Lady Ada, crazy-lady-hacker I met at Maker Faire 2007, has made a new fun kit that consists of a pencil that will “sing” when you draw stuff.

Our friends at Adafruit have released a fun new kit called the “Drawdio” — adapted from the original Drawdio design by Jay Silver – which lets you create a pencil that makes noisy almost-music via the variations in the resistance of graphite pencil lead. It’s $20 plus shipping. I just ordered one so I can recreate my middle school notebook sketches to literally hear the music of the anime spheres.

via bb gadgets, DIY Kit Page

I used to grow up watching Flintstones (while I didn’t know English back then) and although I didn’t understand a damn word, I did enjoy it thoroughly.

Here’s how to hack a toddler’s Flintstones Car for your young children.

I have a 20 month old grandaughter and a 14 month old grandson who are dressing up as Pebbles and Bambam for Halloween. I decided they needed a Flintstone Car to complete the look. This is how I made it…

via instructables

Well, Ford has decided to add a new Parental Control to their cars by having a Smart Key with a chip that can limit how fast your teenage daughter/son drives, how loud the stereo is played, and other features that can help your child stay out of trouble.

I think this is a really good idea and it won’t cost the car manufacturer another dime since most of that is already controlled by a car-resident computer.  The only money they will really have to spend is on the chips inside the key but that still should cost less than a quarter per chip as mass production.

I think this is fantasy of movies coming to life as now we are really trying to control how a person drives.  There will be negatives like when you are trying to get away from a serial killer, a 80MPH speed limit won’t help.  But I am sure people will find a way to hack this too, maybe it is pointless for smarter teenagers but we will get the rest of them.

In addition to implementing a speed limit, the key can be used to limit the volume of the car stereo system and emit a chime for six seconds every five minutes until the driver puts on a seatbelt.

MyKey can also be programmed to chime once each time the car reaches 45 mph, 55 mph, and 65 mph to alert young drivers about their acceleration.

Another feature, useful to anyone who fails to notice when the fuel light goes on, chimes when the car is 75 miles from empty. (The light on a Ford usually goes on at 50 miles to empty.)

via cnet

Here’s a cool Dyno Wreath you can make.  Of course, it’s not Christmas yet but your children will still love the fact that you made a special, custom wreath just for them.

I call it the Dino Wreath. Clever, yes? In any case, if you’re bonkers for brontosauri, here’s the Patented Living Small Do It Yourself Dino Wreath Guide. Note: This project has a difficulty rating of SUPER EASY.

via livingsmall

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That’s right, someone decided to make a V8 engine out of Legos.

It’s not gonna run your car anytime soon but still, it’s a fantastic Lego project.

via hackedgadgets

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Here’s a fun DIY on how to make a bacon princess tiara out of bacon.  Now, can we eat this after we make it?

It’s not as simple as it looks so be prepared to dig into this if you want one for yourself.

You are going to be working with an enzyme that bonds protein. You are made of protein. Unless you want to glue your lungs together or glue your eyelids to your eyeballs, you absolutely must follow these safety rules. We cannot be held accountable for any mishaps you might have while working with transglutaminase.

via bb, DIY Page

I will probably never figure out the original name for Go-Karts but here’s a really cool DIY electric go-kart someone has made and you might want to refer it if you want to make your own in the near future.

This year, the Summer Engineering Workshop team was interested in making an electric go-kart. (Some kind of obsession with things you can ride…) But to make things more interesting, we decided to add a 110F ultracapacitor into the mix. Capacitors store electrical potential energy; much less than a battery, but you can charge and discharge them more quickly. Research into automotive applications of capacitors (in hybrids, for example) has led to development of ultracapacitors with increasing energy density and decreasing price.

Research is research. We were also interested in having some fun. So, we wanted to see if we could very simply integrate an ultracapacitor into a stylish electric go-kart. One of the simplest ways to do so is to use it exclusively to store energy recaptured from the kart as it brakes. Then, put this energy at the driver’s fingertips in the form of a power “assist,” or, less formally, boost! While it’s likely not the best solution for full-size autos, we wanted to make a tangible demonstration that the technology is closer to reality than many might think.

The site is very informative and even provides free circuit schematics for the electricity parts, I highly suggest you to check this one out.

via make, DIY Page

Check out these cool digital photo frames that come embedded in a castle or pumpkin, perfect for gift to your children’s room.

3.5″ 262k colour TFT QVGA display

Resolution of 320×240

Media slot for SD, MMC or Memory Stick cards of up to 2GB capacity

Supports most types of JPEG files

Dimensions:

Castle - 9.4″ x 7.8″ x 0.8″

Carriage - 7.9″ x 6.1 x 0.8″

Priced at $50

via digital photo frame blog, digital picture frame review

Seamour Sheep Radioactive USB Lamp!

Believe it or not, counting sheeps at night works to help you go to sleep.  (Of course,  there’s always “greener” way to help you sleep too if you know what I mean.)

Check out these Seamour Sheep Radioactive USB LED Lamp that looks, quite frankly, really cute.

You can get one for $69 over at rotofugi.com.  These would make great gifts for anyone including yourself, do you have extra $69 to shell out of your pocket today?

Seamour makes a triumphant return with this “Radioactive” edition. Green LED’s and a USB cable make Seamour glow bright green when he’s on his feet…but tip him over and he goes to sleep and the light goes out. Great functional design! USB cable and removable googles included!

via technabob, Product Page