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Archive: Make: television

October 9, 2009

Remaking PBS as a true educational network

Over on O'Reilly Radar, MAKE editor and publisher Dale Dougherty has a thought-provoking piece on remaking public broadcasting:

Imagine a broadcast network in America that was dedicated to education, where the best educators had the opportunity to produce its programming, and where individuals as well as institutions could develop a new genre of wide-ranging educational programs? Educational programming could elevate the role of teaching in our culture and promote the value of lifelong learning. This blog post explores why education is a more important role for public broadcasting in America, a new role that would re-align PBS with its original mission as an educational network.

A More Public Role for Public Broadcasting: Education

August 4, 2009

Welcome Bill Gurstelle, our latest guest author

We're thrilled to have our buddy Bill Gurstelle as a guest author on Make: Online for the next month. I've had the profound pleasure of knowing some really delightful and brilliant eccentrics in my life, folks whose response to "think outside the box" is "what box?" This guy works beyond the box. One thing I love about Bill is his deep sense of child-like wonder and enthusiasm for the physical world and the magic it encodes. He can come up with the most outlandish ideas and pitch them to Dale with a straight face ("How about a MAKE "prison tech" issue?" "Can we do an article in MAKE about making your own fireworks?") And, of course, he's always at the ready to creatively and spectacularly blow stuff up. He's a mischievous kid with a valid ID and a grownup's bank account.

Bill has been involved with MAKE from the beginning. He serves on our Technical Advisory Board and is a Contributing Editor to the magazine. He was also a producer of Make: television and one of its on-air talents. Bill is the author of a number of best-selling books, including Backyard Ballistics and Whoosh-Boom-Splat: The Garage Warrior's Guide to Building Projectile Shooters. His most recent work, Absinthe & Flamethrowers, is a meditation on the art of living dangerously, with projects!

So, please give a round warm of applause to... Bill Gurstelle...

Notes from the Technology Underground (Bill's blog)

July 23, 2009

MAKE: television Episode 6 - Music Machines & Trebuchet

Enter the plugged-in world of Tim Kaiser, a maker who fashions experimental musical instruments from scavenged objects. In the Workshop John Park assembles a portable trebuchet from plastic plumbing pipe, and circuit bender Bianca Pettis demystifies the art of soldering. The Maker Channel presents a Smash Bat that snaps moment-of-impact photos, a drum synthesizer played with Skittles, a pedal-powered tennis ball launcher, and an evil mouse that causes the cursor to misbehave when moved. Watch in HD at blip.

Get the m4v or subscribe in iTunes

July 15, 2009

From the inside -- Welcome to Intern's Corner

CRAFT: Intern's Corner

Here at MAKE, we're lucky enough to have a rotating stable of interns who build and test most of the projects before we go to print each issue (and sometimes photograph any missing step shots). They also haul supplies from the warehouse, shop for tools and materials, and come up with projects of their own on a surprisingly regular basis. We also work them to near death before, during, and after each Maker Faire -- packing pallets and building projects to send to the fairgrounds beforehand; setting up booths and greeting the public for 12-plus hours a day during the event; and unpacking trucks when everything comes back to our offices after the fact.

In exchange, they get to have one of the most highly coveted jobs in the land. Seriously. I've had top-level editors ask if they could trade their job for an internship at MAKE, not to mention engineers, the parents of our interns, and just about anyone who gets a look at the Make: Labs, where the interns build, sew, hack, hammer, drill, and solder day in and day out.

Now we're offering our website readers a look into the fabulous lives of the MAKE interns. Twice a month, the current interns will offer up stories about the projects they're working on, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they plan on building in the near future.

Jacob McKenzie, one of our two original interns who began working for us in the fall of 2005, has always said that we've pretty much ruined him for life in terms of ever having a cooler job. Nonetheless, Jake left his internship in 2007 to finish his bachelor's degree at UC Berkeley. He graduated with a 4.0 GPA and a degree in mechanical engineering. During the 2008 winter break, we called him up and asked him to demonstrate a few of our previous projects for the TV show, Quest, which were well-received and a blast to see get filmed in our very own Make: Labs. Most recently, Jake was accepted at both Stanford and MIT for graduate school. After much thought, he chose MIT, where he'll begin the next part of his journey this fall. He's promised to keep in touch, and let us know if he ever finds a cooler job than MAKE Intern. He remains unconvinced that he will, but his future looks bright to us.

Tune in on Wednesday, July 29, for the first of many first-person accounts about interning at MAKE!

June 29, 2009

Eurekafest @ MIT

Make: television had a blast shooting this past week at Eurekafest, the Lemelson-MIT Program's celebration of invention. We were there to capture the spirit behind inventing and talk to high school and college students about their experiences as inventors. Groups from all over the country came to participate in a four-day-long series of design challenges, invention presentations, and more.

We wanted to try something a little different from the look of Make: television so we dug up our teleprompter and borrowed a page out of Errol Morris' playbook and did all of the interviews with an interrotron. This is a simple, yet effective way of having the interview subjects communicate directly to the camera, while allowing them to interact with the interviewer and not just a dark lens.

Later this summer, Make: will be releasing a series of short videos that aim to inspire new generations of inventors as a partnership with the Lemelson-MIT Program. Stay tuned to Make: Online for more information.

June 17, 2009

Make: television Father's Day marathon

Checkout Create TV this Saturday, June 20 for an all-day marathon of Make: episodes. Starting at 6am and going until midnight you can see every episode of Make: in HD. We don't actually recommend watching that much TV, hopefully you head out of the living room and into the garage and to build something you saw. Remember, all of the Maker Workshop projects have detailed PDFs on makezine.tv. It's still a great time to build your own DTV Antenna!

June 13, 2009

The DTV conversion is here!

With the DTV transition upon us, there couldn't be a better time to pick up some coat hangers and some wood and make yourself a kickin' DTV antenna as featured on Make: television. Of course, you'll still need a digital converter box, but here's a simple, low-cost project that can definitely improve your reception. Check out the segment, and then download the PDF for detailed plans on howto make one yourself. Let us know how it works!

Here's the PDF, and be sure to check out more great comments our original blog post.

June 1, 2009

The Make: television vending machine

At Maker Faire, Jared Boone, of ShareBrained, premiered the Make: television jukebox. Fairgoers could plug in a thumbdrive, press a button, and have the selected episode loaded onto their USB drive. Here, Jared talks to Make: television's John Edgar Park about the project.

More:
Make: television Vending Machine

May 28, 2009

Make: television at Maker Faire

In addition to the hundreds of talented makers at this weekend's Maker Faire, Make: television will be live, featuring...

The Make: television Stage
Meet the makers who appear on the first season, as well as presentations and discussions from MAKE authors and bloggers. All day, Saturday and Sunday, in Expo Hall.

Projects built during the first season
We'll have our Burrito Blaster with plenty of shootables, the VCR Cat Feeder topped off with cat food and a Cigar Box Guitar and Amp ready for rocking.

Bring your USB Drives
Jared Boone of ShareBrained Technology and designer James Provost have made an awesome Make: television Media Vending Machine. Bring a USB drive that's between 512mb and 12GB and load up with HD or media player-friendly versions. The back is completely open so you can how it's made, and Jared will be on hand. Here it is in the testing phase.

Connect with Geek Squad
We're proud to host Geek Squad at this year's Maker Faire. They'll have Geek Squad Agents on hand to answer any of your tech questions as well as a live Twitter stream rolling throughout the weekend.

Tell us what you make!
We're building the momentum for a second season and we want to hear from makers of all sorts. Last year, we found a huge amount of unique makers at Maker Faire and we're hoping to do the same thing this year. Don't be shy, we love show and tell!

May 19, 2009

Bring your USB drives to Maker Faire!

Make: television and ShareBrained Technology and are excited to feature the Make: television Vending Machine at Maker Faire, May 30 and 31. Bring your USB drive (over 512mb) and download episodes Make: television using a handmade custom user interface.

Jared Boone of ShareBrained Technology along with fellow makers at Dorkbot PDX are creating an awesome jukebox-style vending machine where Maker Faire visitors can bring any USB drive (over 512mb) and choose between HD or iPod versions of ANY EPISODE of Make: television. We're super excited that Jared and the crew have taken this awesome and sometimes challenging project.

It took a while to design the user interface (big push buttons!), design a control circuit board, and set up a little Linux computer to run it all. Last weekend, we finally got to the step of building the cabinet. It doesn't look like much yet, but just wait...

Jared and the crew also asked if anyone would be willing to contribute some time or resources to the design of the machine. Anyone out with a keen eye for design who's willing to help Jared should send a note to maketelevision@makezine.com.

May 16, 2009

Make: television Episode 10

Here's another chance to see Make: television - Episode 10

Visit SparkLab founder and designer Syuzi Pakhchyan, a maker who explores the new frontier of high tech and fashion with her space age handiwork. In the Workshop, John Park shows us how to build a guitar out of a piece of wood, some string, nails and a cigar box. Then he "makes it rock" by wiring it to a buck-fifty cassette-player amp. In a Hidden Treasures segment, Mister Jalopy opens up his Chevy Camaro's cassette player to show us the beauty and value of clear schematics for makers like him. The Maker Channel features a sunlight-triggered poem, a pedal-powered blender, a time lapse photography rig, and a handmade theremin.

Get the m4v, subscribe in iTunes, or watch in HD on Blip.

Read full story

May 13, 2009

Make: television on CreateTV

Create TV is a cable and satellite channel featuring cooking, arts & crafts, gardening, home improvement, and travel. We're proud that Make: is now among a long list of popular shows like America's Test Kitchen, Ask This Old House, and Globe Trekker.

For those of you don't have access to Make: through your public television stations, or who just want to see Make: in full HD glory, be sure to look up Create TV on your cable or satellite directory and watch.

Episode 10 - Wearable Technology
Saturday, May 16
11am, 5pm and 11pm ET

AND

Father's Day Make: Marathon
Saturday, June 20
All Day

Of course, you can always watch any episode, anytime at www.makezine.tv/episodes

May 9, 2009

Make: television Episode 9

Meet CCRMA, a group of musical makers who stretch the sonic boundaries by turning personal computers into an electronic symphony. In the Workshop, John Park hacks a Wii controller and turns it into a personal flight recorder that can measure the G forces of roller coasters and other high-speed activities. In the Toolbox segment, William Gurstelle demonstrates the slick, back-cutting action of a super-sharp Japanese saw. The Maker Channel features a tesla coil-powered guitar amp, an RFID reader implanted in a human hand, and LED fan sign to bring to baseball games, and a solar powered bicycle gondola.

Get the m4v, subscribe in iTunes, or what in HD on Blip.

Read full story

May 7, 2009

Make: television Vending Machine

Update: "We have some good news (finally). Brian (my co-conspirator) has had some success on writing USB drive auto-detection software. He's working on the copy-phase stuff next, and also integrating his work into the small computer we'll stuff inside the box. I've succeeded at rewiring my failed circuit board to light up the buttons, and next I'll connect the board to a pre-made controller board (the Teensy++) and program it to talk to the small computer. So we're moving along. It'll still be a squeeze, time-wise. Good thing that long Memorial Day weekend is coming up!"

A few weeks back Make: Online did a post about an awesome project featuring a simple "plug and grab" method for copying media called the Kopimi Station

Our friend Jared Boone at Sharebrained Technology offered up his skills along with the talented Dorkbot PDX to create a similar device for the Make: television booth at Maker Faire, one that will allow anyone to grab any episode of Make: television.

We've decided to have a single, wide selection panel with four USB pods below. While one person is waiting for their transfer, the next person can plug in and make their choices. If they don't quite know what to do, the people waiting can help out. So there's this interesting "institutional knowledge" aspect.
We've opted for push-buttons, which makes the machine look more atomic age. These are big, vending machine style lighted pushbuttons. As selections are made, the buttons will light or go dark.

I'm presently designing a custom circuit board that will scan the buttons and light them up appropriately. This board interfaces with my mini-ITX Linux computer, which dispenses the media.

So Jared and the team are over a month into the project and has made some considerable progress. As any good project goes, they've run into some hurdles.

I had a very frustrating evening yesterday, bringing up the controller circuit for the front panel. I fried both of the (spendy) Atmel chips I bought for testing. I talked today with some friends about what might be going wrong. We're not sure, but I'm going to try a few things tonight, with some replacement parts I borrowed. I hope I don't fry them too.

Then, we heard:

I think I have a workable plan B. It's not pretty, but should work. Basically, I'm going to chop off the part of the board that doesn't work, and wire up a pre-fabbed microcontroller (Arduino) board to serve in place of my failed design. Desperate times require desperate measures... In any case, I took pictures and have diagrams if you still want to offer up the situation to the MAKE audience.

Any makers out there have a similar experience? Weigh in with comments or questions below. We'll be sure to document his progress.

May 2, 2009

Make: television Episode 8

We journey upstream with environmentalist Dan McCormick, a maker who crafts intricate watershed sculptures out of woven willow. In the Workshop, John Park shows how to build lively and inexpensive miniature robots. Mister Jalopy reveals the hidden treasures of his "Compact Childhood Museum." The Maker Channel segment features French fries shot from a spud gun, freeline skates that ride like a skateboard, an Asteroids game wrist watch, and a motorized wheel chair that shoots flames.

Get the m4v, subscribe in iTunes, watch in HD on Blip

Read full story

April 27, 2009

Cy Tymony on Science Friday

Cy Tymony, a featured maker on Make: television, had a great interview with Ira Flatow on Science Friday last week. For you educators, how do you use projects like these? Does this fulfill a niche in your curriculum? What gaps are present that could be filled by future Make: television episodes?

Green DIY

Didn't get enough Earth Day this week? We'll talk with Cy Tymony, author of the book "Sneaky Green Uses for Everyday Things," about simple green projects you can undertake using objects around your house. Call in with your own DIY projects that somehow reduce, reuse, or recycle in unusual ways. Teachers, find more information about using Science Friday as a classroom resource in the Kids' Connection.

LINK

April 25, 2009

Make: television Episode 7

Here's another look at Episode 7 of Make: television. Individual segments after the jump.

Bike along with Ali Momeni and his fleet of mobile video projectors that transform public spaces into massive sound and light shows. In the Workshop, John Park combines a used treadmill motor and PVC pipe to build a wind generator, and William Gurstelle tests hardware on a giant trebuchet. The Maker Channel features a balloon organ, a ball-fetching autonomous robot, and a lie-detector wristband.

Get the m4v, subscribe in iTunes, watch in HD on Blip

Read full story

April 22, 2009

Ignite Minneapolis

Apologies for the terrible photo, it was packed!

Great job to everyone who gave presentations at tonight's Ignite Minneapolis event. There were some insightful, funny, and useful presentations, but huge kudos to Make: television's very own Bill Gurstelle who kicked off the night with an energetic manifesto on the "art of living dangerously". The take away was, according to Bill, many of the world's best engineers and leaders have blown off at least one thumb by living dangerously, and a lot of innovation and merit comes along with taking big risks. Look for more this summer when his book comes out, Bill can explain it much better.

For those who are unfamiliar with the format of these events...

Ignite is a community-driven event comprising a series of speed presentations. Ignite events skew toward the geeky and wonkish, are usually innovative and fresh, and always involve drinking.

Basically, a person prepares a brief presentation on any topic. They get exactly 20 slides to tell their story, and each slide displays onscreen for exactly 15 seconds. So that's 5 minutes per presenter.

LINK

April 20, 2009

Make: television at Chabot Space and Science Center

For those of you in the Bay Area who are looking for an interesting mix of science and art, check out the 2nd Annual Science & Art Appreciation Night at the Chabot Space and Science Center this Friday, April 24 from 7pm - 11pm (link). They'll have some cool exhibits from local artists as well as screening several Make: television segments.

Chabot's describes the event like this:

Great art is often inspired by discoveries in science. Join us for the infusion of Art & Science with an evening filled with displays from local artists and photographers, live music, beer, wine and food available for purchase. Plus final showings of DomeFest 2008, an immersive experience that leaves necks craning, heads spinning, and a special feature of the Make: television Profiles of Bay Area Artists at 7pm and 8pm in our MegaDome theater. More info here.

If you attend, we'd love to see the pictures! Post to our Flickr pool.

April 18, 2009

Make: television Episode 6

A look back on Episode 6 of Make: television. Individual segments after the jump.

Enter the plugged-in world of Tim Kaiser, a maker who fashions experimental musical instruments from scavenged objects. In the Workshop John Park assembles a portable trebuchet from plastic plumbing pipe, and circuit bender Bianca Pettis demystifies the art of soldering. The Maker Channel presents a Smash Bat that snaps moment-of-impact photos, a drum synthesizer played with Skittles, a pedal-powered tennis ball launcher, and an evil mouse that causes the cursor to misbehave when moved. Watch in HD at blip.

Get the m4v or subscribe in iTunes

Read full story

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