Make: Online: April 2007 Archives

« March 2007 | Main | May 2007 »

Archives: April 2007

< Previous | April 2007 Home | Next >

April 29, 2007

RAID 0 in a Macbook Pro

Putting a RAID 0 (striped) disk array in your laptop is a double edged sword. One the one hand, it's twice as likely to have a disk failure. One the other hand, it can make disk-bound activity, such as uncompressed video reading and writing, much faster. Frankly, with processor, bus and memory speeds as fast as they are, disk IO is often times the weakest link... which makes that risky performance upgrade all the more tempting.

Eric Cheng recently posted his experiments on getting RAID 0 working with a Macbook Pro:

Subjectively, the system feels more snappy, and I'm happy to have made the upgrade. I use up at least 20-30GB per week in the field, and it will be great to be able to work on my notebook without having an external drive chained to it.

As for the disk failure issue, we all back up nightly anyway, don't we?

320GB striped array (RAID 0) in a Macbook Pro -[via] Link.

Weekend Projects - Automatically Download in Itunes

477205635 1355Bbf887

if you haven't seen the latest weekend project podcast, go check it out the video and the pdf and get your rfid and speech synthesis modules set up! Subscribe in itunes to get it automatically! Subscribe Link

As a sidenote, don't use the security access application in this video as security for something like a bank. The podcast is suppposed to be fun and get you into working with the module, not protect vital data!

ReMake at ACCRC in Berkeley

476329517 3799D7Dd84
Dale writes -

Following the Earth Day recycling push and just weeks before Maker Faire, James Burgett and his team of ACCRC (www.accrc.org) in Berkeley hosted a ReMake event at this unique electronics recycling center in Berkeley. Alex Handy, who lived up to his name, organized a nametag table where you popped keys off a keyboard and used a hot glue gun to attach the keys to circuit boards or other backing of choice. Joe Grand who now lives in SF dropped by to check out the old gaming devices. Salaam of the Vintage Electronics Festival (www.vintage.org) also came by to save some older stuff from prying hands. Michael Shiloh who is organizing Play Day at Maker Faire was there scavenging with great delight. Ralf Muhlen of SFLAN (and networking director for Maker Faire) looked through some police communications equipment with me, both of us hoping we might find something that worked. My great joy was applying a drill to the heart of a first-generation Blackberry. James, as usual, enjoyed telling everyone about this very unusual place, a home for displaced gadgetry and orphaned industrial devices. He also has plans to adapt an exercise machine into a catapult and enter it in the King of Fling contest at Maker Faire.

Thanks to DIGG for sponsoring beverages and pizza. ReMake will continue until noon (PDT) on Sunday.

ReMake photos - Link.

BENT day III

476312708 979E02B234
476324177 D654C37E7E
476311980 3Ccfb3Cf50
BENT NYC, the circuit bending fest in NYC is over, I can't hear anything but glitchy bleeps, and that's OK. During the day Todd Bailey's electronics worksop was really good and this was the best music night so far, my favorite was loudobjects, they solder up a live circuit bend on an overhead projector - bendy! Congrats to Mike @ The Tank, the event was fantastic!

Performances by:
Mario de Vega
Die Fuchteln
Mr. Resistor
Loud Objects
Andreas Stoiber
Carlos Antenna
Dr. Rek
Burnkit2600
Alias Pail

Special thanks to everyone who came out to see us @ the MAKE booth! And here are all the photos! - Link.

Blood puddle pillows

012D Bloodpud4
012B Bloodpud2
These pool of blood pillows would be fun for Halloween sleep overs, the dog likes them too - Thanks numlok! Link.

The week in tools

Top5-Fiveup-0427
Chuck breaks down the week in tools, he writes -

This week we looked at a ten-in-one gauge for woodworkers that measures everything from dovetails to dowel diameters and slips right in your apron pocket, an inexpensive set of plans to help you build your own full-featured chop saw table, and a portable frame that slides into your gutters to prevent costly ladder damage. We also tracked down the perfect niche tool for removing busted Harley-Davidson neutral lights. But our favorite this week: a reader-submitted how-to detailing the ins and outs of BBQ-ing South African style complete with photos and recipes. (Extra points for building your own "braai" -- what they call an open-pit BBQ grill!)

Toolmonger » Toolmonger's Top 5: The Week In Tools - Link.

April 28, 2007

Command Line Interface for WordPress

Rod McFarland has put together some really cool AJAX-based CLI themes for WordPress. With his CLI 2.0 theme, you can browse blog entries by "cd"-ing through categories, typing "ls" to list article titles and "cat [articlenum]" to read a post. AJAX is used to make the whole experience seem like you are typing at a terminal, complete with tab-completion. He's even got a variant of the CLI theme that makes the interface look like a Commodore 64. How cool is that! [via]

Rod McFarland's Wordpress Themes -Link.
Download the CLI Theme -Link.
Download the Commodore Theme -Link.

Cricut - on sale!

A1-29-0001-2
John writes -

Hey Phil! I just came from Michael's where I picked up a "Cricut" for $139.00! Usually they are about $299.99, but they are on sale until the end of the month.

It's currently a standalone auto-paper cutter (uses font/shape cartridges), but it has a USB port that the manufacturer has decided not to release drivers for. I happen to do a bit of USB protocol hacking from time to time, so I'm going to take a stab at reverse engineering the protocol. I can see lots of potential uses for this little beauty that involve attaching a Dremmel tool to the head! Ha ha!

Cricut - Link.

dorkbot-nyc - May 2nd, 2007, 7pm

Next dorkbot looks rad - I'm excited to see Hektor the spray paint bot!

The 20,007th dorkbot-nyc meeting will take place on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007, at 7pm at Location One in SoHo.

dorkbot-nyc meetings are free and open to the public. Please bring snacks to share!

Featuring the well-groomed and GMO-free:

Stephanie Rothenberg: School of Perpetual Training & other projects
The "School of Perpetual Training" is a multi-faceted project that uses game-based models to examine invisible labor in the global computer video game industry. Using play as a format for addressing critical issues around inequitable wealth distribution, low-income, manual labor and specialized, information-based labor, the project aims to question the role of play and the current production of play in contemporary culture. Other recent projects including "The Zero Hour" and "Collective Simulated Synaesthesia" will also be discussed.
http://www.pan-o-matic.com/

David Galbraith: lgOpre
lgOpre (pronounced luh - GOP - ruh) combines vintage algorithms for visual grid patterns with vinyl LP lock groove audio to create a generative system for real-time image and sound. lgOpre features an application to graphically compose the images, a scripting language for lgOpre animations, and a message-based system to link the animations to sound. A driving motivation behind the lgOpre software is the use of structured graphics, created from the translation of other complex systems, as a controller for digital sound software to yield surprising and musically useful results.
http://www.soundsokay.com/djg.html

Juerg Lehni: Hektor, Rita, Scriptographer
Juerg Lehni, visiting from Switzerland, will talk about three of his projects: Hektor (spray paint output device), Rita (whiteboard drawing/erasing device), and Scriptographer (scripting language for Adobe Illustrator, drives Hektor).
http://www.hektor.ch/

dorkbot-nyc - Link.

BENT - day II (photos)

475195363 E076F34Fd1
475195297 9407Ee6Be0
BENT day II rocked out again, performances by:

thegovernment
arc.Ozzz
Gmackrr
Lorin Edwin Parker
Jeff Donaldson
Mudboy
Sabastian Boaz & The Slop
Patterndiver
Peter Edwards

Photos Link & BENT info/schedule.

If you're in NYC stop by EYEBEAM - 540 W 21st St (btwn 10th and 11th aves), MAKE has a booth there with heavily discount kits and MAKE volumes - today there are tons of workshops too.

Intro to Circuit Bending Workshop
Usernomics 1.0
Introduction into The Giant Chaotic Circuit Bending Merzbau Jungle
MintyBoost
From Circuit Bending to Circuit Design -- Intro to the Dark Arts of The Man:
Scavenged Analog Video Games
Alternative Power Sources for Bent Creations with Mouna Andraos
Arc Anomino and the sono-reductronic
Jamie O'Shea

WeirdStuff has a MAKE display?

Make 593
The rumor is WeirdStuff, the resellers of surplus computer hardware and software and buyers of excess inventories have a MAKE display up in their store... if you happen to go to their store, take some pictures, we'd love to see it!!

WeirdStuff
384 West Caribbean Drive
Sunnyvale, CA 94089

WeirdStuff - Link.

Maker Faire: CALLING ALL: Cassette Jockies - Retro-Tech Lovers - Magnetic Media Monsters - Circuit Benders - Multi-Media DJs - Walkman Hot-Rodders

Maker Faire: CALLING ALL: Cassette Jockies - Retro-Tech Lovers - Magnetic Media Monsters - Circuit Benders - Multi-Media DJs - Walkman Hot-Rodders

In 2003 at a festival in Chicago, a group of retro-tech geniuses organized The Cassette Jockey World Championships. Like the popular DJ (Disk Jockey) competitions with record-toting DJs showing off their turntable skills, the CJ Championships aimed to transplant their skills and styles to the venerable world of cassettes. Since CJs were encouraged to hot-rod their own equipment, eviscerated boomboxes, disembodied tape heads, and overclocked Walkmans were the weapons of choice--anything that used the standard cassette as its ammo.

Now, in 2007, we resurrect the CJ Championships and bring the battle to the west coast for the Make Magazine Maker Faire!

Forget DJs, this is for the CJs: The Cassette Jockey Championship is where YOU can show off your skills as a world-class CJ. This is your chance to show the world what the venerable and once-mighty cassette tape is capable of. The CJ who amazes the judges with their skill, technique, and knowledge will become the 2007 CASSETTE JOCKEY CHAMPION!
The Rules

One (1) Cassette Jockey at a time--no teams.
Competitors are ENCOURAGED to create or alter their own cassette tape decks/players/recorders/etc. to compete on. However, some stock cassette equipment will be provided at the competition.
Standard cassette tapes ONLY--no mini-cassettes or 8-Track tapes.
Cassettes used MUST be published, pre-recorded, "store-bought" cassettes for source material--no dubbing of CDs/LPs/8-Tracks/MP3s to tape, home recordings, battle cassettes, or found sounds are allowed.
Spliced tapes/tape loops are allowed. (But remember Rule #4.)
Live microphone usage and live feedback are allowed.
Headphones are allowed (supplied by competitor).
Competitors may use no more than six (6) cassette devices.

Competition The competition begins with an Elimination Round, with each competitor given three (3) minutes to compete. Each will be scored by a panel of judges based on the criteria described below. The top five (5) scoring Cassette Jockeys will progress to the Final Round.During the Final Round, each competitor is given five (5) minutes to compete. As before, each will be scored by the judges. The highest scorer is the winner! Judging

A panel of judges will score each competitor in each round based on the following criteria:

(10 Points) Content. Techniques, musical ideas, and exploitation of the cassette medium.
(10 Points) Form. Performance style, transitions, overall set structure.
(5 Points) Intangibles. Bonus score for anything else the judge deems worthy.

Entry For an entry form and up-to-date information about the 2007 Cassette Jockey World Championships, send an email to: cjchampionships@gmail.com - Link & more details here.

4641903 69D553Df11
Pictured here, my favorite the Cease and desisted Sony Walkman iPod case.

BIG! Volunteer Throwdown | BUILD IT GREEN! NYC (REMINDER)

Biglogo
REMINDER: BIG! Volunteer Throwdown | BUILD IT GREEN! NYC

Build it Green! invites you to come and be a part of our Second Annual Volunteer Day on Saturday April 28 th! Volunteer Day starts at 1pm and ends at 5pm, four short hours, but invaluable to our organization. Build It Green! Is New York City's only non-profit retail outlet for salvaged and surplus building materials, our mission is to keep perfectly useful materials out of the landfills and to provide them to the public at low low prices. Our warehouse dwarfs our staff however and your help is vital to us.

Last year you helped us organize our paint room, clean our porcelain sinks, save our antique light fixtures from dust ridden oblivion, and much more. Once again we ask you to come out and beautify our cavernous warehouse. Spend the day in Queens, come early and check out Socrates sculpture park and afterwards we can all go to the Bohemian Beer Gardens!

BIG! Volunteer Throwdown | BUILD IT GREEN! NYC - Link.

April 27, 2007

Zfone: Zimmermann's VoIP encryption software

Zfone is a VoIP encryption package developed by Phil Zimmermann, the author of PGP. There's a software utility for Linux, Mac and Windows that automatically detects VoIP calls, negotiates a secure connection, and then filters all call traffic. So now you can have a secure iChat A/V call and protect against packet snoopers and man-in-the-middle attacks!

There's also a library and source available for the ZRTP protocol so that people can audit the code and embed the technology in VoIP hardware devices. Currently Zimmermann hasn't released things under a free software license, but once it comes out of beta he's planning of dual licensing everything, similar to MySQLs GPL/commercial licensing scheme. Who wants to bet that there will be an open-source, open-hardware device platform for this before there's a commercial product on the shelves? Too cool.

The Zfone Project -Link.
Zfone download and install instructions -Link.

RFID and Text-To-Speech Modules Video Podcast

mp4|mov|appletv-hd|3gp|3g2|pdf|itunes

In this Awesome Electronics Workshop, Joe Grand and I show RFID and text-to-speech modular components that you can add to your own projects.

Subscribe in itunes to have these videos downloaded automatically. - Link
Previous Awesome Electronics Workshop Video - Link

RFID and Text-To-Speech Modules PDFcast

Rfiddemo

This weeks pdf is a circuit diagram that you can download to make your own rfid and text to speech modules. Included in the zipped up file are the programs for you to play with and mess with as you please! - Link

Bent NY | The BENT Festival (photos from Thursday night)

474095944 6C0E13D417
474096148 B266Cd9353
Last night at BENT, the place was BEEPING and BLOOPING! Performances were by:

thegovernment
arc.Ozzz
Gmackr
Lorin Edwin Parker
Jeff Donaldson
Mudboy
Sabastian Boaz & The Slop
Patterndiver
Peter Edwards

Here are some photos - Link.

If you're in the NY area stop by on Friday and/or Saturday for workshops and music! - Bent NY | The BENT Festival - Link.

Open hardware: Free Telephony project & DashPC startup and shutdown controller

Bf1 Helicopter View
After we cranked out our "What is open source hardware" article, there were some great comments here and on /. Drowe67 writes -

Open hardware hacking is actually getting EASIER. For example the tools for surface mount work are reasonably cheap (soldering iron and stereo microscope), free CAD software, low cost PCB fabrication, and web based components stores like Digikey.
I have been developing some open hardware designs for Embedded Asterisk IP Telephony and have also have some popular blog posts on open hardware.

Free Telephony Project - Link.

Gnome Dash1
...and bergeron76 writes -

I'm about to open source the DashPC startup and shutdown controller. This device helps people put computers in their cars. I plan on releasing the board layout, schematics, and [quite possibly] the code for the Microprocessor and putting them in the open-source domain. I do, sell it commercially, but people may be able to hack it to do other things - so I'm providing the schematics for free.
More details can be seen here: http://www.dashpc.com/

Carl & Jerry: Adventures in Electronics - "Abetting or Not"

Make 590
Make 592
Jeff sent in the latest PDF story from Carl & Jerry: Their Complete Adventures called "Abetting or Not" first published in October 1956 by Popular Electronics, he writes -

It's one of my personal favorites for a couple of reasons. The boys were playing with (roughly) the same frequencies in 1956 that we now use for Wi-Fi--and the old farmer knows a little more about cars than people might think.

Download the PDF here - Link.

More:
Get the book here (Jeff is experimenting with putting out free chapters, so support his efforts! - Carl & Jerry: Their Complete Adventures, Volume 1 by John T. Frye - Link.

HOW TO - Make cool designs in aluminum

Fd57Fotf0X27Yg4.Medium
Scud1333 writes -

This Instructable will tell you how to make a simple or complex design on a a piece of aluminum. With a hammer and a nail. The reason I made this was because this part of my wall was very plain and boring and it needed some air holes for the microwave so I made these. Really brings out the wall now.

instructables : How to make cool designs in Aluminum - Link.

< Previous | April 2007 Home | Next >