James Clar & Associates

Some of the stuff on this site is just plain cool. Mostly using light/LEDs in some unusual ways.

Thier R & D area is what you want to take a look at:

http://www.jamesclar.com/product/

Woohoooo Human Space Invaders

Seems like the only place I could link to this is Kotacu.com - This video was taken down from YouTube.com so it may have the same thing done to Kotacu if the original author (Guillaume Reymond) so decides to have it removed. Grab a look before it's gone. Wow this must have taken forever to do...LoL




Here's the link to the video @ Kotacu.com

Check out the author's site as well : http://www.notsonoisy.com

Great...Just Great...Now I have to change my profile info...

Forget the little girlie man hamburgers I was talking about before....pfft...10lbs come on you can do better than that.

Seems as though Fuddruckers in the Foxwood Casinos in CT has totally out done themselves in way of Burger size. Forget about asking for 'Super Size' here. I doubt you'd be able to carry the burger to your table. And you'd definately weight out at least 29 and a half points heavier than you did when you walked in. I couldn't touch another bite....

Remember though if you're going to try this beast - they need 48 hour pre order - and the cost is a pretty good deal: $250

Now it appears that Denny's Beer barrel pub has decided to try to reclaim the Largest Commercially Available burger title by proposing a 50lbs burger...well see about that. Recently Kate Stelnick (weighing in at 100lbs) became the first person to successfully eat the 9lb Denny burger (6lbs meat + 3lbs of fixin's) under the 3 hour time limit- Even a 400lb professional eater could only finish it in 7hours on his 3rd attempt. Grats Kate!

Check out the Norwich Bulletin article regarding the (almost) 30lb'er.
And if you want to see some interviews with Kate and related info try here @ katestelnick.com

Oscilloscope Tube Clock

Ok. I applaud Riad Wahby for taking the strange clock thing to a whole new level. He explains in detail how do make one of these beauties for your self.

Now this one is definately a conversation piece.

Take a sec and check out JFET.ORG - He has some other very interesting clocks as well. There is also some very good material (in the form of links) that you may want to check out.

Also his Voltmeter clock and Single Digit Nixie clock.

iPod Universal Remote

Now I'm not really sure why you would want to take an expensive piece of audio hardware and turn it into a glorified 'universal remote' - especially considering all the work involved. But for those who seem to do things for the 'fun factor' or 'coolness factor' go over to Engadget for the full How To...


Seeing as I've been busy past little bit and haven't had the time to add anything new, I'll be doing alittle overtime the next couple days. Maybe I can do some catch up.

I guess I'd have to buy a iPod first to try this....mmm...well it should work with any menu driven MP3/Audio player as the IR commands are stored as Audio Files then played back through a make shift IR transmitter which plugs into your headphone jack on the iPod (or other audio device).

VISIT Engadget's article on this.

Hollowing a lightbulb...nice...not sure what to do with it tho.

Puttering around Make: Magazine's craft blog and found this link which was quite cool...

Not sure why you'd want to clean out a burnt out lightbulb - the website owner says it's good for things like mini fishy tank or small plant pot.

Go take a look: How to hollow a lightbulb.

The 'Make Controller' (Coming soon)

Ok. I'm always a little happy when the new issue of 'Make:' Magazine comes out. Found a little item in there that others may be interested in checking out (but while you're there check out the magazine - cause it's a good investment).

It seems Make: and MakingThings are attempting to come up with an extremely flexible and powerful controller board - designed specifically for the hobbyist. They're trying to make it simple enough for the average joe while keeping it attractive to the hard-core hobbyist.

From what I understand (very quick read) the design is 2 part - The processor board and the application board. With things like USB 2.0, ETHERNET, CAN, SPI and lotsa lotsa other features - all for a low low price of........$150 - well...they even include the schematics (not the processor board)...I'd say we have a winner here. Jump over to the site and pre-order (after I do)...hehe

Make: Controller details and Preorder

Balance - It's all about balance.

I'm completely fascinated at the way two wheel robots balance. I've been hunting around the web for information on them and there are several sites related to this topic. Here's some of what I found:

nBot - Balancing Robot
Ted Larson's Stuff - I enjoyed the camera tracking/following.
Joe - Mobile Inverted Pendulum

Or go all out and make your own segway:

DIY Segway-style scooter

Indoor RC Helicopter DIY

Ok, here's another one from Make Magazine's blog. It offers fairly good instructions on the design and building of your own indoor flyer. My suggestions are if you are planning on building one yourself - take a look here first, it may save you some time.

Ben Hui's Site on Angelfire

DIY Electrostatic Speakers

Nice little description of how to create your own set of these thin babies.
Hmmm. Wonder if anybody is interested in these? Give it a try, your iPod
will thank you.

http://amasci.com/esloud/eslhwto.html

Scratchitti - Rune Clock - Alternatives to Nixie Tubes with neat results

I would have loved at some point in my life to create a nice Nixie Tube clock or timer. But from what I understand the cost of these tubes has gone thru the roof.

With this in mind I was fascinated at the attempt Theodore Johnson made on creating custom edge lit digits. The results are very promising. Seeing as it's possible to create custom digits variations are possible.

One of those 'variations' is the Rune Clock he created. Maybe not the most practical clock - but a nice project all the same.

Take a look at this and some of his other good clock projects:

http://users.rcn.com/ted.johnson/

Flamethrower?

You gotta be kidding. Now if any of you crazy people out there go out and build one of these then burn down your house or god forbid someone else's - Don't come crying to me. It amazes me what people will build. I can't even think of a reason to use one of these things other than displaying the creation after it's made and tested.

This has got to violate several state/provincial/federal laws. But not my place to comment. Just thought the person put alot of effort into the design.

Has several pictures of him testing it too: http://www.chaffinchshoelace.com/view/2690/

A DIY Hovercraft - woohooo!

Ok so it doesn't have many of the features of your typical hugely expensive hovercraft, but this one you can build in your backyard with a spare shopvac, a little wood and a bench/seat. Go on, you know you want to build it...


Site Link.

One for the little kiddies!!! Build your own Hubble Telescope!!

This is more for the kids. This site contains information on building a very nice little model of the Hubble Telescope. Doesn't even have to have the lens replaced, hehe. All the information is on the site including the step by step instructions, and *.PDF templates and color wrappers for the materials to give the model that realistic skin.

Hope on over to the Hubble Site @ http://hubblesite.org/

Come on - don't have to be a kid to enjoy this one....er...ok...maybe it's better for kids.

Boda Blocks

I'm tossing around the idea of doing something similar to what Leah Buechley has done at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She's merges Art, Electronics and Mathematics into a nice 'blocks' construction set. I would have taken this to another level by using more colors and made each block self sufficient. Like little living entities. Maybe I should give this one a try.


Take a look at some of the things she's done. The LED blouse/T-shirt, and bracelet are pretty cool ideas as well. Heres her site link: http://www.cs.colorado.edu/%7Ebuechley/research.html

Another quickie

Ever wanted to create your own comic strip? Well I realize that Mac users can get a Photoshop plugin or tool to create comic strips - think it's called a Comic's Life. But this one is for everyone who has a browser, I tried my hand at a couple - here's one of them:
















Well that didn't upload nicely...oh well you get the idea. You'll have to try it yourself.

http://www.stripcreator.com/

World Domination!!! Mu Ahh Ah Ah Ah!

Ok. So interested in creating your own evil master plan?
Not sure where to start? I got a suggestion:

Create your own Evil Master Plan Here.

Throw your data into this bag...

Ok this one was sent to me over email with the following question:

"What do you think would happen if you squeezed the thing? Would the data spill all over the place?"

Good question, but I think this USB 'bag' drive would get more and more difficult to carry around as it got full...what will they think of next...

(personally a set of LEDs indicating the capacity remaining would do fine) I think the think is called a flashbag hehe - check the website and press materials here:

http://www.plusminus.ru/flashbag.html

Speaking of burgers in the header above

I never could find the original website I saw a person giving a step by step account on how to create and cook a HUGE HUGE burger.... But this one at least gives you an idea just how big they can get. And what the hell is the last picture? It takes two of them to eat it? Wimps.

Go to Denny's Beer Barrel Pub for the meal of kings, er...fat kings. (11 lbs of beef wow)

Create a handheld Linux device using a Zipit

The ZipIt Wireless Instant Messaging device has built-in WiFi (802.11b), a 320x240 grayscale LCD and thumb-style keyboard. All this is powered by a LiIon battery and currently retails for about $100 USD, although I've seen it on E-Bay for as little as $50 USD.

The AiboHack Site discusses hacking: 'by using some WiFi tricks you can perform a software reflash upgrade of your ZipIt device to run Linux direcly. For more advanced hacking, a hardware modification is recommended.'

This little hack is quite cute, and the possibilities of using this device are quite limitless. Also if you wanted you could make this device an indoor pager which recieves Sports scores, stock quotes, news bulletins, etc.

For more information take a look at the AiboHack site. Obviously you void your warranty on the Zipit so use a device you don't mind loosing.