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Archives: April 2006

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April 27, 2006

iBoom Lo-Fi

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PC Mag's Bill Machrone thinks the Apple iPod Hi-Fi is a bit overrated, so he built his own version - all for about $50 Link.

Worldwide pinhole photography day

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This Sunday, go take some pinhole photos - "Worldwide pinhole photography day is an international event created to promote and celebrate the art of pinhole photography. On this unique day, we encourage people throughout the world - to take some time off from the increasingly technological world we live in and to participate in the simple act of making a pinhole photograph - to share their visions and help spread the unusual beauty of this historical photographic process. The next Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day is on Sunday, April 30, 2006. " - [via] Link.

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day - Link.

Related
Tons of resources on making pinhole cameras - Link.

Crafting at the Maker Faire

There really was something for everyone at the Maker Faire. Here at the Crafster.org's Kitschy Craft Contest, this little lady was keeping herself very busy decorating her craft project. For the rest of the crowd, many poured through the aisles outside at Bazaar Bizarre snatching up Mother Day's gifts or to meet their crafting idols. I overheard many conversations that revolved around "how did you make that?" or "look, I made this from your book!" Jamie Chan gave me a full demonstration on how to hand-spin yarn because in the midst of working the fair, I was unable to sit down for her full hour workshop. It was quite fascinating and Jamie gave me a spindle and some yarn so I could practice at home.

The craft workshops were full and it was just amazing to see so many people in one place so happy and so concentrated on making things. The Craft Corner, our "crafting living room" housed some of our CRAFT magazine debut, but the area mostly was the brainchild of Syuzi Pakhchyan of SparkLab who is on the forefront of bridging technology and crafts through her work. She taught one of the most popular workshops, the Wearable Light Bracelet. It was fun to coordinate with Syuzi and get my own hands dirty by designing and sewing tablecloths and adding various decor to the setup. Throughout the fair, to take a break, many of the workshop instructors would go to the Craft Corner to chill and meet other crafters on their own. It was an amazing event on so many levels, especially for me as an organizer of the craft track to see all these passionate crafty people come together and for us all to meet new friends. Check out the rest of my crafting photos up on my Flickr. Link.

Turn off TV week

This week is turn off TV week, for some Makers, every week is turn off TV week, but this week is special. Don't watch TV for a couple days, go MAKE something - Link.

You might be asking yourself, "Self? What if I don't have a remote control to all those TVs out there?" Well, self - go check out TV-B-Gone - it's turns them all off, it's $20 and the new one has LEDs - Link. I'm thinking of modding one of the ones I have and putting it in a baseball cap, if you have other ideas - post them up in the comments.

SketchUp -> Google SketchUp now free...

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Sketchup, one of the best 3D drawing apps is now free - "Google SketchUp (free) is an easy-to-learn 3D modeling program whose few simple tools enable you to create 3D models of houses, sheds, decks, home additions, woodworking projects - even space ships. You can add details, textures and glass to your models, design with dimensional accuracy, and place your finished models in Google Earth, share them with others by posting them to the 3D Warehouse, or print hard copies. Google SketchUp (free) is a great way to discover if 3D modeling is right for you." - Link.

Related:
Search and share 3D models - Link.

April 26, 2006

Make Movie Festival:

The Make Movie Festival was a great success! Phillip Torrone, David Pescovitz, and I worked together to gather all the submissions and explore the internet to find more movies about makers and making things. The movies were shown at the festival on the main stage between presentations. With so many great entries it was hard to pick a winner, but the Marks Brothers' Fun with Dry Ice shined through. Their top notch explanations of how to have fun with dry ice was really great. The grand prize is a box set of Make Magazines signed by the Make Magazine staff, a Make: t-shirt for each brother, and Make: license plate covers, which they'll have to wait until they can drive to use!

The movies played on the main stage between presenters and in the Mobmov vehicle which Bryan Kennedy put together. Usually his mobmov vehicle works like a portable drive in, but since it was so bright out he converted the actual car into a movie theater to showcase the Make Movies.

For all the other participants whose video made the cut, we'll be sending you some special Make: gifts. Drop us an email if you haven't heard from us with your address and we'll send you some good Make: stuff! Have a great time watching the videos that were presented at the Make Movie Festival!

Graffiti Research Labs' LED Throwies II
Josh Leo's Paper Cup. Protocollon's
DIY Tripod for the isight
Geek Entertainment Television's Boing.
NASA's Water Balloons in Vomit Comet Airplane
Mikey Sklar's The Super POV
Steve Garfield's Lighting Tips.
Rocketboom's report on A Virtual Clothing Designer
Annieee's DIY Shirt Printing.
Jonny Goldstein's Scratch Art
Usman Haque and Adam Somlai-Fischer's Low Tech Sensors + Actuators
Marque Cornblatt's Gomi Style
Cornell's Self-replicating Robots
Instructable's Pen Holder for a Notepad.
French Maid TV's How To Video Podcast
Rich Gibson's Florence Avenue
Blue Team's Ghostrider Robot
Curtis Guise Klaus Rasch's Full size 1982 Toyota Camry RC car!
Bunsella's Gingerbread Drive-By.
Ian Baber's CVS Video Camera on a Rocket
Tek-Tonic's CVS Vdeo Camera on an RC Plane.
Mark Frauenfelder's Cigarbox Guitar.
Blind Lightnin' Pete's Cigar Box Blues.
Steve Lodefink's Soda Bottle Rocket

These videos were found in our collective archives and needed to be included in a list of Maker Movies:

Roomba Adventures in Manhattan Video

Amit writes, "Kara and Amit shot a short video documenting what Roomba does when her owners are at work. Watch her clean up NYC streets, ride the subway, buy cupcakes at Magnolia bakery, and more!" Link.

Daryl Hannah goes DIY at the Maker Faire

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Just proof that everyone loves DIY, Daryl Hannah spent some time at the Swap-O-Rama-Rama at the Maker Faire working with CraftyBitch's Andrea DeHart to refashion a black slip into a "sassy cocktail dress". Also, see some of the amazing transformations that day of frumpy muumuu's remade into cute summer dresses. More post Maker Faire coverage to come... Link.

Robot Crafting by WHiRR

WHiRR - girl loves robot is dedicated to designing and producing robot-themed artwork and paper goods. Pictured above is a non-functional robot sculpture and the process of construction. The robot is a character created by Katharine Miller. She also puts her artwork onto handmade items like magnets, earrings, switchplate covers, and paper goods. Link.

HOWTO - Build Your Own RC Helicopter

Silas writes, "This guy made his own electric powered RC helicopter. Lots of info, pics, and videos!!" Link.

April 25, 2006

Knit Tank

Lone Koefoed writes, "A knitted, pink tank from the Danish Army (related to the knitted pink motorcycle in Georgia). Part of an art exhibition and created by Marianne Joergensen plus appr 1000 volunteers (knitters) from around the world who knitted the squares 15*15 cm which MJ then stitched onto the tank." [ Photo via Flickr member mms ] Link.

Related:
Pink Tank in South London - Link.

Veg my ride...

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Submedia.tv has a new DIY veggie conversion DVD - "Veg-oil conversions allow your diesel vehicle to run directly on recycled cooking oils! Veg My Ride teaches you how to convert your diesel car to run on used veg-oil. No need for expensive biodiesel, fill up at most any restaurant for about .15/gallon! Waste fryer oils, collected from your local restaurant are the least expensive alternative fuel solution, and by far the most readily available. "Veg My Ride" shows you how to install a dual tank conversion. This means you still have your factory fuel system and tank, and the ability to run on standard petro-diesel at any time. This system is IN ADDITION to your factory fuel system, providing the most reliable fuel system." - Link.

If any Maker wants to review it (and use it to Veg out their car) for MAKE, drop me a note.

Visual Scratch: Live laptop visualization of scratching

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Peter writes - "For anyone who checked out my webcam-to-scratching (or other music control) project in Make 04, Jesse Kriss has a new project that's sort of like the reverse. He's built a custom patch in the open source software Processing that translates live scratching on a turntable to real-time visuals. Very cool, and you could use the same idea to accomplish many other kinds of projects; the Ms. Pinky control record he uses has been employed in everything from custom, vibrating furniture to art installations involving tree trunks." - Link.

Recycled Grace

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Dani writes - "I recently hung out with this Benedictine monk who made and constantly modifies this cool bike. It has a subaru automobile engine and goes about 70mph at half throttle. It is so comfortable he has made a 700 mile day on it." - Link.

Homemade Camelbak dryer

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One on one writes - "This is an easy and quick project for people who have camelbaks but don't have the special hanger. This hanger is made out of a plasic coat hanger with smoothed edges." - Link.

Homemade LED "throwies" as caravan car markers

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Andi on the Parent hacks blog has a pretty clever use for LED throwies - "...these would be great to stick to everyone's cars for group road trips. When I was a Girl Scout, and then later when I was manager of the soccer team, we often took trips with multiple cars in a caravan. Booster flags, etc work great during the day, but they're not as visible after dark. These are simple, inexpensive, and could be made by the kids in the troupe or on the team and sold to parents as a fundraising project." - Link.

April 24, 2006

MAKER FAIRE 2006 coverage!

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We did it! Maker Faire 2006! Thanks to everyone who came out and made it a wonderful event!! We're hard at work getting photos and videos posted so check back soon!

MAKER FAIRE DRAWS BIG CROWDS IN SAN MATEO COUNTY - Link.
MAKER FAIRE A GEEK'S DREAM - Link & Link.
When pipe dreams come alive - Maker Faire lets amateur inventors strut their creations - Link.
Faire unleashes the inventors within - Link.
Maker Faire photos - Link.
Maker Faire (Part 1)
Maker Faire (Part 2)

Pictured here, Rocket belt from Maker Faire!

Maker Faire is Over: Media Makers Begin Sharing.

The Maker Faire was a huge success. Over 20,000 people came to the faire and had a great time. Maker Faire was the biggest science faire type of a thing to ever to have been put on. With hands-on activities and events, attendees learned how to make everything from paper airplanes to robots. Workshops and presenters inspired thousands of people to go home and do more of what people do best - make things!
The makers, exhibits, and workshops were fantastic. Shortly after the Maker Faire ended, I caught up with Dale Dougherty, editor and publisher of Make and he had this to say about how Maker Faire went.
One of the most powerful things about the Maker Faire was connecting with makers. I strongly believe that the forces of innovation and invention are getting stronger in the world. With Maker Faire, the maker revolution has begun. Make is much bigger than a magazine, it is a community. We've all had the experience of creating something or fixing something and enjoyed the deep sense of satisfaction and pride that goes along with the feeling of creating something. This feeling was infectuous at the Maker Faire.
As of this weekend, I'm officially the media maker/video guy for make Make and I shot interviews with as many makers as I could. I have 9 hours of tape to edit! As a video podcaster, I'm proud of the media making makers who promptly went home and uploaded their video up to the internet with the tags: makerfaireand makerfaire2006. I've already watched fencing robots, perpetual pinball, cartwheeling robots, and a giant robot giraffe.
f you made video at the Maker Faire, you gotta share it! Upload it and then drop a note into the comments of this post and point everyone to it!
If you've shot photographs at the Maker Faire, make sure to tag them with makerfaire or makerfaire2006! If not, you can live vicariously through the videos and photographs!
Another media hightlight of the Maker Faire, was the Maker Movie Festival. I'll post a list of all the submissions soon!
Image courtesy of Jacob Applebaum

Knit Motorcycle

Garth from Extreme Craft pointed us to a fantastic story he did on artist Theresa Honeywell who created this knit motorcycle which is on display now through April 30th at the Georgia Museum of Art. Honeywell's work explores the cool tough male world with her pieces like the knit tool belt, knit jackammer, as well as embroidery work of tattoo designs. [ via ] Link.

CRAFT - Coming this Fall

You knew this was coming, right?? Just announced at the Maker Faire this past weekend is our new magazine devoted completely to crafts! CRAFT: Make Cool Stuff, will be available on newsstands this fall so don't miss out. Find out how to make everything cool and crafty from silkscreening basics to making your own LED shirt. If you'd like to be notified of new CRAFT developments, sign up for the MAKE newsletter. I'll be keeping you all up to date on developments here on the blog! Viva la CRAFT! Link.

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