Xbox 360 anime-art sticker mod
This Japanese gamer, Itabeya-san, made these lovely Xbox 360 "Ita" (meaning 2D anime girls) console and controller stickers, using Sora Nobiru sticky/stretchable printer labels. Includes a link to downloadable outline art for the controller.
[Thanks, Francesco!]
CNC bacteria swarm builds tiny pyramid
Researchers at the NanoRobotics Laboratory of the École Polytechnique de Montréal, under Professor Sylvain Martel, produced this remarkable video showing a swarm of about 5,000 flagellated bacteria--of a type which are subject to manipulation by magnetic fields--being directed to assemble six 100 μM epoxy bricks into the shape of a tiny step pyramid. IEEE Spectrum explains:
The bacteria, of a type known as magnetotactic, contain structures called magnetosomes, which function as a compass. In the presence of a magnetic field, the magnetosomes induce a torque on the bacteria, making them swim according to the direction of the field. Place a magnetic field pointing right and the bacteria will move right. Switch the field to point left and the bacteria will follow suit.
The corresponding paper title is surely one of the best I've ever read: "A Robotic Micro-Assembly Process Inspired By the Construction of the Ancient Pyramids and Relying on Several Thousands of Flagellated Bacteria Acting as Workers." [Thanks, Glen!]
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Control your camera flash with a TV remote
Udi Tirosh wrote in to share this camera flash hack:
Like using off-camera flash units for your photography, but tired of having to walk over to them to adjust the flash power? Well, you could certainly throw some money at the problem and get a set of fancy wireless remotes for them. If you are handy with a soldering iron, though, you might want to take a look at Domjan Svilkovic's instructions to control your flash settings with a TV remote control. He took a cheapo flash, and added a PICaxe microcontroller that waits for 'volume up' and 'volume down' signals, then activates a set of transistors on the remote to simulate button presses. Now, where did I put my flash units...
Chumby hacker boards
For hackers who missed out on the Chumby craze, Adafruit has a pile of Chumby PCBs for sale.
The Chumby Hacker Board is a cool single board Linux computer that has much of the same hardware as the famous Chumby One. It's great for people who are experienced with Linux and want to have the power of a microcomputer with audio and video output while at the same time getting all the peripherals of a microcontroller such as analog-to-digital conversion, PWM outputs, sensors, bit twiddling, and broken-out GPIOs!
Here's what you get for $89:
• Freescale iMX.233 processor running at 454 MHZ and 64 MB onboard RAM.
• Comes with 512MB uSD card with 100 MB Linux installation all ready to go.
• 3.3V I/O pins can talk to most sensors, motor drivers, etc. No struggling with 1.8V levels.
• Low power, fanless design draws only (200?) mA at 5V.
• Built-in Lithium Ion/Polymer battery charger and 5V boost converter for portable projects.
• Three USB ports!
• 1W mono speaker amplifier (0.1" JST onboard connector.)
• Microphone input (0.05" JST onboard connector.)
• LCD controller with 2mm output port.
• 3.5mm A/V output jack with stereo audio and NTSC/PAL composite video.
• Back of board has GPIO outputs on 0.1" header spacing, plug in an Arduino proto shield!
• 5-way joystick and 3-axis accelerometer on-board.
• 3.3V TTL serial port for easy shell access.
Looks pretty sweet!
Leafy zip ties
What maker doesn't love zip ties?! They're useful for cable management MacGyvering things, and holding your robots together. These leafy ties by Lufdesign really caught my eye. [via inspire me now]
How-To: Make Organically-Shaped Gears
MAKE subscriber Dug North writes in to share this video tutorial on how to make gears with unusual contours:
Wood clock designer Clayton Boyer has created an excellent short video showing how to make gears with *very* unconventional profiles. Very cool!
The instructions are a bit terse, so you will probably have to do some experimenting to get it to work correctly, however the effect is pretty amusing.
Plywood secret compartment
This veeeeery devious concealment, which opens with a detachable magnetic clasp, is one of eight produced by design student Yi-Ting Ching as part of her Master's thesis called Secret Stash 2010. There's also a Flickr set and a slickly-produced video.
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Scenes from Handmade Music
Last weekend at Culturefix in NYC, enterprising music makers gathered for another Handmade Music event. If you missed out on the phototheremin soldering workshop or any of the performances, check out Peter Kirn's full report over at Create Digital Music. Photosets from Peter Kirn and Joe Saavedra.
How combustible gas detectors are made…
Propaganda flick from the National Association of Manufacturers, but it's fascinating stuff!