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November 28, 2008

Book on building snow shelters

Over at the Cool Tools blog, Kevin Kelly just reviewed How to Build an Igloo: And Other Snow Shelters by Norbert E. Yankielun. I really wish I had this book as a kid; snow forts are so much fun!

BUILD: Making the Blinkybug Kit

When I first got this Kit in the mail from the Maker Shed I stared puzzled at the box. What exactly was the point? A bug that blinks it's eyes when it senses movement? As I opened the box and checked out the contents I realized that the Blinkybugs don't walk, talk, chalk or really do anything besides lighting up.

But what I learned as I started to build them is that they do something more important than all that. They make you excited to build, and in essence are simply fun. Also as I was showing my friends what I was up to, I quickly learned that they make great gifts as well. I had at least four people ask me what I was going to do with them (in a hinting sort of way). So I am giving all four of them away as gifts. I even made a Halloween variant for some of my friends. So besides being a fun, simple kit to build I am guessing you want to see what these friendly little LED bugs do? Check the video out after the jump along with all the macro lens photos on how to build it.

Here is what the creator of this kit thought "This grew into the idea of planting little robotic insects around the city... on trees, fences, etc, to surprise people and just add a bit
of strangeness to the environment. I wanted them to blink intermittently, and respond to their environment, which led to the idea of the antennae acting as a spring switch, so the eyes would
blink whenever the wind blew." - Ken Murphy.

Read full story

Plastic bag mandalas

Rachel @ CRAFT points us to Virginia Fleck's artwork using recycled plastic bags to create amazing (and really big) patterned mandalas.

From the pages of CRAFT:09:

Betz White's fused plastic creations and how to make them!

Building a Baghdad battery

Here's an Instructable on building primitive batteries, interesting not so much for its (low-current, low-voltage) results but as a nice overview of a different way of making batteries. Also check out this Wikipedia entry on earth batteries, which I found via this Instructable.

"Technology Context Communicator" made from 5 Arduinos

Here is where I would attempt to summarize the meaning behind Bram Knaapen's "Technology Context Communicator". It's a fairly complex subject matter, so I think I will let him do it for me:

The non face-to-face communication of social and emotional experiences between people usually happens through phone or other media like e-mail, IM (instant messaging or webcam (e.g. Skype). The context in which the experiences were experienced plays an important role. Neither the technology nor our way of describing enables us to communicate this context in a way it can be "experienced" by the other person. There still are a few layers of formulation & interpretation in between: you can only imagine. This project focuses on the design of a system that is able to communicate the real-time context of a remote user so that the receiving person is able to " feel" as if he/she is there without the translation steps that are required when describing an experience. Emphasis is on the visual element in experience and thus imaging technology. The final concept is a modular system of connectable triangles that can be mounted to the wall and can project a real-time abstract display of a remote visual context.

More about the "Technology Context Communicator" made from 5 Arduinos [arduino.cc]

In the Maker Shed:

Arduino Family
Make: Arduino

Dorkbot Seattle December meeting: Santa's Evil Toys Workshop and Holiday Party!

Dorkbot-sea December meeting is coming up:

Haven't you always wanted to take all those noisy, furry, half-broken toys in your closet, tear them apart and put them together as something just a little bit evil? Well, now's your chance! Dorkbot and Santarchy are combining forces to host an evil toys workshop. If you bring electric toys that make noise, we'll show you how to circuit bend them to make eerie sounds. Don't forget your batteries! If you don't want to deal with electronics, that's ok, you can re assemble your furry toys too. WHAT: December 2008: Santa's Evil Toys Workshop and Holiday Party WHEN: Weds, December 3rd, 7:00pm - 10:00pm WHERE: 911 Media, 402 9th Ave N. ADMISSION: Free! But bring a few bucks for the eggnog and rum jar, it will be donated to 911 Media Arts Center

(photo from Hacked Gadgets)

Maker Faire Austin - Green Tech

Makers from around the world gathered to share their "green" inventions and technology at Maker Faire in Austin. Make plans now to attend the next Maker Faire.
To download Maker Faire Austin 2008 - Green Tech MP4 click here or subscribe in iTunes.

More Weekend Projects are on the way.

Harmonic generator

Harmonicgenerator 3-Up

Isac Zal's Harmonic Generator instrument is an impressively visual beast of a device, complete with wheels for mobility -

64 piano strings on the outside of the device are chromatically tuned to 32 notes.
32 corresponding motors with bristle paint brushes beating the strings at controlled speeds
a homemade keyboard, played like a piano, controls motors.
12 pick-ups that focus on one octave of strings
a transducer at the end of the instrument that feeds back the sound of the pick-ups into the large resonance hull

- Harmonic Generator

Spider vs Big Wheel drag race

What happens when the spider car drag races the big wheel... who will win?

Jed Berk and the Blubber bots - Autonomous Light Air Vessels (ALAVs)

Jed Berk has a lot of shows going! Jed makes our Blubber bot kit in the MAKE store, if you want to make a autonomous blimp, you can!

In the pursuit to evolve and grow the biotopes, some of the species have bred forming 500 hundred new young, The Blubber Bots are offspring of the Autonomous Light Air Vessels (ALAVs). The Blubber Bots call for participation from the audience. Through educating an audience from a more hands on experience, Blubber Bots can be assembled and let loose into the world by anyone willing to do so. I am working toward a more ambitious biotope imagining hundreds of Blubber Bots inhabiting a central location. With your help, this vision maybe upon us soon
What is a Blubber Bot?
Blubber Bots are floating DIY robotic species that navigate autonomously and intelligently. Blubber Bots float, dance, seek and sing. They are light-seeking hellium-filled balloons that graze the landscape in search of light and cellphone signals. Designed into the inflatable form is a set of light sensors enabling them to seek out the brightest light source. They are also equipped with a phone flasher and can recognize cellphone activity. You can interact with a Blubber Bot by making a call and waving your phone near it. In response, it will go into a flocking dance or sing you a special tune.

Brandts, Odense, Denmark
35 Blubbers in a solo exhibit
"Beluga Pod", Opening Reception Nov. 13, 5pm-7pm
Dates: 11.13.2008 - 11.30.2008

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MOCA, Taipei
Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei
DEF, group exhibit (ALAVs 2.0)
Dates: 9.12.2008 - 11.09.2008

Make Pt1347
Blubber Bot Robotic Inflatable
Part of a family of "Transitional Species," Blubber Bots are Do-It-Yourself robotic inflatables that navigate autonomously and intelligently. They are light-seeking helium-filled balloons that graze the landscape in search of light and cellphone signals.

Features:

Designed into the inflatable form is a set of light sensors enabling them to seek out the brightest light source. They are also equipped with a phone flasher and can recognize cellphone activity. You can interact with a Blubber Bot by making a call and waving your phone near it. In response, they will go into a flocking dance or sing you a special tune.
Social and friendly in nature, Blubber Bots like to play. You can invite other Blubber Bots over for a party to watch them flock and mingle. They propel themselves using helium buoyancy and two-directional motors. They are a little clumsy though and tend to bump into things. Fortunately, Blubber Bots are born with a feeler (bump switch) to help them out of tricky situations. At a flick of the "feeler", they back up and head in a new direction.
Not only do they like to play, but they love to sing. Blubber Bots have a unique voice generated from a vibrating motor and a small piezo speaker attached to their mylar bodies. They bellow sounds similar to a whale's song and serenade you with melodies. When not being played with, they rest while tooting periodic sounds in their sleep, dreaming until they once again are awakened.

Make Pt1346
You can also get MAKE 12 - Featuring the Blubber bot.
Make, Vol 12 features our special section on digital arts and crafts called "Upload," where you'll learn how to take infrared photographs, shoot movies with custom backgrounds, and make fun-to-watch slideshows of your digital family photos. You'll also learn how to make an extremely loud air whistle, a solar-powered xylophone, and a TV remote control that's powered by your muscles. As usual, you'll find plenty of other exciting how-to projects inside.

Earth, Wind, Inspire

MOE_earthwind_cover

MOE_earthwind
Photography by Jens J. Selvig III

Gary Bates grew up plowing the fields of his grandfather's farm in tiny Manhattan, Mont., where he now lives. Making passes on the tractor each day bored the young Bates, but he did enjoy lying on the grass and watching the windmills. And it was there that he found the inspiration for his kinetic sculptures.

In his early 20s, Bates began building large, wind-powered structures from recycled farm machinery. He placed these sculptures on the edge of the field so he could watch them while he drove the tractor, sometimes looking at them from a mile away.

Today, a telescope points from Bates' living room to his 1986 sculpture Lunar Ketcherschmitt, a 14-foot-high piece marking the edge of his property. Ketcherschmitt is made of an old steel boiler cut in two, with one 2,300-pound half spinning atop the other. Engineers from Stanford University have visited to study how the wind can start the heavy top half spinning, but they remain baffled. Bates doesn't necessarily understand it either. "I don't know why it works," he admits, "but I'm happy that it works."

Like many of Bates' sculptures, Ketcherschmitt makes visible the pulse of the environment. Each one reacts to some natural force -- in this case, wind -- and transmits the information in a visual way. Bates peers through the lens to Ketcherschmitt each morning to see what the weather might be like. Similarly, an engineering professor at Montana State University watches the spin of Bates' Wind Arc from his office window to determine whether it's too blustery to ride his bike home.

Bates' next public work, Rain Scale, will be installed this year at Green River Community College in Auburn, Wash. Bates will perch an 18-foot-wide horizontal ring of stainless steel atop a 25-foot-high arch. Three-eighths of an inch of rain, or 29 pounds of water, will set the 2,000-pound ring into seesawing motion for almost an hour, depositing water into the pond below. It's sure to be a glorious sight -- just remember to bring your umbrella.

>> Monumental Kinetic Sculpture: http://sculptorgarybates.com

From the column Made on Earth - MAKE 14, page 17 - Linda Permann.

Arduino composite video

I am definitely adding this to the top of my list of "things I have to build". It looks like an extremely simple solution for displaying video via an Arduino. If any of our readers try this out before I do, post a link in the comments or email me. I would love to see the results. Thanks!

How to: Make wooden Amplifier Knobs

This is a really easy solution for replacing a missing knob on your classic amplifier. These knobs become brittle over time and can easily break when being moved around. The replacement knobs can be made in a few minutes from some scrap materials.

Few weekends ago I was trying to find on the net some knobs to put on a[n] old JVC amplifier [me] and my girlfriend found on the street.....The small ones (2.5cm) where reasonable cheap and easy to find but I couldn't find any of 5cm.....So at last I decided to do them myself.

More about How to: Make wooden Amplifier Knob

French knitting: Make the tools and weave with plastic

This project is perfect for the Maker/Crafter household. They describe how to make a wooden bobbin, a weaving loom, and finally, how to weave a bag from recycled materials. Make sure to check out all 3 pages.

More about French Knitting [part 2] [part 3]

HOW TO - "Homemade strobe photography"

Homemade strobe photography by Tom Anderson and Wendell Anderson...

JUMPIN’ JACKED FLASH

We built a strobe flash out of a Kodak disposable camera and then designed a circuit that triggers the flash when it detects a sound or other measurable event. The strobe flash will freeze motion!

We use a digital camera set for a long exposure (two seconds or more), and shoot the picture in a dark room. When the balloon pops, the sound-activated trigger circuit fires the flash, and the camera captures the incredible event.

Why not just take the picture of the balloon with a digital camera and its built-in flash? First, getting the timing right is a hard problem: the camera’s exposure, its flash, and the event itself need to be synchronized. (Try it yourself and see what luck you have.) The second problem is that a stock camera flash doesn’t make a very good strobe because it flashes too long, causing blurry high-speed photos.

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November 27, 2008

Build a Skype server and replace your land line

With some of my family overseas, Skype and iChat have become important tools for voice communication, second only to the cell phone and face to face protocol. It occurred to me that outside of telemarketers and the very occasional late-night pizza dial, the land line has become a relatively unused service. Unused, yet a consistent and not insubstantial monthly bill.

With thoughts of finally ditching the land line, but still a bit resistant to going completely phoneless in the home (what about when my cell battery dies?), I came across an article in Linux Journal by Andrew Sheppard, author of Skype Hacks, that shows you how to reconfigure your home telephone system to be completely routed through a server running Skype and Linux.

My solution was to build a Skype server that provides 24/7 phone service with the minimum of hassle and fuss. By dumping your regular phone company and taking back control of your home phone wiring using a Skype server, you will have not only a phone system with nearly the same capabilities as before--indeed, in some ways better--you will also save a bundle of money! In my case, I save a little less than $700 US each year (this year, next year, and the year after that, and so on), or about 82% off of my old phone bill.

Using a Skype server plugged in to the existing copper phone wiring of your home means that you can lift a receiver anywhere in your home, at any time, and get a regular dial tone. Incoming calls either from Skype users or regular phones ring all handsets throughout your home. Basically, you can make Skype behave like a regular phone line, but at a tiny fraction of the cost.

There are some big benefits to switching to a Skype server. It's likely a lot cheaper and if you're a regular Skype user, you can now use the service with any handset in the house instead of sitting at your computer.

There are also some downsides. The phone system still remains one of the most reliable services. It's more likely that I'll lose electricity than I won't have a dial tone, which may be of some concern for fire and bugler alarm systems. You also wouldn't have 911 service in this scenario, but if you have a cell phone anyway, this may be a moot point.

What are the rest of you hackers doing for phone service these days? Is it time to give up the land line entirely, simulate it with a Skype server or VoIP service, or are you still happily rocking the POTS? Give us a shout in the comments.

Build a Skype Server for Your Home Phone System
Andrew Sheppard's Skype Hacks - Tips & Tools for Cheap, Fun, Innovative Phone Service

Pinecone cheese...cone

Jenny @ CRAFT posted up this odd appetizer, and I'm strangely fixated on its almondy, spiny pinecone-ness. Maybe it's because I haven't seen a real pinecone in a while. Anyway, the pinecone cheeseball by Heidi Kenney certainly has visual interest on its side!

I learned to do oil changes in high school speech class. One of the boys worked in a garage. He gave a really great how-to demonstration/speech about changing oil. He gave another about rotating tires, but there isn't anything complicated about that. After each speech the teacher had the other students critique the performance. I didn't understand one of the speeches given by a boy who had polio or cerebral palsey. He thought I was unkind to his speech when I asked what it had been about, so he beat me up after class. My karate was not effective against polio-based techniques.

Check out the rest of Tim Anderson's oil-changing Instructable here. In addition to catching the rest of what happened with the "fight," pay attention to how Tim turns a mundane topic into an engaging Instructable!