Make:

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