Shoo Fly! Don't Bother Me...

Recently, the Sydney Morning Herald has added an annoying little "fly in" box that appears when you scroll to the bottom of the article.

Usually, I'd use Adblock to magic it away, but the box is part of the page and can't be targeted by its address. So, let's use Firebug to take a look at the offending element...

The bit we want to hide is the "cN-flyIn" div, I'm going to use Stylish to hide it.  Stylish is an add-on for Firefox and Chrome that lets you edit the CSS files that tell your web browser how to display web pages. As well as turning your Facebook pink, you can use it to move, resize and hide elements of your favourite websites.
After installing Stylish, click its little "S" icon and select "Write new style -> For smh.com.au"

Now, in the window that appears, paste this code:

 @namespace url(http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml);

@-moz-document domain("smh.com.au") {
 .cN-flyIn {
  display:none !important;
 }
}

And that's it, the box is gone!

Wired for Sound!

Once again, it's my trusty Daelim S1. But it's grown some new bits!



Speakers?



And a volume knob on the glovebox?



That's right, I got tired of listening to the little 4-stroke all the way to work, so I set out to add some tunes to my commuter scooter.

I started by finding a suitable amplifier.  I wanted something that was small and wouldn't draw too much power, finding a solution in Jaycar's ready-to-wire Kemo 3.5watt amplifier modules.  These amps are waterproof and don't need any special cooling, which makes them ideal for outdoor use, as well as being tiny, at only 30mm across.



I wired two of these amps to a pair of 40mm mylar speakers, which are also waterproof and efficient at low power levels.  To give the speakers a secure home, I bought two halogen light swivel mounts that were on sale at the local lighting store.



Removing the bulb sockets, I connected the wiring to the speaker terminals before sealing the gaps with epoxy.  The sealed enclosure helps the speakers to work at their best by giving them a resonating chamber.



The speaker mounts are secured to the mirror stalks and the wires are tied to the standard instrument wiring and run into the small glovebox below the handlebars.  This box contains a 12volt power socket that is wired to the amplifiers.
When I want to use the speakers, I connect the headphone plug to my MP3 player and lock the box.  The only external controls are the power switch and the volume control.



Despite the fairly low power, the sound from these little speakers is still audible up to 80km/h, and I can hear my tunes playing through my helmet without having earphones blocking out other sounds.

Bass is somewhat lacking, maybe I should put a subwoofer under the seat...