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In true spirit, Make: Live is very much a DIY production. Instead of tripods, we use zip ties to mount webcams to chairs and we jury rig an old monitor to act as our prompter. Along those lines, I decided to create an on air light to indicate when we’re broadcasting. While I could have just wired a switch to a light fixture, I wanted to take the idea a step further. Using Ustream’s API, I set up our on air light to turn on automatically when we start broadcasting. This project was just for fun, but learning how to use the XBee Internet Gateway to get the Arduino online wirelessly will come in very handy for future projects.

Most of my networked projects have used an Arduino with an Ethernet Shield. For this one, I tried the XBee Internet Gateway, which is free ConnectPort software that allows XBee wireless radios to retrieve web pages. This allowed us to hang the light wherever we wanted without the need to run an Ethernet cable to it. Having an XBee Internet Gateway in my home also means that I can easily add wireless sensors and other internet-connected projects without filling up my router’s Ethernet ports.

This project serves as a good template for any kind of wireless notifier; it’s not just for Ustream. You could customize the project to indicate when your significant other is online, when you receive a new @ reply on twitter, or if rain is expected today. The Arduino and XBee Internet Gateway make a great pair for many internet-connected projects. To learn more about XBee mesh networks and the XBee Internet Gateway, Robert Faludi’s book, Building Wireless Sensor Networks is a great resource.

Check out the full project write-up over on Make: Projects:

Subscribe to the MAKE Podcast in iTunes, download the m4v video directly, or watch it on YouTube and Vimeo.

Many an experimenter, hacker, tinkerer, & maker have heeded the call of the mighty matrix – and it’s no mystery why. A small army of LEDs elegantly wired in grid formation would be difficult for anyone with an appreciation for electronics hardware to pass up – even after considering the sometimes daunting wiring job that stands as prerequisite to entry.

Needless to say, I had a lot of fun working with LED matrices for this installment of the Circuit Skills series. Many folks have published code for their matrix projects and it was great to be able to try some of them out. Breadboarding a two-color matrix did end up being a pretty tedious task – interested experimentors can pick up a one-color matrix kit from Jameco which should prove much easier to work with.

Oh, and I’ll be posting some of the adapted code used for this project, once I have a few kinks worked out – stay tuned.

In this episode of Tiny Yellow House for MAKE, host Derek “Deek” Diedricksen shows us one of his salvage uses for freebie pallet wood— an ultra-simple deck chair that cost him 89 cents (screws/nails) to build.

Subscribe to the MAKE Podcast in iTunes, download the m4v video directly, or watch it on YouTube.

There are lots of great projects you can build out of old pallets. Check out our woodworking series to learn the basics and find more project inspiration.

More:

• Tiny Yellow House: “Boxy Lady” vending cart microcabin
• Fold-down fort — Tiny Yellow House
• Deek’s Vermont cabin (Tiny Yellow House #5)
• Humble Homes, Simple Shacks… preview and giveaway
• Another Tiny Yellow House

When I was a kid, my grandmother had a charming wind up music box that plucked the tune “Edelweiss” when you opened the lid. I was so fascinated by the mechanics inside the little box that I had spent a lot of time watching the movement turn.

I decided I wanted to do a modern-day maker’s riff on the old mechanical music box. I asked around for some advice on how to do it and got a lot of great suggestions such as using an Arduino Wave Shield, an MP3 trigger board, or my favorite idea, one of those electronic musical greeting cards. But I happened upon a $6 knockoff MP3 player that started playing songs when you flipped a switch on the side. When I opened it up, I was delighted to see that I could easily stop and start the music by opening and closing the circuit between the battery and the MP3 player’s circuit board.

Using a snap action switch inside a cigar box, I was able to control the music by opening and closing the lid, just like with a mechanical music box. The main difference being that my MP3 player would start the song over again after closing and reopening the box, which didn’t bother me. I found a pair of cheap speakers that had a headphone jack so that I could easily plug them into the MP3 player.

I wanted to be able to access the MP3 player as a data drive and charge it up without awkwardly plugging a cable into the MP3 player directly, so I added a panel mount female USB B jack to the back of the box and plugged it into the MP3 player inside the box. Loading songs into the music box becomes a cinch when you just plug the USB cable from your computer into the back of the box and then drag the files to the drive.

The MP3 Music Box makes a great, customized gift for anyone. You can see in the video that I turned mine into a Wii Remote box and added 8-bit video game style music to it. You could add romantic music if you make the box for your partner for Valentines Day, or lullabies if you make it for a child’s nightstand. Whatever it is, there’s no doubt that this whimsical electronic music box will surprise and delight the recipient.

Subscribe to the MAKE Podcast in iTunes, download the m4v video directly, or watch it on YouTube and Vimeo.

The second episode of Make: Live is online for your viewing pleasure! Matt and I had a great time hosting guests Limor Fried and Marc deVinck!

Subscribe to the MAKE Podcast in iTunes, download Make: Live episode 02 in its entirety (m4v), or watch clips on YouTube.

Limor “Ladyada” Fried – Soldering demo with the Game of Life Kit
Solder sorceress and Adafruit Industries founder Limor Fried joins us in-studio for a soldering demo featuring the Game of Life kit.

Marc deVinck – Electronic Merit Badge
Maker Shed product developer Marc deVinck developed the popular learn-to-solder badge you may have seen at Maker Faire, where you can learn to solder for $1 in the Maker Shed, then show off your new skill.

Show notes:

• Call to makers for Maker Faire Bay Area
• Electronics archive on the Make: Online
• MAKE vol 01 soldering primer
• MAKE vol 16 SMD soldering primer
• Conway’s game of life kit
• Learn to solder merit badge: Maker Shed product and how-to on Make: Projects
• soldering section on Make: Projects
• Maker Shed discount: 10% off Deluxe Toolkit, check out with code MAKELIVE (valid through February 23, 2011)