If Microsoft’s Surface PC has you dreaming about the future of computing, but the $12,000 price tag has brought you back to reality, then check out Maximum PC’s build of a multitouch surface computer that uses just $350 in parts and a bit of creative hacking.
The whole thing achieves the Surface like interface through the use of some infrared LEDs, a PS3 Eye camera, a projector, and some acrylic, and the wood cabinet gives it some class, though that would be purely optional if you wanted to keep it geek-tastic.
The computer itself is just a common Core 2 Duo, 2 gig RAM machine, and the software is all open source, so you could technically build one of your own if you were so inclined.
Just don’t let on to the price when your friends wonder where the spare Clevelands came from.
Elephants Dream is another great short from the Blender Foundation (the guys behind Big Buck Bunny) about two strange characters exploring a capricious and seemingly infinite machine. The elder, Proog, acts as a tour-guide and protector, happily showing off the sights and dangers of the machine to his initially curious but increasingly skeptical protégé Emo. As their journey unfolds we discover signs that the machine is not all Proog thinks it is, and his guiding takes on a more desperate aspect”.
Elephants Dream is a story about communication and fiction, made purposefully open-ended as the world’s first 3D “Open movie”. The film itself is released under the Creative Commons license, along with the entirety of the production files used to make it (roughly 7 Gigabytes of data). The software used to make the movie is the free/open source animation suite blender along with other open source software, thus allowing the movie to be remade, remixed and re-purposed with only a computer and the data on the DVD or download.
Blender is an open source 3D modeling software, and to help promote the fact that it is a suitable environment for professional level 3D animation, Blender created an animated short called Big Buck Bunny.
Big Buck Bunny is a big rabbit with an even bigger heart, but when three rodents start to harass him, something snaps, and he enacts his revenge in a typically cartoonish fashion:
If you’d like to see how they did it, then check out the Big Buck Bunny website, where you can download the source files for the movie and more.
CHDK, or Canon Hacker’s Development Kit, is a firmware enhancement that turns your Digic II and Digic III camera into a high dollar impersonator.
Because it’s a firmware enhancement and not a firmware modifier, CHDK is also non-permanent and non-destructive, so even those with a fear of killing their camera can give it a go without worrying about the long-term consequences.
To install, simply copy a few files onto a memory card and then start the camera like you usually do. The software will automatically activate, and then de-activate when the camera is turned back off again.
So what does CHDK do for you?
Enhanced Image Capture (RAW)
Additional Information On-Screen
Additional Photographic Settings
Support for Small Programs/Scripts
Plus, because it’s open source and still in development, CHDK is still being actively developed, and new features are still being added.
Ready to take the plunge?
Then check out Lifehacker for a full rundown of what’s involved.
10 MPH is “a comical documentary that follows a pair of aspiring filmmakers as they quit their jobs and turn a friend’s ludicrous idea into a movie. The impulsive purchase of a two-wheeled Segway scooter sets this story in motion when the two friends decide to travel from Seattle to Boston at 10 mph in [...]
The Wiinstrument is an application that allows you to connect a Wiimote and Nunchuck to your Mac via Bluetooth, and turns your Mac into a MIDI controlling machine.
After syncing the controllers to your Mac, you make music by simply moving them around. The buttons and directional pad select instruments, and the software even taps into [...]
