Press releases

Spy vs. Spy + DIY! New from O'Reilly, Make, Vo. 16, features sneaky Spy Tech film

Press release: November 19, 2008

Coming soon on
American Public Television:
MAKE: Television
sneak peek in this issue
(pages 34-37)
Sebastopol, CA—Why go to the movies and admire James Bond's latest gadgets when you can go the newsstand and make your own James Bond gadgets? The all new Make: Vol. 16—with an illustrated blessing from MAD Magazine's Spy vs. Spy—features 10 clever devices that will have you saving the world (or maybe just amusing yourself) in no time!

Make: Spy Tech includes projects such as:

  • Talking Booby Trap: Record a personalized message or sound effect on this device then hide it strategically. When disturbed, the intruders will be startled by your message.
  • Portable Spy Scope: Turn your cell phone into a high-powered digiscope.
  • Simple Laser Communicator: Talking via laser beam? Yes, and it only takes about 15 minutes and a few parts from RadioShack to do it.
  • Survival System: Miniaturize a serious survival kit.
  • Dead Drop Device: Hollow out a plain-looking bolt to hide secret messages.
  • This Object Will Self-Destruct...: Create objects that melt into uselessness at your command.
  • USBattery: Hide a secret flash drive in an innocent AA battery.
  • Checkmate, Mr. Bond: Unlock a secret compartment with magnetic chess pieces.
  • Covert Wireless Listening: Install an eavesdropping bug in a book.
  • Invisible Ink Printer: Modify an HP ink cartridge so it prints in lemon juice (later, iodine and water will reveal the lemon juice message) instead of ink.

From the special "Made on Earth" report from the world of backyard technology:
In this issue we look at the "Golden Mean" a fire-spewing car shaped like a snail, a wooden UFO/birdhouse that "crash landed" in the outskirts of Philadelphia, a Detroit Science Center employee whose Air Car and Tilt-O-Rama are main attractions, and a 16-foot/350-pound Lego replica of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier.

Make Vol. 16 also features another great new lineup of step-by-step projects. In this issue you will learn how to make:

  • Pole-Mounted Aerial Photography Rig: Obtain elusive aerial perspective with the "Sky Eye," a pole-mounted camera rig that you can make in a weekend.
  • 5-Minute Foam Factory: With this easy hot-wire foam cutter, you can reuse leftover Styrofoam to create treasures from trash. Once you've mastered the basic foam cutting techniques, go to makezine.com/16/styrocutter to learn cool tricks.
  • Chladni Plate: Use a broken speaker, bits of wire, and tape to prepare a coneless voice coil driver, then use it to generate standing waves on a sheet of metal, making sound visible. Magic!

For the Ben Franklin in all of us, Make is devoted to fun, Do-It-Yourself inspiration and discovery. Selling for $14.99 and loaded with exciting projects that help you make the most of your technology at home and away from home, Make celebrates your ability to tweak, hack and bend any technology to your own will. The quarterly magazine is published by O'Reilly Media, changing the world by spreading the knowledge of innovators.

About O’Reilly

O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.

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