Marcus Willis Design

Pablot writes -

"This is the first hardware mod available for the Nintendo Wii. It's called the PulseVU for Wii and is an internal chip that takes control of the light bar on the Nintendo Wii. It fades the lights when the console is off and pulses them with the audio when the console is on. It is open source with schematics and instructions, or you can get your own manufactured version for cheap. The site has a video of its features, as well as a large FAQ, links to the source, and links to the install instructions." - Link.

Related:

• Wii projects @ MAKE - Link.

A little housekeeping for the MAKE store and last minute gifts...

The MAKE elves will be taking some well-deserved time off to spend time with their families, so we won't be shipping any orders placed after this Thursday at 12pm (PST) until the first week of January.

If you want your order for Christmas, we recommend using FedEx 2-DAY and ordering by Dec 19th 12pm (PST) or order by Wednseday night and select Next Day FedEx shipping.

But don't fret - you can still order GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS and GIFT CERTIFICATES AT ANY TIME, ALL THE TIME.

MAKE gift subscriptions start with the latest issues AND the giftee gets the digital edition for free! - Link.

When you order a gift subscription, we'll send a notification to your recipient. But we wanted to give you the option of notifying them in style. Each PDF is two pages with two different cards, one suitable for mailing and one designed to be given in person - get them here.

MAKE STORE GIFT CERTIFICATES

Next up, we have MAKE store gift certificates (by email) in $15/$25/$50/$75/$100 and $500 dollar amounts - Link.

Unlike the big box retailer stores, ours do not expire.

If you're looking for an idea of what to spend, I'd suggest MAKE: The First Year and a MAKE: Warranty Voider (e4) Tool. These are a great start for the new maker or someone who enjoys MAKE now, both for about $100. I also think you could give 3 kits that teach as you build them: MintyBoost, MiniPOV, MP3 player kit are all great. Starts out with soldering, then microcontrollers, then a cool open source MP3 player that combines all the things you learned so far.

Oh, if anyone gives a $500 one, I'll personally Fed-Ex you a laser etched gift certificate from metal or acrylic on Christmas. I don't expect anyone to do this, but hey. Regardless, if you want some hi-res artwork for a gift certificate, just email me.

John and Alec write -

"This is a toy that my sister and I used to make and have races with. My Son just made one in about 10 minutes... Lots of fun !" - Link.

MAKE Flickr photo pool member Jonny5rd writes -

"I made the tree a long time ago (i believe i was 12 or so), but several improvements have been made this year.

Happy Holidays!" - Link.

Max writes -

"Remember we had a preview of the upcoming SIXAXIS controller for PC? Well Garrett has now embedded the whole controller into his model airplane. He also added some special effects such as the motor which will rotate at a speed proportional to the actual throttle
in the game.

Now the question is, what will he embed it in next?" - Link.

Pretty neat, when you play the game the propellor spins and you use the plane as a joystick (it's the same plane as the game has too) - video here. Not everything is released (custom board) but hopefully it will be later.

Rick writes -

"I made a yo-yo out of a hard drive motor and 6 platters. Here is the yo-yo in use." - Link.

Related:

• The 42 gigabyte hard drive mirror - Link.
• Harddrive clock - Link.
• Hard drive belt buckle - Link.
• More hard driving - Link.

Orb - James Sears - Leif Mangelsen

Solar bikini (charges an iPod shuffle) - Andrew Schneider.

Sonic Body Pong - Tikva Morowati.

CabTrails - Michael Ang.

Botanicallss (plants call you when they need stuff) - Robert Faludi, Kate Hartman, Kati London, Rebecca Bray (tons of asterisk projects this year!).

Tonight is the last night of the two-day festival of interactive sight, sound and technology from the student artists and innovators at ITP. An oversized Greenwich Village loft houses the computer labs, rotating exhibitions, and production workshops that are ITP -- the Interactive Telecommunications Program. Founded in 1979 as the first graduate education program in alternative media, ITP has grown into a living community of technologists, theorists, engineers, designers, and artists uniquely dedicated to pushing the boundaries of interactivity in the real and digital worlds. A hands-on approach to experimentation, production and risk-taking make this hi-tech fun house a creative home not only to its 230 students, but also to an extended network of the technology industry's most daring and prolific practitioners.

Here are just a few of projects we liked and a TON of photos from our visit - Excellent showing ITP!

Nocturnal gutted and stuffed a teddy bear with a Robosapien, it's like a DIY supertoy -

"Its the Christmas season, and my little collection of toy robots seemed so cold and unmerry. So I decided to make one just a little bit more cuddly. RoboTed is the result, a cross between a Teddy Bear and a RoboSapien." - Link.

Related:

• Flame throwing Robosapien - Link.
• Interview with Mark Tilden, Robosapien Inventor - Link.
• Robosapien Dance Machine... - Link.
• Hack a Robosapien + kit - Link.
• Tune-o-sapien - Robosapien music mod - Link.
• More Robosapien hacks, mods and projects - Link.

My Robosapien in a Can. MAKE 07 - page 192. Subscribers--read this article now in your digital edition or get volume 07.

Benedetta Piantella Simeonidis and Lesley Flanigan "Ravezooka" -

"The Ravezooka is a musical weapon that shoots a wide range of powerful "hardcore" sounds based on your target's distance from the instrument.

Design: A playful visual synthesis of a guitar and a bazooka, the Ravezooka is simultaneously a stylish musical weapon of audio destruction and fun with its solid canon shaped form, comfortable wearabilty, and fantastic hip looks! " - Link.

Related:

• Arduino projects @ MAKE - Link.

What would you do with epoxy putty laying around?

The process is simple - mix up some epoxy putty, jam it in your ear, let it mostly harden, take it out, drill holes for sound, and mount normal earbud speakers to them. Et voila!

This article may have one of the best disclaimers ever:

WARNING - This tutorial advocates jamming things in your ear which are not made for earal consumption. Some people are allergic to epoxy (or develop an allergy after working with it) and may experience an allergic reaction that could conceivably involve a swelling of the ear canal and/or complete anaphylactic shock, maybe even death (hey, it could happen). You may also have a specific hooked form of ear that prevents you from removing the epoxy once it hardens. You might also, perhaps, have some sort of seizure epilepsy that makes you throw up uncontrollably when you stick things in your ear. Please consult your otologist before attempting this procedure. I take no liability for emergency room bills, ICU bills, coma support, or any other expenses incurred from actions resulting from the reading of this article. - Link

Our pals @ Spark Fun Electronics cracked open a Wiimote, check out all the photos and parts list... (You'll find a Bluetooth IC, IR sensor, vibratory motor, speaker, triple axis accelerometer, an I2C EEPROM, and a range of passives. Not bad for $55.)

"I promise. No more 'Wii' jokes. My brother sent me the link to www.WiiHaveAProblem.com featuring all the damage caused by thrown remotes, which sparked my interest in how the Wii remote worked. I had to tear one open! This new gaming system from Nintendo is the first maker to really flood the market with a triple-axis accelerometer with Bluetooth connectivity. Simple right? We've had this for a couple years now. Checkout the our WiTilt product. It featured the MMA7260Q, the first commercially available tri-ax chip from Freescale connected with a Bluetooth module for wireless accelerometer sensing. Nintendo made it so much more fun...

My apologies for the large pictures causing the page layout to crunch. It's more important to be able to read the IC markings!" - Link.

Related guttings:

• Wii gutted - Link.
• PS3 gutted - Link.
• Zune gutted - Link.
• Xbox 360 gutted - Link.
• PS3 (Playstation 3) controller & iPod shuffle 2.0 taken apart - Link.
• Take apart a Nintendo DS in 13 minutes (video) - Link.
• Sony Reader Internals 2.0 (pics!) - Link.

Here's a low cost ipod boom box using a cheap iPod dock and a JVC KS-SB200 boom box made for a KT-SR2000 Sirius Satellite Radio Tuner - Thanks Coderman! Link.

Related:

• Knitted Boombox Bag - Link.
• Boombox Tablet PC (with video) - Link.
• Boombox messenger bag - Link.
• Touchscreen Boombox PC - Link.
• DIY iPod boom box - Link.

• irock Broadcast Boombox. Pump up the volume with a portable FM radio station. MAKE 02 - page 122. Subscribers -- read this article now in your digital edition or pick up volume 02.

DIGG just added a whole bunch of new features, including a new podcast section, the MAKE podcast is now listed with our past episodes so check it out and DIGG away... - Link. Nice work Kevin and gang!

Here are the video versions of Tim's revive-a-battery-with-a-welder how-to...

Nicad batteries often die in such a way that they won't take a charge and have zero voltage. This usually means they're shorted out by crystal dendrite growth.

Here's a method of bringing them back to life by zapping those shorted crystal dendrites away with too much current and/or voltage. We'll use a welder as a power source. You could also use a car battery, a DC powersupply, or almost anything with some voltage. Charged-up capacitors are popular for this because you can get a very fast pulse out of them and still limit the power. it's a lot safer that way.

You can also download the video (MOV) here - Link. It should download in to iTunes or whatever podcatcher you use.

Don writes -

"POVTree - geek out your holiday! Another take on the POV-based tree, this one with a vaguely tree-shaped form!" - Link.

Related:

• Wirelessly updatable POV... - Link.
• The Super POV, the video! - Link.
• Microcontrollers 101 - Build a POV - Link.
• HOW TO - Make a golf club POV (spells words when you ... - Link.
• LED POV helmet - Link.
• POV in 3D - Link.
• HOW TO - The Super POV - Link.

EPE Magazine has a good gallery and text on the basics of soldering...

"These photos illustrate the basic steps in making a perfect solder joint on a p.c.b. If you're a beginner, our advice is that it's best to practice your soldering technique using some clean, new parts with perhaps some new stripboard (protoboard). Be sure to avoid using old, dirty parts; these can be difficult if not impossible to solder." - Link.

Related:

• Basic Desoldering guide - Link.
• HOW TO solder - resources - Link.
• Soldering guide (PDF) - Link.

• Soldering and Desoldering. Step-by-step instructions for making (and unmaking) the perfect solder joint. MAKE 01 - Page 162. Subscribers--read this article now in your digital edition or get volume 01.

Pablot shows you how to upgrade the flash memory from 512MB to 1024MB on a Creative MuVo V200 mp3 player - Link.

Here's how to control an iDOG directly from a microcontroller, Botmaker writes -

I got myself a Sega I-dog, the Japanese version, not the Hasbro one that is sold in the US. You can get one from Ebay for about $20. The Japanese version has a lot more features. It makes a nice desktop companion with all the flashing lights, but can be very annoying with tunes playing and gears moving.

The board connected to the proto board in the above photo is a special Picaxe Trainer board I invented. One of these days I will make it available. You can connect a Picaxe and a few compenents on a prefboard, if you perfer, to make the controller. At the bottom of the page is a schematic and the Picaxe program. - Thanks Simon! Link.

Related:

• Picaxe Microprocessors - Link.

Merle made a PVC pipe laptop desk for his VW Beetle (and other vehicles) - Link.

Related:

• DIY Laptop - GPS Car Stand - Link.
• DIY angle bracket laptop stand - Link.
• TONS of PVC projects - Link.

Charper writes -

"This project stemmed from the desire to remove (and perhaps one day re-solder) surface mount components. In it's entireity (pictures and all), it took less that two hours and $20. Even if you have to buy everything, I believe the cost could easily be kept under $30. Comparatively, I could not find a hot air soldering iron retain for under $200. Every entrepreneuring young electrical engineer needs to work on some project to satisfy curiosities and take things apart... right? Well, at least I do!" - Link.

Related:

• Join the MAKE Instructables group - Link.
• $45 Hot Air Pencil - Link.
• HOW TO - SMD soldering (Surface mount devices) - Link.
• Looking for a good soldering iron? - Link.
• Solder surface mount parts with a toaster oven... - Link.
• HOW TO - Hand solder teeny tiny chips! - Link.