I'm sure most everyone has some kind of fluorescent light source in their home; those long white tubes that emit a bright white light when turned on, or maybe a few of the CFL power-saver bulbs. These bulbs actually require very little "power" (i.e. a high voltage:almost no current ratio) to emit light. In fact, static electricity is enough to make them flicker. Inside these tubes is a gas, and when electricity flows through that gas, it gets "excited" and produces light.
Piezoelectric Energy In this article, I'll show you how to make a small, wallet-sized device that generates electricity from kinetic energy. The concept is simple: Piezoelectricity is the charge that is produced when certain solid materials (commonly ceramic and crystal) in response to mechanical stress. Piezoelectrics have many applications; in speakers, actuators, sensors, even fuses. For more information, click here.
University video game design programs have been spreading like wildfire around the world over the last ten years. They allow students, researchers and game developers to work on their craft in an academic environment away from the harsh realities of the market, and have led to some interesting products like Fl0w from USC and Ulitsa Dimitrova from Germany. Both games take on topics not often addressed in mainstream games and do so in simple, poignant ways that aim to influence the rest of the ...
Unfortunately, I'm a little behind schedule on my pizza dough making mission, but I promise - more experiments coming soon! In the meantime, here's a beautiful video about the nuance that goes into bread making, as demonstrated by famed San Francisco baker Chad Robertson of Tartine Bread. Bread and pizza dough go hand-in-hand, and I've been thinking about picking up the Tartine cookbook for some time now. As I mentioned above, the nuance that goes into the process is really pretty remarkable....
Electronic Arts is the biggest game publisher in the world, and have been for years. And yet, their only successful internally developed games nowadays are the EA Sports mega-franchises like Madden. Most of their success has stemmed from their ability to buy other companies on their way up, squeeze the creativity out of them, and then sell them to someone else or just let them go. This week they made their largest acquisition ever when they purchased PopCap Games for $750 million upfront—as m...
(Difficulty Level: from Newby to Expert) Digital cameras can produce freaky sharp images—it’s one thing that sets them apart from film cameras. A DSLR doesn’t have grain, it has noise—and that sounds a lot less charming for a reason. If you shoot at a low ISO, high f-stop and fast shutter speed, you can wind up with a super sharp image that might look great even on a billboard. But sometimes, sharp isn’t everything.
He may have just started his teenage years, but Laurence Rock's future is looking pretty good after inventing an ingenious doorbell device called Smart Bell. He's already sold 20,000 units to telecoms giant Commtel Innovate, and is securing a second deal with an unidentified company that will land him £250,000. That's over $400,000!
Although in recent years street art has reached a high point of public appeal many of the great artists are over shadowed by the likes of banksy and shepard fairey (who are amazing artists for sure, just not the only amazing artists out there). Some of the best urban artists have never had a gallery show or exihbit, and most have only been out of their own country once or twice. But of course, thanks to the internet and movies, i )along with many others) have been lucky enough to see the work...
Looking to go "Green" When I'm looking to do new remodeling projects around the house, I find myself asking, is this Eco-Friendly? Is this main stream America brain-washing me into a "Greener Tomorrow?" I doubt it! Embracing Eco-minded products is not just good for preserving the natural environment, but it's about creating a healthy living environment in your home as well.
I am the sort of man whom game companies fall all over themselves to seduce. I'm sweaty, pale, awkward, and spend too much money on video games. There are many of us, especially among XBox 360 owners. We are the most stereotypically "gamer" group of console owners. The XBox 360 doesn't have motion control like the Wii or a blu-ray player like the Playstation 3. It just plays games really well. That's why hardcore gamers like me prefer it amongst all the consoles, and probably why Silver Dolla...
We've all done it. You're sick. You don't want to go to the doctor so you just Google it. Soon, you've perused dozens of websites with conflicting information, you're no better informed than when you started, and your confusion makes you feel worse about your predicament. Would you have been better off not Googling in the first place?
Enjoy rolling around at night in the sleek luster of silk? Also afraid of a mobster finding out you're rolling around with his cousin's wife? Solution: bullet-proof silk sheets. All you need is the strongest biomaterial ever found--Darwin's bark spider silk. So, grab a loom and start weaving.
Without Richard Channing Garfield the world would be a much grayer and less interesting place today, at least for all of us. He created Magic in college, playtested it throughout, accidentally found a publisher for it, and wound up the the most well-known and successful paper game designer in the world (sorry Guygax, make something new why don't ya?). He does not seek the limelight, has not had a snappy biography written about him (or his game, amazingly enough) and I thought we should pay a ...
Life has always been complex and challenging. The challenges today are just different than what they were in the past. Nowadays instead of hunting and scavaging for food and living in the elements we’re bombarded with suggestions and demands from our highly sophisticated societies. How is it possible to find harmony amidst what are often contradictory messages?!
The Fog of Will Suki = a chink in the armor, a psychological weakness. Doubt.
In the news this past couple of days, we've heard of about 10 Argentine hooligans being deported back to Argentina before the start of the World Cup. I'm glad for the South African authorities showing that they have a firm grasp of security leading up to Friday's kick-off, and that the inter-agency cooperation between countries was a serious one.
I've been on the inside of my box reflecting to what is on the outside. I live my life outside the box but occassionally have to get back intot the box to see what's going on... I have been on a 4 - 5 week non creative mode... Through this time frame... great people on Mikeyssmail have been still continuing to exercise their creativity... I'm so pleased to see that! Though many ideas come daily on what I could do next... I'm not motivated by just a simple request... I've allowed this same tim...
You may have already heard of Zazzle, an online service that allows you to print on a variety of goods (tees, mugs, posters, etc.). You can design-it-yourself, or choose from Zazzle's library of available designs.
JUAREZ. PH33R. SUX0R. If you know what these mean, then you probably spend way too much time on the internet. If you're as bewildered as I was, these words actually mean something in leetspeak.
Nothing compares to this scene from 1941 film Hellzapoppin' starring the legendary Whitey's Lindy Hoppers.
In kung fu, combine the jump toe kick and tornado kick to produce a powerful attack sequence. Perform the jump toe kick and tornado kick combo with tips from a professional kung fu instructor in this free martial arts video. Perform a Kung Fu kick combination - Part 1 of 20.
Preparing answers is essential for any job interview. Completing this video will walk you through preparing opening job interview answers, example based answers, responses to difficult job interview questions and the best answers to questions about your weak areas.
Watch this first 'tutorial'.FauxTo! Hoax! Con! May 28, 2008, this video was uploaded to YouTube illustrating the popcorn popping power of a circle of ringing mobile phones. Radiation. Amazing. Viral. Millions viewed.
Crying on stage, crying at films, crying at funerals. All can be tricky if you aren't genuinely sad and emotional. Fake crying though could be your answer. Tears can be produced with lots of techniques, from onions, to Stanislavkian theory. Learn how to cry on cue, and you could be earning plenty of brownie points for your display of emotion. Cry on cue.
QuarkXPress is a page layout application for Mac OS X and Windows, produced by Quark, Inc. In this QuarkXPress video tutorial you will learn how to create new documents and how to set measurements when creating a new page. Make sure to hit "play tutorial" in the top left corner of the video to start the video. There is no sound, so you'll need to watch the pop-up directions. Create a new document in QuarkXPress.
If you plan to produce animation for television, then you have to watch this video. In this 3ds Max video tutorial you will learn how to use Video Safe Frames. This feature helps you make sure your animation fits on a TV screen. Make sure to hit "play tutorial" in the top left corner of the video to start the video. There is no sound, so you'll need to watch the pop-up directions. Use video safe frames in 3ds Max.
Choose and buy a Guitar - A beginners guide to the Guitar. The guitar is one of the most popular musical instruments there is, appealing to both the young and the not so young and spanning different musical genre's such as blues, pop, rock, classical and many more.
A lot of people that are new to Origami struggle with the choice of paper. Some even give up folding all together because they use the wrong material! But this guide will help you find the paper you need for that cool design you always wanted to try.
Addison's disease is an endocrine disorder where your body is unable to produce adequate amounts of steroid hormones. As such, patients with Addison's disease require hormone replacement therapy.
You can't catch a fish if you don't have the bait… and a buzz bait are great for snagging bass. So, if you're a bass fisherman, you can't not know this information. Get the scoop on buzz baits.
Etching your own circuit boards is tons of fun, but etching requires strong chemicals to dissolve the copper plating on blank circuit boards. The normal ferric chloride solution works well, but can be expensive and leaves permanent stains. Luckily, we can whip up our own etchant at home with everyday chemicals! Better yet, our new etchant will turn an eerie green color rather than the dull brown of ferric chloride.
Big brother is watching when you're playing around on another system—and big brother is that system. Everything from operating systems to intrusion detection systems to database services are maintaining logs. Sometimes, these are error logs that can show attackers trying various SQL injection vectors over and over. This is especially so if they are using an automated framework like sqlmap that can spam a ton of requests in a short time. More often than not, the access logs are what most amate...
Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our advanced tutorials and come play on our free server. Part 5 in Minecraft World's Ultimate Survival Guide is, for me, the longest article to write. Since I squeezed out a lot of information from other areas to put into survivability, its going to be a fairly long read. Of course, you can just skip to your topic of choice.
You can blame your naggy mom, a crappy soap bar, and school or work stress for your acne. But ultimately, you should blame yourself. While it's true that your skin type (oily vs. dry vs. sensitive) and how your skin reacts to stress play a big part in blemishes, there is a nurture component to this argument.
Wall studs are both critical for maintaining the structure of your home and supporting items of weight and function on the interior walls (e.g. cabinets, shelves, plasma TVs, etc.). With wall studs playing such a critical role, consistently being able to find them is important. The problem with finding them is that drywall and wallboard isn't exactly see-through.
In this article, you'll learn how to create deconstructed roses in less than five minutes with your leftover fabric scraps. It's a great way to recycle your leftover fabric! Follow the instructions below and watch the videos for a demonstration.
Poetry to me is an expression of the sudden noteworthy inner thought, that arrives unexpectedly in an ephemeral, fleeting form. When you are attracted to the idea of creating some verses, do not sit there with the pen in your hand trying to force yourself to create poetry. If anything, you will produce something boring, you will pull words by the ear, and use too many of them absolutely unnecessarily. It is because you do not have direction, and if you think you do, than it is something too t...
Prank Calls, Masked NumbersWho is calling your phone or your child's? Pranksters use a lot of tricks to make sure they can get on your nerves. Being able to trace prank calls is important because you're not going to learn much from your Caller ID, since most prank callers use an unlisted number - such as, a cell phone number. Many also use special code *67 to mask the number so your Caller ID will show "Blocked Number" or "Private Number". There are a lot of mild cases of so-called phone bull...
