http://www.makernation.com Making technology personal again. Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:59:39 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Let me disclaim that I'm a software guy, so I fully understand the deterministic nature of computer-generated random numbers. That said, bulding a "7 foot tall, 104 pound, dice-eating monster," capable of generating 1.3 million random dice rolls per day is an extreme, to-the-max, over-the-top solution! In other ... http://www.makernation.com/2009/10/09/behold-the-dice-o-matic/ Just a quick post to let everyone know that, contrary to appearance, Maker Nation isn't dying the slow death of a neglected blog... at least not anymore.  I've got some exciting plans in the works for The Nation, far exceeding a simple blog, that I hope to be releasing soon... In ... http://www.makernation.com/2009/10/09/im-not-dead-yet-im-feeling-better/ If you remember downloading the latest demoscene releases from back in the days of 2400 baud modems BBS's, you know that demos were (are?) notorious for squeezing every last drop of performance from a processor with unbelievable realtime 3D graphics and wicked tunes. Seriously, a couple of those old Future ... http://www.makernation.com/2008/07/22/craft-amazing-demo-in-85k-of-atmel-assembly/ I usually have to unclog a few sprinkler heads when I do my weekly system check, but I was in for a treat on Saturday when almost every single head was clogged! You see, the city did some work on the secondary water lines upstream from my house and, as ... http://www.makernation.com/2008/06/25/how-to-pop-up-sprinkler-head-filter-cleaner/ I'll admin it: I'm a sucker for lasers, especially when they're synchronized with music! This little project, which reminds me of something I saw in high school physics, is a perfect solution for those times when you only have a few minutes to make your living room look like discotheque ... http://www.makernation.com/2008/06/22/five-dollar-laser-show/ No build info on this one, but the pictures pretty much tell the whole story. It makes me wonder if the renaissance of film isn't on its way, where you'll buy boutique films from guys with big, homemade machines like this one in their garages. Personally, I get goosebumps just knowing ... http://www.makernation.com/2008/06/18/diy-film-this-is-not-a-trivial-undertaking/ Every time I head over to Matthias Wandel's homepage (or his woodworking site) to see what's new, I end up spending hours looking through all the cool projects! Seriously, what an awesome maker! I thought I'd share the project that originally drew me to his a site in 2003: a ... http://www.makernation.com/2008/06/18/cd-changing-machine/ I've always been intrigued by the evil robot stylings of Captured! By Robots even if their music wasn't really my bag, but this new video of New Zealand robo-band The Trons has finally given me something to look forward to when robots eventually takeover mankind. http://www.makernation.com/2008/06/16/robot-rock/ Hikaru's diary on learning to solder is a truly excellent (and unintentionally hilarious) tutorial on soldering. The lessons are spread across 10 “stories” that cover topics such as the history of soldering, iron selection (including how various types of irons work), soldering theory, as well as through-hole and reflow soldering ... http://www.makernation.com/2008/06/16/how-do-you-do-soldering-lets-answer-this-question-together-with-hikaru/ There's nothing I enjoy quite like tearing into an old printer or VCR to find some new crap for my parts box. Harvesting stepper motors, gears, belts and other mechanical bits is easy (and fun), but I've never really considered going after the electronics. The folks over at uC ... http://www.makernation.com/2008/06/14/dissection-of-an-uninterruptible-power-supply/