Special Thanksgiving How-to: Floppy Disk Notepad

Everyone knows what floppy disks are. They mark the real beginning of the evolution of data storage, which meant smaller space and more capacity.

Yet, now they remain useless, as they only hold 1.44MB. I can’t even put a song onto that much.

But after you think about it, you can see that floppy disks are very versatile – in the same way as duct tape.

In fact, you could almost definitely make a floppy disk wallet.

But the thing that I really want to show you is a floppy disk NOTEPAD!

Floppy Notepad!

I must say, making it was simple.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 2 Floppy disks with lock switches (more on that later)
  • A small stack of the paper of your choice
  • Scissors
  • A hole punch (preferably 3 hole)
  • A Pencil
  • Zip ties

First things first- Your floppy disk needs to have a lock/unlock switch. This is so 2 holes on the same side are exposed to put the zip tie through, as shown below:

Two Holes!

After, trace the outline of a floppy disk on a stack of no more than 4 sheets of your preferred paper (I used graph paper). Next, cut about 1/4 cm. inside from the lines you traced and cut out the square. After cutting out one stack, you can make another outline and do the same thing somewhere else on the paper(s).

Cutting...

After you should have a nice stack of papers.Split the stack into shorter stacks that can be done by a hole puncher. On the top paper of each stack put your floppy on it and trace the inside of the litle holes that are on the floppy disk.

Tracing the holes...

Next, go at the stacks with the hole puncher. Punch as close as you can to exactly centered to the tracings you made from the holes on the floppy (exactly centered might have you cutting through the edge of the paper). After, line all of the stacks and floppies up (one floppy on top, the stacks, then one floppy on the bottom). put the zip ties through the holes on the floppies, then the holes in the stac, then the other floppy. loop it around and tighten until it is VERY LOOSE!! You don’t want it tight or else it won’t be able to open or close! You should be able to have the two floppies open side by side with a little space in between, as shown below.

You need space between the disks!

Now you’re done! Trust me, everybody will be JEALOUS of how awesome it is.

Now go off and write…well…whatever needs to be written!

Go write... well...whatever needs to be written!

***I hope you enjoyed this special how-to, with “special” images. I’ll do something special for most of the major holidays in the future.***

How to make a new and improved awesome mousepad

Okay.

This is like a follow-up post to this one: [link]

But, there’s more!

So this was really an improvement upon the last one.

The reason this is here is because if you were using the other mousepad for a while, you may have noticed wax residue building up on the bottom of your mouse.

(Click here to see the post of how to get it off)

So, I decided that I was going to try and spray cinch on it o get rid of some of the wax. Bad idea! It crumble like wet paper. I decided I wouldn’t try that again.

So I decided I would cover up the wax paper with something else. I didn’t want to try wax paper again for obvious reasons written above. So, I was looking through my drawer of rolls of foil, wax paper, saran wrap, etc. and I found some parchment paper. “Hey, this will be great!” I said. So, I go to tape it on to the bottom. I first try standard scotch tape, the cheap alternative to duct tape. And low and behold, it just comes off. I barely pull at it and it just comes right off.

So, I go to the standard of stickyness- duct tape.

And, the same exact story.

So, I try melting it with an iron, and  een try the super sticky spray adhesive. I’m pretty sure that worked, but it would be a big hassle to try and do that with my mousepad. So, while I am waiting for it to dry, I just go at it again with my original plan – Scotch tape. I add a lot of extra flap on the bottom, and I  very carefully tape it to the cardboard on the bottom of my mousepad. I carefully press down the tape to both the parchment and the cardboard. So far so good. I carefully do the rest, and I finally have it done. It’s pretty fragile, but it’s the same amount of smoothness, and has no wax, preventing any residue from getting on the bottom of it.

The end result looks maybe a bit cleaner.

Here’s the comparison:

Old Wax Mousepad

New Parchment Mousepad

As you can see, the newer one doesn’t look as…well…waxy.

Here’s the super careful scotch tape job i did:

The tape's holding on... barely

But, it’s great!

With the parchment paper it also seems much cleaner.

Have fun with your new and improved awesome mousepad!

TinyGrab

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMzqEykTO-8]

This isn’t a free application, but it is definitely convenient.

I got this application fron MacHeist which is a service that gives away free software and donates a tonto charity. Plus, it’s completely legal.

So, you want to share something on your screen with your friends.

You would do -Shift-4, selectwhat part of the screen you want, release, and put the file automatically saved to your desktop in the email or IM application. Then you have to wait for it to transfer, which is alwys slower than FTP or HTTP connections.

In fact, my skype transfers usuallly run 20kbps. SLOW.

TinyGrab solves the problem. Launch TinyGrab, and it will show up as a little cloud in the menubar.

Now, just take a screenshot as you usually would.

You can also use -Shift-3 to take a picture of your whole screen, or -Shift-4 and then when you get the cross-hair press space to select a whole window to take a screenshot of.

Next thing you know, the icon in the dock will change and have a blue arrow on it, and will have an orange arrow on the menubar icon.

The dock icon will look like this:

TinyGrab Uploading

And momentarily, it will make a “Boodeep!” sound, and the icon will look like this for a short moment before returning to normal.

TinyGrab is done uploading

So, it’s on the internet. Where is it now?

The answer is in your clipboard… literally.

After the icon has a chckmark, than go into any application and press -V.

The link will be http:/grab.by/*.

Th HTTP connection is much faster than the connection through skye transfer or IM.

TinyGrab is about 12 dollars, or exactly £10.

TinyGrab Homepage

TinyGrab Free Trial Download

How-to: Make your own awesome mousepad

No, this isn’t from scratch, but this is how to turn your old and dirty mousepad into an amazing super-sleek mousepad.

Sadly, the below picture is pretty much all I can show you.

Superpad

Super-Mousepad!

But it was pretty simple to make and pays off. Here’s what you’ll need:

Old and dirty mousepad
Duct tape
Cardboard
Blue tape
Wax paper

So fist cover the old and dirty mousepad with duct tape. Do it strip next to strip, as close as you can but NOT OVERLAPPING! Do this once vertically and trim the edges, then do another layer horizontally using the same technique.

Now that you have a fully duct-taped mousepad, it’s going to be a bit rubbery and hard to you the mouse on it. So, carefully take a large and un-crinkled sheet of wax paper and cut it down to be about 1 inch bigger than the duct tape mousepad on each side. Now, fold over the edges and use duct tape to tape them down on the back. At the corners they will have to fold, so try to keep that as neat as you can.

There you go! Or at least for a little bit. I found that the wax paper will crinkle, and make it look kinda bad and feel bad too. So my remedy is to cut a piece of cardbord to the same size as the mousepad, and duct tape it on to the bottom. Now it won’t bend. But you just eliminated the grip, so it slides a lot. My remedy for this? Just use blue tape to tape it to your keyboard tray or desk.

So, what’s awesome about this mousepad?

• Instead of just having plain waxpaper down, it provides a bit of a cushion
• It’s super smooth and easy to track on
• Easy to make
• Puts that old icky mousepad to use
• Another great way to use duct tape

Happy Tracking!

Wireless Magic Mouse

Remember this post [link] (hover over link to see without opening a new page!)?

Remember this picture [link]?

Well, it’s all changed. The new Magic Mouse is slimmer, more sleek, more responsive, and multi-touch.

Visual Aspects

Below is a picture of the old Mighty Mouse.

Old Mighty Mouse...

Here is a picture of the new Mouse.

Sleek Magic Mouse!

As you can see, there are definitely some changes in the design.

  • Slimmer!
  • No more scroll wheel
  • Aluminum not plastic
  • No more side sensors
  • Apple logo is under the outer shell instead of an imprint

Also, the edges are a sharp (not too sharp) after the top of the shell, unlike it’s predecessor which was round all around.

The bottom also got a new look.

Bottom

Aluminum!

Ya. Aluminum. Also, the laser tracker is much smaller, but it seems to not make a difference at all.

Here is my own comparison.

Use

Yes, although it has nothing on it, it still clicks scrolls, and then some.

You can use it as a normal point and click mouse. Just put your finger on the left or right of the shell (both fingers are thought of as one) and push down towards the front. The whole outer shell will pivot forward with a mouse-like click (I wonder why). You can configure the mouse to be lefty or righty. No discrimination for dominant hands!

Scrolling

Wheels (and spheres) are now a thing of the past. The new Magic Mouse uses the touch-sensitive shell to take scrolling to a whole new level.

To scroll, just move one finger across the shell. Scrolling is 360º, so you can scroll left, right, and diagonally.

Another cool new feature about scrolling with the Magic Mouse is that it scrolls with momentum. If you scroll quickly and lift your finger off the mouse it will continue for a short amount of time and quickly scroll to a stop. Below is a screen capture of what it looks like.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUGws9tkSnE]

Pretty awesome.

Multi-touch gestures

Well, they have to make everything multi-touch.

Sorry guys, but the only multi-touch gestures that it uses are 2 fingers left and right to go forward or back in safari and between pictures in iPhoto and Preview

Versatility

This is what it says on the Apple Website:

“Magic Mouse uses powerful laser tracking that’s far more sensitive and responsive on more surfaces than traditional optical tracking. That means it tracks with precision on nearly every surface — whether it’s a table at your favorite cafe or the desk in your home office — without the need for a mousepad.”

Well, I don’t know. But I don’t want the little pads on the bottom to ware out, so I use a mousepad. But yes, it does work on pretty much every surface. I had a problem with my Mighty Mouse on glass tables, but I haven’t tried that with the Magic Mouse.

Ergonomics

This is the first time I have ever done an ergonomics view on a piece of hardware.

This analysis is done by Vivienne Fleischer, Co-founder and president of Performance Based Ergonomics (A.K.A. PBErgo).

This is what she had to say:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUfiB61wqt0]

Conclusion

Five Stars!!! *****

Pros: Multi-touch, wireless, sleek, thin, ergonomic, made by Apple

Cons: Doesn’t work with PC. Wait… That shouldn’t be there. No cons!

Magic Mouse homepage