Do it yourself, dude!
So you think the only solution is to use high tech all the time? Well there are some people on the planet who would beg to disagree. And they’re coming up with all sorts of clever ways to make do with less.
The home building industry has been fairly static for a long while, but now an enterprising company wants to do for self build what IKEA has done for wardrobes. The company, Glog Homes, sells DIY blueprints and ‘house kits’ which they say anyone can use to build their own house in a matter of weeks.
Did you ever have a club house where you had to have a secret password or knock to get in? While we can’t exactly fit into the old tree house, that doesn’t mean we can’t still keep the secret knock between friends. The only difference is that you have to be a bit sneakier in the implementation, or not everyone will play along.
Come on folks, admit it. You have always had a deeply buried urge to tinker around with vintage technology and create your very own laboratory effect on your desk. It’s OK to let it out, we’re all friends here.
The Institute of Making had its grand opening last week in central London, and we went along to get an idea of what this new venture could signal. The ‘maker movement’, as it’s called, offers a glimpse of a potential future where we don’t just passively buy and consume products, but in fact contribute in different ways to the whole product process…either by local production or hacking, repairing and recycling existing products to improve them.
Have you ever had the embarrassing instance of someone giving you directions which include north, east, south, or west, and have no idea which way that is? Keeping track of which way is which doesn’t seem to be relevant anymore, as we all rely on GPS systems. If you want to learn how to tell which way is which, it’s going to take a little practice.
A couple of weeks ago we broke the story of the first ever music video made in a multi-million dollar MRI machine, which was picked up by our colleagues at the BBC, TheVerge and Gizmodo and went on to grab 250,000 views in just 2 weeks. Sivu’s Better Man Than He is an awesome debut single, and it helps that I know James personally, and he’s a great guy. Another person who also seems equally awesome is Dr Marc E….
Look around you right now. Chances are you’re within 20 paces of some form of waste cardboard…packaging, wrapping, boxes, containers, you name it. Despite the march of progress we seem to use as much, if not more, of the stuff. Maybe it’s all Amazon.com’s fault? Whatever the reason, there’s no need for us to make matters worse by just chucking it all onto landfill, as happens a lot. We should take inspiration from these people and try and work out…
We just can’t get away from the old stuff, can we? No sooner do they start making cell phones tiny enough to fit into a teacup, than we go out and start buying add-ons which make them look like a brick. Crazy! So why then are we surprised to see that some enterprising soul has come up with a kit for converting an old manual typewriter into a fully functioning USB computer keyboard?
We all know how an hourglass works. You turn it over, and watch the contents spill from one chamber to the other in a timely fashion. What would you do if the contents not only started glowing, but you found out they were alive?
If you love taking photos of nature, you know what kind of changes come with your photos during seasonal shifts. If you like taking a large landscape shots, you might wonder what it would be like to see the change happen in action. If so, you’ll have to either set up the camera every day, or weatherproof it for a longer period of sitting in one spot. You can go all out and buy fancy camera equipment for it, or…
![Make lasting memories, with a Long Term Time Lapse [DIY project]](http://www.redferret.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Long-Term-Time-Lapse-2.jpg)
Long time readers will know how passionate we are here about the open source movement in all its forms. For example, a couple of years ago we featured 21 of the Coolest Open Source Hardware Projects in the world, which included a great open source tractor for agricultural and industrial use. Well time moves on, and it seems the movement is growing stronger by the day. That little tractor has literally become a whole ecosystem designed to provide the building…
Parties and music go together like Tom & Jerry. Play the right selection of tracks in the right sequence during the event and you’re on your way to being the hero of your peer group. Get it wrong and you risk being shunned in corridors for the next few months. So how to guarantee you’re a hero and not a zero, without having to hire a pro DJ on your limited budget?
Do you fancy yourself to be a maker? If DIY projects are your favorite hobby, you’re probably on the hunt for new ideas that are going to do more than sit on a shelf and collect dust. Nothing is better than making something that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing, and if you have access to a 3D printer, you’re going to love this.
The DIY Drones site features a great little community of radio control aircraft enthusiasts (or UAVs as they’re known), who are happy to help anyone build and fly their very own drone, just like the governmint agencies, but without all that security and scary arresting people angst.
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