I would never consider purchasing a rental car once it is retired. The guys at Sloppy Mechanics have solidified my thinking.

“Well we picked up the rental and quickly got to work installing the nitrous line and solenoid Easily found a grommet in the firewall pulled it out and ram the stainless line right out of the cab, Next we ran the line to the air box with ease, the engine bay is gigantic and easy to get around. I had the idea to just disconnect the factory horns and use that to power the nitrous solenoid and cut out a lot of time and wiring for the noid, we wired it up and tested it, doesn’t blow a fuse and powers the noid very well, so that was that, next we pulled the intake box of, easy enough there is a lot of space to hide the noid, and the jet, hell, there is even a hole that i just jammed the nitrous jet into, and screwed it in like it was supposed to be there. Next on the agenda is to wakeup tomorrow grab the nitrous bottle, and get to the dyno and start doing some pulls. Cant wait to tell you the news and or post up some more pics and video.”

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By now I am sure all of you have heard about Blu Ray players. The heart of this innovative device is a special high power laser. Wicked Lasers is striving to bring cutting edge products to their customers. Steve over at Wicked Lasers was kind enough to show us how their new Sonar laser is developed. The crazy thing is that these lasers are so rare they must be harvested out of actual Blu Ray players. If you can afford one of these finely crafted lasers, I am jealous.

Thanks Steve.

“The photos show our lead laser engineer, Dr. John Garner Ph. D. and his assistant.
The steps to create a Blu Ray pointer from a Blu Ray Disc Player is as follows:
First, the DVD player covering is removed
Then Blu Ray Diode is extracted carefully from the drive.
We have developed a PCB board to pair with the Blu Ray diode and optics are added to focus the laser beam.
After testing the power output, the laser module (Diode + PCB + lenses + brass housing) is inserted into another brass casing for heat dissipation and to fit the casing.
A single Cr-123A Lithium Ion battery is used to power the unit. The dot as shown is purple and registers to be 23mW.”

Here are some specs. for the finished laser.
“Sonar™ is the world’s only Blu-ray™ powered laser designed to satisfy the desires of true laser enthusiasts.

* 405nm Blu-ray™ laser diode
* Spacecraft grade 6061-T6 aluminum casing
* Super-regulated beam stability
* High-drain Li-ion power supply
* Limited edition!”

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Phillip Torrone from Make Magazine has put together a long list of open source gift ideas. Items include everything from a cool open source Home Automation System to their own POV device that’s only $18.00!

Is there anything missing from the list, leave a comment and I will pass it along…

What is open source?

“There are hundreds of gift guides this holiday season filled with junk you can
buy – but a lot of time you actually don’t own it, you can’t improve upon it,
you can’t share it or make it better, you certainly can’t post the plans,
schematics and source code either. We want to change that, we’ve put together
our picks of interesting open source hardware projects, open source software,
services and things that have the Maker-spirit of open source. Some are kits,
some are open software projects that you’ll need to build hardware for before
gifting, and some are just support for the projects/groups that do open
source.”

This 65 HP Ultralight Helicopter demonstrates that personal helicopters in the back yard parked beside the family car may not be a far fetched concept. If you can’t wait to get your hands on the real one, you can always buy the model version for now.

“Going back to the future of rotor craft design is the basic concept of the AirScooter VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) vehicle by AirScooter Corporation of Henderson, Nevada. “The original Sikorsky rotorcraft helicopter concept was based on a coaxial design much like the AirScooter,” says Woody Norris; internationally recognized inventor and AirScooter Corporation co-founder, “what we’ve done is package the coaxial design in a modern light-weight craft that allows for intuitive control and incredible maneuverability.”

By eliminating the need and complexity of swashplates, collective and cyclic control through a coaxial rotor design a number of benefits beyond conventional helicopter designs are immediately realized. First; enhanced, intuitive flight controls are achieved by simple motorcycle-style handlebars and the absence of a tail rotor. To gain altitude, simply throttle up like you would on a motorcycle, turn left or right on the handlebars for craft rotation and move the handlebar assembly as a joystick for directional control (including reverse). No pedal controls are necessary, which means someone without the use of their legs can just as easily fly the AirScooter. Handlebar controls represent the most distinguishable feature of the AirScooter. AirScooter’s patented design also provides an amazing level of stability while in the air and during flight.”

Via: Retro Things

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Sitting in a 19″ rack the temperature monitoring unit that Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers built looks like it is worth several thousand dollars. When you have a look inside, the lack of components reflects on the power of the 1-wire communication technology.

“I needed several sensors. The DS18S20 was perfect for this, as this device is designed for the 1-Wire® bus system. Actually this means that you need two wires, but these two wires carry both power and data. All devices you want are simply put in parallel on the two wires, which may run for several hundred meters. The factory burns a 64-bit unique identifier in each sensor device, which enables the host machine to both list all devices on the bus and address each device individually.”

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This device is helping to deliver TV on the cheap. For about $34.00 you could build your own. Read more about the WiFi Can TV at Geekcorps. If you are interesting in building your own check out the detailed instructions in PDF form. The heart of the device is a module from Airwave Technologies, you can have a look at the specs. and buy your own from Active Robots.

“In the village of Bourem Inaly, Mali there are over 120 television sets powered by 12-volt car batteries, but there is almost nothing to watch. With its CanTV project, Geekcorps has helped the local radio station stream video content to the local community over WiFi. The radio station, which rents these units out, benefits from a new monthly revenue stream while the villagers benefit with an improved source of news and entertainment.

One goal of the CanTV project is to make it possible to build the CanTV receivers or TV cantennas (antennas built with cans) using locally using locally available parts, with the exception of the $25 audio/video receiver currently imported from Canada. Also, the TV cantennas have been designed so that a local technician can quickly learn how to install them without special tools. The radio station already has access to television broadcasts via satellite, and a TV over WiFi transmitter installed in August 2005 by Moussa Keita of Geekcorps.”

Via: Make

Ever want to try your hand at time-lapse photography? Chances are you already have all the required hardware! And David from Volunteer Lab Rat has the software you will need for free. Watch the videos then go and check out the details on making your own.

“Time-lapse photography is a method where you take pictures of processes that goes very slowly with relatively long time interval, and then join the photographs to a movie so that jou can see the progress in very fast forward. You’ve probably seen this method being used on the National Geographics Channel or in some other fauna documentary, where you see a plant grow from seed to full size in a matter of seconds.”

Thanks David.