Table of Contents
Welcome by Dale Dougherty
in Welcome
The making of Make: Publisher and Editor Dale Dougherty presents the philosophy of MAKE in a nutshell: We're all Makers now. Page 7
Yak Shaving by Merlin Mann, Danny O’Brien
in Life Hacks
Stuck in the middle of a stack of stuff you're supposed to do? Sharpen
your wool clippers, and stop getting distracted by the pointless
activities which surround any serious problem--unless you want to, that
is. Page 10
Gauss Rifle by Simon Quellen Field
in 123
A linear accelerator for studying high-energy physics costs around $5
billion. But you can make one for about 30 bucks with four strong
magnets, a wooden ruler, some plastic tape, and nine steel balls. Page 12
News from the Future by Tim O'Reilly
in News from the Future
Reality is catching up with science fiction, thanks in a large part to
DIY technologies. Tim O'Reilly identifies the laboratory and garage
projects that promise to change the way we live.
Page 13
Made on Earth by Xeni Jardin, Arwen O'Reilly Griffith, Bob Parks, Paul Spinrad
in Made on Earth
Amazing things that ordinary people are making in their garages and
backyards, including the Niles Monorail, steam locomotives, desktop
trebuchets and guillotines, serious legos, a thermo-electric keg wrap,
Meccano computing machinery, and more. Page 14
Hacking the Dog by Cory Doctorow
in Make Free
Who says you have to spend thousands of dollars to get a cool robot? The
world's toy stores brim with cheap-ass, rough and ready robotic
platforms just begging to be modded. Meet a hacker who converts toy
robots into toxic waste dump avengers. Page 22
Welcome to the Fab Lab by D.C. Denison
in Maker
Neil Gershenfeld shows us that personal fabrication can be fabulous. The
teacher of MIT's course "How to Make (Almost) Anything" gives us a tour
of the Boston fab lab, one of a growing network of field labs all over
the world. Page 23
Glowstick a Go-Go by Bunnie Huang
in Bunnie's Workbench
Bunnie Huang prototypes two kinetic glowsticks: instead of creating a
single arc of light, glowsticking dancers can now create their own
two-dimensional fantasias. Page 34
Heirloom Technology by Tim Anderson
in Heirloom Technology
Finding the technology of the future from the forgotten ideas of the past. Page 38
The Open Source Car: A Design Brief by Saul Griffith
The time is right for a true people's hybrid vehicle. The web is
peppered with how-to sites for converting your old car into an electric
vehicle, but why not develop SourceForge-style documentation for an open
source hybrid? Page 44
Dorkbot by David Pescovitz
Warehouse of wild, weird, and wonderful projects. A profile on the
monthly (or thereabouts) meetings of "people doing strange things with
electricity" all over the world. Page 47
Kite Aerial Photography Puts Your Eye in the Sky by Charles C. Benton
To take pictures from a kite, you need three things: a kite, a camera,
and a special rig that attaches the camera to the kiteline and activates
the shutter button on the camera. Here's how to do it. Page 50
$14 Video Camera Stabilizer by Johnny Lee
You don't have $10,000 to spend on a Steadicam? Make this
ultra-low-cost video camera stabilizer and see how much better your
video shots turn out. Page 84
The 5-in-1 Network Cable by Mike Ossmann
Nothing's worse for a network administrator than being without a needed
cable. So I made a single cable to replace the five I used to carry.
The result: no more tangles and no more scrounging for a missing link. Page 96
Magnetic Stripe Reader by Billy Hoffman
Have you ever wondered what information is stored on the
magnetic-striped cards in your wallet? Now you can find out. This
project shows you how to make a magstripe reader for less than $40. Page 106
Make the Tools That Made You by Bruce Sterling
in Hands On
Flintknappers are making the tools that people have been making since before they were human. Page 118
Crack Open an iPAQ by Dale Dougherty
in DIY: Home Entertainment
Replacing your PDA's battery requires the proper knowledge, adequate courage, and a set of Torx screwdrivers. Page 119
Portable Satellite Radio by Dave Mathews
in DIY: Home Entertainment
Portable satellite radio makes the Delphi XM Roady ready to wear. Page 122
Unzap Flash Memory by Mark Frauenfelder
in DIY: Imaging
How to salvage deleted pictures from camera memory. Page 125
Flexible Gooseneck Camera Mount by Marc H. Nathan
in DIY: Imaging
Put a camera or camcorder pretty much anywhere with this flexible camera mount built from a cheap desk lamp. Page 126
Using a High-Speed Wireless Card by Brian Jepson
in DIY: Mobile
Would you sacrifice a few meals each month for wireless networking away
from home? The low-down on all high-speed wireless has to offer. Page 127
Extending the Range of the Airport Express by Rob Flickenger
in DIY: Mobile
Tips for getting the most out of a weak Wi-Fi signal. Page 130
Mesh Networks with Airport Express by Tom Bridge
in DIY: Mobile
How to break through concrete walls using Wireless Distribution mode. Page 132
Reading eBooks on a Palm Handheld by Mark Frauenfelder
in DIY: Mobile
Discover the pleasures of reading by backlight. Page 134
Pairing a Bluetooth Headset with a Mac by Dori Smith
in DIY: Mobile
Using a wireless headset with Apple's iChat AV isn't as easy as you might think. Page 136
Fun iPod Tricks by Wei-Meng Lee
in DIY: Mobile
Four ways to extend the usefulness of your digital music player. Page 140
Urban Camouflage by Todd Lappin
in DIY: Cars
With the right accessories, your vehicle can always be on "official business." Page 143
Using Ecto for Almost Automatic Blogging by Mark Frauenfelder
in DIY: Online
An easy-to-use application to manage routine and time-consuming weblog chores. Page 147
Ten Cool Gmail Hacks by Geoffrey Litwack
in DIY: Online
With Gmail, Google has loosed upon the web another monstrously useful service. Page 149
Two Handy Excel Hacks by David Hawley, Raina Hawley, Matthew MacDonald
in DIY: Online
Calculating on the quick, plus fast formatting of imported dates. Page 152
Speed Up Your Text Entry with TypeIt4Me by Mark Hurst
in DIY: Online
If you're not an avid, constant user of TypeIt4Me, you're not really getting things done. Page 153
Tiny PC Tote by Marc H. Nathan
in DIY: Computers
Make rubber tie-down handles for a Small Form Factor PC. Page 155
Taking the "Video" Out of Video Game by Howard Wen
in Q & A
Most people program video games. Niklas Roy built one, literally. The
30-year-old from Berlin, Germany constructed a fully mechanized
facsimile of one of the grand-daddies of video games, Pong.
Page 158
Soldering and Desoldering by Joe Grand
in Primer
Step-by-step instructions for making (and unmaking) the perfect solder joint. Page 162
MakeShift by William Lidwell
in MakeShift
Imagine this: Your car battery is dead, and you’re stuck in the woods.
Your mission: Get home before you freeze to death. For the winning
entries, see MakeShift 01: Analysis, Commentary, and Winners. Page 170
Motormouth by Joost Bonsen, Nick Dragotta, Saul Griffith
in Howtoons
Make a simple motor in minutes. Page 172
Toolbox by Simon DeDeo, Daniel M. East, Mark Frauenfelder, Joseph Fung, Alex Handy, Kaden Harris, Mister Jalopy, Geoffrey Litwack, Peter Orosz, Michael Rattner, Justin Ried, Bob Scott, Simon St. Laurent, Steve Wood
in Toolbox
The best tools, software, gadgets, books, magazines, and websites. Page 174
Reader Input
in Reader Input
Our regular feature with reader comments sent to the editors of MAKE. Page 185
Maker Challenge
in Maker Challenge
Got a problem? Ask MAKE’s readers to solve it for you. Do you find
yourself wishing for some kind of machine or system to solve a problem
or fulfill a wish? If you have a problem, tell us about it. We'll run
our favorite problems and solutions in the next issue and on our
website. Send your stuff to Page 190
eBay Metrics
in eBay Metrics
What eBay’s sales reports tell us about trends in tinkering. Page 191
My First Computer by Gareth Palidwor
in Homebrew
Remembering how my dad built an Apple II from scratch. Page 192
