Soap Wall Tile - Prototyping

This is my tutorial to show you how I made the prototype to my soap-tile concept. 

To make this tutorial you will need;
a pillow
the 123d catch app
Meshmixer
123d make
Illustrator
lasercutter
cardboard
glue
wax
heatgun
metalbowl
mdf pieces (mine are 4x4 in)

I had an initial shape in mind for my soap tiles, and I chose to catch a pillow. I took 32 pictures with the 123d Catch app from different angles, checked that the catch was complete, and uploaded it from my phone to the community. I then went on the community webpage with my computer, and downloaded my file. 

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Paracord Monster Cobra

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My Summer Project: Install a Budget Makeshift Home Surveillance System

Ever wanted to be just as cool as the government? Ever wanted to spy on your own house or watch the newspaper guy throw the paper onto your lawn? Or maybe there's a small chance that you actually have a legitimate need for video surveillance on your property but, like me, are too poor to buy top-of-the-line hardware and software for it. If this sounds like you, then read on!

I, too, had the interest of using a surveillance camera in my house. I accomplished this by re-purposing an old webcam I had sitting around, so it would finally get some use. Now, I use that webcam as my HamCam, to spy on my hamster.

What I did was, I plugged my webcam in to my desktop and installed a program called iSpy. This allowed me to use my webcam as a motion-sensing surveillance camera. Once I installed that, I went through the settings and made a few tweaks to settings. Specifically, I now have it record video upon detecting motion. I also have it run on a schedule, so it turns off around when I go to bed, and turns on again in the morning when there is light enough to see again.

But what about syncing to the cloud, you ask? Fret not; that base is covered too! What I did to achieve this was change the directory my HamCam videos are saved in, so that it's in my Dropbox folder. Now, I can view it on my Dropbox from anywhere I am. Each time motion is detected, I also have it store a snapshot of the photo in my Dropbox for my viewing pleasure.

I wasn't finished just yet, though. The finishing touch to this was having the photos and videos auto-import into my phone's gallery for ease of access. I accomplished this by using an app called DropSync, which auto-downloads or uploads photos to/from your Dropbox. The Pro key costs $4.99, but it's worth it to me. I had them save to a folder in my SD card under DCIM called HamCam. Because they're in my DCIM folder, they can also be auto-backed up to my Google+, and I can spam my friends with them! ...but I don't, because I don't have friends. I have a hamster.

I should mention that this was done on a Windows PC, and my phone is an Android phone. If there is anyone who's had similar experiences on Linux or OSX, with an iPhone or other type of phone, they might post about it below and what they use (hint hint, guys!).

Look at my little Hamlet unknowingly being watched at all times. The NSA would be proud.

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How to Make Your iPhone Look Like iOS 7 Right Now

iOS 7 comes with a pretty sleek new look, but you need to be a developer to actually check it out before this fall. Thankfully, you can get the look and feel of iOS 7 really easily with a few jailbreak tweaks and themes. Here's what you'll need.

We talked before about getting the best features of iOS 7, but that didn't really cover a lot of the new look. iOS 7 sports a dramatically different look than previous versions. Everything from the homescreen to the Notification Center is completely different looking. We're not going to be able to create an exact replica on iOS 6, but we can get it pretty close. Other than a jailbroken phone, here's what you'll need to do it.

First things first, let's skin the icons and home screen to get the right look. For that, you'll need Winterboard (check out our guide to customizing your iPhone with Winterboard if you need some help with the basics) so you can install themes.

The theme we're going to use is the iOS 7 Theme by pw5a29. This includes: app icons, the settings interface, messages, signal bars, the lockscreen, and more. Once it's downloaded, go into Winterboard and enable: iOS 7 StatusBar, Springboard, Siri, Notification Center, Messages UI, Lockscreen, Icons & UI, and Folders. This gets you really close to the look of iOS 7, but we also need to update the font. iOS 7 slightly changed the font throughout the operating system, so, download and install this iOS 7 font. Once it's downloaded, open BytaFont, and select iOS 7. When your phone reboots, you'll have a new system-wide font that better reflects iOS 7.

The above gets your home screen looking pretty close to iOS 7. It's not perfect, and once you open any of the stock apps the illusion is broken, but if you're only concerned about the home screen this does the trick.

Surprisingly, the Parallax effect where it looks like a 3D effect is on your home screen has been around for a while for jailbroken iPhones. You just need to download and install the DeepEnd tweak from Ryan Petrich's repository in Cydia. Once it's installed, your background moves with your phone's accelerometer.

The new version of Notification Center is a pretty pretty big overhaul that nobody's replicated quite yet. That said, you can combine a few tweaks together to make the Notification Center in iOS 6 look like a combination of the Notification Center and Control Center in iOS 7:

Download and install NCSettings from Cydia.Enable NCSettings by turning it on in Settings > Notifications.Download and install BlurriedNCBackground from Cydia.Grab the iOS 7 Control Toggles theme for Winterboard. Enable it in both Winterboard (iOS 7 Control Toggles BG) and NC Settings (Settings > NC Settings > Theme > iOS 7 Control Toggles).If you want to add the Control Center-style music controls, you can add in NCMusicGestures. It's not as good looking as the iOS 7 music controls, but it's functionally the same.That's it, now your Notification Center works almost identically to Control Center in iOS 7.

If you want to extend the look a little more, you can with a few additional themes and tweaks:

It's not a perfect replica, but it's pretty close in appearance if not the function. The best part is you can do all this and retain your jailbreak. So, if you're hesitant to make that upgrade to iOS 7 in the fall, you can get the look of it right now without worrying about the jailbreak down the line.

And hey, if Android users want in on the fun, you can do the same thing yourself.

Related iOS 7 won't be coming to your iPhone and iPad until this fall, but a lot of its best features are available through third-party apps and… Read…

Jailbreaking is a process that changes little by little with each iOS upgrade. Rather than always publishing new guides, we're simply going to… Read…

Related The iPhone has a pretty beautiful home screen, but it looks the same as every other iPhone out there. If you want a phone that's truly yours,… Read…

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How to make a snowboard bike

In this instructable I am going to show you how to make an awesome snowboard bike. It is made out of a snowboard, a bike and a few other bits and pieces.

Materials needed:
Bike
Snowboard (no bindings needed)
2 25cm hinges
2 15 cm hinges
1 steel bar 40×400×10mm
1 small piece of plywood 80×50mm
6 2 cm bolts
6 2.5cm bolts
1 7.5cm bolt
2 10mm bike axels.

Tools needed:
hacksaw or angle grinder
drill
clamps or vice
flat head screwdriver
adjustable cresent

 First find a suitable bike.
I used an old mountain bike that I found at the local recycling centre, but you can use a bmx or pretty much any other kind of bike. Next remove all uneeded parts like brakes, shifters, wheels and crankarms etc.

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The Basics of Music Production: The Complete Guide

Over the last month we've learned all about the basics of music production, posting new lessons on a weekly basics. With the lessons finished, now you can get the complete guide and find out how you can learn more.

Want all of these lessons as a PDF? Download one here. Just be sure to visit the online lessons as well to watch the videos or you'll miss out on a lot!

In our first lesson, we take a look at the equipment you'll need to set up a home studio. You don't have to get it all, but rather pick and choose what you'll need to record the kind of music you want to make in your home.

After setting up your home studio, you need to know how to use it! This lesson will start you off on the basics of recording and getting used to your DAW software.

You can create some awesome tracks with recorded instruments, but you can do so much more with virtual ones. Implementing them into your music allows you access to all sorts of sounds you otherwise wouldn't have, from blips and beeps to an entire orchestra.

The most difficult part of making your music sound good is achieving a good mix. While it'll take a lot of practice to become great at mixing, this lessons discusses the basics so you can get started on the right foot.

These lessons serve as a basic introduction to music production, not a complete course. You’ll need to learn more through practice, but additional resources can help as well. Here are a few we recommend:

Lynda.com: Lynda offers plenty of in-depth lessons on all kinds of software. If you're looking to learn more about Cubase or any other DAW, they'll likely have you covered. While it costs a minimum of $25 per month, that's a low price to pay if you're only going to subscribe for a month or two and get a few lessons. I've learned a lot through Lynda and consider it one of the best video lesson sites online.Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio: Regardless of the software you use, the most important skill you can have is the ability to mix. This book will help you learn a solid mixing skill set.Gearslutz: When you have a question during the learning process, this message board is the place to go. Even if you don't have a question, you can learn a lot from reading what others have asked in the past.Thanks for learning with us! If you follow these lessons and make some great music, share it in the discussions bellow.

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