2.4GHz parabolic mesh dishes from Chinese cookware scoops & a USB WiFi adaptor! Called "WIFRY","WOKFI" or "WOKTENNA" (12"= 300mm diam) shows 12-15dB gain (enough for a LOS range extension to 3-5km)
Weekend Project Podcast: Make simple radios to listen too. These were made with materials that they could get their hands on and were small enough to carry around in a big pocket.
MIT professor Neil Gershenfeld talks about his Fab Lab -- a low-cost lab that lets people build things they need using digital and analog tools. It's a simple idea with powerful results:
A remote control car that can be driven over the internet or with a laptop wirelessly from up to 500m away. It has a live-feed network camera so that it can be driven without line of sight and a horn so that you can honk at people.
Nice little guide to building an IR transceiver - uses the USB port for stable 5V, but includes a link in the comments to a decent circuit diagram that uses a voltage regulator and therefore doesn't need the USB port for power.
Made use of this info since my PSU did not support PCI-e, still have some strange behaviors that I blame on this mod but it has been working so I really don't care...
"If you have ever watched a TV quiz show you have probably seen contestants trying to press a button in order to win a chance to answer a question. The contestant’s quick reaction time results in some kind of light and/or sound indicating victory. This is a practical way to choose the next focus of the game’s activity and it adds a bit of excitement to the process. So when the holiday party planning committee decided to have a trivia contest I decided to build a quiz contestant lockout system to add an extra dimension of fun to the festivities. This would help the planning committee’s mission of creating some entertaining activities for the event."
set of 50+ industrial machines that are required to build and maintain a small, sustainable civilization. The open source aspect covers designs, instructions, schematics, budgets — everything anyone needs to know to build their own machines.