Materials Search Results

How To: A Beginners Guide

I've created this guide to give you some ideas for how to progress quickly as well as some basics for how to operate FrontierVille. My tips are merely suggestions based on my experience and you are welcome to explore and play the game at your own pace. I hope you benefit from my posts and look forward to answering questions and bringing you more useful information here and on the Facebook page in the future! (All these blue links take you to more content just like this page, click them for mo...

How To: Make These Sonic Distance Sensors for the Bad Driver in Your Life

Today's fancy cars come with all sorts of options, from power mirrors to working seat belts. Some of us condemned to live in the reality of capitalist recession have no car, or perhaps a very modest one. But your modest car can still have some cutting edge technology wedged into the trunk and dashboard if you know what you want and where to look for parts. Today, we make a parking sensor using a sonic range finder, just like in the vehicles our owners drive!

How To: Make Your Very Own Blinding Sunbeam with a Lithium AA Battery

Taking apart batteries is one of those things that every adult you've ever known has warned you against. Today, we break the taboo and dive into a lithium battery. Lithium has some pretty cool properties—it burns instantly in water and glows blindly bright under flame. And with just one AA battery, you can make a blinding light beam inspiring supernatural awe in all dictatorial adults who doubted you.

How To: Make Knot Sculptures from Soft Metals

In mathematics, a knot is a closed circle in a three-dimensional space that crosses itself multiple times. Since it is closed, it has no ends to tie, meaning you can't actually create such a knot. However, if you tie the ends together after you create a knot in the standard way, you will have something that is close to the mathematical description. In this post, we will explore the creation of mathematical knot sculputures using copper tubing and solid solder wire.

A Kit-of-No-Parts: "Crafting" Electronics at MIT

I recently came across this amazing MIT media lab site, Kit-of-No-Parts. Though not directly related to the content Cory has been posting, it is an interesting "craft" approach to technology/science. The site was created as documentation of a student's thesis work in the High-Low Tech research group at the MIT Media Lab:

News: 5 Vintage Magic Tricks from the 1964-65 New York World's Fair

Happy weekend! Time to relax and waste time. If you're a child at heart, or you've got a couple young ones hanging around, treat them to these old-school magic tricks, courtesy of Flickr user Jordan Smith. Smith generously scanned and uploaded a selection of cards from a postcard set published by the General Cigar "Hall of Magic" for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair.

Inventables: A Store for Superheroes & Hackers

Founded by Zach Kaplan, a "serial entrepreneur" with a B.S. in mechanical engineering, Inventables is a futuristic online hardware store based out of Chicago. The company sells innovative materials at much smaller quantities than typically available—largely to artists, inventors, developers, and researchers. If you've got a brilliant idea and cash to spare, careful, you just may go hog wild. My premature "Dear Santa" wishlist-in-progress:

News: Birds as the Ultimate DIY Architects

The widely used expression "free as a bird" intimates an enviable existence: delicate, yet mighty wings transporting to destinations no human could so breezily venture. But despite their fanciful, superhero ability, in truth, the avian race leads one of the most difficult existences in the animal kingdom. Yes, birds have existed for eons—they likely evolved from small dinosaurs of the Jurassic period—but for these creatures, life can be ruthless.

News: Urban Gardening

One of the best Flash games inspired by urban gardening. One simple way of alleviating food shortage or rather minimizing your food expenses: Planting your own food. Of course this won’t literally save you from a zombie apocalypse but this could surely save you some extra bucks.

The Big Bambu: Amazing Art at the Met

This summer if you are in New York get yourself in some rubber soled shoes, buy a timed ticket in advance and run to the rooftop of The Met for The Big Bambu. It’s green, literally. It’s made from one of the most sustainable materials around. And it’s even recyclable! And you can walk through it!

News: Sock + Pencil = Super Cheap DIY iPhone/iPad Stylus

Looking for a cheap & easy stylus (but not interested in using processed pork?) Adam Kumpf of design firm Teague demonstrates how to make a DIY soft conductive stylus for the iPhone, iPad, or any device with a capacitive touch screen. All it takes is a pencil and sock. Yes, it's that easy. "We've been experimenting with conductive foams and fabrics in search of a middle ground. Fortunately, it's quite easy to make a soft, conductive writing tool using some pretty basic materials. All you need...

News: Bind your own Hardback Book

Thinking about binding your own hardback book? Although it might seem like a daunting task, it can be done! And with ease... once you get the hang of it. Luckily, there is a written tutorial floating around on the web to help get you started. Materials you will need to bind your own hardback cover book include:

How To: Make a simple gingerbread house

Martha shows Carson Kressley of Queer Eye how to make a gingerbread house. Warm, spicy gingerbread and sweet, sturdy royal icing serve as the brick and mortar for this classic holiday decoration. Gingerbread houses are actually quite easy to construct, especially if the gingerbread pieces are baked ahead of time. Once the gingerbread is done, gather all the materials needed to construct a finished home and place them in a decorative box. Template is on article part of video. Make a simple gin...