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April 04 2012
Poster Pixelater
Ad-cutting is a kind of guerrilla art form, in which parts of adhesive-backed subway poster ads are creatively cut, peeled, and/or mixed-and-matched with one another to subvert the message of the original ad or otherwise make an original statement. This latest offering from NYC’s Free Art and Technology collective is a tool, not just for creating ad-cutting art, but for encouraging passers-by to join in:
In two quick swipes, it transforms a small patch of subway advertisement…into an 8×8 grid of pixel stickers, ready for two-way interaction with the public…Keep your eyes open for a single removed pixel as an indicator of a prepared poster, as the grid itself can be hard to see.
The project is called subpixel, and the tool itself is made from a piece of laser-cut acrylic, nine razor blades, and nine rubber bands. You may recall the F.A.T. collective from their recent 3D-printable universal construction toy adapter set.
More:
- Drill Here to Destroy Hard Drive
- Laser Cut a Stencil for Adjustable Infographic Graffiti
- 3D Graffiti Sculptures
March 09 2012
NEWS FROM THE FUTURE – Tech Companies Mum On Factory Audits
Tech Companies Mum On Factory Audits @ Buzzfeed. John Herrman wrote to the gadget makers out there…
Under immense pressure, Apple decided to let independent auditors into its suppliers’ factories. So we asked other companies: Will you do the same?
It’s a simple question, phrased politely, and sent to the right people. Does your company have any plans to let independent auditors check up on your suppliers’ factories? Here’s what I got from some of the world’s biggest electronics companies. They had a month to respond:
This is a follow up to my previous post “NEWS FROM THE FUTURE – Factory Audits Becomes a Feature“. I think the massive maker community could help put the pressure on these companies as well. Makers tend to care about the origin of things, how they’re made and by who. We’re also willing to a pay a few bucks more if it’s made better, lasts longer and is repairable – and most of all, I think we care about the conditions in which something is made. At some point an agreed upon indicator will sought after by more and more customers, right now Apple is leading they way, they’re the easy target being #1 in a few arenas – and they’re turning this to the standard that other gadget makers may be held to.
March 07 2012
NEWS FROM THE FUTURE – HoverMast
Sky Sapience, an expert in autonomous hovering machine technology, announces the release of the HoverMast, tethered hovering platform specially designed for small vehicles. The HoverMast will be displayed at the upcoming AUVSI conference and exhibition in Tel-Aviv.
The HoverMast responds to the need for quick, mobile intelligence gathering. At the click of a button, the system autonomously deploys, rising to heights of up to 50 meters within 10-15 seconds. Secured by a cable, serving as a power supply and wideband data link, the highly stabilized HoverMast combines advanced flight algorithms and innovative materials to provide the highest payload-to-size ratio available today. Weighing only 10 kg, the platform is capable of hosting 9 kg payloads, such as electro-optic sensors, laser designators, radar, and sophisticated COMINT and ELINT systems. Its data link enables the transfer of critical data to selected recipients in real time.
The HoverMast is stored in a compact housing unit that can be mounted on any vehicle; small vehicles in particular: cars, pick-up trucks, unmanned ground or surface vehicles (UGV/USV), ATVs, and small naval craft; making the system especially suited for Special Forces, border and port protection, and infantry missions.
The challenge, you’re not allowed to make a SkyNet joke.
Drinking In The Future at Barbot SF 2012
Barbot last Saturday was a blast. I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t love this event, which showcases the latest in maker-made cocktail-mixing robots. Barbot is produced by the same organization that puts on Robogames.
Most of the Barbots and their teams are returnees from previous years, but as with the DARPA Grand Challenges, the…ah… bar raises very quickly from one event to the next as the innovations pour forth. This year’s bots were all beautiful, with gracious interfaces. On the back end, they took different approaches to the problem of how to dispense precise quantities of source liquids consistently.
The hot young newcomer was the Santa Barbot, built by a team of recent engineering grads from UC Santa Barbara (Zachary Rubin, Andrew Ballinger, Paul Filitchkin, and Ethan Zakai). They decided to participate in the event just 11 days before it opened, embarking on a massive, sleepless design and coding binge to make it in time. The last pieces of code were written in the car ride up from Santa Barbara to San Francisco. The system has a host computer with webserver that enables drink selection via mobile devices. Once the user makes the selection, an Arduino controls a semicircular array of nozzle/pump assemblies lifted from Nerf Super Soaker battery-powered squirt guns, along with matching colorful LEDs. One by one, the liquids shoot through the air into a cup placed in the center of the semicircle as the LEDs highlight the source bottle, and when the drink is done, all the LEDs flash in sequence. Meantime, the bartender character Lloyd from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining looks on from a flat-screen TV. As Andrew explains, “He stares deep into your soul and then gets you drunk with robotic uncaring and precision.”
Santa-Barbot
The Santa-Barbot team
The Party Robotics team (Pierre Michael and Robert Kaye), whose work is veering dangerously close to commercial viability, showed off Bartendro. Above a gleaming metal panel, it uses peristaltic pumps to precisely dispense from inverted bottles up top. Vent tubes stick up above the liquid level inside the bottles to equalize the air pressure inside, running to small holes in the sided of the rubber plugs. Each bottle has its own controller board, with centralized control coming from a BeagleBoard and a touchscreen interface in front.
Bartendro - clamps from McMaster Carr hold bottles inverted
Bartendro - panels removed in back to show LED-lit interior
Bartendro - cluster of liquid tubes lead down to dispensing location
The fascinating and elegant Drink Making Unit 2.0 from Evil Mad Science Laboratories (aka Evil Mad Science, Lenore Edman and Windell Oskay) has a laboratory glassware aesthetic. Liquids are pushed from their flasks into flexible tubes by battery-powered backup aquarium air pumps — which enabled the DMU 2.0 to continue operating through a brief power outage at about 11pm. The liquids then dispense into angled graduated cylinders that swivel and tip sideways into the cocktail glass once they’re full and top-heavy. As they tip, reflective tape on the side interrupts an IR emitter and sensor pair, which triggers the flow to stop and tells the controller to fill the next cylinder. Users specify their desired drinks via a control panel, by assigning their six allotted mix units to each ingredient, and then hitting the Launch button.
Drink Making Unit 2.0
Drink Making Unit 2.0 - tip sensor
Anthony Fudd built and programmed his super cute TipsyBot entirely out of Lego and Lego Mindstorms components. The bot mixes Screwdrivers because, as Anthony explains, the screwdriver is an important tool for many creative pursuits. The TipsyBot’s small car carries your cocktail glass along a tabletop railway from the serving station to the mixing station, where two servomotor platforms tip and pour the vodka and OJ from bottles for precisely programmed amounts of time. When the mixing is done, the car delivers the cocktail back to you.
TipsyBot - cocktail glass car
With an ever-changing LED glow, fountain interior, and classic chemistry graphics, the ThinBot (by Kevin Roche and Andrew Trembley) serves the drinks and celebrates the elegance of the 1930′s Thin Man movies, during which all characters imbibe cocktails constantly. Thinbot’s electronics are housed on top, above the liquid line, where they can never get inadvertently dripped or poured on. Of course, ThinBot’s drinks are served with cocktail napkins– emblazoned with a blueprint for a proper martini.
ThinBot
The rocketship-shaped CosmoBot (by Samuel M Coniglio IV, Ken Mochel, Joe Phillips, and Katherine Becvar) quenches all of our thirst for space travel. Set the dial to your preferred drink, hit the Launch button, and watch the bot pressurize the cabin, spew dry-ice clouds, and dispense professional bartender calibrated proportions into your glass. Like the Drink Making Unit 2.0, the CosmoBot uses aquarium pumps to dispense the goods.
Other barbots at the event included the Elixerator (Bill, Becky, and Amanda Sherman), the pedal-powered Skinner Box (Matthew Dockrey), the neatly countertop-integrated DrinkSys (Ryan Nevell), and El Espanol Borracho, by Barbot and Robot Wars impresario David Calkins.
The Elixerator - interior
More: Photos From BarBot 2012—One More Night (Tonight) in San Francisco
February 23 2012
What is a Hacker? Ask One.
I love this pair of “interviews” that hacker legends Mitch Altman and Emmanuel Goldstein gave to the Media Show.
When someone says they are a hacker, what do they mean? Are they just big computer geeks? Are they doing illegal criminal things, breaking in and stealing passwords? Mitch Altman, inventor of the TV-B-Gone, tells us hacking is about thinking differently about the world around you. Featuring the folks at the Noisebridge hackerspace in San Francisco, who show off their projects with bikes, toys, clothes, food, electricity, and even outer space!
BTW, it looks like the Media Show could use a little support to stay running. [via Drew Fustini]
February 22 2012
Reimagining the Library for the Future @ The New York Public Library
Reimagining the Library for the Future @ The New York Public Library:
For more than a century, The New York Public Library has been a fount of knowledge for hundreds of millions of users. As the Library looks ahead, it is poised to take the next step in a bold plan that will build on this legacy and focus on our neighborhood branches as vibrant, democratic libraries for all.
…We envision a system where people of all ages and backgrounds come together in energetic community spaces filled with books, ideas, services, and public programs that anchor our libraries as the cornerstone of civic life in New York City.
We envision libraries that are more than storehouses for books waiting to be checked out. They should be active hubs of knowledge that incubate new ideas while bonding communities and neighborhoods together.
To this end, we are moving forward with an ambitious plan for the future that will transform and upgrade our 91 locations, including the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. The Library is creating state-of-the-art branches and reenvisioning the public programs and services we offer to patrons from all walks of life — from writers and researchers to immigrants, entrepreneurs, and schoolchildren.Without your input, we cannot create the Library for the Future that New Yorkers need and deserve.
If you want to see 3D printers, tool lending, laser cutters, skill building, entrepreneurial classes and hackspace-like activities visit the NYPL “Join the Conversation” page and send in your comments. You can also email: yourlibrary@nypl.org
Thanks Koren!
Is It Time to Rebuild & Retool Public Libraries?
February 03 2012
Tony Cragg’s Dice Sculptures
Sculptor Tony Cragg created this dice-covered sculptures for Paris’s FIAC art show, which took place in October. Love to see this style with d20s! [via Colossal; photo courtesy of Daniel Milliner]
January 17 2012
How Makers, Hackers, and Entrepreneurs Can Save the U.S. Postal Service
Over the holidays, when the Adafruit shipping staff was away, I shipped hundreds and hundreds of packages of open source electronics. I put on headphones, and did my rounds through the factory and storage shelves. It was a good chance for me to reflect on how much I like the postal service (and the companies that are built around it like Endicia and Stamps.com). For a reasonable price, they can get almost anything anywhere. Sure, there are problems once in awhile, but for the volume and price, it’s pretty incredible. We have a daily pick up and delivery here in NYC; the postal staff is like part of my team. A few weeks ago, the postal service had a petition trying to get support so Saturday service wouldn’t shut down — things are getting grim.
You’ve probably seen the recent headlines: the postal service has reported massive loses in the billions. As I spent the days and nights shipping, I thought it would be interesting to consider how we could transform and evolve the postal system. I think makers, hackers, and entrepreneurs have unique ways of looking at things, and I’d like to share some of the ideas I had. Most of all, I’d like your input. Together we could start some conversations on how we could utilize this national logistical treasure. Which brings us to this week’s Soapbox: “How Makers, Hackers, and Entrepreneurs Can Save the U.S. Postal Service.”
Let’s go!
First, a quick history lesson:
The United States Postal Service (also known as USPS, the Post Office, or U.S. Mail) is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution. The USPS traces its roots to 1775 during the Second Continental Congress, where Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general. The cabinet-level Post Office Department was created in 1792 from Franklin’s operation and transformed into its current form in 1971 under the Postal Reorganization Act.
Benjamin Franklin wasn’t a president, but he’s on the $100 bill, the highest bill in circulation. What a great symbol of American ingenuity. But how are they doing now? Not so good…
The USPS employs over 574,000 workers and operates over 218,000 vehicles. It is the second largest civilian employer in the United States. The USPS is the operator of the largest vehicle fleet in the world. The USPS is legally obligated to serve all Americans, regardless of geography, at uniform price and quality. The USPS has exclusive access to letter boxes marked “U.S. Mail” and personal letterboxes in the United States, but still competes against private package delivery services, such as UPS and FedEx.
On December 5, 2011 the USPS announced it will close more than half of its mail processing centers, eliminate 28,000 jobs and end overnight delivery of first-class mail. This will close down 252 of its 461 processing centers. On December 13, 2011 the USPS agreed to delay the closing of 252 mail processing centers as well as 3,700 local post offices until mid-May 2012. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA) (HR 6407), enacted on December 20, 2006, obligates the USPS to prefund 75-years’ worth of future health care benefit payments to retirees within a ten-year time span — a requirement to which no other government organization is subject.
And just to get the bad news out of the way, here’s more. Postal Service reports massive loss.
The agency reported an annual loss of $5.1 billion, as declining mail volumes and mounting benefit costs take their toll. The Postal Service said its losses would have been roughly $10.6 billion if not for the passage of legislation postponing a $5.5 billion payment required to fund retiree health benefits.
Revenues from First-Class Mail, the Postal Service’s largest and most profitable product, declined 6% from the previous fiscal year to $32 billion. Total mail volume declined by 3 billion pieces, or 1.7%.
“The continuing and inevitable electronic migration of First-Class Mail, which provides approximately 49 percent of our revenue, underscores the need to streamline our infrastructure and make changes to our business model,” Postal Service CFO Joe Corbett said in a statement accompanying the figures.
Last year’s losses hit $8.5 billion, despite deep cuts in expenses and staffing. Mail volume is down more than 20% over the past four years.
So before I list off my ideas (and you post yours) on turning this ship around, let’s assume that the retiree health benefits are taken care of independently. I want to focus on ideas and services, not the benefit costs for people who retire. I realize that’s part of the business concerns, but this is about transforming the postal service from a maker/hacker point of view. Let’s keep the politics out and focus on the attainable, actionable ideas that could potentially happen. Got it? Thanks!
These are in no particular order, and there are some completely wacky ideas tossed in for humor.
The U.S. Postal Service Sensor Network
The postal service would outfit every truck with a networked “box of sensors.” They would rent sensor space in every vehicle for sensor nets. We can do that with satellites now and there are DIY sats on the way, why not for mail trucks? USA pollution, radiation, bio-threat sensors, all on every truck, all available as an API to use. Researches could use it, regular people could send off their modules that were built to spec. “You get 12V DC power and 6″x6″x6″.” We’d have a fleet of Arduino-powered sensor networks reporting back everything. Big data grinding away from every town in America. Google was collecting our wi-fi so it’s certainly possible to collect other things as the trucks move about the U.S. Pictured above, a little postal truck-meets-Engadget.
The U.S. Postal Service Street-View Service
Rent mail car roof space to companies wanting to do mapping. Bing could get a real photo of most places EVERY DAY, almost like real-time Google Street View. Or maybe it’s a public service that we all get access to with an API to experiment with. If you can get daily photos from every street, every place a postal truck goes to every day, what would be possible? Want to do a virtual tour of the USA? Work with Livestream/Ustream to stream the mail routes each day. I would tune in to my old addresses and hometown from time to time to “hitch a ride.” That’s a silly idea, but you get the point.
Pictured above, fake Google Street View car you can make on your own.
The U.S. Postal Service Cloud
Provide mobile hotspots wherever the mail service is, from buildings to vehicles. These would be small cell towers that would bring access to some areas each day, extend networks of cell providers, and a lot of things I didn’t think of. The carriers could use the trucks to see weak areas of their networks and the big blue postal service mail bins could eventually be wireless network nodes in large cities, providing a public wireless network (and sensor network). Maybe your P.O. box is your own local backup storage on flash drives, off-site and always there when you need it. I’d love a TB of storage at the local post office that is syncing my important data that’s off-site and always just there.
Pictured above, Cloud vector icons.
The U.S. Postal AdSense
Sell our mail to Google to scan, then they can add small relevant ads to it. Just kidding, maybe. But on a serious note, there is so much data that gets “scanned” in some way to get any mail from one place to another, I’m sure there’s something else we could do with this. Handwriting analysis, pattern recognition, there’s a lot going.
The U.S. Postal Kickstarter Fulfillment Service
Provide shipping services to “crowd-funded products” at reduced rates. For example, Kickstarters that are shipping their goods can use the postal service at a great rate. If one of the biggest issues the postal service has is declining use, why not bolt on to Kickstarter and offer such an amazing deal for makers to ship their goods to customers that they’ll use it. Fueling crowd-sourced projects in some way will get more people using the postal service, and who knows, maybe others will start to see the value too. Since the most popular Kickstarter projects are actual physical goods, they eventually need to be shipped. Yes, eBay does deals, but this is different — this is a specific effort for community and crowd-funded services using the postal service exclusively because it’s the best deal.
The U.S. Postal Service Adds 3D Printing
Have 3D printers in post offices. You send in a file and pick it up a few days later or it’s sent to you. They could work with Ponoko, Shapeways, etc., and rent out space in each city to them. The post office has lots of space and large machines, and it’s basically running 24/7 — that’s what we need for 3D printing hubs. You’d upload your files to USPS.com and you’d pick up items in your special 3D P.O. box storage unit, or get them mailed to you.
The U.S. Postal Service Offers Small Business “Grants” For Office Space/Co-Working
Grant 10,000 square feet in NYC, and other big cities, that the postal service is not using (the post offices in NYC have tons of empty space). I’ll pay market rate and run an electronics factory from it. That’s a selfish one because I need about that much space now, but why not grant cool companies doing design, engineering, and science workspace grants to get them in the same building as post offices that aren’t being used as much and have tons of space? Part of the deal is you’d use the postal service for all your shipping needs — well most of them! MakerBot in Brooklyn should just take over a mail building that’s not being used. They’re making big boxes of things that just need to be shipped.
Having internet startups and cool companies that make things in the same building as the post office in large cities could foster all sorts of cross-innovation.
Pictured above, the Peck Slip Post Office a few blocks from where I live/work. I want makers in that building before Apple turns it into an Apple store!
So those are the notes I jotted down as I shipped packages during an unusually warm December here in NYC. I’m really curious what you think. Remember, this is all about NEW IDEAS. Post yours in the comments!
MAKE Goes Dark in Protest to SOPA/PIPA
Tomorrow, from 8am to 8pm EST, the MAKE sites will go dark, joining all of O’Reilly Media, and many other sites, like Wikipedia, Reddit, Boing Boing, Tucows, Twitpic, and more, in protest over the SOPA and PIPA bills now before the House and Senate. Even Google is joining in. They won’t go dark, but they’ll post a message about the protest and provide links to information about these troubling bills.
This isn’t an action we take lightly. But we believe that SOPA, “Stop Online Piracy Act” (H.R. 3261), and PIPA, “PROTECT IP Act” (S. 968), are potentially poisonous to many of the things that we stand for. Not only has the internet had a hugely positive impact on our economy, our culture, and our ability to disseminate media and information, but it has allowed people from all walks of life and all areas of concern to become publishers, media producers, journalists, educators, doers, makers. We think that legislation like that being proposed would have a chilling effect on all of this. The bills are allegedly designed to combat commercial piracy, but as we’ve seen in previous efforts to fight illegal content, the pirates figure out an end-around and it’s the everyday users (and in this case, pretty much every internet concern besides the big media companies) that would bare the brunt of these overreaching bills. As Tim O’Reilly says in his Radar column today “The solution to piracy must be a market solution, not a government intervention.”
So, we’ll go dark tomorrow and this will hopefully raise people’s awareness of the issue and prompt them to contact their elected officials.
Here’s a good SOPA/PIPA background piece on O’Reilly Radar by Alex Howard.
And here’s the Washington Post’s take on SOPA, apply titled SOPA’s ugly message to the world about America and internet Innovation
After the jump is a video that explains what the main concerns are over this type of legislation.
January 05 2012
Subtle Sound Hacks at Europe’s Largest IKEA Store
New media artist Taeyoon Choi visited Europe’s largest IKEA store near Malmø, Sweden, in December, 2011, along with a bag full of motors, microcontrollers, and hardware. Less a critique of consumption and mass-produced objects, Taeyoon’s sculptures make subtle sound hacks that interact with shoppers and the surrounding environment; the “critique” is there, but it’s more about what Taeyoon calls the “harmless tiny noise.” While I typically buy my dishware based on aesthetics and design, I admit I’m intrigued by some objects for their acoustic properties, although I never thought to bring them to life with a breadboard, Arduino, and a motor… until now!
[via The Creators Project]
January 04 2012
“Implementation of MITM Attack on HDCP-Secured Links”
A man-in-the-middle attack on HDCP-secured video links is demonstrated. The attack is implemented on an embedded Linux platform, with the help of a Spartan-6 FPGA, and is capable of operating real-time on HD video links. It utilizes the HDCP master key to derive the corresponding private keys of the video source and sink through observation and computation upon the exchanged public keys. The man-in-the-middle then genlocks its raster and cipher state to the incoming video stream, enabling it to do pixel by pixel swapping of encrypted data. Since the link does no CRC or hash verification of the data, one is able to forge video using this method.
Bunnie’s latest is so cool, and so out there – watch the whole thing and check out the slides.
December 28 2011
Predictions For 2012 – Add Yours!
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment – Buddha.
It’s that time of year, time to predict what’s going to happen. For me, prediction is just talking about stuff I’m doing now that’s too out there to be interesting to more than a few people. Five and 10 year predictions are fun, but I’m going to stick to next year. The following is a list of things I think we’ll see more of in 2012. In the list, I cover: drones, wearables, the Internet of things, Arduino, Kinect, 3D printing, hackerspaces, and crowd funding. This is all meant to be a fun conversation starter. Post up your predictions and thoughts in the comments. In one year, we’ll check back and see how we did. :)
Drone journalism
In 2011, the “person of the year” was the protester. What’s 2012 going to have? More protests and ways to cover them. Low-cost, citizen made UAVs will make appearances. The operators will be first on the scene, to protests and to the natural disasters. Drone Journalism. To watch, stream, record, report, sense and to watch the watchers. The cellphone video cameras from the street will have wings.
Wearables
From FitBits to JawBone UPs, the next great interface frontier is away from the ubiquitous touch screen on our phones, to our bodies. From things to help us track our sleep to electronic jewelry – electronics are small and cheap, skin real estate is going on the market. There will be a dozen “smart watches” that will try to live on your wrist. The gadget makers and fashion industry will start to employ many of the innovations and interesting technologies first starting in maker communities and hackerspaces.
Internet of things
The glue for devices to talk to each other is getting pretty sticky. Everything will have an IP addresses, everything will “talk.” Net-connected thermostats and Kickstarter products will do all the little things better, easier, and on the web. Your clothes dryer will finally text you when it’s done, and it will be cause you, yes you, easily put a few devices together to do this — and it just “worked.” An open-source Pachube might make an appearance.
Arduino hits 1 million units
The “Internet of things” requires that glue I was talking about, and that’s Arduino, the little open source hardware platform that was made for designers, will hit 1 million units shipped by the end of 2012. If you have an idea like empowering your plants to call you when they need water, you’re going to use an Arduino to get started. Turns out, everyone has a million ideas to make things better. And now they can realize those ideas. It won, it’s here to stay.
World “Kinect’ed”
Microsoft continues to build a giant business around the Kinect (hacks) – in November of 2012 it will be two years after the open source, robotics, art, and design communities innovated and created amazing examples of what can be done with an open-style Kinect. We’ll see a higher resolution version of the Kinect that will change gaming, desktop interactions, and the hackers and makers will lead the way again with cool projects.
3D printing
Speaking of 3D printing, MakerBot got $10m in 2011 and Shapeways is opening up a facility in NYC. This will make New York the world capital of 3D printing. We’ll also see more acquisitions of 3D printing companies as they all move towards low-cost printers for everyone. We’ll start to see more and more of them, and this, of course, will cause some good problems. I think Autodesk is going to buy or build a low-cost 3D printer company in 2012. MakerBot, Shopbot, Techshop, companies that end in a ‘bot sound.
More libraries become Hackerspaces
In 2012 we’ll see and hear about dozens of libraries specifically moving towards “hackerspaces.” Community areas with lots of space and eager makers will come together after a few successful pilot programs work out. The cranky people who didn’t think computers belonged in the library will sound like the next round of cranky people who do not think 3D printers belong in libraries either.
Crowd funding
The first stop on the next big idea will be sites like Kickstarter. One of the top projects this year was Printrbot, a DIY-style 3D printer – it received $830,827 in funding. As makers turn pro, VC (venture funding) will seem less attractive than getting their biggest fans to support them directly. Even the government is making it easier to raise money crowd-funding style.
“Merit badges” for modern skills
The world is changing so fast that new skills are required faster than traditional education facilities can create and deliver curriculum. In 2012, we’ll see many efforts to reward and celebrate quickly-learned modern skills. The Girl Scouts are adding new badges such as “Money Manager, Budgeting, Financing My Future, and Good Credit” and there’s more… “For Job Hunters, Digital Merit Badges” – Digital Badges May Highlight Job Seekers’ Skills @ NYTimes.com
Now the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is putting millions of dollars into a competition to spur interest in a new type of badge — one that people can display not on their clothing but on a Web site, blog, or Facebook page while they are looking for a job.
When kids play Xbox, they strive to be on the leader boards for high scores. In 2012, we’ll see learning skills earned as a scoring system, too.
Got predictions? Are mine completely bonkers for 2012? I’d like to close out with one more quote…
Everyone here has the sense that right now is one of those moments when we are influencing the future – Steve Jobs
Post up in the comments!
December 19 2011
Impressive Lighting Display in Ukraine
This state-of-the-art example of 3D projection mapping has been making the rounds on Facebook. This projection show was done in Kharkov, Ukraine, on the Kharkiv Regional Administration’s building (on 8/24/10),��� in honor of the city’s birthday and Independence Day.
December 14 2011
Digitally Controlled Orchestra
Richard James came up with the idea of controlling a 48 piece string section and a 24 strong choir by remote control, using midi controllers, lots of headphones and some remote visual cues, after being commissioned to write some pieces for the European culture congress in Poland. There was only one opportunity for a rehearsal to see if the idea worked, it was in the morning, the day of the concert! This is the result. Programming by weirdcore & andrew benson.
[Via Beyond the Beyond]
December 02 2011
How-To: DIY Spray Paint
Really? No, really?
Yes, apparently: Really. Instructables community manager mikeasaurus hacked together a plastic soda bottle, the top of an empty spray paint can, and the Schrader valve from a bicycle inner tube to make a homemade aerosol paint container that can be pressurized to 25 psi with a bicycle pump. As the video shows, it does actually work for a minute, or so, but needs repressurizing often.
Nonetheless, a valiant “because its there” sort of DIY project, and even if factory spray paint is easier to use, easier to obtain, and probably even more economical if both time and money are considered, it’s worthwhile to consider what fresh ideas might use this one as a jumping-off point.
More:
- Spray paint headphones
- Too Review: Couch Spray Paint. No, Seriously.
- Spray Painting with a Skateboard
- Wiper glove
November 11 2011
The Public Library, Completely Reimagined
A follow up to my previous article “Is It Time to Rebuild & Retool Public Libraries and Make “TechShops”?” – The Public Library, Completely Reimagined @ MindShift.
You’ll hear a lot of talk about the “death of the public library” these days. It isn’t simply the perpetual budget crises that many face either. It’s the move to digital literature, and the idea that once there are no more print books (or rather if there are no more print books), the library as an institution will cease to exist.
Librarians will remind you, of course, that a library is much more than a book repository. It’s an information center (free and open information, I should add). It’s an educational center. It’s a digital access center. It’s a community center. It’s fairly clear when you describe the library like this that none of these roles are going away (nor should they), no matter what format our reading habits may move to.
But these new formats will indeed change libraries — how they operate as well as how they look. As our books become digitized, there may be less need for row upon of bookshelves. And as such, that’s a great opportunity for libraries to re-think how to use that space.
Read more AND consider donating!
October 26 2011
Rubik’s Cube Mario Portrait
A timelapse of my friend Martin making a Mario out of 49 cheap Rubik’s cubes. Pictures are taken at five second intervals, so the whole thing took about half an hour.
October 24 2011
News From The Future: Tesla Coils At Sporting Events
News From The Future: Tesla Coils At Sporting Events, thanks Jon!
After a two-game delay for fine tuning, the Tampa Bay Lightning debuted the very awesome Tesla coils tonight inside St. Pete Times Forum before their 3-0 shutout of the Buffalo Sabres. During the pre-game festivities, the lightning glory of the Tampa Tesla coils were put on display… They were only used pre-game as, according to the team, there’s still just a bit more tweaking that needs to be done and once that’s complete, they’ll shoot lightning after every Tampa goal. Considering the Lightning tied with Calgary for an NHL-best 134 goals at home last season, the Tesla coils will need to be prepared for excessive use.
Aw.
October 21 2011
News From The Future: Augmented Reality Advertising Takeover
News From The Future: Augmented Reality Advertising Takeover…
Public Ad Campaign and The Heavy Projects developed Augmented Reality Advertising Takeover. The augmented reality viewer runs on smart phones and virtually replaces outdoor ads with curated artworks by street artists Ron English, John Fekner, PosterBoy, Doctor D and Ox. Here’s a quick video.
Crafters, Hackers, and Hackerspaces
Emily Smith is a blogger, maker, and community organizer from Vancouver, Canada. She runs the wonderful DIY site, Blue Mollusc, is involved in Vancouver Hack Space, and she spearheaded this year’s Vancouver Mini Maker Faire. We’re thrilled to welcome her to MAKE as one of our growing hackerspace author pool. She’s also now contributing to CRAFT. – Gareth
Where visions of crafting often conjure up images of glue guns, popsicle sticks, fabric and looms, hacking evokes soldering irons, microprocessors, and software. Truth is, there’s a lot of similarities between hacking and crafting, and even more to be gained from a dialogue between both groups of makers. Both hackers and crafters feel the same need to create things and manipulate materials, and have very similar basic requirements: access to equipment, space to work, and a supportive community within which to grow and share projects and ideas.
As an avid crafter, when I first visited a hackerspace, I immediately felt inspired to bring my projects there. There were some hints of crafting in the space the first time I set foot there, but it was hugely dominated by hardware and software hacking. Some may have felt alienated by that, but I felt like it was a wonderful opportunity to learn and engage with a medium that I’d never worked with before – and to also bring in the softer side of hacking — and yarn bomb some of those cold-looking surfaces!
The second time I went, I learned to solder, and learned some basics on how a circuit works, and built a laser Spirograph. I was then introduced to the wonderful world of EL wire. Most of the projects I’ve done at my hackspace are fairly craft-centric, but I’ve been lucky enough to build on the foundation that these hackers have started, and extend out to the crafting community. Turns out, hackerspaces are great places to host craft nights: it’s a public space, which saves me having to vacuum, and through mailing lists, wikis, and the website, it’s easier to fill a room of talented, engaged, and interesting people. I have also learned that if there are constraints to work within – say, a knitting or sewing night – everyone who comes out comes with a unique background and skillset, and are ready to share. So you end up learning a lot through absorption – much the same way that hackerspaces are designed.
One thing that I haven’t yet resolved, is why aren’t more crafters jumping on this opportunity? Most hackerspaces do have crafting nights, but from my experience, I rarely see that many crafters really embracing these spaces. Hackerspaces exist in many cities worldwide (visit hackerspaces.org to find one near you), and are a part of a diverse and rich community.
To all the crafters out there, learn about your local hacker- or makerspace, and drop by. Bring a friend. Talk to some people and learn or teach something new, and encourage others to bring their projects by.
To the hackers: If you see a crafter coming to your space, be sure to give them the means to participate, and welcome them – you all have a lot in common!
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