I guess [Michaels Killian] just didn’t like to ride facing forward. He’s built a few versions of his sideways bike. Both wheels are used for steering – I’ve got to give him credit for making the chain drive handle that much side to side displacement. via [wired]
Misc Hacks4186 Articles
Virtualcogs Open Portable Gaming Platform
[David] thought you guys might like this – and I agree. It’s an open gaming platform built around a PSP LCD. It’s got all the basics, and it’s expandable. They’d like to put together an order for a run of boards, so let em know if you want one. If you’re lazy, here’s the specs:
- MX21 ARM9 266MHz processor with 64MB SDRAM and 16 MB of FLASH
- TFT LCD from the PSP (our thanks to Nathan at Sparkfun for helping us out with that)
- stereo audio CODEC
- stereo speakers
- headphone jack
- microphone
- couple of joysticks
- loads of buttons
- battery pack
- SD/MMC slot
- expandable (can add GPS, bluetooth, accelerometers and gyros, etc…)
Most of the hardware is pretty decent, but the battery pack could use some help. Maybe a good surplus li-ion cell phone battery.
Microwave Plasma
Every so often I learn a new microwave trick. [skuhl] sent in this …. myspace video. It appears that with a microwave, a jar and a candle to get things going, you can create you r very own plasma in a jar. You’ll probably kill your microwave doing this, but damn it looks cool.
Real Life Avatar Style Video Recording
[salvo] enjoys searching for ‘untitled document’ with google. He ran across this crazy little project that just cracked me up. It’s a video camera rig that’s designed to simulate the video presentation of virtual reality games (everquest, etc.) and it actually does a decent job. It would probably get you arrested if you wore it in Boston…
Battery Powered Tesla Coil
I happened across this nice simple PWM circuit, and eventually ran across this excellent little tesla coil. The build information is pretty interesting. Between the capacitor brick and the car ignition coils, I’d say it gets pretty creative.
Fourth O’ July Entertainment
Maybe you didn’t have a crazy physics teacher, or missed [Mr. Wizard], so you might not have seen the hot dog cooking by electrocution. There is one new idea this time – stick some LEDs in your victim. Thanks[ Matthew]
If that’s not geeky enough for you, check out this simple ibook server mod sent in by [Jonas].
Make Custom Dash Mods (ipod Dock)
[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.
