maker

Pee power! African teens create urine-fueled generator

In a stroke of ingenuity that could have proven handy during Hurricane Sandy, four teenage African girls have come up with a urine-powered generator.

Duro-Aina Adebola, Akindele Abiola, and Faleke Oluwatoyin, all 14, and Bello Eniola, 15, collaborated on the invention, which they claim generates one hour of electricity from one liter (about a quart) of urine.

The pee-powered product made its debut at Maker Faire Africa in Lagos, Nigeria, this week. A post on the Maker Faire Africa blog describes the generator's workings in the following words: … Read more

The 404 1,161: Where we don't eat the snow (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Square launches mobile payment service at 7,000 Starbucks stores.

- Razer Naga gaming mouse requires always-on Internet connection; license agreement says they can use this to spy on you.

- Mr. Fusion (sorta) cell phone charger.

- Four African teenagers invent a urine-powered generator.

- Follow Bridget Carey on Twitter and check out CNET Update every afternoon!

- Don't forget to enter our Halloween Samsung Galaxy S3 Giveaway contest, ending this Sunday!… Read more

Convert files -- five of them, anyway -- with DeskPDF Pro

There are any number of utilities out there that can quickly and easily convert a variety of file formats into PDFs, so there's no reason to settle for one that doesn't quite meet your needs. DeskPDF Pro combines an efficient drag-and-drop interface with some useful features, but the limitations of the trial version are significant, and there are free programs with many of the same features.

Once installed, DeskPDF Pro appears as an icon in the Windows system tray; clicking it brings up a small interface onto which users can drag files for conversion. This launches a window … Read more

Create and burn DVDs with Free Movie DVD Maker

Think Free Movie DVD Maker lets you compose and burn high-quality DVDs from your movie clips. It handles a wide range of video formats as well as DVD output types, including HD DVDs up 1080p in resolution. With drag-and-drop, clip editing, zoom mode, and menu options, it can produce high-quality DVDs compatible with any DVD player. Free Movie DVD Maker places a splash screen before segments; a premium version removes the ads and includes lifetime support and updates.

The thing we like best about Free Movie DVD Maker's user interface is the easy way you can toggle between Detail … Read more

Custom ringtones using Free Ringtone Maker

Ringtones for your iPhone are not limited to the default offerings that came with your phone. With Free Ringtone Maker, you can create a ringtone for your iPhone quite easily. Free Ringtone Maker installs on your MacBook or iMac easily, and ringtones can be managed from iTunes.

To create a new ringtone with Free Ringtone Maker, select the file you want to use as a base; almost all audio file formats are supported, as is the audio track from some video file formats. You then slice and dice the sound into a 40-second-or-less clip. If you want to record your … Read more

The 404 1,144: Where we switch up our 'za (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- A device to call your mom when you crash your bike.

- Stop the madness: 3D-printed headphones?!

- A jacket that hugs you for getting "Likes" on Facebook.

- Target adds QR codes to hot holiday toys for secret shopping.

- Also, New York is about to have QR codes everywhere soon.

Bathroom break video: Salt Lake from Lance follows up… Read more

Flaming unicorns and USB typewriters: Maker Faire NYC

Setting up shop in and around the New York Hall of Science, Maker Faire brought with it its usual cavalcade of robots, 3D printers, lock-picking tutorials, DIY circuit boards, and other experimental, artistic, and otherwise inspired technology and creative projects.

I certainly didn't capture everything at the event in the above slideshow, but after walking around for 3 hours this past Saturday, I'll say that I caught a reasonably representative slice of the Maker Faire at large.

Pulling back from open source hardware, MakerBot angers some adherents

You likely know MakerBot Industries as the poster child for the new era of 3D-printing. You might not know that, until last week, the company and its CEO, Bre Pettis, were considered shining lights in the open-source hardware movement.

Think of open-source hardware, OSHW, as the physical equivalent of open source software. The Open Source Hardware Association, founded just this past March, offers an extended definition for OSHW. Its Statement of Principles sums things up thusly:

Open source hardware is hardware whose design is made publicly available so that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make, and sell the design or … Read more

Create your own candy

Every child loves to create his or her own custom flavored and form of gum or candy, and Candy Maker takes this experience into the virtual world with a free app full of colors designed for iOS devices. While we loved getting to create our custom chewing gum, chocolate or candy, the limited available features, as well as the ads, were very annoying. This may be especially true when talking about 4-year-old kids, who tap on everything that pops up.

Candy Maker is an app that children will love to play. They can create their own virtual gummies, candies and … Read more