The party is over, the cheering gone but everyone is going to remember this one. The photo booth turned out to be a smashing success at the birthday party where I unveiled it.

Tim Hunkin, writer of the series The Secret Life of Machines is also a bit of a tinkerer and engineer. He created his own photo booth with a PC, webcam, printer and custom controls designed to illicit certain reactions from people (i.e. blowing a puff a air to get a surprised look).

Link.

For the structure of the photo booth, I need something that is light weight, easy to carry, comes apart easily, is sturdy and packs very flat. The obvious choice for this is always the adult version of the erector set– PVC pipe.

To control the photo booth (i.e. the “shutter” button) I decided to use the I-Pac VE. It’s original intent was to use for another arcade cocktail table. It’s a small breadboard with two rows of screw terminals that sends a keystroke when the pins are grounded. It’s powered via USB and sends the events as “keyboard” strokes. I’ve wired a switch to the player 1 start button (sends a “1” key).

In order to make the application Photo Booth take a picture, I’ve had to modify the shortcut key of the “Take Photo” menu item. This is accomplished by using the developer tools (Interface Builder) to modify the .NIB file. Now whenever I press “1” on the keyboard or close the switch on the I-Pac, Photo Booth takes a picture.

Link

We bought some fabric that will become the curtain of the photo booth. Hancock Fabrics are going out of business so I got 10 yards of a black fabric that hangs really well– on sale at $6.29/yd.

Also, we picked up plastic grommets to use when hanging the fabric on a rod so it can slide open and closed. They are two parts and snap together sandwiching the fabric. An X-acto blade cuts the center fabric out well.

Having a photo booth at your party has been vogue for a few years now. Celebrities often rented a booth for a shindig and rigged it for free pictures for their friends. Books have been published from the pictures; Andy Warhol used it to make his art. It’s a trendy icon that never goes out of style.

A compilation of online image editing services. Some of sites require registration, others don't. These are great to use if you don't have access to Photoshop or don't need all of the features.

Pixer.us (no registration required)
Picnik.com
Phixr.com
myImager.com
Snipshot.com
Fauxto.com

Wired Gaming has a slideshow of some really inventive and original games that really shined because of the unique features of the Commodore Amiga. I'm a long time Amiga fan, dating back to my first Amiga 500, and I've played most of these games for hours when I was younger ( especially “Beast” and later “Shadow of the Beast” ).

Link.