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Archives: October 2009

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October 31, 2009

Automatic sound-responsive puppet mouth

Guilherme Martins built this "talkie walkie" in response to a challenge to build a robot using only one servo. It responds to sound in real time, automatically controlling the movements of a lip-syncing paper mouth. [via Hack a Day]

Happy Halloween from MAKE

We hope you have a monstrously great Halloween and that you've had fun making costumes and home haunt decorations. If you did, please take pics and post them to the MAKE Flickr Pool.

Be safe, have fun, and may your treats be many and your tricks be few (unless, of course, you're doing the tricking).

Your pals at Maker Media

Illustration by Seth, done for our Halloween special issue

Mark Frauenfelder on NPR's Science Friday

Mark, MAKE's Editor-in-Chief, was on NPR's Science Friday yesterday, talking about how to "Geek Your Halloween." You can hear the broadcast here.

Photo and pumpkin carving by Patrick Murray.

Pinwall facade pinball marchine

Turning the front of a building (via projections) into a pinball machine.

UrbanScreen

The long zoom of cells

Still trying to get a grip on the relative size of say, an X chromosome and a ribosome? Then you might want to check out Cell Size and Scale, a neat visualizer of the scale of things from a coffee bean to a carbon atom made by the University of Utah. Don't blink, or you might miss the bacteriophage! [via kottke]

Anatomy suit one-piece zombie costume

Well, OK, I think it's really three pieces. But the head and body are a single piece which eliminates the neck seam and makes the effect way more realistic. Then each hand/forearm is one piece, but those seams are concealed by the tattered shirt. A commercial product from TheHorrorDome.com. [via Boing Boing]

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

Pumpkin abuse in the name of science

Over at the Periodic Table of Videos, their chemists put pumpkins through the ringer to demonstrate properties of various chemicals, states, and processes. Nice to see Halloween getting the whole "Peeps in the microwave" treatment. [Thanks, Shawn!]

Periodic Table of Videos

More:
See our own growing collection of chemistry experiments in the Make: Science Room

William Kamkwamba at MIT

Recently, William Kamkwamba spoke at the Technology and Culture Forum at MIT.

William Kamkwamba, is a senior at the African Leadership Academy, a pan-African high school in Johannesburg, South Africa. A 2007 and 2009 TEDGlobal Fellow, Kamkwamba has been profiled on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and his inventions have been displayed at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. He's often invited to tell his story at such venues as the World Economic Forum in Africa, CES, Aspen Ideas Festival, Maker Faire Africa and the African Economic Forum.

During the evening, William was introduced by Amy Smith, and spoke with his coauthor Bryan Mealor, an American journalist covering Africa. Together, they told stories of life in Malawi and William's experiences making and fighting to learn in the midst of a devastating famine.

After the break, there is more video from the evening.

Read full story

Chiphacker

Pt 2249
This looks fun...

Chiphacker is a collaboratively edited question and answer site for electronics hackers – regardless of platform or language.

Quick and easy pumpkin cutter

From the MAKE Flickr pool Mark of Spikenzie Labs shares this simple recipe for a pumpkin cutter using a scroll saw blade and some duct tape. Looks like a good choice for those intricate/curved designs.

October 30, 2009

Thinkgeek Halloween pumpkin template contest

Our pals at ThinkGeek are having a contest to see who can design the coolest/geekiest pumpkin-carving template. You can view/download the entries at their contest page.

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

"The Famous Bay Bridge Crack"

Bay-Bridge-Crack
Closeup

Wow, lots of photos and info about the Bay Bridge in CA... seems like the "band-aid" to fix a crack is the source of the closing...

Interactive fonts, for when 'bold' isn't enough

Can't decide on a typeface for your next project? Why not choose them all, with Michael Flückiger and Nicolas Kunz's Laika, the dynamic font generator. It's a relatively straightforward concept, but could make for some cool visualizers. What if the text on your website 'breathed' with you, or melted when left in the sun? It could either be really cool, or more annoying than regular old blinking text. Personally, I'm picturing a weather display, where the word weather itself morphs in relation to outside conditions. [via thestrangeattractor]

Build an autonomous bassline generator

This is very cool - Dann Green of 4ms Pedals has posted schematics, code, and parts list for the Autonomous Bassline project. The ATtiny84 based module is also available in kit form with an optional heavy-duty enclosure. And if this thing wasn't awesome enough as is - an infrared clock signal can be used to drive the unit.

Chris Ware's Halloween cover commentary

Dale posted a tweet about the Chris Ware cover of the latest New Yorker magazine. I think the cover is a brilliant commentary on our mobile-connected, interrupt-driven, Twitter and FB-obsessed lives, and maybe on some of the "phoned-in" parenting that goes on.

It instantly reminded me of an incident at Maker Faire Bay Are three years ago. I was running a Mousey the Junkbot building workshop. People would buy parts bundles, sit at picnic tables, and I would guide them through building the bots from a workbench with a mic and overhead mirror, home expo cooking demo-style. A guy and his son, maybe 8 or 9, came up to look at the mousebots and parts bundles. I could already tell dad was bored, distracted, and slightly rude and dismissive (e.g. he baulked at the idea that the bundles cost money, like we were trying to rip him off). The kid said he wanted to try building one. Dad shelled out the bucks, grabbed the kit, and picked a spot at a table. As soon as dad sat down, he pulled out his phone and started playing a game on it. Now keep in mind, the Mousey build is rather involved, and includes using a Dremel and a cut-off wheel to hack a lot of plastic, requires a soldering iron, etc. It really requires some adult supervision. My teen son was helping out by circulating amongst the tables, making sure people had on their goggles, and showing them how to use the tools. He noticed this kid was basically unsupervised and went over to show him the ropes. Dad didn't flinch. He literally had his back turned to his son. The poor kid made a valiant effort to do what he could on the build. When he was ready to leave, he tapped his father on the back. Dad said: "Let's take a picture for mommy," took a quick pic of the kid posing with his roughed-out robot, and they made off into the crowd. As they were leaving, I saw dad pulling out his phone again, and his head go down. I've never in my life wanted more to give another parent a self-righteous lecture (maybe with some physical punctuation marks) about engagement, the precious value of attention, and basic parenting.

While I know the Ware image isn't necessarily that deep of an indictment (we all check our phones when there's a break in the action), it still reminded of this incident. I love how the reflected glow of the phone screens echoes the ghost/mask-like faces of the children at the door.

Lie-Nielsen chain-drive shoulder vise

There are vises, and there are vises. And there are those of us for whom vises are also vices. For we few ~~obsessives~~ cognoscenti, the price of this beautifully-designed chain-drive shoulder vise package may not be unreasonable. For the mechanically inclined, a remake would be totally do-able, and Lie-Nielsen is to be credited for not keeping any secrets about how it all goes together. The installation instructions (.pdf) contain all you'd need to know to cobble together one of your own.

LEGO kitchen counter

Restrictive homeowners' association preventing you from building your entire house out of LEGO? To help convince them of the importance of the brick, why not start by building a LEGO kitchen, like this one from designers Simon Pillard and Philippe Rosett. While not made entirely of lego (there is a fiberboard counter underneath the brick), it should be sure to earn you the respect of your neighbors. [via inhabitat]

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Remote control color-changing pumpkin

Ian Lesnet submitted this cool hack-'o-lantern to our Make: Halloween Contest 2009. There's an Instructable here, a Flickr set here, and YouTube video here. It's a color-changing pumpkin full-court media press! The build uses a ShiftBrite RGB LED module, IR receiver, universal remote control, and a PIC18F2550 as the brains of it all.

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

Teach Me to Make classes in the Bay Area

Judy Castro and Michael Shiloh run a series of classes called "Teach Me to Make" on a variety of subject such as electronics and arduino, mechanical sculpture, and electromechanics. Classes are run out of The Crucible and The Shipyard. Michael writes:

More recently (2-3 months) I've been teaching classes at my workshop which is now back in The Shipyard. I hold two classes every Tuesday: In the afternoon is a Project Lab, where students work on their own projects with my guidance, assistance, and tools. In the evening is the Arduino and Electronics class, where lately we have been focusing on controlling stepper motors. Both of these classes are stand-alone, in that students attend whenever they are able, and each meeting is guided by the knowledge and interest of those present.

Chair made of drinking straws

Scott Jarvie made this Clutch Chair using more than 10,000 drinking straws. This one is apparently a non-functional art piece, however it seems like one should be able to make a usable chair with the same materials.

Anyone know how to form a curved surface using only straight segments of straw? My best guess is that you could use half-length straws as a wedge to form the curves. [via neatorama]