Daily DIY

No. Peter Semmelhack explains why his open source gadget hardware will never be as lean and mean of an email chucking machine as the Blackberry. The BB’s about doing a few things particularly well, while his hardware is meant to stimulate the brain and live up to your imaginative hacking plans. Like legos, they’re bricky and you can build stuff from them, but don’t expect something slim in the pocket. [Bug Labs on Giz]

Although it’s not a Roomba in the sense that it can clean up your junk, this Japanese Beauto robot can be programmed just like a Roomba. It comes as a DIY kit from Japanese robot maker VStone, which includes the connectors and software to design the robot’s behavior. The Beauto is similar to Lego Mindstorms in that it’s a relatively simple interface to design decently complicated AI interactions, but don’t expect to be able to make Johnny Five. Johnny 0.5, maybe. [VStone via Tokyo Mango]

Pumpkin, nails, pictures of the family (or something else) and twine. That’s all you need for this project. Thanks to Photojojo, you can make this awesome Halloweeny pumpkin photo holder. Try not to stick it outside on your front porch otherwise it’ll be gone a few seconds after you close the door!

Tags:

If a pirate, bee, monkey, lego or sushi sounds like a cool last-minute idea for kids (or adults if you scale up the measurements), then here’s the link for you. Whoever said you can get ZERO creative ideas from CBS’ The Early Show… I pity the foo. These costumes are pretty sweet. The kid in […]

Simple, funny, and easy, you can make any person look like a ghost on film! All you need is a sheet, a human capable of jumping off the ground (perhaps a dancer to enhance the effect), and a camera. Have the human capable of leaping and/or hopping put the sheet on, perform their “magic jumping […]

If you can get your hands on a Rand McNally GPS this Rand McNally GPS Hack will show you how to get the serial data out of it. Since these GPS devices are quite old now they should be quite cheap. Does anyone know of a cheaper serial GPS solution? If so please share it […]

This gentleman made a moving-jaw skull for hanging on a wall. It’s pretty unique, cheaper than buying one at a store, and it opens the door to all kinds of Halloween ideas! Since the directions aren’t directions specifically - more like a general how-to - we’ll post this under Reference. If anyone wants to post […]

If you have ever wanted to play with some fiber optics here is a Fiber Optic LED Rose Project that you could try out. Nice to see some of my LEDs were used to make a cool project!

Parts Needed:

“Wires, solder, and soldering gun (of course)
1 green led (I used 6000mcd) – Found online
1 red led […]

If you’ve ever said to yourself “ZOUNDS! I wish I had a some manner of hypnotic object to complete Ye Olde DIY Haunted House that I will commence the charging of five dollars, upon entry. If only I had a hologram floating head to call mine own,” don’t sell your soul just yet, Mephistolpheles. Here’s how to […]

 
Matt Denton of MicroMagic Systems specializes in animatronics for the film industry. Check out the very interesting (creepy) face tracking robot called i.c Hexapod.

“i.c. Hexapod interacts with people by following them around. If his gaze is held long enough, he takes a picture and uploads it to a website: hexapodrobot.com”

Some additional information (thanks Matt):

“The hexapod […]