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Hello there, here are your daily updates from the MAKE blog - 2009/02/01. Geeks gather, make stuff Super Bowl 1/2 time build: Gakken Stirling Engine Fighting for our "right to repair" Drawdio round up - BZZZ BEEEP BLOOP Google becomes self aware says every site is harmful and malware... including Google Make: television Episode 105: Kinetic Wave Sculptures & Shopping Cart Chair More Recent Articles Geeks gather, make stuff The Ann Arbor Chronicle » Geeks Gather, Make Stuff - Edwin Olson, assistant professor in the University of Michigan's Computer Science and Engineering department, didn't know beforehand about the A2Geeks Make TV Movie Night, but when he saw robots in the atrium of the CSE building, he figured it was something he might be interested in and stopped to chat. Olson directs the Autonomy, Perception, Robotics, Intelligence, and Learning (APRIL) lab on the third floor of the building. Movie night was not an A2Geeks event per se. As Dug Song put it, the organization, which he helped form in November 2008, is meant more to support other existing groups than to run its own events. And on Thursday, the existing group getting some geek love from A2Geeks was GoTech. Dale Grover of GoTech explained that it's an organization for people who like to make things using technology, and that when people come to their monthly meetings (generally the second Tuesday), they bring stuff they've made, like robots, or they spend their time making things, like printed circuit boards. They're the sort of people who enjoy Make Magazine and its TV version, Make Television. Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Announcements | Digg this! • Email to a friend • Related • • Super Bowl 1/2 time build: Gakken Stirling Engine A lot of people, including myself, will be watching the Super Bowl this Sunday. One thing that bugs me are all the long commercial breaks. Although it seems a lot of people like the commercials better than the actual game! This year I am going to try something different. I am going push the salsa and chips aside and set up my living room table for a build. I am going to be making the Stirling Engine kit by Gakken during those long commercial breaks. I'll let you know how it goes. Hopefully I can fire it up by the time the game is over. I am always amazed at the quality of any of the Gakken kits, and the Stirling engine kit is no exception. I can't wait to get started making this one. Are you making anything this weekend, or just watching the game? Leave us a note in the comments, Thanks! All this week get 10% off you order in the Maker Shed, use code "2009OX" at the time of checkout - Happy Chinese New Year! Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in DIY Projects | Digg this! • Email to a friend • Related • • Fighting for our "right to repair" Sarah Palermo of the Keene Sentinal has a great piece that affirms the Maker's Bill of Rights: WINCHESTER -- William L. Morse remembers a young woman who came to his auto repair shop a few months ago with a $3,000 repair bill hanging over her head. He examined the car, which had been diagnosed by a dealership service shop, and repaired the vehicle for $300, he said. "I've heard some pretty good horror stories," says Morse, the Bill in Bill's Ashuelot Garage in Winchester. Many people are sent to dealerships for their repair work because of what he and other independent mechanics see as a monopoly on information. ... From the time the Model T was introduced until recent years, cars operated on mainly mechanical systems. This gear connected to that belt, and the whole thing went "vrrooom." When it didn't, a mechanic could open the hood or roll underneath to see which part was broken and fix or replace it. Now, computers control most of the car, and diagnosing problems means buying and continually updating a computer system that plugs into the car's computer and reports a code, telling the mechanic where the problem is. The price of the system and the continual upgrades vary, according to technicians and shop owners. Some programs can be $100, while others cost a couple thousand, said Leon Watkins, co-owner of Leon's Auto Center in Keene. And sometimes, even with a system to translate the code shown on the computer into the appropriate problem, mechanics are still out of luck -- if the code is a brand new one. Mechanics seek 'right to repair' [via Jon Udell on Twitter] Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Transportation | Digg this! • Email to a friend • Related • • Drawdio round up - BZZZ BEEEP BLOOP If you've never seen a kid make a Drawdio - you're missing out. I get asked all the time what's the best kit to build with a son and/or daughter and the Drawdio is my #1 pick. Drawdio is an electronic pencil that lets you make music while you draw - it's a very simple musical synthesizer that uses the conductive properties of pencil graphite to create different sounds. The result is a fun toy that lets you "draw" musical instruments on any piece of paper. If you're old enough to remember Bill Cosby's "Picture pages" it reminds me of Mortimer Ichabod marker. Back to Drawdio - It's less than $20 (It's $19.50) and there's one day left on our 10% sale so you can pick one up with a nice discount. Use the code 2009OX on check out to get 10% anything in the Maker Shed. Developed by Jay Silver and Adafruit it's a great kit that might spark a lifetime of science and engineering for a kid (or adult!). I gathered up some of the links, videos and photos of Drawdio in action - check'em out and if you make one post up what you draw (and record video while you draw!). Oh, one more thing - it's an open source hardware project! Don't want to buy a kit, you can make your own! More: Drawdio paint brush. How the Drawdio was invented. How-to Tuesday: Drawdio meets Unruly. Drawdio kit makes music while you draw. DIY Drawdio. From the Maker Shed: Get 10% off your order in the Maker Shed, use code "2009OX" at the time of checkout - Happy Chinese New Year! (Sale ends midnight, Jan 31st!) Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Kits | Digg this! • Email to a friend • Related • • Google becomes self aware says every site is harmful and malware... including Google Starting at 9:43am EST 1/31/2009 Google says every site is malware... including Google. A few makers emailed me asking why every site was "malware" - looks like something went really wrong, or really right (for someone). It's pretty clear what happened - Google became self aware and decided the web is mostly harmful - including itself. Suicidal Skynet... Update: 30 minutes later it seems to be fixed - I guess John Connor zapped the machines, long live harmful sites! Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Online | Digg this! • Email to a friend • Related • • Make: television Episode 105: Kinetic Wave Sculptures & Shopping Cart Chair ZOOM! Here's something for you BitTorrent & Miro folks... Torrent of Make: television Episode 105: Kinetic Wave Sculptures & Shopping Cart Chair... Tour the elegant and hypnotic motorized wave sculptures, created by visionary maker Reuben Margolin. In the Maker Workshop John Park upcycles a discarded shopping cart into a stylish easy chair, and Mister Jalopy details the unsung wonders of his 1950 Studebaker. The Maker Channel features a treadmill bike, an obedient, robotic foot stool, a homemade foundry (built by two 14 year old wizards), and an ultra-high-temperature heat ray that can melt brass! Make: television in HD, is available on public television (see local listings) - also as a torrent, Miro as well as on iTunes, YouTube, blip.tv, vimeo, direct downloads - the first and only TV show in history to do this! Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Make: television | Digg this! • Email to a friend • Related • • More Recent Articles Picture of the XO-2 OLPC Make: television polecam photo from AOTS Besmoke - interactive fluid dynamics SSerial2Mobile - SMS library for Arduino Austin Event: Dorkbot Stop by the Maker Shed store and check out THE place for open source hardware, Arduino & Arduino accessories, electronic kits, science kits, smart stuff for kids, back issues of MAKE & CRAFT, box sets, books, robots, kits from Japan and more.

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