Nerd Kits.com has created some hardware to allow your IPhone to connect to an R/C car controller via the Internet which then sends the signals to the RC car. You control the car by moving your finger in different parts of a box that is on the IPhone screen which in turn moves the car in that direction.
10.18.2008
RC Car Controlled by IPhone
DIY Halloween Spider Webs
While most people go to stores like Wal-Mart or Party City to buy some commercially made cotton spider webs, you can make your own by making your own web-shooter. Not only is it really cool, but it also makes Hollywood style webs, because it is actually almost the same process that they use in most movies to make webs. For more instructions see the video below and go to the Instructables web page.
Self Balancing Table
At the Retis Laboratory of Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna a team of engineers and DIYer's built a table that automatically tilts to make a ball stay on it even when the ball is pushed or dropped. The team uses a touch screen to locate the position of the ball and two servo motors to adjust the table. See the video below to watch the table in action. See their website for more details.
DIY Animatronic Hand
A pretty cool Halloween prop. It would be cool to add some servos to make it automated. View the Instructable here.
LED Hard Drive Clock
Ian has made an LED hard drive clock by using flashing LED's and a spinning CD with a slit in it to create patterns. He uses an LED strip from Super Bright LED's and programed the whole thing himself. The CD spins at 90 RPM which tricks the human eyes into thinking that it isn't flashing which is the reason that we see solid patterns. The thing, as you can hear from the video, is pretty loud, but later on Ian plans on building a plexiglass case to enclose the project to reduce the sound levels.
10.16.2008
Evaporation PC Cooling System?
Whoever made this thing sure has an imagination! We think that he has built an evaporation based PC cooling system. As interesting as this sounds it seems to work. He has some not to detailed plans on his website, but it's pretty cool to look at.
Weed Wacker Blender
If you think that you have a nice blender you may want to rethink that. Brett decided that he'd try to find a use for his old weed wacker engine from when he was a kid and he sure did! He took the engine and used it to power a blender, but that's not all. He is a huge drag racing fan and created his own miniature starting lights (christmas tree) as well as a nice looking RPM gauge and a cool trigger to power the speed as well as a cool LCD display. His favorite part.... The fact that he gets crouds to walk away from the drag race just to see his blender.
10.15.2008
New Discovery Show "Prototype This" Better than Expected
"If you're a fan of things like MythBusters, Make magazine, Burning Man, the do-it-yourself movement and the like, you are probably going to love Prototype This!
The basic theme of Prototype This! is that the four hosts, Terry Sandin, Zoz Brooks, Mike North, and Joe Grand take their combined skills and use each episode to conceive of and craft some entirely new design, product, or technology. The end result? A full season of prototypes that are off-the-wall, entirely practical, and everything in between." -CNet News
Insanely Cool DIY Electric Guitar
Dan Wagoner decided to go all out on his first re-born electric guitar. He took apart a sound generator from "Music From Outer Space" and placed the knobs and buttons into the guitars body. You can also see him expressing his creativity and love for DIY projects by looking at the pick guard he made from a real motherboard.
(ABOVE)The "Music From Outer Space" sound generator.
(BELOW)The finished guitar
Hack a Wind-Up Flashlight for Emergancy Cellphone Battery
Hack A Flashlight To Power Your...! - video powered by Metacafe
A DIY video on how to hack a wind-up flashlight for a power source for any cellphone or PDA. All you need is a wind-up flashlight, a cellphone charger, and a cellphone or PDA.
Worlds First Fan LED Sign
The Ultimate Sports Fan Sign!! - video powered by Metacafe
Another video by KipKay. What a great idea!
Ferris Bueller's Day Off Intercom Prank
Matt Meerian decided that he wanted to try to build a near replica of the intercom the Ferris Bueller used to try to fool his teacher into thinking that he was sick in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Matt searched on EBay for the same intercom that they used in the movie but, he couldn't find it so he just found an old intercom that looked like it had been outside for a while. He uses a Vinculum VMusic2 MP3 player as the main hardware for the intercom. The Vinculum VMusic2 MP3 player allows him to just plug in a thumbdrive into it and allows for the easy ability to jump from one sound file to another. If you are interested in building one of these intercoms for yourself or if you just want to see more information regarding how to build it visit Matt's website.
10.14.2008
New Discovery Show- Prototype This Premiers Tomorrow
The new Discovery show Prototype This premiers tomorrow (10/15/08). The Show involves four engineers who try to make a prototype of ridiculously insane ideas. Check out the schedule from the discovery site bellow and for show dates and episodes.
MIND CONTROLLED CAR - October 15 @ 10 e/p
Our team of inventors attempts to prototype a car that utilizes biofeedback sensors to restrict a cars performance as its driver's agitation level increases. Joe and Zoz will use cutting edge biofeedback and mind control technologies as the brains of the prototypes while Terry and Mike retrofit the test cars for an extreme test to prove the concept: a demolition derby where road rage is inevitable.
BOXING ROBOTS - October 22 @ 10 e/p
The prototype team looks into the future of gaming -- and giant, boxing robots are what they see. Joe and Zoz utilize a technology called optical glyph tracking to allow the robots to register and mimic their human counterparts' boxing movements while Mike is charged with dressing the metallic skeletons and Terry with building the metal beasts themselves. And then it's into the boxing ring for a metallic monster slugfest!
TRAFFIC BUSTING TRUCK - October 29 @ 10 e/p
The boys take on the challenge of building a car that will beat traffic by rising up -- and driving over it. And as an added bonus, the lift allows the vehicle to find parking like nothing else on wheels. The key to this build is a set of amazing wheels that can move in all directions without actually turning.
GET UP AND GO - November 5 @ 10 e/p
The team of engineers attempts to invent a space-age sleeping pod that gets you up, fed, showered, groomed, dressed, informed and out the door in a matter of minutes. Initial attempts to automate things like shaving and eating turn out to be either scary or messy, but some surprising breakthroughs pave the way for a triumphant public demonstration.
WATERSLIDE SIMULATOR - November 12 @ 10 e/p
No water theme park is complete without a long run on a water slide, but what do you do when you don't have the room in your backyard? Let the the laws of physics give you a ride! In what may be their most massive build, the team puts together an amazing, fun-filled "slide-in-a-ring" and then turns on the hose for some aquatic fun.
SIX-LEGGED ALL TERRAIN VEHICLE - November 19 @ 10 e/p
Inspired by the "legs" of an innovative robot called RHex, the prototypers decide to use this basic design with its synchronized alternating tripod gait and build it BIG! What first appears as a simple upscaling project becomes a real challenge when the team discovers that size can change everything.
Pop-Up Coffin
This is a pop-up coffin that the Halloween Prop Master has made of PVC pipe, a screen door closer, some plywood, a $6.00 Walmart mask, an old tux, and a sprinkler valve along with some other non-essential things for an added "scare". 
Check out the Propmaster's website for more complete instructions, videos, and many other Halloween prop ideas.
Sawdust Air Cannon Explosion
Sawdust Cannon. from Ben Stone on Vimeo.
(Above) This is the original sawdust air cannon from Ben Stone. (Below) The Mythbusters tested the great air cannon out to see if it was really possible or if there were some other things in the cannon besides sawdust.
I was a little sceptical at first until I saw the Mythbusters confirm the myth... What a great idea!
Portable Generators
BAE Systems, a major hybrid bus manufacturer is thinking about the possibility of using the energy left over that is stored in the bus's batteries as an energy source in the result of an emergancy in their newest generation of buses. The companies current buses are also hybrids but don't use the newest lithium-ion energy storage technology to improve the amount of power generated. The current buses from BAE Systems that are in use already are saving cities 40% less to maintain and 24% less to operate than the earlier hybrid buses. The new bus will even reduce the operating and maintenence costs even more and more importanly serve as mobile generators to supply power to essential things in the result of an emergency such as hospitals (the company estimates that on a 100 gallon tank of fuel the bus could power a 12,400 square foot hospital for 22 hours.
Animatronic Pumpkin Head Monster
This is an animatronic pumpkin head monster created by Woddy, a self taught animatronics expert. Woddy even made the local news with his creation. You can view his Youtube page for even more videos of his monster before and after it was completed.
10.13.2008
BPExplorer- Drive a Real Robot in Australia
BPExplorer is an online game that allows you to drive a REAL robot all the way over in Australia. You first go to there website and join the waiting list. While you waiting you can view the live webcams of the other robots in action. Then, after a little waiting it's your turn to drive and you have complete control of "your" robot for 4 minutes. You can also extend the 4 minute time limit by entering codes from the course. However, these robots are part of BP's clean energy program so they are solar powered and only work when it's daytime in Australia.
Halloween Animated LED Lights
Here is a picture from Daughtery of his finished animated LED Halloween eyes. He uses an LMDriver Platform and the whole think is driven by an Atmel ATMega169 Micro controller. Check out his website for the video which really shows how cool these things really are because, the picture doesn't do a justice. He also has the code that he used and is selling them on his website so for anyone interested just visit the link.
10.12.2008
PSP Controlled with a PS2 Controller
"Blizzrad" has found a way to mod a PS2 controller to work with a PSP. Just visit the link for more information on how to make it.
What a 100,000 amp Capacitor Bank Does to a Quarter
This is unlike many other hacks on this website due to the fact that you can't do it at home..... well, unless you have access to a 100,000 amp capacitor bank
Hollywood Style Shattering Glass
A video on how to make your own hollywood style shattering glass that you can use to trick your friends or even use for a little effect in your video.
Custom XBox Controller
This is an XBox controller that someone made from stripping a regular controller and soldering some old school style controls. They also made the nifty little box that it's in and adds some cool LED's for an even cooler effect.
DIY Interactive Whiteboard Using the Wii
Here is a video on how to make an interactive white board using only the Wii and some free software downloads. Besides the cost of the Wii, the controller, and the projector the whole project will only cost a couple bucks. For more information and for links to download the free software just visit Johnny Chung Lee's Web Page. This mod will take a little time but, is a neat little gadget and can actually be very useful.
Halloween Fake Blood
Since Halloween is coming around I decided to make a post on how to make some realistic fake blood. It is made by two commonly found chemicals and creates a very realistic illusion of being cut by knife. Watch the video to see more details instructions and the effect in action.
Guitar Hero With a Real Guitar
Some people over at ToolMonger.com have modded a real guitar into a guitar hero guitar. They have taken apart the Guitar hero guitar and placed the buttons and the strummer thing into the real guitar. It sound simple but, I'm sure it's a little harder than it looks but, is probably worth the effort for any hardcore Guitar Heroer or DIYer
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