Maker Project Lab
July 27, 2023 AUTHOR: Donald Bell CATEGORIES: News Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

From the Shadows [Maker Update]

This week on Maker Update, AI shadow stories, your own retro cable TV simulator, a relaxing cosplay project, and building your own toy robot.

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July 6, 2023 AUTHOR: Donald Bell CATEGORIES: News Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I Think I’m a Clone Now [Maker Update]

This week on Maker Update: 90s toy tech with an AI upgrade, return of the cyberdecks, body bots, a Rubik’s cube that solves itself, and a pickup truck that writes.

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June 15, 2023 AUTHOR: Donald Bell CATEGORIES: News Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Nose for Details [Maker Update]

This week on Maker Update: a descriptive nose, a scrappy gatekeeper, laser cut Crankies, and never ending stories.

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February 28, 2018 AUTHOR: Donald Bell CATEGORIES: News Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Split-Flap Attack [Maker Update #73]

This week on Maker Update, rolling your own split-flap display, the unholy union of Furby and Alexa, customized fan grilles and a walnut box with a foam core secret. This week’s Cool Tool is the Joe Knows Electronics Resistor Starter Kit.

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November 18, 2016 AUTHOR: Donald Bell CATEGORIES: Project Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How to Hack Alexa into a Billy Bass Talking Fish

As many of you know from watching my Maker Update video series, I’ve been obsessed with hacking together a Billy Bass novelty talking fish and Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant. About a month ago, an artist named Brian Kane published a viral video showing a Big Mouth Billy Bass novelty singing fish, seemingly voiced by Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant. The internet went nuts for it, and so did I — but mostly I just wanted to know how it worked so that I could make my own.

After a few weeks tinkering with it and collecting the components I needed, I’ve come up with a workable hack. The project documentation and code are available on Instructables. I encourage you to provide feedback and ideas on how to improve it.
Make an Amazon Alexa talk through an animatronic Billy Bass singing fish.

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