This is a neat Touchable map via Wired Science. I wonder if Apple has a patent on the multitouch for non-portable applications.
He says it was designed for kids to learn geography, but it appears that the Department of Education was not paying the bill. It's kind of like the interactive LED table from EMS, but way more expensive and militaristic.
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This is an excellent profile of Twin Cities Public Television and Make: television on the Apple Pro site. There are some details on methods TPT used shoot, edit, and color time the show using Final Cut Pro, and Motion. Additionally, as a fanboy going back to my Apple //e days, I'm pretty psyched about getting my mug on the Apple site!
The 4/5 technology classes built Vibrobots for one of their project this year. Vibrobots are small electric bug-like creatures that are built from a small metal or plastic enclosure (think mint tin), a motor, and some ingenuity.
Essentially, this is a project that lets kids do some hands-on learning about electronics and electricity, and how to use the design process to create their own toy.
These two production method videos just showed up on my favorite design blog, Core77. one is about bending sheet metal, the other about bending metal tubing. Interesting stuff!
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Use the cube to slow, stop, or reverse time, or even turn ordinary technology into transformers. Your choice.
This project looks like a great way to introduce kids to a number of valuable skills we have covered here at MAKE Online, such as electric circuits, LEDs, resistance, ohm's law, the design process, making structures, measuring for fabrication and more. Learners would need to get some familariity with some tools, like handsaw, hacksaw, aviation snips, soldering iron, utility knife, or maybe even a shopbot, mill or vinyl cutter.
Some of the concepts involved could be: making a three dimensional structure out of flat stock, designing for fabrication, designing a circuit, drawing a schematic. These ideas could be worked out in a variety of ways, from simple to complex, manual to automated.
Give the project a try and show us your stuff in the MAKE Flickr pool!
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When Chad was a freshman in my high school program, he was talking about wanting to do a car project. The teenage car project is a time tested pursuit, an opportunity to learn many of life's lessons, learn tools, techniques, create a useful product. Chad is currently a freshman at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, where he is studying engineering and working on their EcoCar project. Tesla was about to unveil their second model.
In a recent email exchange, I asked Chad what Tesla Motors means to him. Below is his answer.
Tesla Motors gives me excitement and hope. It represents a new era of car manufacturing and a large step towards a more sustainable earth. The company has been able to design and manufacture highway capable electric vehicles that perform better than most internal combustion engine(ICE) vehicles on the road today. Tesla has single handedly shown the world that electric cars are feasible to produce and usable for the majority of people's transportation needs.
The Model S emphasizes the point that it is possible to create an all electric vehicle and also shows that people want to purchase this type of vehicle. Additionally, Tesla is committed to their original company goals that it is to produce cars in three stages. The first being a flashy sports car, the Roadster, which will pay for the design of a sports sedan, the Model S. Then the money gained through the production of the Model S, will be allocated to the development of the Blue Star a vehicle affordable for the majority of drivers.
Telsla brings hope that in a couple of years the world will be a better place, less pollution, more affordable, fun cars, and more innovation. This last point is brought up because Tesla is showing other businesses how to make it from a visionary start-up to a full blown car manufacturer(which is one of the toughest markets to enter). It has used proof of technology by showing that electric cars are more powerful than ICE cars. Tesla has taken the money at the top to fund the projects for the middle and bottom just like the airplane and cell phone industry did.
Finally, Tesla brought excitement and hype to their product just as apple has brought to their iPods by keeping all information secret until have a big press event. These building blocks will help future car manufactures and companies in general get out of the start-up phase and into the main stream.
I graduate in 2012, a couple months after the Model S is projected to start being delivered. I plan to make my fist purchase as a college grad a Tesla Model S. I believe this will provide me with a fun but also practical vehicle. It has a low running cost, almost no cost for refilling, and minimal maintenance costs.
Additionally, the Model S has so many capabilities. It can transport 7 passengers, travel 300 miles, recharge in 45 minutes, which is less than the time it takes to get a bite to eat. It is also a customizable vehicle, allowing for a bike or surf board to be carried inside the vehicle. The Model S suits the needs of a large market, from a college student like myself to the thousands of business men and women throughout the world. The white star is going to fill in the small gap and allow any and everyone to purchase an electric car! I cannot wait till they unveil Tesla begins delivering the Model S and also till it reveals the Blue Star.
So there is Chad's perspective. What does Tesla Motors mean to you?
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Make: television Season One has come and gone. But in case you missed it, we'll be rolling out the ten episodes of our premiere season again.
Episide Four, take two, check it:
Meet the Flaming Lotus Girls, a women-centric maker collaborative that creates gargantuan, fire-breathing sculptures. In the Workshop, John Park builds a digital TV antenna from wire coat hangers and a $10 video camera stabilizer. William Gurstelle shows surprising uses for cable ties, and Maker Channel contributors show off a motorized lounge chair, an eye-popping I/O brush, a vest that controls a video game with a back massage, and an explosive, giant match made from thousands of matchsticks.
Get the m4v of Episode Four, or subscribe in iTunes. Watch the individual segments of Episode Four and find instructions for the ever-popular DTV Antenna and Camera Stabilizer after the jump.
All episodes, individual segments, and PDF instructions of our Maker Workshop projects from Make: television Season One can always be found at our Episode Guide. You can also watch Make: television videos on YouTube, Blip, Vimeo, or download our torrents at LegalTorrents.
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JingleJoe decided to give the familiar PP3 battery a look more befitting the "strange electronic devices" he has in development. He built the above frankenstinian aged-wood case complete with custom lathed terminals! That right there is some impressive dedication to the aesthetic. He also shared some info regarding his aging technique -
Bash the edges with the straight side of a hammer like this one to put grooves in it perpendicular to the edge, then bash it around a bit more with bricks and whatever bashy things you might happen to have, I used a screwdriver. Then sand the wood and stain it with a dark wood stain, maybe give it two coats, then sand the stain off a bit leaving it in grooves and nooks and crannies. for best results try to sand it off the corners and edges more than anywhere else. Then stain again :) thats pretty much it!
You'll likely note a practical benefit as well if you've ever tried using alligator clips on a nine-volt's positive terminal. Read more from his forum post. [via Hacked Gadgets]
From MAKE magazine:
Check out MAKE, Volume 17: The Lost Knowledge issue!
Looking for a fast ride? Try out KillaCycle. Loaded up like a cordless drill on wheels, the designers and engineers behind the hopped up bike are providing a proving ground for new electric vehicle technologies as they set and break world records in drag racing. In many ways, electric vehicles can outperfom those with ICEs, or Internal Combutsion Engines.
KillaCycle® is the quickest and most powerful electric motorcycle in the world. It is quicker and faster than ANY other electric-powered vehicle on the drag strip. (This includes dragsters, etc.) It has over 500 hp and accelerates 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) in less than a second!
The secret of KillaCycle®? - The batteries! The powerful A123 Systems nano-phosphate™ battery cells are what makes the KillaCycle® go as fast as it does! The same battery cells are found in DeWalt cordless hand tools.
The National electric Drag Racing Association helps to provide a venue for EV racing, an electrogeeky combination of art, science, sport, and spectacle. Since electric vehicles start their run with loads of torque, they can provide a great power plant for racers.
He gets his thrills these days dreaming up ways how to make his record-holding Killacycle a bit quicker, endlessly tweaking, continually experimenting with a motorcycle that started life as a highly-modified Kawasaki but long ago left its Japanese origins far behind. According to the effervescent Coloradan, who has been building electric cars for decades, Killacycle is never the same machine from one race season to the next, and often between races.
Folks in the Graffiti Research Lab/ FATlab/ whatever-it's-called-these-days are working on a project that is truly awesome on so many levels. TEMPT ONE, a famous Los Angeles graffiti writer, has ALS (aka Lou Gehrig's Disease), which means at this point that he has little motor control. What these folks are working on is a device to translate tracked eye movements into brush strokes for making light graffiti. A small camera mounted on a pair of glasses tracks pupil movement, and some software (built in OpenFrameworks) creates the visuals. Track the progress via daily update videos on the FATlab site.
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