One Laptop Per Child has developed a nice solution to power their devices in areas without electricity.

In a striking example of ingenuity, Australian inventor Tom Chalko has converted a deep freezer into an incredibly efficient refrigerator.

Goollery is an unofficial online gallery of interesting projects that are based on Google tools, API’s and the Google brand…

The “Oh No Banjo” exhibit has to be one of the cooler bits we’ve seen from the Game Developers Conference currently underway. The showcase featured the work of students who participated in the “Alternative Controllers Seminar” at Rochester Institute of Technology last semester. They created this modified play instrument by taking a guitar game-controller and building a true to form banjo around it. They even wrote custom software and musical arrangements to go with it (making it even more “Banjo Hero” ready). Another final project from the seminar was the “deformable surface controller”, which gives game players the ability to [...]

Union Square Ventures recently held a session on Hacking Education. The goal of the gathering was to discuss the impact of the web on education, and how to innovate current educational systems. Jeff Jarvis was there, and offers up the entire “Google U” chapter from his What Would Google Do? book, which explores education in the age of Google. For more on the Hacking Education, check out the site, or follow the conversation on Twitter.
Jarvis begins:
Who needs a university when we have Google? All the world’s digital knowledge is available at a search. We can connect those who want to [...]

A recent article in the New York Times highlighted a really great organization called NYC Resisitor. It’s a group of tech hackers who have gotten together and created a workshop in downtown Brooklyn for all kinds of like-minded tinkerers to meet up, work on projects and learn from each other. Called a “creative community for nerds” by one of it’s members, Resistor provides a convivial club-like atmosphere (complete with drink serving robot) along with space and tools to create high-tech projects like circuit board cockroaches and a sweatshirt with built in camera. To help pay the rent, they also teach [...]

Darrell Fandrich is called a “micromaker” of pianos. He takes lower quality mass-produced pianos from China and upgrades them to high performance instruments. Fandrich uses European parts and his proprietary engineering system to upgrade an $10,000 assembly line grand piano to a fine instrument that fetches $16,000 and up. Like a computer hacker maxing out the capabilities of a cheap laptop, he’s adding a big dash of craftsmanship to a cookie cutter product, helping buyers to get a quality instrument without paying $60,000. Buyers are generally happy – the only question is will the hacks last?
The Seattle Times reports:
“People are [...]

Scotchlite 680 is an amazing material that looks pitch black until light is shined on it’s surface. When illuminated this retroeflective vinyl completely changes color to a brilliant white. Mike Mandilberg, seeing the obvious safety application, decided to cover his bicycle in the vinyl, with truly spectacular results. A very cool repurposing of this signage material. Check out the video below.
Bright Bike from Michael Mandiberg on Vimeo
[via Gizmodo]

We’ve seen a bunch of useful software and hacks come out recently that turn mobile devices into (almost) fully functioning musical instruments. From samplers to guitars, music making is being shrunk and virtualized. In an interesting example of this phenomenon, a YouTube user in Japan has modified the Nintendo Dsi (running Korg DS-10 synthesizer software) into a 70’s rock style talk box. By taping a drinking straw to the microphone he has replicated the classic “talking guitar” sound. Look out roadies, your job is becoming obsolete -it seems bands of the future could be playing off iPhones and tiny gaming [...]