Month: July 2007

Solderless Aux In For Bose Sound Dock, Etc

July 6, 2007 by 11 Comments

This little how-to was sent in by [Ed]. The sound dock posts get quite a few hits, so I figured I’d share.

There is a solderless way to hack an aux input for the Sounddock.
(1)Go to Wal-mart (or elsewhere) and buy the Griffin Dock Adapter for iPod Shuffle (~$20) and a Belkin Speaker and Headphone splitter (~$4). (The Belkin splitter is needed in order to fit properly over the Shuffle plug on the device, but other cables/adapters might work.)
(2)Remove the existing adapter plate and replace it with the Dock adapter.
(3) Set the switch to speaker. (Very Important!) (4)Plug in one end of the Belkin adapter and you are ready to go! Any input signal automatically activates the Sounddock. Now you have a fully functional female and male stereo headphone input for your Sounddock.

–>Total cost ~$25 and no soldering required.

I’m Gonna Die From 1000lbs Of Tile Extra

July 5, 2007 by 12 Comments


I spent most of my day laying nearly an actual ton of tile in my house. Right now it hurts to just to type. (And thanks to Marsha for the helping hand.)

[ironjungle] sent in his $20 kite cam project. (Same camera as the cat cam)

[Dan] sent along some pics of his and his friends shoverboard builds (leaf blower hover boards)

[fucter] sent along his take on my simple audio mixer how-to.

[B-Rock] sent along a little iphone sim testing performed by our buds over at tuaw.

If you’re trying to develop web content for the latest in geek swag, you might dig firebug for the iphone.

Make Custom Dash Mods (ipod Dock)

July 3, 2007 by 18 Comments


[Daniel ] sent in this one, from an O’Reilly book, it’s older but the results are just stunning. The iPod dock has been done countless times, but the really interesting part is the custom dash molding technique. The cradle was mocked up with clay on the original piece, then a silicon mold was cast from the mock up. After that, the entire piece was re-created inside the mold. After some dremel work and a bit of sanding, it came out beautifully. It looks like a great way to make custom LCD/GPS dash inserts.

Vacuum Bike Pump

July 1, 2007 by 11 Comments


[drcrash] sent in this thorough how-to on converting a cheap bike pump to pull a vacuum. Apparently it’s just the thing for small vacuum bagging projects. I’m thinking that this could be combined with a low rpm motor and a pivot. Just picture an old steam locomotive wheel drive, and you should get my idea. (A windshield wiper motor would probably be perfect.)

DIY SCUBA: Death On A Stick

July 1, 2007 by 61 Comments

Sorry guys, I’ve got to comment on this one.

[tylin] sent in this “DIY SCUBA” youtube video. These guys used a home shop air compressor with a particle filter so they could “SCUBA dive”. This kid is lucky he didn’t die.

I guarantee there were impurities in the compressed air. A major concern here is carbon monoxide, among others. That filter they used is designed to reduce particles, not scrub out CO, CO2, etc. Hemoglobin loves CO even more than dear old O2, so he could have asphixiated or suffered from convulsions despite having an air supply.

He’s lucky he didn’t blow his lungs out. The second he took a remotely full breath off that hose, he started to float up. If he happened to hold his breath it would have ruptured his lungs and caused all sorts of nasty problems.

He wasn’t wearing a weight belt – furthering the risk of floating up when he took a breath. (in my experience about 90% of people are positively buoyant)
4)Nobody was in the water watching his back. If he’d suffered any complications, no-one was there to make sure he didn’t drown. (Think convulsions, black out, etc)

Sorry for the rant – but this is just effing stupid. Don’t try this crap, ever. I’m an advanced open water diver myself – get training and real equipment.

Update: The video was removed after reading my response to it. I went ahead and puled the youtube link since it’s useless.