DEFCON is not just about using technology to create or solve problems. Legal, social, and cultural factors come into play as well. While “Social Engineering” plays a part in con life, with talks, competitions, and gaining entry to parties, other people and organizations at the conference are keen to change behavior at levels from international to local by less nefarious means. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a major presence at DEFCON with a stall in the vendor area (this year, right next to the government folks), a fundraiser party event, and multiple smaller fundraising activities. I asked Mitch from the EFF to explain how the work of the EFF helps makers: 
Red Card, Yellow Card
DEFCON has had a reputation for being an event where there have been instances of unwanted attention or harassment toward some attendees. In an attempt to help reduce these occurrences KC made some yellow and red warning cards to hand out when undesired behavior occurs. She took the time to talk to me about the project: 
Editor’s Note: The t-word for breasts is used in this clip.
Badge Modification
Each category of DEFCON attendee (humans, goons, vendors, press and artists) has a different style of badge. I took some time to make my press badge a little more unique—just in case you were concerned I wasn’t doing any making while at DEFCON: 
Be sure to catch my next post where we take a look at some of the cool surplus electronics that were available in the DEFCON vendor area and talk with one of the mysterious Ninjas behind the private cellphone network running at DEFCON. Filed under: Events          
Make: Asks is a weekly column where we ask you, our readers, for responses to maker-related questions. We hope the column sparks interesting conversation and is a way for us to get to know more about each other.
This week’s question: Have you ever worked with another person (or people) on a project that couldn’t have been realized had you tried it on your own? In my first year of grad school I made a dance pad game with two other students. I had strong fabrication and electronics skills, but if it weren’t for the Processing chops of one student and the project management talents of another, the project wouldn’t have come to fruition. Post your responses in the comments section. Filed under: MAKE Asks          
Lego builder Simon “Burf” Burfield built the world’s first Lego wheelchair: Currently still a prototype, the LEGO Wheelchair can move a 90kg person. It uses 6 NXT’s to drive 12 NXT motors (2 per NXT for maximum power output) which are connected to 12 Rotacaster multi-directional wheels. Using these wheels will later allow for side to side movement(strafing). There is a master NXT which controls the 6 NXT via turning on/off touch sensors. The joystick is connected to 4 touch sensors to determine direction (forward, backwards, turn left, turn right).
The master NXT then turns 2 motors (left / right side) different directions which turn on / off 12 touch sensors (2 per NXT for backwards / forwards). Special thanks to LEGO and Rotacaster.com.au for supporting this project.
Man, he uses a ton of 64178s and 64179s! See the Flickr set for more goodness. [via The NXT Step] Filed under: LEGO, Robotics, Transportation          
Congratulations to Lynne P., winner of the Project Remake contest! Presented by Schick, makers were asked to submit projects that created fascinating remade wonders from everyday objects and components. After a couple rounds of voting, Lynne eventually won the most number of votes from the public for her diesel engine converted to run off waste vegetable oil. For her combination of readymade materials and homemade energy, Lynne wins a MakerBot Replicator and an expenses-paid trip to exhibit her project at the 3rd annual World Maker Faire in NYC this September! Powered by one of the more popular alterna-fuels, Lynne writes about her project, It turns a regular diesel car into a waste vegetable oil burning vehicle. My husband and I take the oil after being used at local restaurants and burn it in our vehicles. This not only saves the oil from being trucked off Cape Cod (where we live) but it helps us and some local friends lessen our dependence on foreign oil.
Lynne’s vehicle will join a bevy of other Maker Faire projects whose focus is sustainability and alternative energy. So get your early bird tickets now, and see you there. Next up: powering a MakerBot Replicator with energy generated by waste veggie oil to print parts needed to make engine conversion kits. Ahhh now that’s meta! Filed under: Contest, Remake          
Trammell Hudson and phooky of NYC Resistor have been exploring read-only (e.g., non-volatile) memory chips in a series of fascinating posts on the hackerspace’s blog. phooky wrote The Joy of Dumping, which explains why you’d want to check out the ancient data moldering on decades-old chips: Which brings up the question of why you'd even want to bother to begin with. This is the firmware for an obsolete solvent control system running on a Motorolla 68000 microprocessor, obscurity on obscurity on obscurity. Who's ever going to need it anyway? Why save the bits? For the same reasons we record any history: because someday it may prove to be useful, and because someday it may prove to be beautiful. And even if it's neither, at least it's fun to poke around. Just pulling the strings out of the binaries yields odd puzzles.
In Stick a Straw in Its Brain and Suck: How to Read a ROM, phooky shows how to dump a ROM. Trammell Hudson followed up last Sunday with a post showing how to snag a ROM’s data using a Teensy development board. Cool stuff! Filed under: Electronics          
If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to lay on your back and operate an iPad without the hassle of actually having to hold it while in a supine position, then you’ll find this recumbent iPad stand by maker David Gardner an indispensable addition to your somnolent activities. [via Etsy] Filed under: Gadgets, iPhone, Technology          More Recent Articles | 
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