Reminds me of what it was like when I was growing up.
[via neatorama]
Author: John
War Of The Worlds eComic
A true classic, H. G. Wells’s story "The War of the Worlds" has been turned into an online comic.
[via presurfer]
War Of The Worlds eComic
‘Glass Give Gas’ Artistic Hotplate
I have very little info on this other than it is apparently made by Harry Thaler and is titled ‘GLAS GIBT GAS’ (German for ‘Glass gives gas’). It looks very attractive and quite functional. I wonder if this is a hack (used found parts) or he made everything from scratch.
UPDATE: I received a comment about this item: "Orboc can answer!
I’ve seen it in a show a couple of days in a design show in Paris. I can tell that it’s a prototype made from scratch and the creator is a student from an italian design school." Thank you very much Orboc.
[via notcot]
moN DieU qUe C’Est BeaU ! – ORBOC, a good source of protein!
(Translation by Google)
Fire Piston
I happened across such a clever and handy device that everyone should have one. It’s a fire piston. Originating in South East Asia this device works on the same principal as a diesel engine (possibly the where Rudolph Diesel got the idea). A solid piston is rammed home in a tight fitting tube with a bit of dry tinder in the bottom of it. As the gas (air) is compressed with a sharp blow from your hand, it undergoes rapid compression and gets hot. All those air molecules throw off quite a bit of energy when they are all crammed into a tiny space. It gets so hot that it will make the tinder ignite. Pretty darn amazing isn’t it?
If you want to buy or build one there are loads of resources on the ‘Net (just ask Google) but you can read the Wikipedia article if you want from more science about the fire piston.
DIY GPS Jammer
Hackers listen up. Everyone understands and enjoys the utilitarian benefits that GPS has brought to our lives but what if it didn’t work any more? I suppose you could build some sort of surface to space missile robot that would systematically seek and destroy all the GPS birds in orbit, but that might attract unwanted attention by the authorities. No, your best bet would be to build a little portable device that just affected a small area. That is exactly what this does. It works by blanketing the GPS L1 frequency (1475.42 MHz) with noise rendering the receiver unable to get an acquisition code. Without one of those it can’t see any satellites. Pretty clever. Now, I have to say that I have no idea if this circuit is going to work, I’ll leave that up to you. I mean, it’s from Phrack magazine after all so that makes it pretty hardcore. Use some common sense in the operation of this device. It might be best used as a conversation starter and that’s all.
Bicycle Electric-Motor-Assist Project (BEMAP)
An old friend of mine is undertaking a project to add an electric motor to his bike. He has been asking me a bunch of questions about motors and such because I have a bit of a background in building robots. I tried my hand at the old combat robotics thing a while back, had my own robot and even started a real competition. However, the sport turned out to be a great way to burn through money so I had to give it up. Anyway, I gained quite a bit of skill at scrounging for parts and how things like that work. I’ll be more than happy to help out even if is just as a sounding board for ideas.The BEMAP project looks to be pretty cool. So far he has a supply of DC motors from a disused car and some battery packs. Mike is a born scrounger so I’m sure his solution will be very unique.