remove the labels - Gadgets and Life » DIY

DIY Lasertag Game Will Probably See You Playing Alone

William — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 22:57:57 +0000

Growing up I must admit that I liked a bit of lasertag whenever I got the opportunity. If, you take the technology behind such systems and you meld that with the lack of fashion sense of the more technically minded of the DIY-set then you get something that is lasertag without the relatively cool styling of the better systems. Totally tasteless and lacking in class it might be, but if you find a friend that is prepared to put that gear on (and go running around the street zapping without concern for what other people think), then he or she, my friends, is a keeper.

The homemade variety makes use of a toy gun, a micro-controller, and a piezo buzzer, full details of the build can be found at q.geek.nz. [q.geek.nz via crunchgear, make]

Link to the original article…

How To Replace Memory Heat Spreaders

William — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:53:34 +0000

I swear that Tweaktown has a hidden webcam or something in my house. My little Shuttle boxed up computer had some A-Data RAM with some red metal heat spreaders that due to my fondling with the system enough times, it had actually come loose and was not ~~probably~~ properly dispersing heat.

Enter this tutorial about how to replace memory heat spreaders by Tweaktown.

- This will void your warranty!
- Do not attempt this mod unless you can afford to replace the RAM if you happen to break it!
- TweakTown and its associates are not responsible for any damage or harm caused in any way!

It even goes into how to freeze your RAM… you know I have to link that type of action. Wish me luck… perhaps my RAM heatsink replacement operation will go without a hitch.

VIA EPIA M700 Mini-ITX Enables Brilliant Dual Digital Displays

William — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:52:17 +0000

Via is at it again. Not content with making motherboards and CPU’s that could easily fit in your pocket – wow, the geek jokes are endless on that one, they’ve now come out with a motherboard that supports dual displays. Yep… their platform that fits in the palm of your hand now supports dual monitors.

The key to the outstanding multimedia performance of the VIA EPIA M700 is the latest media system processor from VIA, the VIA VX800. An all-in-one, highly integrated digital media IGP chipset, the VIA VX800 offers incredible versatility and multimedia performance on the latest display standards on a single chip measuring just 33x33mm…

As today’s information, entertainment and commercial display system feature ever more immersive content, the VIA EPIA M700 addresses the increasing demands for enhanced media playback and visual clarity across multiple displays in digital multimedia applications with support for dual-DVI or DVI plus HDMI configurations with unique resolutions, pixel depths and refresh rates.

Featuring a 1.5GHz or a fanless 1.0GHz VIA C7® processor, the VIA EPIA M700 leverages the uncompromising multimedia performance of the VIA VX800 unified chipset with its integrated VIA Chrome9™ HC3 integrated graphics core for DirectX™ 9.0 3D graphics and up to six-channel VIA Vinyl HD Audio rich surround sound, while the VIA Chromotion™ video engine provides advanced hardware video acceleration and an improved visual experience for MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV9, VC1 and DivX video, plus a VMR capable HD video processor.

As multimedia file sizes grow, so speedy server connectivity is becoming increasingly important in dynamic digital signage and kiosk solutions, so the VIA EPIA M700 boasts two PCI-Express based Gigabit LAN ports to facilitate wideband data transfer for large video and other files over networks.

Domokun Playstation 3 Dust Cover

William — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:35:04 +0000

As much as I love my shiny piano black Sony Playstation 3, it’s a dust magnet like no other. Also… I’m a huge Domokun fan… so out of boredom, I started looking for some brown cloth, red and white felt material and decided to create a domokun dust cover for my PS3.

And here’s the results:

Wasn’t that hard to do… not even that expensive. A few snips, some recollection of home economics/crafts classes I had taken waaaaaaaaay back in middle school and a lot of advice on how to template the thing around the PS3′s odd cigar shape from people that could sew better than I could while asleep.

If anything, on the next one, I’ll remember to measure better for the HDMI port in the back though. It’s a full inch higher than I had previously measured. And yes… it does what it’s meant for. Keeps the dust off my prized PS3 when I’m not using it and looks ~~menacing~~ cool enough.