I totally want one of these vacuum tube radio hats. It's a complete two tube radio system, built into a hat!
[thanks, Dave!]
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Vacuum Tube Radio Hat
Posted: March 5th, 2010, 7:30pm MST
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Scientific cookie round-ups
Posted: March 5th, 2010, 6:30pm MST
I didn't know such a thing as scientific cookies existed, or even that a round-up (or two) were needed to show off all the flavors and possibilities that creative people have come up with. But now I realize I was living in the plain white flour and possibly moldy pantries of mundane cookiedom. Why make a star sugar cookie when you can make a sugar cookie atom?
Luckily, Ms. Humble of Not So Humble Pie is blogging about all the geeky baked goodies she can find, and she's gathered them up in two (so far) round-ups. Of course our inspired cooking pals over at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories are included!
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Pneumatic Lego robotic arm
Posted: March 5th, 2010, 6:00pm MST
Polish Lego builder Paul "Sarial" Kmiec built this fantastic robotic arm using Technic Power Functions elements combined with an external pneumatic compressor!
Just another weekend build - this is basically a late realization of an idea I had back when I was a kid. The goal was to build a model of an entire human arm, with palm included, that would have as much realistic functions as possible while being of more or less accurate size. The look of the arm was considered insignificant.
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The most complex part of the arm is obviously the palm with 4 fingers and a thumb. The thumb can be bent and raised/lowered, whereas the remaining 4 fingers have two joints in each of them. The index finger was operated independently, and it was fairly possible to operate every finger individually, except that it would take two times more pneumatic hoses, which were already quite numerous (8 of these was going through the arm). The palm can be theoretically rotated through full 360 degrees, but I never actually tried it for the sake of the hoses in the wrist. The whole arm was heavy and a bending under its weight a bit, but it worked well. I think it was pretty satisfactory for something that was built in just two days. -
Experimenting with Cuprous Oxide diodes
Posted: March 5th, 2010, 5:00pm MST
Pete Friedrichs, author of the can't-be-recommended-highly-enough Voice of the Crystal and Instruments of Amplification (which I review in MAKE Volume 21), has posted online his two-part article "Fun With Homebrew Cuprous Oxide Diodes," which originally appeared in the Xtal Set Society Newsletter. In it, he shows you how to build an old-school Cuprous Oxide-based radio detector (diode) using little more than some metal scraps, misc hardware, and garden shed/kitchen chemicals. The results don't sound all that compelling, but given the crudity of the components... And the detector stand you build in the process can be used for experiments with other natural semiconducting materials. And Peter always does such a lovely job on these builds. It's like a piece a tech art, cobbled together from junkbox bits.
Fun With Homebrew Cuprous Oxide Diodes
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From MAKE magazine:
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MAKE Volume 21 is the Desktop Manufacturing issue, with how-to articles on making three-dimensional parts using inexpensive computer-controlled manufacturing equipment. Both additive (RepRap, CandyFab) and subtractive (Lumenlab Micro CNC) systems are covered. Also in this issue: instructions for making a cigar box guitar, building your own CNC for under $800, running a mini electric bike with a cordless drill, making a magic photo cube, and tons more. If you're a subscriber, you may have your issue in hand already, and can access the Digital Edition. Otherwise, you can pick up MAKE 21 in the Maker Shed or look for it on newsstands near you! -
Junk guitar video demo
Posted: March 5th, 2010, 4:00pm MST
Sound artist Ranjit Bhatnagar explains how to build a simple guitar, with amplifier, at a recent NY Resistor junk guitar workshop. [via Science Friday. Thanks, Sam Murphy!]
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Soaps that look like Petri dish cultures
Posted: March 5th, 2010, 3:00pm MST
This week's clever maker-entrepreneur award goes to Etsy sellers Cleaner Science, who make and sell these awesome soaps that look like petri dishes full of growing germs. They're easy to make (I presume), inexpensive to buy, light enough to ship cheaply, and totally original. Home run! Bonus: some include glow-in-the-dark spots! [via Geekologie]
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Control your iPod with ease using the iPod Serial library
Posted: March 5th, 2010, 2:00pm MST
Last year, Dave Findlay built a simple Arduino-based iPod remote to make it easy to start and stop his music while in the car. The remote worked well, however it didn't support any of the advanced features of the iPod. Ever the vigilant developer, he decided to remedy this issue, and expanded his orignal example into a fully-featured iPod remote control library. The project is available for download from github, and he has a nice explanation of how to use it.
If you're looking for an easy way to play music or sounds using an Arduino, this could be a great way to go Older generation iPod hardware should be available for cheap, and paired with this library and an Arduino, you have a great platform for that next interactive sound (and video?) project!
In the Maker Shed:
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The Maker Shed has everything you need to get started with Arduino -
Skinput: projecting a UI onto your own body
Posted: March 5th, 2010, 1:00pm MST
It's hard to give Carnegie Mellon PhD student Chris Harrison's Skinput a fair shake without automatically assuming it's a variant of Pravan Mistry's Sixth Sense project. Nevertheless, it does employ different tech: Mistry's Sixth Sense is optical; Skinput uses a "novel, non-invasive, wearable bio-acoustic sensor" to track your gestures.
We present Skinput, a technology that appropriates the human body for acoustic transmission, allowing the skin to be used as a finger input surface. In particular, we resolve the location of finger taps on the arm and hand by analyzing mechanical vibrations that propagate through the body. We collect these signals using a novel array of sensors worn as an armband. This approach provides an always-available, naturally-portable, and on-body interactive surface. To illustrate the potential of our approach, we developed several proof-of-concept applications on top of our sensing and classification system.
Created with Desney Tan and Dan Morris of Microsoft Research. Harrison will formally present the project at CHI2010 this April.
[via Core77]
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Dorkshop NYC: Physical Computing with David Cuartielles
Posted: March 5th, 2010, 12:00pm MST
Bring your Arduino if you've got one, see you there!
David Cuartielles will be speaking about the past present and future of the Arduino platform, both hardware and software. There will be an opportunity for DT students to share their work in quick 3 - 5 min presentations. What have you made with the Arduino? David's talk and presentations will be followed by workshops on paper prototyping, hackduinos, and more. This event is free! However, if you plan on attending the workshop, there is a materials fee of $5.
Dorkshop: Physical Computing with David Cuartelles
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Tuesday, March 16, 2010 - 12:00pm - 6:00pm
Parsons the New School for Design
2 W 13th Street, 10th Floor Design & Technology Lab
NYC, New York
RSVP at Dorkshop or view the event on Facebook -
In the Maker Shed: Thingamagoop 2
Posted: March 5th, 2010, 11:30am MST
Make, mod, hack, and bend your own analog noise monster with the new Thingamagoop 2 kit from the Maker Shed! It's a great kit for beginners, since it includes detailed instructions and photos of each step of the build. Advanced users can taking advantage of the Arduino integration, control voltage in and out, or just bend it like crazy!Features
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Maker Shed Store | Digg this!- Analog VCO controlled by analog or digital signal from Arduino. (A separate Arduino board is not required)
- Sample and hold, Arpeggios, noise, and bit crush effects with open source code so you can program your own sounds!
- All the analog sounds of the original Thingamagoop.
- Controllable LEDacle - Ramp and random waveforms with rate control.
- New modulators - Square wave amplitude modulator and triangle wave pulse width modulator.
- Tough, stomp box type body with silk screened graphics in 3 different styles.
- Easy to access battery - No more screws!
- Much fuller and louder speaker
- CV in and out
- Arduino Programmer jack. Easily hook an Arduino board up to the Thingamagoop 2
- Kit now comes with a pre-drilled enclosure
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Fiction science: Aliens, Predator, and Mega Shark infographics
Posted: March 5th, 2010, 10:11am MST
These fantastic infographics are from designer Stephen Taubman. In the first, he illustrates how all three factions would fare in the forthcoming ultimate three-way cage match for evolutionary dominance between aliens, predators, and human beings. Especially helpful is his advice, under "If you meet a Predator," not to attempt to engage it with a flying side-kick. This was the mistake that I made.
The second graphic explains the physics behind what Boing-Boinger Jimmy Guterman has described as "the greatest scene ever in the greatest movie of all time," viz. the destruction of a cruising jetliner by the eponymous "Mega Shark" from Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus. You may be interested to know, for instance, that Mega Shark's air attack requires breaking the surface of the water with a velocity of 710 km/hr, which is faster than a bullet train but not quite so fast as a Tomahawk missile.
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Ok Go Rube Goldberg video: meet the makers!
Posted: March 5th, 2010, 9:00am MST
It took a huge amount of design, engineering, and coordination to create this spectacular Rube Goldberg machine in this internet-sensation OK Go video. We'd like to introduce you to four of the designers!
Dan Busby - Bottom Floor
I was one of the guys who helped build the machine. While we had a few core people that were working hard all the time, it's worth mentioning that our crew was large and extremely talented. Everyone deserves a healthy amount of credit, not just us four.
Brett Doar - The "Trigger Man"
Hector Alvarez - Top Floor
I'm another one of the people involved in the design and build of this craziness. I dealt mostly with the top floor build and lost 2/3rds of my sanity in the process.
Oren Schaedel - Descent
I'm another one of SyynLabs people that built the machine. I was in charge of the descent but besides me, there were many people that made this happen. Many online posts say that it was difficult to make out the details of the mechanisms, I'll be happy to explain those.
The photo above is by Sara Ross-Samko.
We have these four talented makers on hand to answer any questions you might have about the project, so please ask in the comments below! I have a few of my own:
Becky Stern: How long did the setup for the final shot take?
Daniel Busby: The better question is how long setup took AFTER the final shot. About an hour. Most takes went bust early on upstairs, so setups were shorter, 5 minutes, 10 minutes or 20 minutes. One comical setup needed to be redone after only 3 of the initial dominoes fell. Once we got to the descent, we knew we were in for a long one.
Becky: How many takes did it require to get the final?
DB: I lost count. I think we did that first sequence about 70 times. When we got past the tire, we knew we had a chance. When the piano dropped without triggering the flags or chairs, we started getting excited. If the sledgehammer blew up the TV we were in the home stretch. It was a tense video to film!
Marc de Vinck: What kind of camera (and camera rig) was used? I saw in the comments it was 50lbs, but how did you maneuver up and down, etc, with such apparent ease?
BD: The camera belongs to the band, and I think it's a Sony something (that's the model, a Sony Something). It's a prosumer HD model, I guess. Mic was wearing a steadicam rig, which is really finely balanced. I totally want a steadicam rig just to walk around in and hold my coffee. We were initially going to lower him down in just a harness through a hole in the floor but it was brought to our attention that the balancing of the rig would pretty much mean that he would just be facing the floor through the descent. So we brought in a really great welder named "Mother" (I think his real name is Paul) who built a little elevator. I never got a chance to ride in that elevator.
I should also mention that when I say "we" I don't always mean that I had anything to do with it.
John Park: What was the process for designing the overall machine? Sketching? Scale-models? CG? Storyboards? Arm waving and interpretive dance?
DB: We sat down and tried to plan out everything ahead of time. We created a lot of module designs, work on timing, etc. Then we found that strategy was horrible. It was much better to walk the space while listening to the song (100s of times) and wave hands around. We knew that we wanted some parts small and some parts big, depending on the scale of the music. We knew we had to fill the space and get from point A to point B in the song. Once we nailed down a few key parts we were able to start working off of them and fill in the gaps and join modules up.
Then of course, the band returned from tour and changed huge sections 2 weeks before filming. It was all for the best however, and everyone understood that it resulted in a better video overall. But, it made all of the previous planning unnecessary.
BTW, there were many discarded sections. At least one of them can be seen in the background behind the bird's nest zipline.
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Lego conference table
Posted: March 5th, 2010, 8:27am MST
This 4x9' boardroom table was created for Ireland's Boys and Girls advertising agency by fellow Dubliners agbc architects. It is, essentially, a 7-stud thick slab of random Lego bricks topped with a piece of tempered glass. More details and photos are available here. A timelapse video of its construction, (inevitably set to the not-so-soothing sounds of the William Tell Overture), is available on YouTube. [via Dude Craft]
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Weekend Project: Gourd Lanterns
Posted: March 5th, 2010, 6:01am MST
Enclosure: [download]
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Turn hard-shell gourds into decorative party lights. Thanks go to Diane Gilleland for the original article in MAKE Volume 21. To download The Gourd Lanterns video click here and subscribe in iTunes. Check out the complete Gourd Lanterns article in MAKE Volume 21 and you can see that in our Digital Edition. You can get pre-cleaned gourds here
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Weekend Project: Gourd Lanterns (PDF)
Posted: March 5th, 2010, 6:00am MST
Enclosure: [download]
Turn hard-shell gourds into decorative party lights. Thanks go to Diane Gilleland for the original article in MAKE Volume 21.View the PDF of this project. And then subscribe to MAKE magazine for other great projects
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you can do over the weekend. -
iPod Ammmo Box Speakers
Posted: March 5th, 2010, 5:00am MST
Maker Thomas Spaans built this rugged looking high-end portable iPod amplifier into a military ammo box. Housing two 70-watt amplifiers and woven kevlar speaker, the A-Box is as aggressive as it looks. [via RetroThing]
The iPod/mp3 player can be connected on the outside of the A-BOX as well as the inside so you can listen to your tunes while running around with the A-BOX for example or just protecting your iPod from bullets and stuff.
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Laser-mapped subterranean passages
Posted: March 5th, 2010, 2:00am MST
La Subterranea is a project that uses a laser to map out underground tunnels.
La Subterranea [is] an ongoing research project which takes its name from a tunnel and viaduct system running underneath and through the city of Guanajuato, Mexico. As riverbed, vehicular thoroughfare, and the historical back alley to the city, La Subterranea has evolved in a state of tension with the city above. Its use, form, and place has shifted over time, registering changing attitudes towards hygiene, shifts in transportation and hydrological infrastructure, and alterations to the natural topography. At present, La Subterranea is embraced as uniquely embedded cultural capital--contributing to the city's designation as a World Heritage Site in 1988--and as a practical solution to the transportation problems in the city center. The authors traveled to Guanajuato and employed High Definition Survey equipment to assemble a precise three-dimensional model of approximately 2 kilometers of the length of La Subterranea. This study has resulted in the first methodical and accurate mapping of this system.
UPDATE: Mike wrote in with a link to another blog post about laser-mapping caves. Thanks, Mike!
[via Alexander Trevi]
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