Community Roundup: Fix an Xbox with Pennies, Carve Polyhedral Pumpkins & More

Welcome to WonderHowTo's first Weekly Community Roundup! Each week we will be featuring the best projects from the community, as well as ongoing challenges and activities you can partake in. WonderHowTo is made up niche communities called Worlds, so if you've yet to join one, get a taste of what's been happening this week in the highlighted Worlds below...

I Made It

Got a cool project you'd like to show off? Post it to a contextually relevant World, or to the WonderHowTo company corkboard. Our favorite "I Made Its" this week:

• PVC Furniture—Adam Withrow of PVC Innovation World shared some of his homemade PVC constructed furniture, the Helical Stand and the Triple Helix Table. If you're interested in learning more about his process, check out his previous article on creating sculptures with PVC cut-offs. We're all anxiously awaiting a How-To.
  

• Rotating Mirror Stellated Octahedron—Shamus Tobin posted a beautiful stella octangula to the Math Craft community corkboard. Shamus notes that it's still a work in progress, but we're hoping he follows up with instructions on how to make it.

How-To Projects

It's Friday, which means you've got the whole weekend ahead of you to forget about work and go play. Below, our favorite How-To projects from the past week to entertain you this weekend.

• Polyhedral and Fractal Pumpkins—Cory Poole of Math Craft World put together two Halloween projects for creating mathematically-inspired pumpkins. First, check out his guide to carving polyhedral pumpkins, and if you're feeling particularly ambitious, move on to carving elaborate fractals and stars. (P.S. If you complete either of Cory's projects this weekend, post pics to the Math Craft community corkboard.)

• Make a Cheap iPod Projector and Screen—The perfect quick weekend project, Cerek Tunca shared a clever method for creating your own iPod projector and screen for a mere six bucks. Leave questions or comments here.

• Fix an Xbox 360 with Pennies—Alex Long of Null Byte shared the secret penny trick for fixing an Xbox 360. Next time the infamous red ring of death starts flashing, don't panic, consult the Null Byte forums instead.

Challenges and Workshops

There are several weekly challenges and workshops on WonderHowTo. Check out what's been happening this week to find your niche, whether it's photography, Minecraft, coding or Scrabble.

• Giveaway Tuesdays Photo Challenge—This week's photo challenge is horror-themed, so if you're headed to a haunted house or donning a creepy costume this weekend, capture it on camera for a chance to win some spooky, magical SFX "smoke drops". All entries due by midnight PST Halloween night; more details here.

• Minecraft World's Weekly Workshop—Every week, Jon Hook of Minecraft World hosts a weekly workshop on the WonderHowTo Minecraft server. This week's theme is all about mob traps—methods for spawning mobs, killing them, and storing their loot. To partake, meet on the server Saturday, October 29th at 2:00 pm PST. More details on the workshop here; find out how to join the server here.

• Community Byte—Both newbie and veteran programmers are welcome to join Alex Long of Null Byte's weekly community coding projects. Held every Friday at 5:00 pm PST on the Null Byte IRC, this week's Community Byte will focus on hacking the community IRC bot to issue commands. More details here; instructions on joining the Null Byte IRC here.

• Scrabble Challenge—Justin Meyers of Scrabble World hosts a weekly Scrabble Challenge for all of you logophiles every Friday. If you think you've got the mental power, we dare you to take a stab at them. Last week's challenge involved 10 word jumbles, requiring you to unscramble the letters to spell out a seven-letter word as a derivative in the dictionary. This week's challenge will be posted shortly. Stay tuned.

Got Something to Share?

If you've got a relevant How-To, a source of inspiration, or a finished project, post it to the corkboard in one of the applicable Worlds above. If your project is unrelated to these areas, you can publish a How-To article directly on WonderHowTo, or you can start your own World if you've got the passion—or just post directly to the WonderHowTo company corkboard.

Got a question? Comment below or email rmansur@wonderhowto.com.