MagTacks

$7 makezine.com/go/magtacks

Ever wanted to tack something up but not mar it with permanent holes? Mag Tacks are the answer to your prayers. Each one is a magnet and a tack rolled up in one compact, nonslip package. Simply push the tack end into your corkboard or wall, then separate the two magnetic sides and use them to hold your item in place. Perfect for displaying (while preserving) photos, schematics, plans, posters, you name it. You can even get crazy and reverse the usage to “tack” something to your fridge. And when you’re using only the magnet, you can flip the tack around to store it safely in its own cushion. I heart simple ingenuity! —Goli Mohammadi

MoteDaemon Free screenfashion.org

Screenfashion has released MoteDaemon, an application that allows Adobe Flash/Flex developers to create Wiimote-controlled applications for OS X. Imagine the potential for homebrew video games and VJ applications.

Pairing the Wiimote to MoteDaemon is a snap. (If you aren’t comfortable with ActionScripting in Flash, you won’t be able to get much immediate use out of this software.) Fortunately, a little test-drive application, WiiCockpit, is included, and although the documentation is in German, they were kind enough to include the .fla document with all the ActionScript for WiiCockpit. Experienced Flash developers will quickly figure out how to integrate MoteDaemon from a peek at WiiCockpit’s code. —Bill Byrne

Mini Metal Lathe $525 grizzly.com

I don’t have a lot of room or money to spend on fancy machine tools, but I really enjoy making things out of metal. This meant I needed a lathe. Not a wood lathe or a pen lathe — I needed a metalworking lathe.

Lucky for me, I found an entire community centered on 7"× 10" and 7"× 12" mini lathes. You can buy them from many sources; mine is from Grizzly Industrial, Inc. It’s small, but it can do quite a bit. Plus, there are many people who are constantly upgrading or hot rodding their machines to get the most out of them. I used mine in the first month to repair a pulley on my ancient garage door for which there were no replacements. I figure I saved the cost of the lathe right there. And I plan on using this for years to come to make all sorts of things. —Brian Graham

Make: 177