Prevent Light Search Results

News: Flying Quadrotor Robots Play the James Bond Theme on Real Instruments

Created by the University of Pennsylvania, these bots would impress Q himself. This army of mini quad-copters are controlled with rhythmic precision, a truly awe-inspiring collaboration of music and technology. From playing a synthesizer to drums and cymbals, each robots is multi-talented. The tiny helicopters are equipped with reflectors, making it possible to plot their position using infrared lights and cameras positioned around the room. Check out the video!

How To: Make Invisible Ink

Need to pass along an important message on paper without having it accidentally discovered by your archenemy? Using very common household products, you can easily whip up an invisible ink recipe and write out your secret message with the solution. All the recipient needs to do is heat up the paper using a stovetop of light bulb, or brush the surface of the paper with a simple iodine mixture to read the message.

How To: Start a Fire with Water

Need to start a fire and have no lighter? All you need is a clear water bottle or jar, some water, and kindling—and for the weather to be very sunny during noon time. Tilt the water bottle or jar at an angle so that the water in the container can focus the sun's light into as small of an area as possible. Keep the container at this position for as long as possible until enough heat is created to start a glowing ember.

How To: Make a Paper Crossbow

Quite often I work on projects that require a lot of waiting around for glue or solvents to dry. It was in such a time that I came up with this little crossbow. I saw that some of the top search engine requests were how to make paper weaponry, and yet there were few results worth viewing. I then sat down and got to work. This crossbow uses tension on bent tubes of printer paper to throw a pencil or pen a very respectable distance, upwards of 50 feet. Paper tubes when bent in such a way would ...

How To: Build Your Own Terrarium

Do you have a green thumb but an extremely limited living space? Try building your own DIY terrarium. All you need is a clear glass or plastic container, a few of your favorite plants, and some cheap gardening supplies to start your own self-contained, self-sustained miniature garden.

Minecraft: I'm Going Home

Back in the Super Nintendo days, playing one RPG after the other, memorizing maps and mazes became second nature if you didn't want to look at the mini map or get lost often. I would make it a point to memorize corners and the overall structure of the dungeon or location, so that graphically I would know where I am at all times. It's not like today, where major games come out with 200+ page guides detailing every last inch or going online where you can download a map or look at Youtubes for h...

News: New Biometric Device Steals Fingerprints from 6 Feet Away

Dactyloscopy isn’t going anywhere. Forensic science has much relied on fingerprinting as a means of identification, largely because of the massive amount of fingerprints stored in the FBI’s biometric database (IAFIS), which houses over 150,000 million prints. And thanks to the departure of messy ink-stained fingertips, biometric analysis isn’t just for solving crimes anymore.

News: Installing Cellular Shades for The Home

Cellular shades have never been so popular! Cellular Shades are made of great light filtering material and add energy efficiency to the home. But people always ask me, "Nick, can I install them myself or do I need a professional?" The answer is simple with these blinds... Save your money and do it yourself! Take a look at this great video I found. Then you tell me how easy it is to install cellular shades yourself.

News: 5 Alternative Uses for Your Xbox 360

Video games consoles have long wanted to be more than just consoles. Nintendo Japan called the NES the Famicom because they wanted to make it the sole family computer. Obviously that didn't work out, and most efforts to make consoles into all-in-one entertainment systems have had similar fates. Sony has done the best job with the Playstation consoles, probably because they have experience with other types of electronics that most video game companies do not.

News: Chinese Ironworkers Build Massive Transformers Megatron Tank

Jiiang Chen and Yang Junlin, of the Wing Wah metalcraft factory in Huizhou, China, forged together a 10,000-pound replica of the Megatron tank as seen in the movie Transformers 2. The tank is from a series of other massive works from the company's "Legend of Iron" project (see last year's insane Megatron below). The tank was assembled and welded together with mostly scrap metal by the two expert craftsmen. In a word... insane.

News: Surfing Monster Waves By Moonlight

Watch surfer Mark Visser take on a 30-40 foot massive wave off the famous Jaws reef break on Maui in nearly total darkness. Guided only by the LED lights built into his life vest and board, helicopters hovered overhead, filming the event. "It wasn’t until I saw the pictures I realized how big it was. This project has been two years in the planning and it was the scariest, but most exciting thing I have ever done. Riding in complete darkness meant I had to go off feeling. I had to zone out fro...

News: Door Locked? Send a Text Message & Open Sesame

When choosing a security system for the office, Billy Chasen decided to ditch the traditional lock & key barricade for something a little more 21st century. He hacked together a device that uses a web server, servo motor and some parts from Home Depot to enable locking & unlocking via text message. Chasen maintains a list which gives access to green lit office workers, who enter by simply texting "lock" or "unlock"... and voilà, open sesame.

HowTo: Make Your Own Tron Suit

We all love Tron. The more Tron the better. We learned how to make a Tron suit with the help of Adafruit, but here's a new rendition that substitutes the electroluminescent wire for LEDs. Instructables member sheetmetalalchemist says the LEDs are brighter, sturdier and lighter.

News: Functional LEGO Snow-Eating Beast

The Stilzkin Indrik is a mighty, mini LEGO Russian crawler, capable of lugging heavy loads over snowy terrain: "It has a large contact surface, which prevents it from sinking into the snow. It offers great traction on almost any surface, and loads of torque to get out of tight spots."