Electric S-10

So for the longest time I've wanted an electric vehicle. Why? First, the only reoccurring cost for me is maintenance since I get a flat rate for electricity. Second, I might be able to get a government incentive for driving a ZEV. Third, electrics make this faint high pitched tone which just sounds cool. Lastly, I can drop the hammer and not feel guilty for using a ton of gas. I've thought about converting my dad's '95 Ranger if the engine ever dies, but I don't really like the look of the Ranger, and I know someone who has a '92 S-10 that has engine problems. So I might be able to convince her into trading me the truck for some work. Now on to the reasons I picked a truck to convert. I like trucks, there's a possibility that I can get one really easily, they have a full bed to store batteries (like at least 4 batterypacks from a prius), and they are RWD so the weight of the batteries will help with traction a lot. Now before I made this post, I mentioned this idea to a friend and she's like, you'll loose the ability to use it as a pickup. Well not necessarily, just becasuse I have the room for loads of batteries doesn't mean I have the money for it. And besides, even if I did fill the whole bed, I could always cover it with a large piece of wood and than put a cap on top of that to stop stuff from sliding off. Besides, I rarely use the bed for much anyway. I'd like to give you some drawlings, but I can't get my scanner to work atm.

mobile web around $11/month > $10 dial-up + $X phone bill

So for all you dial-up users out there, why be tethered to a land line? Boost mobile prepaid data is only 35¢ a day which equates to $10.85 per 31 day month. The speed is about the same as dial up in most areas. According to the forum topic at link 2, if you're using a phone with a WiDEN radio, speeds should be somewhat faster than dial-up. And at $11 a month, why not? For those of you who have been forced to revert from to broadband back to dial-up do to the economy, why not use the mobile internet system. It's about the same price and it works anywhere that there is a nextel tower.

Link 1 http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090217/D96DFKGG0.html

Link 2 http://www.freedomlist.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30864

Fun with VNC

So I read bash.org periodically and from time to time, I'll get ideas from posts made there. The other day I was reading and I read this post, and I got thinking. What if I tried this with several computers set up in a line instead of a loop? In other words, what if I took 10 computers and had a chain of VNC sessions running on all of them. I.E. I was on computer 1 which was controlling computer 2, which was controlling computer 3, all the way to computer 10 which was running mine sweeper or something pointless like that? It would be one of the most epic uses for a bunch of spare computers ever. If I ever got the chance, I would totally do it just for the lulz.

The Connors

So I've had this crazy idea for floating around my head for the past year or so. A sitcom called "The Connors" with all the various versions of John Connor that we've seen over the years all living together and just living daily life. Said versions would include 12 year old from T2, 2o something from T3, 16 or so from the show, and grown adult from the upcoming T4. Maybe even throw in versions of Sarah.

Water Phone

So my mom accidently washed my sister's phone, and being a maker, I just had to do something about it.

Smoke Generators

So, I'm into pyrotechnics, and I've had this really stupid idea for a long time. Attach a smoke generator to a weather balloon and drop it to leave a trail of smoke just for the lulz. Now, I could just light it and have it leave a downward opening parabola, but I want a line. Next possibility, timer controlled trigger. I guess that it would work, but there are so many variables that it's not worth trying to calculate what time to set if I want it to go off at a specific place. Final possibility, use a remote trigger like this. Go read the post and accompanying link than come back...............done? good. If you read the comments, you'll have seen that some think about the possibility of accidental trigger. You'll also notice that some have come up with the solution of using a DTMF tone (that sound your phone makes when you press numbers) decoder to authenticate the identity of the trigger-er. So my idea about how a system like this would work is this. Set the phone to auto answer calls. Hook an arduino up to the headset port of the phone. Than program the arduino to trigger the smoke after it "hears" the code. So in step by step form, here's how this idea should play out.
1. Release weather balloon carring smoke generator and arduino/cellphone triggering system.
2. When it's time to smoke, call phone and punch in trigger code.
3. Stand back and watch in awe as a trail of smoke falls from your balloon.
4. ????
5. Profit!

EDIT: If you use Firefox, the Hyper BK plugin, and you're using a mac, use safari to post with. HBK raises hell with the html code for links in your post.

Day to day tinkering in the life of a maker

So a friend convinced me to maintain a blog consisting of my day to day tinkering with electronics and stuff. Well, here it is. I don't do stuff every day, so don't expect a post every day. Also, one of my cousins always tells me I should always write down all of my stupid dangerous ideas and compile them into a book called "Hey! I have an idea..." so I'll probably put those in here too. I has a youtube account, it's "tktmon".