RSSArchives: July 2008
July 31, 2008
ProvFlux V: urban adventures in psychogeography
Similar to the popular Brooklyn festival Conflux, ProvFlux is an annual summer fun-time event in Providence, RI. From the site:
Part carnival and part conference, ProvFlux brings together artists, theorists, urban adventurers and the general public to share their visions of what the city can be, and to take action to make it a reality.
The simple premise behind ProvFlux is to create an environment of positive activity, and to continue expanding upon the ideas of what one can do in their city. It exists to invite people from all walks of life to meet on the common ground that is our city streets, in an unjuried, completely free and 100% participatory environment.
This year's ProvFlux will take place August 7-11. Pictured above is a mobile performance bike from ProvFlux 2005.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Jul 31, 2008 09:00 PM
Arts, Events |
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Pitch bending thumb piano
Jamoflage made this incredible pitch bending thumb piano! It sounds kind of like a steel guitar when it's plucked, then kind of like twisted steel drums. And you can change out the blades. Totally cool. Via Oddstrument Collection
Posted by Patti Schiendelman |
Jul 31, 2008 09:00 PM
Kids, Music, Remake |
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Ski Shelf
Neale writes in:
Here's a quick and easy DIY project to make a shelf out of a ski. It's a decent use for something people might have lying around, or can at least find pretty easily at yard sales (well, easy up here in the north).
More:
Posted by Becky Stern |
Jul 31, 2008 07:00 PM
DIY Projects, Furniture |
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Mister Jalopy digs the "shackitecture"
Over on Dinosaurs and Robots, Mister Jalopy has been enthusiastically blogging about nifty small buildings, backyard offices, rural getaways, i.e. "shackitecture." Definitely worth checking out if Lilliputian dwelling is your idea of fun.
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jul 31, 2008 04:00 PM
Made On Earth, Toolbox |
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Airplane: the house
WebUrbanist posted a collection of impressive building conversions - the most eye-catching entry of the list is Joanne Ussery's very sweet Boeing 727 turned luxury living quarters -
What could be better than an amazing house made out of an airplane? A cheap one. The plane itself cost just $2000, though moving it cost $4000 and renovating it for habitation took another $24000 - but that’s still just $30000 for a truly amazing and unique home. The original airplane fold-down stairs were kept and are operated by a garage door opener and one of the original airplane restrooms still works as it always did. And the cockpit suspended over the lake below? Her own personal jacuzzi of course.Dig that cozy interior - 7 Brilliant Building Conversion Projects
More:
Boeing 727 room add-on
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Jul 31, 2008 03:00 PM
Made On Earth |
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HOW TO - Fix a scratched LCD
Even when they're relatively small scratches in an LCD monitor can be an ongoing nuisance. If you're willing to try reworking the display surface yourself, then consider this strategy using paper mask and spray lacquer - DIY How To Fix a Scratched LCD Monitor
More:
How To - Revive scratched plastic lenses
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Jul 31, 2008 02:00 PM
Computers, DIY Projects |
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FailureBot 5
Micah Carrick has posted some really excellent docs detailing his creation of a line-following robot, now in its 5th generation. The robot project is part of a series of tutorials he's done on his site about working with AVR microcontrollers.
FailureBot 5 - A Line Following Robot [Via ladyada's ranting]
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jul 31, 2008 02:00 PM
Robotics |
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Massive audio sampler of impressive bigness!
The circuit artiste known simply as "bwack" has created what is probably the most excellent sampler I will see in this lifetime (unless a giant-sized trend begins after this). Instead of taps, this things accepts punches as input -
he was commissioned by our good friends from the band family force 5 to construct the largest sampler in the history of live rock music. and, with the assistance of his carpentry proficient padre, don bwack, he has done it. there were a few necessary requirements: one, it needed to withstand much energetic punching, and kicking, and general jovial abuse from one of the rowdiest live bands on the planet. there was also the need for it to dominate space with an aesthetic presence large enough to compete with one of the more style conscious outfits on the planet; the family has panache in spades and this thing had to be classy to occupy a stage such thoughtfully coifed hair and magically coordinated garmentry.Hmm ... a giant synth could turn knob-twiddling into a decent upper-body workout! - bwack is a genius i think - [via Creat Digital Music]
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Jul 31, 2008 01:30 PM
Music |
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Hacking the Parallax Scribbler
Botmag, the website for Robot magazine, has a nice piece by Eric Ostendorff on modifications to the Parallax Scribbler robot to control it via a TV remote (which requires some coding, no hardware mods) and to create a charging station for it (which requires both software and hardware work).
What's Up? DOCK! Take Charge of your Scribbler Robot's IR Capabilities
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jul 31, 2008 12:00 PM
Robotics |
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Swanky cardboard cat lounger
A human at EMS Labs writes:
Although we don't claim to understand it, a cat that has installed itself in a cardboard box is a happy cat. You can exploit this mysterious fact to make a your own simple corrugated cardboard cat bed like this one, designed as a kitty-sized chaise lounge. Since it's just cardboard, it's also easy to modify this basic design to suit your own (or your cat's) taste.
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jul 31, 2008 11:00 AM
Paper Crafts |
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Arduino Semaphor
Rick Roll in semaphore. Controlled by an arduino and two stepper motors....
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jul 31, 2008 10:00 AM
Arduino, DIY Projects, Electronics, Open source hardware |
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Femisapien robot review..
Robotsrule has a giant review of the new Femisapien robot, for $99 it's look worth it for the parts, sensors and learning interface alone...
For me the posing interface is the most powerful and fun method of playing with Femisapien. As you can see in the accompanying video review, you can create a Femisapien dance or skit in literally seconds. You put her in Learning Mode and you simply move her at one of two different speeds, slow or fast. That's it. After each movement she will beep at you to tell you she's memorized the movement. Then just adding keep movements until you're done, up to 80 movements total. To finish the sequence just wait 4 seconds or tilt her head out of Learning mode. Any time you want to see the sequence just wave your hand in front of her face. It really is that simple. This brings us to her second interface mode, the Hand Gesture interface.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jul 31, 2008 09:00 AM
Reviews, Robotics |
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Spring constant measurement
Pete writes in...
Talk about retro. I hand coded this page (for the first time in years) describing my homebrew spring constant measurement experiments. This is really the starting point for solid material characterization. If you have something cool that you've made with that chemistry kit, you should take a look to see how you can start characterizing it, so you can model it and know what you can do with it.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jul 31, 2008 08:00 AM
DIY Projects, Science |
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Beatles music, deconstructed
If you're interested in how music is made, Kevin Futhey found this fascinating article about part of what, musically, made the Beatles be the Beatles, and helps us understand a little of why they had such a revolutionary effect on music. I've been reading Daniel Levitin's book, This is Your Brain On Music; it's really neat to learn why music affects us the way it does.
Posted by Patti Schiendelman |
Jul 31, 2008 07:00 AM
Kids, Music |
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HOW TO - make piezo crystals at home
Piezoelectric crystals are fascinating - when physical stress is applied, these materials produce a voltage. The effect can be reversed as well, apply electricity, produce a stress/vibration. Rochelle salt(potassium sodium tartrate) is an easily synthesized piezoelectric substance you can make with readily available items -
- 500 g (1 lb) of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)[NaHCO3]
- 200 g (7 oz) of cream of tartar (potassium bitartrate)[KHC4H4O6] [see note below]
- Oven
- Pyrex container
- Jar with lid
- 500 mL (2 cup) glass beaker or Pyrex measuring cup
- Sauce pan with water
- 2 mL (1/2 tsp) measuring spoon
- Spoon for stirring
- Coffee Filter
- Filter paper or paper towelling
Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Jul 31, 2008 06:45 AM
Science, Something I want to learn to do... |
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Hilltop speaker lets you project your voice from your cell phone throughout the land
The "Telemegaphone Dale" by Magnus Torstensson and Erik Sandelin is a loudspeaker post on top of Bergkletten in Dale, Norway. To use the project, just call it with your cell phone and your voice is amplified and played out the hilltop speaker. The project officially opens on August 2nd and is part of a larger project called "Parafunctional Payphones" that addresses public, telephonic art installations.
Telemegaphone, via Doors of Perception
Posted by Jonah Brucker-Cohen |
Jul 31, 2008 06:00 AM
Arts, Cellphones, Made On Earth |
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NES controller cake
Aah, Chris' groom's cake is picture-perfect gaming confection -
The single most awesome groom's cake ever. Note the raised buttons made of butter creme frosting. It was delicious.Dibs on the crosspad! - His Cake on Flickr [via Neatorama]
More:
Gamer wedding cake on CRAFT
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Jul 31, 2008 06:00 AM
Crafts, Gaming |
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Darth Vader masks compose a dark symphony
This project called "Last Manoeuvres in the Dark" by artists Fabien Giraud and Raphael Siboni currently on display in Paris at the Palais de Tokyo, employs hundreds of Darth Vader masks equipped with microcontrollers and speakers and connected to a computer which spatially composes one of the "darkest" musical pieces of all time. This video illustrates the performance pretty well.
via Stunned
Posted by Jonah Brucker-Cohen |
Jul 31, 2008 05:00 AM
Arts, Music |
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Hack a security camera with a helium balloon
This balloon-based anti surveillance camera project by Brooklyn-based artist William Lamson is an easy way to fool even the most sophisticated forms of surveillance technology. Helium filled rubber balloon set to the correct height and covered with enough static electricity to stick to any surface, such as a public camera. Now if only they made robotic pins for security officers to pop them.
via Kjefta, William Lamson
Posted by Jonah Brucker-Cohen |
Jul 31, 2008 04:00 AM
Culture jamming, DIY Projects |
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Robotic furniture: The RoboStool
Steve sent in his latest project, the RoboStool. It uses a Parallax Propeller chip, and motor mount kit, to navigate in 3 different ways. It can use a "beacon" mode to navigate or be controlled via a universal remote. It can even be put in "follow" mode, which uses thermal sensing to follow the user around the house. [Thanks Steve!]
In a continuing effort to create unique and unusual robots I just completed RoboStool - a robotic foot stool. Where would such an idea as a robot foot stool come from? I'm not really sure but one day while waiting for my wife to finish shopping in a Bed Bath and Beyond (and totally bored of course) I spied the ultimate in tacky furniture - a cubed shaped foot stool covered in the finest of brown vinyl. At that moment it occurred to me that this foot stool was just begging to be automated. And thus began the RoboStool project.
Read more about the RoboStool
Posted by Marc de Vinck |
Jul 31, 2008 03:00 AM
Furniture, Robotics |
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Features and more @ MAKE!
DIY Halloween contest at MAKE! In honor of the best DIY holiday ever, we're having a party -- and everyone's invited! Elaborate costumes for the whole family, gadgets that go "zzzZAP!," gross-looking foods, creepy decorations that turn your house into a forbidding castle, and spooky jack-o-lanterns guarding your front door: these are the things we look forward to all year.
DIY HALLOWEEN from the editors of MAKE and CRAFT brings you 40-plus DIY projects for the holiday that's made for makers. From the craftiest costumes to amazing animated props and the latest in computer-controlled haunted house effects. Get it at the Maker Shed store!. And lastly, our Animated Ghost Kit. Grab this cool kit for Halloween. Sound activated, the ghost flashes his little red LED eyes, vibrates and makes scary sounds! Easy and fun to build. Hack it! Get it at the Maker Shed Store!
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Phillip Torrone
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Current Podcast
Weekend Project: Hot Glue Web Gun
Make a spooky spider web shooter from a hot glue gun that will spread the creeps all over your haunted house! Thanks go to Edwin Wise for the original article in Make: Halloween.To download Hot Glue Web Gun MP4...
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