Interesting article in the Telegraph about "Argleton," a town that appears in Google maps but does not, apparently, exist in the real world. The best theory I've heard is that the town is a "trap" intended to catch those who steal map data. [Thanks, Glen!]

Starting on December 5, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will award $40,000 to the first registered team to correctly report the location of ten eight-foot-diameter red weather balloons distributed randomly across the continental United States. From the challenge website:

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Internet, DARPA has announced the DARPA Network Challenge, a competition that will explore the role the Internet and social networking plays in the timely communication, wide area team-building and urgent mobilization required to solve broad scope, time-critical problems.

Personally, I think 99 red balloons would've been better, for marketing purposes, than 10. I guess that would take way too long. [via Hack a Day]

Our own Matt Mets put me onto this program called Montage from the open-source ImageMagick suite. Shown above is Matt's image "Things in my kitchen," and here is the command line to Montage that produced it:

montage +frame +shadow +label -tile 10x8 -borderwidth 1 -background white -bordercolor white -geometry 200x133 *.jpg stuff.jpg

As you can see, Montage takes all the work out of combining a bunch of individual images into an array of images, dealing automatically with all the resizing, cropping, arranging, and/or labeling headaches automatically.

Below is my own experiment with the software, "A visual guide to necklines," which I made because I never have any idea how to describe women's clothes.

Montage arrayed the images, added drop shadows, and labeled them based on their file names automatically. The only real work involved was tracking down the images online and saving them as appropriately-named files, but it wouldn't be hard to write a script to do that, either. Then one could conceivably go from a typed list of nouns to a complete visual index of those nouns completely automatically.

I love these physical expressions of digital data. Here, a computer trashcan filling up is reflected in an inflating balloon. Empty the trash, and the balloon deflates. Lots of other nice physical computing examples on this page.

Tangible Prototypes Lab

There's an odd synchronicity here with last week's post about the coin-scavenging-crow training machine. This time it's a whack-a-mole style video game that you play by dropping glass bottles into the slots when they light up. See it work around 0:40.

In a side note, Volkswagen's Fun Theory Award is now definitely on my radar. Besides this project, their competition to incentivize socially-useful behaviors by turning them into entertainment also produced the world's deepest rubbish bin and the subway staircase piano keyboard. [via Hack a Day]

Netbook hacker Rob928 created this excellent tablet mod by tearing apart his Dell Vostro A90 netbook, adding a Hoda Technology solderless touchscreen kit, and filling in the gaps with plastic epoxy. [via slashgear]

Researchers have discovered a magnetic equivalent to electricity: single magnetic charges that can behave and interact like electrical ones. The work is the first to make use of the magnetic monopoles that exist in special crystals known as spin ice. Writing in Nature journal, a team showed that monopoles gather to form a "magnetic current" like electricity. The phenomenon, dubbed "magnetricity", could be used in magnetic storage or in computing.

Here's a neat idea: using the standard microphone and speakers that are built into most recent laptops, researchers from Northwestern and University of Michigan have developed a sonar system to detect when a user is near the computer. Why is this interesting? Well, the idea is that it can be used to turn your computer screen off as soon as you walk away, rather than waiting the typical 10 or 20 minutes for the screensaver to kick on. It's a pretty neat idea, especially since it doesn't require any extra components, however I wonder how much power the sonar system itself will draw.

[via slashdot]

Small and simple, the iCOP eBox is a fanless x86 computer with solid state storage.

I began my second SPARK project with plans to control my iRobot Create with an iCOP computer and Windows Embedded CE 6.0R2. There were many project design lessons reinforced by my first SPARK project, and I applied those to lessons my second SPARK project. Even though I was working with powerful tools, Windows Embedded CE and the SPARK kits are complex systems. It is important to start with very simple expectations, get the basic components to function, and then design in complex features. With this focus on simplicity, I set about writing Windows Embedded code for the Create. After tracking down the necessary documentation for the Create's programming interface, I started with a simple "Hello World" program, and documented the process here. My next step involved sending and receiving data over the iCOP computer's serial port. Very quickly, I found myself editing registry code to enable the serial port for application use. Why did I need to do that and what were the results? The answers to those questions require a discussion of several intermediate steps which bring clarity to the structure and design of a Windows Embedded CE application.

Read more about it in the full post here.

I keep trying to persuade anyone who will listen that CNC foam cutters are dramatically underrated machines. People look at them and say, "That's cool and all, but I don't want styrofoam parts." To which I reply, "If you have a styrofoam part, you can turn it into cast aluminum with an unbelievably simple garage process." What's more, styrofoam is ubiquitous, cheap, and so easy to cut that the Cartesian robot can be extremely lightweight and inexpensive, as for instance, this one submitted by reader Raul Aguaviva, which is hacked together from a coat hanger and junked scanner parts. Combine one of these with a Gingery-style charcoal foundry and you could conceivably produce a homebrew rapid prototyping system, capable of "printing" aluminum parts, for less than $50.

Finnish computer science doctoral candidate Cessu created a hack to make music from (dramatically slowed) bit-level operations in his CPU. A similar technique called "software visualization" is more commonly used to clarify the operation of complex algorithms for educational and analytical purposes, but Cessu seems to be the first person to try it with sound. [via Hack a Day]

The newest RepRap, RepRap Version II "Mendel", will be released very shortly. Here is a video of it working. It is both bigger and smaller than RepRap Version I "Darwin": it can make bigger things, but the machine itself is physically much smaller. It is genuinely a desktop portable 3D printer - you can carry it in one hand. It's also a lot easier to put together than RepRap Version I "Darwin". All of Mendel's printed parts can be printed in Darwin, and, of course, in itself.

Providence, Rhode Island is home to many larger than life characters. One that has special meaning for me, and is arguably one of the most iconic characters, is New England Pest Control's giant blue mascot, Nibbles Woodaway. I've always found programming fun and interesting, but the true challenge for me is trying to figure out why a program doesn't work the way I want, and then figuring out how to fix it. I often find myself thinking about the exterminators at New England Pest Control celebrating their profession with a monster sized termite while I dive into the nooks of my programs to eliminate bugs that prevent proper execution (and eat into my sleep schedule!)

Last week, I set up my iCop SPARK hardware and got a simple "Hello World" program running. That process took some time, but wasn't too difficult. Of course, sending text to a console window is not very useful for controlling my iRobot Create. I need to add serial send and receive functionality to my code in order to control the robot. So this week I put together a simple program designed to send and receive characters over the serial port.

Read more about it in the full post here.

What's to be done with their corporeal remains after a geek has left for that great data bank in the sky? For my recently departed brother (long illness, Don't Smoke!!!), I thought this nice SPARCstation would be a cool place to spend eternity. Yes, he's really in there (after cremation). I kept the floppy drive cover but for space reasons removed the floppy drive, hard drive, and most of the power supply. I left behind the motherboard and power switch and plugs to keep all openings covered. The case worked quite well at his memorial party. His friends and family were able to leave their final good-byes on post-it notes. Anyone who wanted to keep their words private could just slip their note into the case through the floppy slot. (See the next photo. ) All notes will be sealed in plastic and placed within the case. There has been one complication. His daughters like the look of it so much they aren't now sure if they want to bury him. One more thing: the words on the plaque really do capture one of the last things he ever said. Of course as kids we watched the original show in its first run.

In my last post, I presented the beginnings of a plan to connect an iRobot Create to an iCop SPARK computer running Windows Embedded CE R2.0. Now it's time to dive in and get some code loaded onto the iCop machine, then see if I can talk to the Create using the commands listed in the Create Open Interface.

Before I get started with Windows Embedded, I want to verify that I can talk to the Create using a known-good source, my desktop computer. I think this is an important debug step. Even though I'd like my software to run properly the first time, the truth is that it may require debugging before it functions correctly. I can simplify this debug task and verify that the Create serial interface is working by connecting it to my development PC and reading the boot message after power-on:

Once I've done that, I'm confident that I can establish a connection between the Create and my PC or the iCop box with my Windows Embedded program, and I can be confident any communications problems are a result of my poorly written program!

I already have Visual Studio 2005 and Windows Embedded CE6.0 R2 installed on my development computer, so I'm almost ready to connect the iCop computer. There is one more step required to fully configure the development computer so that I can begin Windows Embedded development. The different SPARK boards have a variety of processors and peripherals and thus require a unique software library and configuration set to allow Visual Studio 2005 to generate compiled code appropriate for the given low-level hardware. This unique library and configuration set is called a "board support package" for the obvious reasons. Each SPARK board vendor supplies a board support package that can be downloaded and installed for a specific board.

Now I'm ready to create and install the operating system and my application onto my iCop board! I'll discuss that in the full post here.

Apologies to Jason Morrison for stealing his macro for the title, there, but I just wasn't going to be able to live with myself if I went with one of the obvious "computer virus" gags. Because these are viruses, you know. Made from old computer parts. By sculptor Forrest McCluer. [via Neatorama]

I've programmed a lot of microcontrollers in my day: PICs, BASIC Stamps, Comfile CUBLOCs, and of course, Arduinos. But recently I've been working on networked physical computing projects that require Ethernet, motor drivers, and servo drivers. Rather than try to stack up a bunch of Arduino shields, I decided to take the plunge and try the MAKE Controller v2, which integrates all those capabilities.

What is the MAKE Controller Kit?
The MAKE Controller Board ($60 separate) is built on the Atmel AT91SAM7X256 microcontroller. This chip incorporates the ARM7TDMI ARM Thumb Processor, which has a 32-bit RISC architecture and a 16-bit instruction set. The chip has 256 Kbytes of internal high-speed flash memory for programs and 64 Kbytes of static RAM. It packs a lot of power.

In order to do anything interesting with the MAKE Controller Board, it needs a power supply and other support circuitry, so the board must be plugged into a support board. One support option is the Interface Board ($32.50, or $85 with MAKE Controller Board), which provides 35 digital input/outputs, 2 serial ports, TWI, CAN, SPI, Ethernet, and USB interfaces.,The other option is the Application Board ($52). The MAKE Controller Kit ($120 altogether) from Making Things is a combination of MAKE Controller Board and the MAKE Application Board.

The Application Board is about 3-¼" long by 4" wide, and when combined with the Controller Board, comes to about 5/8" tall. There are six screw holes for mounting.

Ins and Outs
The MAKE Controller Kit has eight analog inputs with 10 bits of resolution. The Kit can read input voltages from 0-3.3V, but is protected from damage if higher voltages are applied to the analog inputs.

The Kit also has eight high-current (1A) digital outputs. These are driven from two SN754410NE quad H-driver chips, and can be configured to drive eight individual digital outputs, drive four DC motors in forward or reverse using the H-drivers, control two stepper motors, or a combination of these options. These digital outputs can also be controlled with pulse-width modulation (PWM), for controlling DC motor speed, for example. There are four PWM signal generators available on the board, each one driving two of the digital outputs.

The analog in and digital outs utilize screw-down terminal connectors. You need to get a small (jeweler-size) screwdriver to effectively use these, but they're very convenient compared with having to solder header pins on wires to connect to an Arduino.

The Kit also has four connections to drive standard servos. Jumpers allow the V+ voltages for the digital and servo outputs to come either from the regulated 5V supply, or from an external DC power supply, if you need more current or a different V+ voltage.

The external supply for the servos is separate from the external V+ "main power supply" for the board. So, for example, you might want to drive your servos with an external 6V supply, but provide your digital outputs with 12V from the main board power to drive a DC motor. To add flexibility, each bank of four digital outputs has its own 5V/V+ jumper. Obviously, Making Things has been thinking deeply about real-world uses of this board.

The Kit has both mini USB and Ethernet interfaces. The USB connection can also power the Kit (although with a limited amount of output DC current). Other data interfaces include a hardware serial port and a Two-Wire Interface (TWI, aka I2C) bus. Four status LEDs are found on the Application Board, and a single status LED is located on the Controller Board.

The Kit can be powered with an external DC supply with voltage in a range of 5V to 24V. I ran it with a 12V supply and did not find any "hot spots" on the board (unlike my experience with the Arduino).

It should be noted that v2 of the Application Board has changed significantly from v1. No longer present is the 8-position DIP switch and trimpot, and the JTAG (used for on-chip debugging) and CAN bus connectors on the v1 Application Board are now just solder pads, available if you want to add connectors to them.

In a previous post, I covered several of the available SPARK computing systems, so I won't revisit SPARK hardware too extensively in this series. I will share any interesting discoveries I make working with the Create, iRobot's very simple yet comprehensive robot base. In addition, I'll try to include useful technical details. Of course, as much as the mechanical engineer in me loves to spend time designing and building robot parts, the Create is a nicely developed and well documented platform, so this project is primarily focused on software.

I don't have to worry or think about how the parts I machined might or might not fit together, or whether the motor control board I built will overheat and turn into a pile of smoldering mosfets. The Create takes that worry away, and gives me a mobile platform which I can control via a standard RS-232 serial port.

There is a small catch. iRobot designed the Create with an 8-pin mini-din connector and 0-5v serial port voltages. To connect my Create to my iCop computer, I require an adapter. Fortunately, one can be purchased from iRobot at a reasonable price, or you can make your own.

So now I have the cabling to talk to my Create, but I need to know how to configure messages and what to send in order to control the robot.

Continue on to read the full post here.

Researches at the Univerity of Toronto's Dynamics Graphics Project are developing this gesture based 3D sketching program. By interpreting a sketch in 3D, the software allows one to adjust the perspective of the drawing while it is being made. [via core77]

Bitartist has written and posted a Processing script that causes the eyes of an onscreen portrait to follow your face as you move past a camera. Primo haunted house material. Thanks man!

My second SPARK project is going to be slightly different than my first. I've learned a lot about Windows Embedded CE 6.0R2, and have a better idea of it's strengths and weaknesses. It is a sophisticated tool with a lot of capabilities. I continue to explore those capabilities, but from a much simpler starting point. I've also been working closely with Bill Mar of Special Computing to help navigate the tools and training, and hopefully create a clean roadmap for others to explore these tools. I invite you to join me in a lively discussion about Windows Embedded and real-time operating systems!

Continue on to read the full post here.

Instructables user Lighttamer presents this awesome software to turn your monitor and webcam into an augmented-reality scary face machine. Masks, which you can design, are overlaid on human faces in the video feed in real time.

Maker Sidekickx91 disassembled an Eee PC 4G 701 netbook, added a 7" USB touchscreen, some extra RAM, and mounted it in a custom-built cabinet enclosure to create this very functional and attractive case mod.

[via jkkmobile]

Etsy user MikaEle offers this 4 GB thumb drive and original handmade wooden housing, which, as of this writing, is still available for $155 US.

Robert J. Spinrad, a computer designer who carried out pioneering work in scientific automation at Brookhaven National Laboratory and who later was director of Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center while the personal computing technology invented there in the 1970s was commercialized, died on Wednesday in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 77.

Trained in electrical engineering before computer science was a widely taught discipline, Dr. Spinrad built his own computer from discarded telephone switching equipment while he was a student at Columbia.

He said that while he was proud of his creation, at the time most people had no interest in the machines. "I may as well have been talking about the study of Kwakiutl Indians, for all my friends knew," he told a reporter for The New York Times in 1983.

[...]

At Brookhaven he would design a room-size, tube-based computer he named Merlin, as part of an early generation of computer systems used to automate scientific experimentation. He referred to the machine, which was built before transistors were widely used in computers, as "the last of the dinosaurs."

Our best and our condolences to Paul and his family.

Robert Spinrad, a Pioneer in Computing, Dies at 77 [annoying login required]

OK, stop. Before you read any further, we need to come to a legal understanding.

I, the author, and we, the MAKE blogging staff, as well as all of you, the readers, understand that this widget is only to be used in a car that is stationary, out of gear, and well clear of traffic. It is not designed, marketed, or sold for use in a moving vehicle, and indeed anyone who would do so is manifestly irresponsible and dumb as a post. Everyone with the sense to operate a car or a laptop, or, indeed, even to read this blog, understands that. THEREFORE: Commenters griping about how hyping this product is tantamount to genocide will be summarily vaporized by our orbital lasers.

And now that we've reached an understanding, I can talk about why I think this is cool.

1. It's incredibly useful, as anyone who's ever had to use a laptop in a car for more than a few seconds will recognize.
   
2. It's inexpensive and easy to manufacture, and could be easily remade in the material and style of your choice, for your own use or as an easy, thoughtful, and useful handmade gift.
   
3. It's clever! It does a lot with a little. Whoever thought up that curvy-slot-with-ears shape deserves a lollipop, at the very least.
   

I rest my case. If you're still mad, well, remember those lasers.

Four guys and one intrepid GF use roughly 40lbs of thermite to incinerate (most of) a stack of used hard drives. The results weren't quite what we hoped for in terms of destruction, but for sheer pyrotechnic effect, a big bucket o' thermite is hard to beat.

Note: Thermite "recipes" are available online for the googling. I'm lazy, and also not stupid, so I just bought mine. Again, Google is your pal here. Also note: Thermite is relatively dangerous. It is intensely energetic and burns out around 2500°F. Once it starts burning, it is going to finish, and will laugh wickedly at your pitiful attempts to extinguish it. I can play with it because I am an adult with insurance and a healthy sense of self-preservation. If you elect to play with this stuff and burn down your parents' home, land yourself in the hospital with third-degree burns or incinerate your grandmother's car, that's your own lookout. I'm not responsible for you.

Here's a fun video of the burn:

As well as more pix.

What is the most radical data security measures you've ever used to protect your own or someone else's data?

Using a couple computers, a PhidgetInterfaceKit with RelayBoard, and a bevy of client/server software, Matthias Wagler and friends from Intuity Media Lab built a Rube Goldberg XMPP messaging system to frob a light using an Andorid-powered mobile device. Check out this behind-the-scenes video detailing set-up.

[via hackaday]

Speaking of 'Making Things Talk"...

From the mitemite unnecessary objects lab comes an item that seems potentially quite helpful, and likely remake-able. The anti-crime macbook case is basically just a laptop sleeve with plasti-fabric newsprint camouflage exterior. Hmmm ... getting a convincing print on sufficiently sturdy material might prove a bit tough to DIY - hey, there's always actual newspaper (avoid rain).

Yeah I know what you're thinking, but don't try using a pizza box. Everybody loves pizza (especially thieves). Plus you'd have to carry it horizontally & pretend you're hungry all the time ... yah, anyway ... [via BBG]

Related:

Jimmie's uglified camera