Eclectic junk from the four corners of the ‘Net. And pictures too!
If your serious about photography and own a Nikon DSLR you might want to have a look at this project. It’s simple enough, he programmed a PIC microcontroller to fire off a series of pulses to an infrared LED that will trip the shutter of a Nikon D70 (should work with other Nikon cameras too, it emulates an ML-L3 remote). It’s a clever project, and easy one too.
This Saturday I and a bunch of friends were treated to a wonderful amateur production of H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘Call of Cthulhu’. Shot entirely in "Mythoscope’, it captures the look and feel of a 1927 silent film to an astounding degree. Not only that, it could be the most accurate telling of a Lovecraft story in a visual medium. The production runs for more than 45 minutes and the DVD includes out takes and some reveling behind the scenes footage. This is the perfect DVD for any fan of the Cthulhu mythos, and even if your not get it just for the incredible look of the entire production. If only all non professional videos looked as good as this one does…
Looks as if there has been another setback in the mission of the little space probe that could, the craft has started to tumble and is not longer in a good position to receive communications from Earth. A small fuel leak caused it to spin in an unexpected way but the ground controllers have been able to calculate when it points in the right direction so communications could still continue. The new orientation still fulfils the com and power requirements but not by much. The overall mission has been extended by a few more years in a hope that they will be able to recover and head back to home with the sample of asteroid Itokawa
I’ve been reading through the premiere issue of ‘Robot Magazine’ and have nothing but good things to say about it. Anyone that has an interest in the growing area of hobby robotics needs to read this publication. No matter if you have a LEGO Mindstorm kit and want to get some ideas, a new VEX robotics system, or are building a ‘Robo One‘ classed robot there is going to be something in this for you. The lead story of how the Mythbusters built their own PackBot out of the new VEX Robot System is a great read. First class stuff!
What self respecting sci-fi geek hasn’t dreamed about owning their own life sized Dalek? In the 32 page PDF you will learn all the ticks needed to build you very own replica of the terror of British TV. The instructions look very well written and the illustrations are easy to follow. Someone with a home shop should be able to knock one of these out in a month or so.
I’m amazed at the huge number of people that build models out of paper. Here is a nice big list that you can scan through to find a quick (and not so quick) weekend project.