

Wow, Aneel used 6 "SpokePOVs" to turn his bicycle wheels in to Obama logos (photo set here)... He included the files for download if you want to do this on your own, or you can of course make whatever you want. Oh, just to be clear and to avoid a comment-fight, MAKE does not endorse any political party, this is just a cool use of open source hardware.
Obama SpokePOV
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I cannot believe you'd post and actually expect not to get into a political row -- EVERYONE knows 'open-source' is the force for change and 'proprietary' is just a repeat of the same failing policies.
-- wayn3w
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And if you drive backwards it says McCain
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Neat. A socialist bike!
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c'mon folks - let's show everyone how we're a good example and not like every other site on the web.
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It's impressive that the spoke-POV's are able to keep synchronized so well.
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Nony needs to go back to public school. Oh wait, that's a Socialist system.
This is an excellent Make. Obama's logo really lends itself to being easily displayed in all sorts of medium.
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AndyL: The spokepov kit uses a magnet to trigger and adjust the timing of the animation playback. It is a really nice system, as you don't need to worry too much about timing your animation. More spokepov units per wheel will result in smoother animation, though you will need to coordinate the different slices to time the animation in the correct order.
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Till someone sticks a pole or something in those spokes.
Political shills and zealots are weird.
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[Comment removed]
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@Punky - You do realize you can't see the picture unless the wheel is spinning, right?
Has anyone tried to coordinate more than one wheel? So, for example, to show a trailing message, perhaps shared among a number of discrete bikes?
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@Punky Brewster - i removed your comment, if you have any issue with that or disagree feel free to email me. i'm pretty sure you won't since people who say things like that rarely if ever stand behind their own words with their real names.
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I think the use of a bicycle wheel to do a round logo is clever. Captain America's shield would be another one, and since the movie is coming out in 2011, someone could make a kit and make a bit of pocket change.
I like the above idea about synchronizing the wheels; you could then make two eyes.
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An Obama logo? Really?
I think the technology behind it is really neat. I find the subject matter distasteful, however. Like spoke cards, t-shirts, all the other things that indicate Obama has moved from being a candidate into a visual cliche. And its only a short step from there to the cult of personality, which is always dangerous.
Why not use the wheels to flash messages like "question authority?"
I'd be down with that.
Let's ditch politics for a while and ride our bikes...
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I too think a round logo is clever but no offense, find the cult of personality that surrounds Obama to be increasingly tiresome, trite and just plain shallow. Change? What sort, from what to what, by what means? Really... Why not put something less divisive on a wheel?
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