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November 2, 2009

$40K DARPA "find the balloons" social networking challenge

Starting on December 5, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will award $40,000 to the first registered team to correctly report the location of ten eight-foot-diameter red weather balloons distributed randomly across the continental United States. From the challenge website:

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Internet, DARPA has announced the DARPA Network Challenge, a competition that will explore the role the Internet and social networking plays in the timely communication, wide area team-building and urgent mobilization required to solve broad scope, time-critical problems.

Personally, I think 99 red balloons would've been better, for marketing purposes, than 10. I guess that would take way too long. [via Hack a Day]

Posted by Sean Michael Ragan | Nov 2, 2009 05:00 AM
Announcements, Computers, News from the Future, Science | Permalink | Comments (3) | Suggest a Site

Android 2.0 shoehorned onto G1/Dream

Android hacker Akia Harada has successfully ported the latest version of Android to the T-Mobile G1/HTC Dream. It's an early build that needs optimization, but it does boot and gives those brave enough to install it a glimpse of the new Android 2.0 operating system. [via AndroidGuys]

Mario costume with integral sound-effects

Really sweet Mario costume with built-in classic sound-effects from Adafruit forum member djmacatack. It uses an Arduino with an Adafruit WaveShield. [Thanks, Becky!]

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

There's still time left to enter the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Deadline is 11:59 PM PDT, November 3rd. Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

Tentacle-box: A mobile music station with beat-synched lights

The Tentacle-box is a mobile DJ station housed inside an old freestanding Philips radio. The music is from a car stereo hooked to a 12-volt batter jumper, and an Arduino multiplexes the lights. Check out the link for more information, and the Arduino source code.

It should be able to work without being connected to an outlet. It should have lights and it shouldn't be to heavy to move around. Ateast not by a small wagon. And it should be loud. Not Mötorhead loud but loud enough. It should also be cheap enough so that I would not cry if it got trashed or stolen after a few gigs/parties.

In the Maker Shed:

IMG_8205 2.JPG
In the Maker Shed: Arduino Duemilanove

Homemade medium format camera

Peter Johansson is building a professional-grade medium-format camera. Like, from scratch. He's about 80% done and has done a wonderful job documenting the build. [Thanks, Billy!]

CRAFT weekly recap

Here are some of my favorites from CRAFT this week:

CRAFT Video: Hemming Pants

Meatloaf Hand

Cocktail: Dark and Snow-Stormy

Favorite Halloween Costumes from the CRAFT Editors

Laser Engraved Skull in Dollars

Sign up for the Make: Newsletter

Don't forget, we're now publishing a monthly Make: Newsletter. The November edition will be emailed out this coming week. The newsletter covers news and happenings around Maker Media, what's going on here at Make: Online, and contains original material, such as my new "Maker's Dictionary" column, a growing glossary of perennial tech terms and cutting-edge DIY, science, and tech-related jargon and slang.

You can sign up for the newsletter here.
Here to see last month's edition.

Pac-Man pumpkins

Reader Dave Adams submitted this cool Pac Man pumpkin display, complete with ghosts, dots, and fruit. Shown immediately above under regular and UV light. [Thanks, David!]

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

There's still three days left to enter the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Deadline is November 3rd. Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

In the Maker Shed: Chumby Guts

MKCH1-2 2.jpg
We still have a few more Chumby guts ready for you to hack, modify, or just make a cool enclosure and enjoy. What's a Chumby? Glad you asked! It's an amazing little piece of technology that lets you get what's best on the web and delivers it right to you on it's 3.5" touch screen LCD. You can play games, check the weather, twitter, news, music, and even watch YouTube videos. All of this is done via you home's wireless Internet connection. Get 'em while you can, we have limited stock and we will not receive any more this year...if ever.

Here's what comes in each kit:

3.5'' LCD (320hx240v 16bpp TFT) with Touch Screen
Texas Instruments TSC2100 Programmable Touchscreen Controller with Stereo DAC
Plastic Front Bezel
Gasket
Aluminum Frame
4 x Screws to attach Aluminum Frame to Front Bezel
350MHz Freescale iMX21 MC94MX21DVKN3 ARM9 controller Motherboard Circuit Card Assembly with Samsung 64MB SDRAM on 32-bit data path and Hynix HY27US 64MB NAND Flash ROM
Kionix KXP74-1050 3-axis accelerometer
Daughtercard Circuit Card Assembly
Three USB 2.0 full speed ports, one internal, two external
Chumbilical Flex Cable from Daughter card CCA to Motherboard CCA
Wifi Riser Circuit Card Assembly
USB Wifi Dongle based on the Xterasys 3135G 802.11g USB Wifi adapter (ralink chipset)
Flex Cable for Wifi Riser CCA to Motherboard CCA
3 x Screws for Wifi Riser CCA to Motherboard CCA
3 x Standoffs for screws for Wifi Riser CCA to Motherboard CCA
2 x 2W StereoSpeakers
4 x Screws for Speaker to Plastic Speaker Holder
Plastic Speaker Holder
Switch for Bend Sensor
Plastic Switch Holder
2 wire cable with 2 pin connector (from Daughterboard CCA to switch)
2 x Screws to Attach Switch to Plastic Switch Holder
12 V DC 1A Power Supply
Built-in microphone

(Note: actual parts may vary slightly due to manufacturing and availability)

Ocean power

Capturing the same powerful forces that destroyed the Tacoma Narrows Bridge shortly after it was built in 1940, researchers at the University of Michigan are developing a new way of generating electricity with the slow moving currents found in most of the rivers and oceans of the world.

VIVACE is the first known device that could harness energy from most of the water currents around the globe because it works in flows moving slower than 2 knots (about 2 miles per hour.) Most of the Earth's currents are slower than 3 knots. Turbines and water mills need an average of 5 or 6 knots to operate efficiently. Michael Bernitsas
Michael Bernitsas, professor in the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, stands before a prototype of his VIVACE hydrokinetic energy device.

VIVACE stands for Vortex Induced Vibrations for Aquatic Clean Energy. It doesn't depend on waves, tides, turbines or dams. It's a unique hydrokinetic energy system that relies on "vortex induced vibrations."

This technology is hoped to be easier to site than traditional windmills and hydropower generators. [Thanks, Amon!]

Banner ads on flies

Book publishers use banner ads on flies in Germany... via Wired.

Jung von Matt/Neckar lässt für Eichborn, den Verlag mit der Fliege, 200 mit Bannern bestückte Fliegen auf der Frankfurter Buchmesse starten. To promote their exhibition stand at the Franfurt Book Fair, Eichborn the publisher with the fly prepared 200 flies with an ultra light banner. The banner was attached with natural wax. After a short time the banner dropped off by itself. And the flies were not harmed.

Automatic sound-responsive puppet mouth

Guilherme Martins built this "talkie walkie" in response to a challenge to build a robot using only one servo. It responds to sound in real time, automatically controlling the movements of a lip-syncing paper mouth. [via Hack a Day]

Happy Halloween from MAKE

We hope you have a monstrously great Halloween and that you've had fun making costumes and home haunt decorations. If you did, please take pics and post them to the MAKE Flickr Pool.

Be safe, have fun, and may your treats be many and your tricks be few (unless, of course, you're doing the tricking).

Your pals at Maker Media

Illustration by Seth, done for our Halloween special issue

Mark Frauenfelder on NPR's Science Friday

Mark, MAKE's Editor-in-Chief, was on NPR's Science Friday yesterday, talking about how to "Geek Your Halloween." You can hear the broadcast here.

Photo and pumpkin carving by Patrick Murray.

Pinwall facade pinball marchine

Turning the front of a building (via projections) into a pinball machine.

UrbanScreen

The long zoom of cells

Still trying to get a grip on the relative size of say, an X chromosome and a ribosome? Then you might want to check out Cell Size and Scale, a neat visualizer of the scale of things from a coffee bean to a carbon atom made by the University of Utah. Don't blink, or you might miss the bacteriophage! [via kottke]

Anatomy suit one-piece zombie costume

Well, OK, I think it's really three pieces. But the head and body are a single piece which eliminates the neck seam and makes the effect way more realistic. Then each hand/forearm is one piece, but those seams are concealed by the tattered shirt. A commercial product from TheHorrorDome.com. [via Boing Boing]

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

Pumpkin abuse in the name of science

Over at the Periodic Table of Videos, their chemists put pumpkins through the ringer to demonstrate properties of various chemicals, states, and processes. Nice to see Halloween getting the whole "Peeps in the microwave" treatment. [Thanks, Shawn!]

Periodic Table of Videos

More:
See our own growing collection of chemistry experiments in the Make: Science Room

William Kamkwamba at MIT

Recently, William Kamkwamba spoke at the Technology and Culture Forum at MIT.

William Kamkwamba, is a senior at the African Leadership Academy, a pan-African high school in Johannesburg, South Africa. A 2007 and 2009 TEDGlobal Fellow, Kamkwamba has been profiled on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and his inventions have been displayed at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. He's often invited to tell his story at such venues as the World Economic Forum in Africa, CES, Aspen Ideas Festival, Maker Faire Africa and the African Economic Forum.

During the evening, William was introduced by Amy Smith, and spoke with his coauthor Bryan Mealor, an American journalist covering Africa. Together, they told stories of life in Malawi and William's experiences making and fighting to learn in the midst of a devastating famine.

After the break, there is more video from the evening.

Read full story