Over on the PC World blogs, Phil Shapiro has penned a glowing piece about MAKE, entitled "Exit Newsweek - Enter MAKE Magazine," on the news that Newsweek may be going the way of the dinosaur. The piece is filled with wonderful, flattering quotes about MAKE:
If you haven't seen this magazine yet, check out the inspiring, amusing and instructive MAKE magazine blog. That same spirit of inventive adventuring bounces off every page of MAKE magazine. Whoever is editing that magazine has high standards. When I read MAKE magazine, I not only learn new things, I become more creative. That magazine puts me into a creative mood: It gets me thinking about constructing creative solutions to a host of different things in my life. The spirit of that magazine is "yes, we can," which is why it's no surprise that our new president remarked in his inaugural speech: "... the risk-takes, the doers, the makers of things."
He suggests that everyone call their local libraries and ask them to subscribe to MAKE (Shaprio himself works in a Maryland library), if they aren't carrying it already. That way, if Newsweek leaves the rack, there'll be a worthy replacement. Which IS a good idea. Call you library and make sure they carry MAKE!
He also suggests that libraries create Maker Rooms, mini-hacker spaces where people can learn new tech and DIY skills. That's actually a great idea for using public libraries, which have suffered so much in the age of the web. They could have TechShop-like spaces, with fab lab equipment, surface mount soldering tools, and other gear that's too expensive or specialized for most people, and the training and resources on how to use it all.
We printed airplane wings, dodecahedrons, and chess pieces. Then I gave a talk about rapid prototyping. We met cool people who are doing cool things. Big thanks to everyone who shared their passion with us at this event.
The first day of Maker Revolution at the Microsoft Startup Labs in Cambridge was a great day for Boston Area Makers (and others who came in from as far as CA).
Jimmie Rodgers, Bill T Miller, and Derek Hoffend started with a panel on Circuit Bending.
Meanwhile, the Cupcake CNC by MakerBot Industries was plugging away printing out opensource 3D Designs from Thingiverse.com. The term "Geek Campfire" was coined and twittered (for the ages) and the incredibly meta shot of a shot of a shot of a shot of a video of the CCNC was taken.
Later, Bre Pettis spoke on the de-centralization of manufacturing.
Mitch Altman was also on hand to show off his fabulous creations and had a few pairs of his relaxing glasses to calm and soothe us.
Jimmie also had a circuit bending workshop which taught us how to get more from the Staples "That Was Easy" button.
Finally, there were a few art exhibits on hand which bridged the gap between art and interactive objects.
All in all, a fantastic event for Boston Area Makers.
I really like the sounds that Gijs is able to produce with his Hardware Software Synthesizer 2, aka the HSS2. It's all based on a single Arduino, making this version easier to build compared to the HSS1. Check out the link for the complete code and schematics so you can make you own.
This is a trimmed down version of the hard soft synth 1. The hss1 used 2 arduinos, one for sequencing and one for audio. This version has both the sequencer and the audio in one arduino, reducing the number of parts allot.
Here's is a very thorough way of tuning up your bike after a hard ride. The rest of the site has some other good information, but you have to dig through a lot of 'lifestyle' type entries before you find the making goodies. The bicycle section does look like it has valuable video resources.
This is a really interesting piece of interactive art by Ellie Harrison. The Vending Machine is programmed to give out free snacks when the recession makes the headlines of the BBC News RSS feed. Also, there is a sign outside the gallery that flashed "Free Food", alerting any hungry gallery visitors. I really enjoy seeing the virtual and physical worlds interacting in such a cool way. Check out the link for a lot more information about the work.
The Vending Machine project is one of the outcomes of Ellie's period of residency at Plymouth College of Art in 2009 and is on show at the college's Viewpoint Gallery as part of her solo exhibition from 23rd April - 30th May 2009. It was programmed by Ben Dembroski in PureData and Python and uses project2891 to communicate with i-DAT in order to activate the messages on the GreenScreen. Production assistance by Jason Mills.
If you were a participant on one of the teams in this year's regional competitions, please add your photos to the MAKE Flickr pool, and if you could, please use these tags: MATE2009, MATERegionals2009, and for the Northeast regionals at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy: MATERegionalsMMA2009. If your group competed in another regional, try to set the tags for that so that we can find all the pictures and video easily. If you are using YouTube or some other system, you can use the same tagging system as well.
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We journey upstream with environmentalist Dan McCormick, a maker who crafts intricate watershed sculptures out of woven willow. In the Workshop, John Park shows how to build lively and inexpensive miniature robots. Mister Jalopy reveals the hidden treasures of his "Compact Childhood Museum." The Maker Channel segment features French fries shot from a spud gun, freeline skates that ride like a skateboard, an Asteroids game wrist watch, and a motorized wheel chair that shoots flames.
Make a varmint detecting webcam that captures rascally rabbits in your backyard. Thanks go to Bob Goldstein for the original article in MAKE, Volume 17. View the PDF of this project. and then subscribe to MAKE Magazine for other great projects you can do over the weekend.
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Bruno Mathez's striking experiment with sound and light, Beam Music -
What you're seeing is a dark attic space in which the frames of wood and the pipes are being lit by a very precise ray of light, giving us the illusion that the light comes from inside the object.
Each lit object has its own individual sound.
This was made in the attic of The Pavilion in Bexhyl on Sea, England. This is my first experiment, I'm preparing an exhibition for the Brighton Fringe based on this idea. I'm collaborating with Mike Blow who will put light sensors on each lit object to react with sound. The sonic result is amazing as it directly reacts to the ligh projected.
Work using this above technique is on display at Brighton's Blank Gallery this month.
The aesthetic here reminds me of the Optron video we highlighted here a while back -
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This Sunday at 3rd Ward, an artist collective workspace in Brooklyn:
Bamboo Bike Studio is partnering with Brooklyn-based design center 3rd Ward for the Green Bikes Birthday Block Party. The festivities will converge on Stagg Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn for bike competitions, bands and music videos, badminton, drinks, BBQ, live screen-printing and more. The Bamboo Bike Studio team and friends will be riding 10 deep to a Bamboo Bike Studio tent, where a live bike building demonstration will be going on throughout the day, and bicyclists can check out a bamboo bike, ask questions, and sign up for classes.
Sign up for a 3rd Ward membership and score a free bamboo bike, as well. Via Cool Hunting.
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Using a GPS reference board and an Atmel ATMEGA324 microcontroller, engineer Bengamin Kokes has created a prototype GPS peripheral for his iPod nano. To display coordinates, the device uses Advanced iPod Remote commands to send a 4-color image to the iPod screen, a technique Kokes picked up after seeing it implemented in an Alpine car stereo.
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