Hello there, here are your daily updates from the MAKE blog - 2008/11/30.
Bamgoo: electric car built from bambooThis doesn't quite look like the most crash-safe vehicle ever designed, but electric power plus bamboo construction does provide a dream-like level of sustainability: Any guesses on what epoxy/resin they're using to hold the bamboo together? Thanks to Ecofriend for finding some specs: "the 60-kg electric car can run for 30 miles on a single charge." Couple this with your bamboo bike, and your only transportation problem will be outrunning hungry pandas! Lyrics box for practice/gigging
While visiting family over Thanksgiving I witnessed this device in use - "Mark's Magic Box" displays song lyrics and note changes to simplify band rehearsals. The setup uses a laptop + LCD for storage and display - controlled via foot-pedal which was built from a mouse and housed in a handmade metal enclosure. A teleprompter for music - very cool! Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in DIY Projects | Digg this!Kevin Kelly on technology as the 7th kingdomOn O'Reilly Radar, Joshua-Michele Ross has an interview with the always-original and thought-provoking Kevin Kelly. The discussion covers various topics related to biology, technology, and net-connected culture. As Josh says: This last section (at 7mins 30 secs) is the deepest and most provocative. Kevin assumes the point of view of technology to assess its needs and wants. This line of inquiry leads to some surprising conclusions. My favorite quote from the conversation: "We are the sexual organs of technology" Indeed. I really like the observation that, unlike biology, technology is almost impossible to make extinct, and that it's hard to find any technologies from the past that aren't still being used in some fashion today. For instance, there are more human beings making arrow heads today, Kevin claims, than were making them in pre-historic times. "Technology is the 7th Kingdom of Life" - A conversation with Kevin Kelly More:
CRAFT - The 2nd Year Box SetGet four volumes of CRAFT year two, combined in a special edition collector's box! CRAFT: The 2nd Year includes volume 5, volume 6, volume 7, and volume 8 and is now for sale in the Maker Shed. Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Maker Shed Store | Digg this!Waveform jewelrySakura Koshimizu's waveform jewelry uses actual audio as its source - Waveform Series is the laser-cut shapes of the waveform of the sound in sound editing software environment. I used some human sound such as yawn, atchoum, giggle, wow, and the sound of church bell.- Waveform Series Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Crafts | Digg this! Noodle oracle I don't generally do a lot of food posts over here, but I thought this was really clever - love noodles, but getting bored with your same old combinations? Consult the Noodlr, the noodle soup idea generator cooked up by Serious Eater Michele Humes. Via Angry Chicken Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Online | Digg this!Best of GeekDad
Hey You Guuuuyyyys! A New Electric Company Starts in January! Dwarven Forge Hammers Out the Boredom of Plain-Jane RPG Battlemaps Geekly Reader - "The Radioactive Boy Scout" by Ken Silverstein 10 Geeky Movies That Were Terrible, but We Loved Them Anyway Mortar Shells to Coffee Grounds
The area around the house of Azmeraw Zeleke in northern Ethiopia is littered with burnt-out mortar shells left over from a war with neighboring Eritrea. For months, Azmeraw wondered what he could do with them as he saw them being sold around Mekele town (about 800km from the capital, Addis Ababa). They were being used for washing clothes or for crushing things. Finally, he struck upon the idea of converting the shells into the inner workings of coffee machines. The shells stand about 1 meter high. Azmeraw cuts off the pointed ends, seals them, and puts holes in the aluminum cylinder. The cylinder then channels the water, coffee, and milk. Coffee is a major export from Ethiopia and plays a big role in life. After meals, the traditional coffee ceremony allows family and friends to get together to share news and discuss the issues of the day. Coffee shops are also popular. Each of Azmeraw's machines costs about $1,300, which is relatively cheap compared to imported machines. A local coffee shop owner, Haile Abraha, says the machines work well and make great coffee. Azmeraw thinks he has sold hundreds -- he's not sure exactly how many -- since he started production five or six years ago. But he says it can be difficult to convince people in the area to buy the machine because of the mortar shell. "These shells have all been used. We all need peace and we don't want war, but once these shells have been used, we should use our skills to do something with them," he says. "Sometimes I think about the fact they were used for war, but I want to change them to do something good. They could be a symbol of war, but I am doing something good out of the bad." Azmeraw has big plans for his small business. At the moment, he works out of three ramshackle rooms with gaps in the corrugated roof. His staff of six sells the machines to coffee shops and restaurants in the area. In the future, he hopes to sell them even farther afield -- perhaps even to Eritrea. From the column Made on Earth - MAKE 10, page 20 - Amber Henshaw. Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Made On Earth | Digg this!iPhone LinuxThe iPhone dev team, hard at work as usual, announced a successful iPhone Linux port today. It's still at a very early stage, but the kernel boots on first and second generation iPhones and the first generation iPod touch. A framebuffer driver and a working Busybox installation point to an exciting open source future: What we have: If you're a Linux hacker and want to pitch in with the porting process, hop on the #iphonelinux IRC channel at irc.osx86.hu. iPhone Linux - Official Announcement It's just a demo at this point, but if you can't wait to see this running on your own phone, here's what you need: More Recent Articles
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