Uh-oh, better get Maaco. The Life-Size Mousetrap mice warm up on the family minivan. The head mouse tells us that the official show schedule for the weekend will be: Sat: 11:30, 1:30, 2:30, 5:30, 7:30
Sun: 11:30, 1:30, 3:30, 4:30 Bring the family to see this! BTW: If you're coming to the Faire, or just wanna follow the action as it happens, don't forget our Maker Faire Detroit Facebook page and our Maker Faire Twitter channel. [Photos by Marc de Vinck]
Maker Faire Detroit
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We're thrilled with the response that we've been getting to our new Make: Projects platform. We're building up a nice library of projects, technique, and primer articles from us and user-submitted projects from the maker community. Thanks to everyone who's checked us out and chipped in. Here are just a few items from the site. Please come and see what we're up to, roll up your sleeves, and get involved. It's a wiki, so it's thirsty for content. If you have an area of expertise, share it with us by fleshing out a topic area. If you have a project, please share that. And if you build one of the projects, hit the "I did it! Success!" button, and let us know what you learned via the Notes feature. And remember, you can amend projects, so if you've figured out a better way to do a step, have better pictures, have variations on the project, submit them. We want this site to feel like your virtual Maker's Notebook. Don't be afraid to jump in. Projects from the Magazine The Most Useless Machine The mysterious machine from the current issue of MAKE that almost drove a fake news pundit crazy. Few people have looked at this project and not said: "I wanna build one of those!" *I* wanna build one of those!
Medicine Man Glider The gorgeous old-school tissue and balsa plane project from MAKE Volume 17. I *did* build one of these, in my youth, and it is one of my fondest (and most frustrating) hobby memories of my youth.
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Via Gadget Lab: Martin Magnusson of Linköping, Sweden, created this excellent wearable computer. It consists of the foliowing components: a pair of Myvu Crystal video glasses hacked into a monocular head-mounted display,
the Beagleboard single-board computer running Angstrom Linux,
a Plexgear mini USB hub driving a bluetooth adapter and powering the Beagleboard and the display,
four 2700 mAh AA batteries powering the USB hub,
a foldable Nokia SU-8W bluetooth keyboard for input,
and Internet connectivity through bluetooth tethering to an iPhone in my pocket. Martin's blog Becoming Cyborg describes every step of creating the glasses, check it out! Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Wearables | Digg this! 
Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid
We're happy to announce that Make: Online's very own editor-in-chief, Gareth Branwyn, was recently interviewed by SyFy for their Eureka Idea Lab. Here's a snippet: Pick one: personal jetpack, warp drive, or Lee Majors-level bionic implants? Well, I already have an artificial hip, a rebuilt heart, and get shot up six times a year with tweaked mice proteins (Infliximab) for my arthritic disease. I'm a human/machine/mouse hybrid! So, the whole Lee Majors thing? Old news for me. As William Gibson said: "The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed yet." I get the Joint Journal from my orthopedic clinic and I lust after the new hardware. Time for an upgrade. If I had to choose, it'd be warp drive, without question. It's not that I don't love my Mother Earth, but if I had a choice, I would leave her in a smear of light in my rear-view mirror in a (bionic) heartbeat. Gareth also discusses what it truly means to be a maker, how to get started on the way to becoming a maker (open stuff up!), and some of the most inspiring scientific advancements of his lifetime. He also mentions Jimi Hendrix and quotes both Steven Roberts and Arthur Koestler. And if you know Gareth, you'll notice a surprising lack of quotes from William Blake.
To sum up, this SyFy interview is a must read! Read the whole thing here. Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Interviews | Digg this! 
Jonathan Johns, a coworker of ours over at O'Reilly Media and a frequent volunteer at Maker events, sent us a great little maker story that we think everyone will enjoy. My son, Christian, and his two roommates were on spring break in Arizona. As they were climbing up and around the hills, Christian's cargo shorts tore out at the knee, and at the pockets. They all proceeded to put their heads together and decided to fix them up. Using a multi-tool and some Agave, they stitched up the shorts and pocket, and solved the problem. This may or may not be Makezine's cup of tea, but in my circle of friends, it was pretty exciting to see 19- and 20-year-olds having a MacGyver moment. Thanks, for sharing the story, Jon. It's great to hear about inspiration when faced with adversity of any kind, at any age! Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this! 
Nick Britsky of i3 Detroit has a piece on Detroit Blog/Time.com about some of the awesome things he and his fellow i3ers are showing off at this weekend's Maker Faire Detroit. You had me at Twinkie Cannon: Beer Growler Pneumatic Organ: Recycling is the way to go with our Beer Growler Pneumatic Organ. This set of 13 water-filled, tuned beer growlers - built by Matt Switlik - is a chromatic scale for eerie music. The power comes from 13 custom-built bellows and tubing.
Giant Twinkie Car with Pneumatic Twinkie Launcher: Nothing is more fun than the all-American food of the Twinkie...unless you are launching them at 30 MPH into crowds from a giant Twinkie car. Built by Russ Wolfe, this project is the next evolution of the famous i3 Detroit Cupcake Car. Arduino Quadcopter: Take to the skies with a custom built four-rotor quadcopter. Controlled by the popular Arduino platform, this creation continues to push the boundaries of our space flying, both indoors and out. It's fast, maneuverable, fun and built by Eric Merrill. Giant Statue of "Red Green," Made of Duct Tape: Red Green visited i3 Detroit July 17, so I told him I would build a giant statue in his honor out of duct tape if he visited. He agreed and kept his word. This massive monument is almost the full height of our shop and has controls for his arms and mouth along with fire breathing. After outlining a bunch more projects, he concludes: This is less than 5 percent of the total makers you'll see at Maker Faire Detroit - so one can only imagine the diversity and creativity of 300+ more individuals just like these. Bring your family and friends to this unique event that will hopefully be an annual gathering of knowledge, fun and ingenuity. Tickets are still available at The Henry Ford or at the door.
Back downtown, i3 Detroit will have the official after-party following the first night of Maker Faire Detroit tomorrow (July 31). Take a tour of our shop, relax with a drink and meet the members that will help extend Maker Faire Detroit and the spirit of Henry Ford year-round. More details can be found at our Web site. Unfiltered: Nick Britsky on Must-Sees at Maker Faire
More:
See more Faire and Detroit coverage in our Making Detroit series.
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There's about one month left to submit a solution for the MakeShift featured in MAKE Volume 22. Here is the challenge: The Scenario: You're an avid and experienced snowmobiler off to meet up with a friend at a remote cabin some 60 miles back in a rocky and forested wilderness. You know the terrain can be rough in spots and there's a storm on its way, so you elect to use your older but reliable snowmobile rather than the newer one you bought just before this winter season. Even though you get started somewhat later than you planned, and the storm seems to be approaching faster than expected, you're still making good progress. You're nearly halfway there when you crest a rise and notice -- a split second too late -- a sapling jutting up in the trail. Before you can react, one of the front ski tips catches on the sapling and sends you flying off into a snowdrift while your snowmobile crashes into a tree! The good news is that you emerge unhurt. The bad news is your vehicle is sufficiently damaged that, even though the engine will still start and the gas tank's intact, it's no longer functional for transportation. What's more, in your haste to get on the road you neglected to move the emergency survival kit from your new snowmobile to this one -- and your cellphone has never found a signal this far out. No doubt, when you fail to arrive as expected, your friend will come looking for you. But with this wicked snowstorm already starting to pound the area, that might not happen for another 48 hours at best. So, like it or not, you're in for an adventure. And it's up to you to decide what form that will take ... What You've Got: In addition to the winter clothing you're wearing, you've got two protein bars, a bottle of water, the snowmobile's cover, a basic repair kit consisting of some wrenches, pliers, and screwdrivers, the Swiss Army knife or Leatherman tool you always carry, and the bottle of single malt scotch you were planning to share with your friend at the cabin. What you don't have are any matches, lighters, or time -- because the wind is howling, the snow is flying, and the visibility is dropping fast. Are we having fun yet? To enter: Send a detailed description of your MakeShift solution with sketches and/or photos to makeshift@makezine.com by Aug. 27, 2010. If duplicate solutions are submitted, the winner will be determined by the quality of the explanation and presentation. The most plausible and most creative solutions will each win a MAKE T-shirt and a MAKE Pocket Ref. Think positive and include your shirt size and contact information with your solution. Good luck! For readers' solutions to previous MakeShift challenges, visit makezine.com/makeshift. Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Make Challenge | Digg this! 
This project is one I have been working on for a couple of years. First inspired by the Hektor painting robot I decided to create the project in my own way. The system is two distinct parts. One that controls the positioning of the pen and the other that interprets an image and sends coordinates to draw. The computer draws based on a pre-decided image but is programed to draw differently every time creating a unique drawing.
The process is long, sometimes taking multiple weeks nonstop to finish a drawing. In a sense the machine is the artist, abiding to a specific set of rules as it decides how to draw. Drawbot More: Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Arts | Digg this! 
Check out this rockin' pair of LEGO headphones from Instructables user =D. [via ubergizmo]
I decided to combine the two things that I love most: music and LEGO. This whole project took me about a month and a half, very on and off. I'm quite pleased with how the headphones turned out in the end, as they are sturdy enough to be tossed around in a bag. My favourite part is that I can take it apart any time to make repairs that may be needed on the go. No tools necessary! More: Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in LEGO | Digg this! 
I love miniball bots and other types of ballbots where the electronics and mechanics are housed inside and the vehicle "navigates" by rolling around and bouncing off of stuff. Here's the same basic idea, inside a cylinder (a clear paint can). It's the Barreller, by Randy Sarafan. The way the continuous rotation servo is used and the use of the paintbrush handles as the "eccentric" weight are innovative. This is just one step up from a basic vibrobot, in terms of build complexity. And like a vibrobot, this would be a fun project to do with kids. It's just complicated enough for them to feel like they've really accomplished something, while being quick enough to maintain their attention.
Simple Bots: Barreller Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Robotics | Digg this! 
Competitive lockpicking growing in US popularity @ Boston.com. Based on what I've seen it's true, more people want to learn how to pick locks just for fun and more events have lock picking sessions and workshops - While lockpickers thrive on the intellectual thrill of beating all sorts of locks, they oppose attempts to use the skill for mischievous purposes and have laid down universal ethical guidelines: "You never pick a lock you don't own and you never pick a lock that's in regular use," Towne said. Some lockpickers observe a code of responsible disclosure by providing manufacturers information on weaknesses they discover in locks they defeat -- just like responsible computer hackers do when they detect security flaws in software.
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