Electronics

Peter Schirmer's website has the unique gadget made out of a Antique Clock that tells the weather. It uses a servo, a phidgets USB servo controller connected to a computer, and Yahoo weather to report the weather. Pretty cool considering it can report 13 different weather conditions.

Link

This site has some cool information about building your own projection TV using just
- Cardboard (an old box will do for your first go, but any light but stiff material will do)
- A Fresnel Lens, available from HERE
- Duct tape
- Stanley knife, Ruler, Pencil
- Matt Black Paint
- and a 14inch model tube TV

... don't run out to the Blockbuster to get the LOTR or Star Wars Episode IV DVDs. You know this would barely be meeting low resolution standards.

http://www.diyprojectiontv.8k.com/guide1.html

The rest of the site has other projection tvs which again will allow to see your 1MP photos on the wall.

From CottonBuds: According to my research a commercial electronic bubble etching tank can cost from 733 up to 1800 Euros. Here's a simple diy that you can build from simple aquarium equipment. http://www.willcoxonline.com/Bubbleetch/main.html
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A link from Boing Boing that shows you how to build a hamster powered night light. Covers some of the basics of electrical projects, so it's an interesting read if you're not familiar with electrical projects.

Using a couple AA's and 9 volt batteries, this site shows you how to build a battery for your iPod inside a card pack. There's just something too cool (geeky ) about walking around with some wires coming out of a pack of playing cards into your iPod.

In May I posted a link regarding how to setup a pirate radio station. Here's an article that shows you how to setup a mini FM station using your iPod. Looks fun for little pranks like broadcasting to the car next to you, but I'd like to see someone really increase the range on one of these things, maybe combined with the instructions at Radio Free Berkeley and setup a real micro-radio station.

For those of you wanting the perfect clock for your mad scientist lab, a nixie tube clock certainly fits the bill. For the electrically inclined, this site has pictures and instructions on how to build your own.

Here's an electrical engineer that built a cheap (under $10) electrocardiograph that connects to your computer. Now this just seems dangerous, I don't think I'd make anything that uses pennies for electrodes, and lotion to reduce resistance between the "electrodes" and your skin, then use that to run current through me. But I have to admit, this is a very geeky project

For you history buffs out there, now's your chance to build your very own Enigma-E machine (a variant of the machine the Germans used during WWII to code their messages). This isn't a build from scratch project, but rather a kit. It looks well done, and would be a great learning experience as well as a fun project.
Thanks to Glen from efrisson.com for the link.

This site run by Free Radio Berkeley brings back memories of that Christian Slater movie Pump Up the Volume, where his character runs a pirate radio station upsetting his small town. They have instructions for setting up your own FM radio station. Before you do this, I'd highly recommend you read their Legal Information (excerpt: "A brief word of advice: If the FCC shows up at your door, do not let them in unless they have a search warrant or an equipment seizure order.")