronics and robotics in mechanized puppets to simulate life, mainly used in moviemaking, but also in theme parks and other forms of entertainment. (wikipedia)
50 minute documentary on the history of hacking by the Discovery Channel. Hacking is about more than modding electronics or "hacking" Google. Learn about where it all began, from phone phreaking to virus spreading.
Lori Nix is a photographer whose stunning work depicts curious scenes of danger and disaster: abandoned spaces, architecture in a state of extreme deterioration, natural calamities, and more. But the mysterious places she captures with her 8x10 large format camera aren't actual found locations—they're meticulously fabricated miniature dioramas.
Happy Monday to all of you out there, thankfully the Consumer Electronics Show is now behind us. It feels quite possible that a cold was caught by yours truly simply by reading the numerous reports of germs being spread from booth to booth on the show floor. I'll do my best to soldier on, in the meantime if you haven't already, you can experience the convention vicariously by reading my 'Best of CES' post here.
This year's Consumer Electronics Show is nearing an end so of course it's an occasion for the 'best of' lists. To save you time I thought I'd compile my 'best of' the 'best of' lists.
It's been a Consumer Electronics Show bonanza at Edit on a Dime this week. Here's the stories we looked at over the last seven days.
Even though the Kinect has been on the market for over a year, Microsoft's motion sensing device is far from old news. In fact, Microsoft announced at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that the Kinect for Windows hardware and accompanying software is finally arriving at the start of February. There's even an Amazon page for it already.
It’s been a fun week here at Edit on a Dime, and not just because I drove around LA for an hour with an iPhone taped to the hood of my car for a review. Here’s what I was up to:
A large number of the greatest musicians to ever shape the history of sound first learned to play on cheap, dirty, and often times even homemade instruments. There is a very unique atmosphere that comes about when creating music with something made by your own hands—out of what was no more than garbage at the start. There is a sense of accomplishment that inspires the maker, and gives motivation to learn the limits of their creation. Those who have the desire to build an instrument are often ...
Flying orbs. At first, you might think of the Tall Man and his army of flying sentinel spheres, equipped with zombie brains and a mini-arsenal of saw blades, drill bits and shooting lasers. But these flying orbs weren't conceived from the evil mind of a superhuman mortician—they were designed by Fumiyuki Sato, a researcher at the Japanese Defense Ministry's Technical Research and Development Institute—for something other than deadly deeds.
A few months ago, we showed you a pretty awesome light painting project that visually captured invisible Wi-Fi signals around town using a Wi-Fi detecting rod filled with 80 LEDs. With some long exposure photography, the results were pretty amazing. This project was inspired by those crazy Norwegians, but this build lets you do something even more amazing—capture pictures of colorful written text and drawn images, frozen in midair.
Age doesn't matter in the world of programming, only skills, and recent high school grad Jack Eisenmann definitely has them. He recently built a homebrew 8-bit computer from scratch, calling it the DUO Adept. A worn television makes up the monitor and speaker system, an old keyboard acts as the input controller and the actual computer itself is housed inside a clear Rubbermaid container, consisting of 100 TTL chips and a ton of wire.
The war against machines is near, thanks to Cyberdyne... I mean... the German Aerospace Center. The DLR Hand Arm System is a terminator-like anthropomorphic appendage that functions just as a normal human hand and arm would. Only it's way more durable and can take a beating from not only a hammer, but a baseball bat. Possibly the next-gen soldier?
Ever had your car broken into? Or worse, your apartment? Ever been pickpocketed? Handheld electronics—iPods, iPhones, iPads, GPS devices, digital cameras—are easy to snatch, light to carry, and useful to most. And when they're gone, they're gone.
Choosing a camera, perhaps one of the most difficult decisions there is when it comes to photography. But being a great photographer on a budget isn't as hard as you think. It gets a little intimidating when you're looking at all these DSLR Canon and Nikon cameras. (By the way "DSLR" just means "Digital Single-Lens Reflex") But you don't NEED a big, bulky, expensive camera like those. Granted they are amazing cameras and you def. get what you pay for. But let's face it, the normal "just as a ...
Designer Brenden Macaluso's Recompute is an eco-conscious desktop PC constructed with sustainable cardboard. Everyone knows you're not supposed to get electronics wet, but seriously, you really better keep this one dry.
Kirsten Dunst is turning Japanese in short skirts and thigh highs. The art world crashes Hollywood in this video piece starring Dunst, directed by McG and produced by world renown Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.
I have an absolutely wonderful time making projects and writing articles for all of you mad scientists! Today, I will bring you behind the scenes for a look at the workbench, tools, and software that make the Mad Science World possible.
When Korean electronics giant LG debuted its next-generation flagship phone at a London press event 2 weeks ago, the only question that remained unanswered was the timing of its release. As the 5.5-inch qHD phone hits stores in Korea, folks in the U.S. market patiently awaited a stateside debut.
If you are like most people, you probably have a discordant mess of cable and computer cords in your workspace or living room snaking all over the floor or against your desk. Though you can buy various cable organizers at the computer store, you can also organize them the DIY way with bread twist ties, binder clips, cardboard tubes, old credit cards, Velcro tape, or even your old hair clip.
I happened across this in my Steampunk Facebook group, and I had to share. A company called oneTesla is running a Kickstarter campaign for a DIY singing Tesla coil.
There is no discount like free. And if you are not afraid to get your hands and clothes dirty foraging through dumpster bins, trash cans and the back alleys of department stores or restaurants to score perfectly usable items and perfectly edible food without paying a single cent, then dumpster diving might be right up your alley.
Tokyo art student, Wataru Itou, spent four long years crafting his meticulous paper city, entitled "A Castle On the Ocean". The miniature papercraft city was constructed with "basic knives, scissors, hole punches and modeling glue." The structure has a "spectrum-spanning colored lighting system" and motorized paper trains.
From Jalopnik: The LOLrioKart is outfitted with..."a hundred pounds of Ni-Cad batteries in the lower tray, a crude steering rack up front, pneumatic tires all around and some power-electronics to control a 15 HP Etek pancake motor hooked to a sweet custom differential at the rear all good for a top speed of 35 MPH."
In this article, I'll show you how to create a simple yet accurate demonstration of the "rising ionized gas" principle. In other words, a transformer, two metal prongs and lots of evil laughter. Remember those large "towers" in the background of Frankenstein movies with a "lightning bolt" rising upwards every few seconds? That's called a Jacob's Ladder; one of the coolest awe-inspiring demonstrations of high voltage. Here's a video of the final product: Materials and Tools
Understandably, the tragedy in Japan has substantially risen the level of worldwide radiation-related hysteria. So much so, as an alternative to stampeding health food stores for iodine tablets, crafty individuals and organizations are hacking together personal radiation detectors. Rather than relying on the government, the creation and modification of handheld Geiger counters provides a self-sufficient solution to today's questions regarding radiation. Profiled below, three admirable organiz...
Laser gun + killing mosquitoes = lots of little boy fun, but what's it all about? Quite possibly the most entertaining, thrilling, and well, downright life-saving presentation at this year's TED conference was Intellectual Ventures' mosquito death ray.
When I was attending college, my friends had a phantom thief in their dormitory. Almost every night, a different item of food would go missing, never to be seen again. There was constant speculation as to whom the thief was and how to catch them. Security cameras were deemed too invasive, but none could think of another method of surveillance... until today.
We're officially seeking Null Byters interested in teaching others! Contributors will write tutorials, which will be featured on the Null Byte blog, as well as the front page of WonderHowTo (if up to par, of course). This is a job meant for anyone with the will to share knowledge. There is no need to be intimidated if you fear you lack the writing skills. I will edit your drafts if necessary and get them looking top-notch! You can write tutorials of any skill level, and anything you feel like...
In a recent announcement, Hewlett-Packard announced that they're considering spinning off their PC hardware business, but even more recent was the decision to completely off webOS devices. Though they aren't eradicating the once popular Palm platform altogether, they are liquidating all of their HP branded smartphones and tablets in a fire sale, including the Pixi, Pre and Veer phones and TouchPad tablet, which is less than two months old.
