2010.02.08
February 7th, 2010 Metapost
00.00.02 - Mark
Elsewhere Online [collection of past links]
Robotic Arm Prototype... on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zomie/4277781825/in/set-72157611259811533/
Tagged : art flickr hackaday hacks hardware metal robotics todo
Interesting attempt at making a robotic hand of sorts using copper pipes and some brass hardware, and may be automated. Another one of those projects I'd almost attempt... [via hack a day]
Link | 0 Comments | metaposts Weblinks
2010.02.07
February 6th, 2010 Metapost
00.00.02 - Mark
Elsewhere Online [collection of past links]
xkcd - Tensile vs. Shear Strength
http://xkcd.com/697/
Tagged : engineer geek scifi space space elevator xkcd
The scifi geek portion of me that learned about the dream of space elevators thinks this is impossible, they'll be massive columns into the stars. The engineer in me thinks that this could be a true story at one of the current space elevator development contents. The xkcd fan in me loves the comic.
Install Apache/PHP/MySQL on Snow Leopard
http://maestric.com/doc/mac/apache_php_mysql_snow_leopard
Tagged : apache apple code instructions OS X php programming server web
Didn't want to bother with setting up a snadbox area on a server box, or fuss with MAMP on my laptop, so I finally decided to activate the already installed copies of Apache / PHP on my MacBook. Mostly needed it to fix a date bug under 10.6's setup
Link | 0 Comments | metaposts Weblinks
2010.02.06
February 5th, 2010 Metapost
00.00.02 - Mark
Elsewhere Online [collection of past links]
create and send an email with applescript - AppleScript - Snipplr
http://snipplr.com/view/18200/create-and-send-an-email-with-applescript/
Tagged : applescript automation email geek programming
Did want applescript to create and send an email, couldn't get it to record it meyself, and didn't want to spend the time to figure out how to write it manually. (Which isn't a good thing to admit as a geek who does program some things)
Link | 0 Comments | metaposts Weblinks
2010.02.05
February 4th, 2010 Metapost
00.00.02 - Mark
Eye Candy [list of other movies]
Hardwired (2009) RatedLink | 0 Comments | metaposts Movies
2010.02.02
Green USPS
22.42.02 - Mark
Last week I learned about an interesting bill called e-Drive [oddly discovered via Hacking Netflix] that was introduced to the national House of Representatives late last December. It's basic pitch is to convert or replace 20,000 US Postal Service's local delivery vehicles into full electric and hybrid electric vehicles.
While it's a little murky having the US government go back to fiscally supporting the USPS to, among other things, help lower the cost of operations, I think that getting this bill passed would further push electric vehicles into our culture, as well as help us learn if it can be practical on a corporate level. Even if it fails at those points, it's helping reduce pollution. I've been told that the USPS uses something like 800 Million Gallons of gasoline each year, which I think translates to about .6% of all the gasoline used in the US. While written out it's not an enormous change, but it's enough to take note. I'm going to think about it some more, but it maybe worth sending a letter to my generally useless congress critter.
Link | 0 Comments | congress environment green politics technology USPS
February 1st, 2010 Metapost
00.00.03 - Mark
Elsewhere Online [collection of past links]
You Dropped Food on the Floor. Do You Eat It? - San Francisco Restaurants and Dining - SFoodie
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/foodie/2010/01/you_dropped_food_on_the_floor.php
Tagged : flowchart food funny geek humor random
Ah, flowcharts with a sence of humor. Little more advanced than the 5 second rule, bit less advanced than human common sence, depending on your opinion on consumption of dinosaurs. [via Laughing Squid]
YouTube - Bad Apple!! - Stop Motion PV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=240Vq6tIxio
Tagged : animation geek music stopmotion videos youtube
While I think this is stop motion animation, it's a little deeper than that. It's easy enough to figure out how it was made, but it's a good ammount of work. [via Gizmodo, via Dude Craft]
Digital Analogue - Central Station Video
http://community.thisiscentralstation.com/_Digital-Analogue/video/895147/126249.html
Tagged : animation cameras geek stopmotion videos
An impressive stop motion video of cameras, taken by cameras. If you're serious at all about cameras and photography, check this out [via Dude Craft]
Link | 0 Comments | metaposts Weblinks
2010.02.01
Walking past Front Row
22.29.36 - Mark
While I still live in a house with a subscription to a satellite TV network, even with an included DVR, I really could do without it. While I was skeptical about the success and value of streaming video when it really started appearing it's grown on me a lot - to the point where I almost only watch streaming videos. I can watch it when I want to, love having to deal with fewer commercials, and being able to rewatch things that have been off the air for years (and some which never made it to DVD) Yes, it's a little hard to watch some things I miss from the plethora of TV stations, but there are solutions to those problems.
For almost all of these streaming videos, I've been tolerant of my MacBook's screen. One person watching a 13" screen from a foot or two away works fine - battery powered and completely portable can even make it favorable. Using a decent 22" LCD desktop screen and a set of speakers and you can make it work for 2, occasionally 3 people. Not the most comfortable, but it works.
So recently I went back and got the Mini-DVI to Video adapter for my MacBook, dug out the Apple remote that came with it, twiddled with some of my cable solution and now enjoy using all these full screen streaming videos on a decent sized TV. Navigating around to find the right video however, has become a bit annoying.
The browser and Finder are work fine when you're at the computer, but if you want to use a remote from across the room control you need to keep it simplified. At one point, Apple's Front Row (which no, doesn't require a remote) along with a plug in called Understudy let you get to Netflix and hulu though FrontRow. It worked, but was a bit of a hack. When Hulu had to start actively preventing people from putting the streaming video onto their TVs, Understudy doesn't work with it anymore. While it still works with Netflix, it's more of a kludge than a useful tool.
Boxee's software, which is sort of like Front Row on steroids. While it's a beta, it's open source, cross platform, and a few weeks ago announced it was releasing a hardware solution at CES. At one point I actually preferred it over Front Row. More power, easier navigation, and no hacks needed to get to some streaming video content providers - including Netflix. It's useful, particularly for navigating around Netflix via remote, but I never really enjoyed it enough to find a way of making the Apple Remote open it in place of Front Row. I also wanted a good way of getting into Hulu over remote.
The only non-browser approach to hulu streams is Hulu Desktop. After they had to block boxee (and other applications) they developed their own desktop player. To their credit it provides better navigation and works with my Apple remote, but it's all it does. No other streams, no messing with local files.
So my question became, how can I get to all these tools by using my Remote. Understudy plugin instantly picked up on Hulu Desktop's presence, and while it's a little buried, I was able to "switch" from Front Row to Hulu, but since it was off the path, and wouldn't open Boxee I turned around to dig. and sure enough it was out there.
Hole in the Ceiling figured it out and posted Front Row plugins to launch several applications including Hulu Desktop and Boxee.
So while there's no single application that lets me watch what I want to controlled by a simple remote, at least I don't have to walk across the room to run one commands.
Link | 0 Comments | apple applications Boxee entertainment Front Row geek Hulu technology
January 31st, 2010 Metapost
00.00.02 - Mark
Eye Candy [list of other movies]
Frost/Nixon RatedDollhouse: The Complete Second Season Rated
Link | 0 Comments | metaposts Movies
2010.01.31
January 30th, 2010 Metapost
00.00.03 - Mark
Elsewhere Online [collection of past links]
Out of Print.
http://www.outofprintclothing.com/
Tagged : art books clothing design tshirts
Retro style t-shirts for movies, music, comics, TV, even assorted companies exists, but I don't think I've seen t-shirts that are based on old book covers. Price is a little higher than I care to pay, but damn, they're worth looking at, especially if you're one of those people tht reads books. [via Cool Hunting]
Last Exit to Nowhere
http://www.lastexittonowhere.com/
Tagged : art clothing designs geek scifi tshirt
While I know that movies, tv shows, comics and music inspire all sorts of t-shirt designs, this group has stuck around in my head for a while now, as it's nearly perfect for a sci-fi movie loving geek. You'll (in most cases) know what movie the design was created for, with out it screaing what movie it's for. [via BoingBoing (if I'm remembering it right)]
Link | 0 Comments | metaposts Weblinks
2010.01.30
January 29th, 2010 Metapost
00.00.02 - Mark
Elsewhere Online [collection of past links]
Steampunk Lab - watches
http://www.steampunklab.com/watches/11
Tagged : brass goggles design gadgets steampunk watches
While I don't really wear steampunk stuff, I always find the style interesting, and these watches are particularly impressive. [via Brass Goggles]
Link | 0 Comments | metaposts Weblinks
2010.01.27
Scrapheap Table
23.54.02 - Mark
While scraps of this post once made it into my facebook accoun, it feels more like a time to write up a real post. More than a year ago I saw a DIY table project link on MAKE that caught my attention. The Pallet Coffee Table article offers some good advice on converting the shipping pallet with some cheap wood and a bit of concrete.
I thought about it for a couple weeks, but since I needed another table then, already had a couple unused shipping pallets, some unused concrete mix, and enough time to play with it, I decided to attempt it. Unfortunately I didn't take work in progress photos, so this isn't a great instructions page. I didn't keep a log book either, and this project, which started sometime in December 2008, still isn't really "finished" yet (I need to find a decent looking stain for the drawers I made for it)
The basics start with the pallet I choose. The smallest one I owned had boards extending past the main rails on both sides. Works when used for shipping stuff, but not so much for a table so the first step was to trim then down with a jig saw, then sand down all the visible parts well. In the inspiring article they didn't sand it much, but since my primary pallet was well covered with old paint and I was loosely aiming for an unstained, unpainted finish I sanded them until they were smooth (excluding the assorted damage it had taken)
Once sanded down, I cut and attached strips of 1/8" board in the empty spaces on top of the pallet. These were a little shorter than the entire pallet since I wanted them to be hidden in the concrete. I also added larger pieces of 1/8" in between the 1" x 4" rails under the top boards to increase the strength of the strip boards I added, as well as limit the amount of concrete falling though a few remaining gaps (I'll point out however, that I have a tendency to over engineer)
While it was ready for concrete I decided to add legs first. I tore apart the other pallet I had to use it's 1" x 4" rails to make four legs and two cross beams. Sanding them down and sawed them to size, then used a router to round off the corners. The tops of the legs were then trimmed to fit into gaps between boards on the bottom of the pallet. Since I'm not a great woodworker, a few angle brackets were all I needed to keep them in place.
About that time I started reconsidering the finished look of the table. While I would have been wine with the bare wood alone, adding harker grey concrete wouldn't look so nice, so I browsed though the unused stains I had access to, and settled on an orange stain. As best as I can remember I didn't want to accidentally paint or stain the concrete, so choose to stain the wood before adding the concrete. This works, but you need to make it a point to clean up that concrete as fast as possible when adding it.
Once it was all stained it was time to add the concrete. I use a couple table clamps some of the scraps from the other dissected pallet to cap the sides of the empty spaces, mixed up some concrete, and then packed it in.
The concrete was a little challenging. While I've worked with it some before, I needed to use a good amount of pressure to make it wasn't leaving air pockets and in there enough that it wouldn't come out when I smoothed it. Even with my best attempts at smoothing it out, some of the concrete I applied is still a little rough, not enough than I feel like redoing yet again, but it may be worth looking into mixing your own mortar than using a bag of quickcrete for this kind of project.
With the concrete added I just left the table alone for a couple weeks, letting the concrete cure as best as possible. Off to the side I used some more 1/8" board and square dowels to make some drawers that fit where the fork spacers.
When I was about to call it finished (minus the drawers) it was suggested to put a few coats of polyurethane. On wood alone it seals and protects it, but since the cement, even in it's best places, still felt a little rough, we tested it some (away from the table) and decided it would help smooth the table top. A few coats and it at least dissipated the worst places and blends the appearance with wood a little.
Overall it's a worthwhile project. Keep some stuff out of the junk yards, learn some new building techniques, come away with a one of a kind table you enjoy. I'm even playing with the idea of making a couple more furniture items out of wooden pallets and assorted leftovers.
Link | 0 Comments | howto junk MAKE pallet wood projects reuse table
2010.01.22
January 21st, 2010 Metapost
00.00.02 - Mark
Elsewhere Online [collection of past links]
Mercado Negro — Ramon Coronado
http://www.ramoncoronado.info/_archive/2009/mercado_negro/2009_mercado_negro.html
Tagged : chairs diy furniture geek MAKE projects reuse todo
While I've seen metal wire shopping carts converted into chairs (and a variety of other things) the idea of converting a plastic shopping cart into a chair (plus lamp and table) is new to me, plus it looks a bit cooler than most of the metal conversions. [via neatorama]
Link | 0 Comments | metaposts Weblinks
2010.01.19
January 18th, 2010 Metapost
00.00.03 - Mark
Elsewhere Online [collection of past links]
First-Person Tetris
http://www.firstpersontetris.com/
Tagged : flash games puzzles tetris
A literally twisted version of Tetris, which makes it a fun little puzzle. It would be either more entertaining and/or more sickening if it was using the accelerometer on an iPhone / iPod touch to control it. [via BoingBoing]
Religion of Comic Book Characters (esp. Super-Heroes)
http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/comic_book_religion.html
Tagged : articles comics fiction ideas religion
I enjoy comics, but I'll admit that I never put alot of thought into the religions of the characters, from beliefs in the real world to created faiths created within their universe. And while the wide range itself is interesting, there are also notes on the religions of the creators. [via neatorama]
Les Dangereux - A Ninja Love Story
http://www.lesdangereux.com/
Tagged : animations funny ninja videos
Fun little video I found [via notcot]
E.T.A. by JUNK on Vimeo
http://vimeo.com/1165693
Tagged : animation films funny movies scifi space
Somehow easy to find good little short films today, this one fits well aftr I watched Moon the other day [via Laughing Squid]
Eye Candy [list of other movies]
Moon RatedLink | 0 Comments | metaposts Movies Weblinks
2010.01.15
January 14th, 2010 Metapost
00.00.04 - Mark
Elsewhere Online [collection of past links]
YouTube - CL!CK: A LEGO Short Film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OinrOnjzH_A
Tagged : animation gizmodo lego toys videos youtube
While it technically is advertising, it's a mixed animation / live action short film with a neat plot and a few tons of LEGO Bricks (you can guess who the advertiser is). Still a neat waste of 3 minutes [via Gizmodo]
Link | 0 Comments | metaposts Weblinks
2010.01.14
January 13th, 2010 Metapost
00.00.03 - Mark
Elsewhere Online [collection of past links]
100 Games Cupcake Game
http://www.steelheadstudio.com/100cupcakes/
Tagged : art cupcakes decoration food games geek
I've seen notes and link to this project, but I finally looked at it, and it's pretty awesome. Tons of games I've played (or should play sometime) represented by some gorgeous looking cupcakes.
Cogs: A Steampunk Puzzle Game from Lazy 8 Studios
http://www.cogsgame.com/
Tagged : cogs entertainment fun games geek offworld puzzles steampunk
I'm not a huge gamer, but I find some that I love to kick back with, and Cogs looks like another toy to play with. Part tile puzzles, part mechanical parts, and all steampunk, its a nice way to use your brain. [via Offworld]
Link | 0 Comments | metaposts Weblinks
2010.01.12
Carry This
00.18.12 - Mark
It's always fun seeing where the mind wanders, and last night it wandered into beer bottle carriers.
It started as a quick mental though to see how much those bottle carriers cost. Since I started home brewing beer about this time last year, and give out some to friends those bottle carriers are a decent thing to have. Six pack carriers are simple to get - go to store that sells glass bottles of beverages and chances are it comes in a cardboard carrier. However, as a home brewer we may not want another breweries logo wrapped around a distributable brew of your own. A bit of spray paint can solve that problem, or if you develop finer tastes a store that lets you mix and match a 6 pack may offer carriers that yes, has a logo, but not one of a brewer's. If you're allergic to brand names of all varieties À la Cayce Pollard (from William Gibson's Pattern Recognition) blank six pack carriers can be had for less than a dollar.
Now while I have uses for 6 pack carriers, if I'm giving friends home brew I'm not so sure about giving them a full six pack. Putting fewer in a carrier works but it feels a little cheap to be a gift.
The solution my mind targeted on was 4 pack carriers. While big name brewers seem to prefer multiples of 6, a microbrewery (and the ones that didn't forget that they were) may make something different enough that 4 packs make sense. The blanks versions also exist, but I wasn't finding luck in anything other than bulk. Per piece they're dirt cheap, but I don't brew enough to want a couple hundred carriers for nearly a thousand bottles.
So the next mind journey was a template for making one. Which is where the cool things started showing up. I didn't find digital templates to download and print, but got reminded that a reverse engineering approach would work in a pinch. Mostly suggested for those common 6 packs, but true too for a four pack.
The next little discovery was at one point in history a glorified cardboard box once was patented. Or rather multiple times. While I was googling around for a 4 pack template, Free Patents Online popped up with a patent for a collapsable four pack carrier that aims for minimal gluing and materials with a PDF of all it's diagrams and details. It also lists it's past resources, including other collapsable 4 packs, to older 6 pack designs, to a patent for a Three-bottle collapsible carrier - which as a geek I love. It appears unpurchasable, but it maybe worth making one for myself.
Link | 0 Comments | beer geekery homebrew ideas maker patents research
2010.01.11
January 10th, 2010 Metapost
00.00.03 - Mark
Elsewhere Online [collection of past links]
YouTube - Christmas Tree Rocketry: The Art and Science of Holiday Recycling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCjHV63MQ4w
Tagged : funny MAKE trees videos youtube
What do you do with a christmas tree when December 26th rolls around? Well if santa can fly why can't the tree... [via MAKE]
Link | 0 Comments | metaposts Weblinks
2010.01.10
January 9th, 2010 Metapost
00.00.03 - Mark
Elsewhere Online [collection of past links]
208: R. Buckminster Fuller / 90-Strut Tensegrity Geodesic Dome < Important Design, 08 December 2009 < Auctions | Wright
http://www.wright20.com/auctions/view/IIE9/IIFA/208/LA/none/JISH/0
Tagged : art engineering geodesic dome MAKE science tensegrity
While I've made a poor attempt at making a Tensegrity Tower this Tensegrity Geodesic Dome is mind blowing enought that I may make another attempt at a simple Tensegrity Tower. [via Dinosaurs and Robots]
Link | 0 Comments | metaposts Weblinks
2010.01.08
January 7th, 2010 Metapost
00.00.03 - Mark
Elsewhere Online [collection of past links]
A playable game of Tabletop Pong - Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/pong
Tagged : electronics evilmadscientist games ideas pong projects
So tempted to have one of these, esoecially if you incorporate parts of pinball machines to automate ball revovery and scoring...
Link | 0 Comments | metaposts Weblinks
2010.01.05
January 4th, 2010 Metapost
00.00.03 - Mark
Elsewhere Online [collection of past links]
There, I Fixed It: Epic Kludges Jury Rigs
http://thereifixedit.com/
Tagged : blogs funny hacks MAKE sites thereifixedit todo
I think I started reading this blog back in June, but for various reasons I lost track of it. However I've rediscovered it and after catching up on the last 6 months, I'm right back to loving it. Lots of duct tape, bubble gum and baling wire, and a couple tons of trash, but it's a beautiful mix of funny "fixes", basic upcycling, creative problem solving and some neat art. Sometimes all of those combined...