For a while we’ve been meaning to try out Jay Clegg’s TWI-video hack for the Peggy 2, and we must say, it’s pretty nifty. Using this routine, we can take webcam video (e.g., from our MacBook Pro’s built-in camera), sample it in a Processing routine, and send it to be displayed on the 625 LEDs of the Peggy 2.
Continue reading Video Peggy in action
Like cardboard, cats love quilts.
My grandmother made my mother a lap quilt to keep handy in the living room, but whenever my mother wanted to use it, there would be a cat sitting on it. So my grandmother made a simple cat quilt out of four squares of leftover fabric. The cat always had a quilt to sit on, so the lap quilt was free for my mom.
In that spirit, here’s a simple fishbowl quilt you can make for your feline companion.
In electronics, it is common to talk about single sided circuit boards. The most common type is a circuit board that only has printed wiring on one side, and components on the other side. There are also surface-mount boards, where all the wiring and components sit on one side. But aren’t all of those reallyjust two-sided circuit boards where you only put components on one of the sides?
Here we present a method of making your own authentic single-sided circuit board.
Continue reading A single sided circuit board
In some ways, we really like candy message hearts. They make good ammo, you can stamp them with your own messages, they make halfway decent sidewalk chalk, and they do bizarre things if you cook them.
On the other hand, you may or may not like the way that these things taste. (To us, many years ago, they compared very favorably to the other varieties of sidewalk chalk that we had tried.) In either case there is certainly some room for culinary alternatives.
Read on and learn how to make your own highly edible custom cookie message hearts.
The Meggy Jr RGB has an open serial port that– thus far– hasn’t been used much for gameplay. Something was missing, which turns out to have been this cable that can hook two Meggy Jr’s (Er, Meggies?) together.
Even neater, this cable can be used to provide serial connections between any two of most types of Arduino-compatible devices that normally are programmed through a FTDI USB-TTL cable. This includes not only Meggy Jr RGB, but also the Arduino Pro, the current-revision LilyPad Arduino and the DC Boarduino. (Note: BBB and RBBB users: You can play too, once you wire up CTS# to ground.)
And the cable itself? You can make it yourself– in a couple of minutes– from a standard cable that costs about a buck. :)
Mollie is the 2008 Wells Fargo special edition freebie plush pony (activity book here). “Unfortunately,” Mollie was attacked and killed by zombies.
Mollie was reanimated as Maulie. With creepy red eyes and a brand new skull & crossbones bandana, Maulie is a distinct improvement over the old Mollie.
Continue reading Turning Mollie into Maulie
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Continue reading Small Parts Tray made from Contact Lens Cases
A quick, handy, geeky, and seriously inexpensive perpetual calendar for your desk.
Got 12 cents and a scrap of cardboard? You’re good to go!
