Skilled Electronic Search Results

Today Only: Linkin Park's 'Hybrid Theory' Album Free on Google Play

Here's some good news if you were hankering for a little early-2000s electronic-scream-rap-metal to get you through the day. Linkin Park's debut release, Hybrid Theory, the 48th best-selling album of all time, is available for free on the Google Play Store. Hate to break it to everybody abroad, but it looks like the album is free only to users in the U.S.

How To: DC Versus AC and the Diode

Direct current (DC) by definition flows in one direction. Alternating current (AC), on the other hand, periodically changes direction, or reverses polarity. It is indeed possible for a portion of a circuit that is normally DC to periodically change direction, or reverse polarity like an AC circuit.

How To: Organize Your Chaotic Cable Clutter

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.

How To: Make a Simple Touch-Triggered Transistor Relay

In this article, I'll show you how to make a simple touch-triggered switch. This is very useful for various electronic projects, from a simple bedside light to a flat panel touch keyboard. The circuit can vary in switching power depending on the transistors you use. For example, if you're looking into creating a 120V light that turns on when touched, you'd need two powerful transistors and an isolation relay. However, a simple flashlight that turns on when touched would only take a couple of ...

How To: Tie the crochet braid knot

This is a tutorial on tying the knot for the crochet braid. Tying the knot is so second nature to me, that I am not very skilled when it comes to explaining how to do the procedure. That, I think, is very apparent in this video. I am kind of fumbling through this experiment and am not really quite sure I accomplished what I set out to do. I hope the one thing this video aids the viewers in is trusting yourself to trouble shoot the problem. Get creative with finding a solution, so that you can...

How To: Play the Crysis 2 Multiplayer Demo on Xbox 360 (Coming Soon to PC, March 1st)

Crysis was an amazing game. And Crysis Warhead was great, too. If you haven't played them, you sure missed a great ride on the action train. But don't worry, you can get your feet wet with the newest edition to Crytek's Crysis series—Crysis 2—available from Electronic Arts. A demo of the multiplayer mode became available earlier this month for the Xbox 360 on Xbox Live, and now the multiplayer taster is slated for March 1st on PCs (sorry PS3 gamers). The PC demo will feature two new maps call...

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.

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: 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...

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.

CryEngine 3: Now Everyone Can Make a Game As Good As Crysis 2… For Free

Crysis 2 is the current standard for high-quality graphics in video games. No other game looks so smooth, so colorful, so... ultra-real. German developer Crytek has built their reputation on PC game technology to the limit, and the CryENGINE 3 graphics engine they used to make Crysis 2 might be the most powerful tool for creating 3D video game graphics on Earth. As of yesterday, it's also free for anyone, yourself included, to download from Crytek's website here.

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.

Play GIRP: All the Finger Strain of Climbing without the Risk of Death

Great controls are the most important and difficult part of game design. Games with vector graphics and non-existent stories are classics because their creators managed to create a system where using buttons to control a shape on a screen was intuitive and fun. This is the tradition that Pac-Man has left us with, a gaming world in which controlling the character onscreen in an engaging way is the crux of the game's enjoyment.