Want to claim your city as your own? Competing with a rival gang for turf, and want to avoid messy knife fights? Well now you can, thanks to Urban Defender. Working over a short time period, a team of students from Zurich University of Arts built a system to claim buildings by throwing a specially equipped ball at them. Impacts are detected by an accelerometer connected to an Arduino, which is wirelessly connected to a Beagle board which uses a GPS to coordinate the hit to a specific address.

They apparently didn't have time to finish the multi-player version of the game, but I think the concept is too good to let die. Someone should definitely hook this up to the social networking game foursquare. As a bonus, you could use the sensor units to play the actual game four square when you get tired of fighting for turf.

I love this reuse of an first-gen "sunflower" G4 iMac (aka the "Luxo"). It was also nicknamed the iLamp (due to its flexible desk lamp-like arm), so this builder went ahead and turned his into an actual lamp.

How to Recycle an iMac Luxo

BIBI is a French artist who almost entirely uses trash plastic in his art. He calls himself a "plastician." [Thanks, Karen!]

BIBI, Plastician Artist

You kind of have to see this thing move to get the point. The brand name is RevolveR and, apart from novelty, the "floating spine" binding seems to serve no particular function. Still, it's pretty delightful, and seems to operate on the same principle as the toy commonly known as a "Jacob's Ladder" (Wikipedia). [via Boing Boing]

Capturing the same powerful forces that destroyed the Tacoma Narrows Bridge shortly after it was built in 1940, researchers at the University of Michigan are developing a new way of generating electricity with the slow moving currents found in most of the rivers and oceans of the world.

VIVACE is the first known device that could harness energy from most of the water currents around the globe because it works in flows moving slower than 2 knots (about 2 miles per hour.) Most of the Earth's currents are slower than 3 knots. Turbines and water mills need an average of 5 or 6 knots to operate efficiently. Michael Bernitsas

Michael Bernitsas, professor in the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, stands before a prototype of his VIVACE hydrokinetic energy device.

VIVACE stands for Vortex Induced Vibrations for Aquatic Clean Energy. It doesn't depend on waves, tides, turbines or dams. It's a unique hydrokinetic energy system that relies on "vortex induced vibrations."

This technology is hoped to be easier to site than traditional windmills and hydropower generators. [Thanks, Amon!]

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.

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]

More:

• LEGO Kitchen crafts
• Toilet paper folder & dispenser prototype

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]

I like where Youtube user DanieleMattei is going with his video Filter control via light blob tracking in Processing. Using OpenCV and Processing (what else!), he rigged up a way to control the parameters of his MIDI synthesizer by waving a flashlight around. It doesn't look too complicated to set up, and might be a fun way to compose something as a group. With a web cam built into your laptop, you could set up a mobile sound station that anyone with a flashlight (or bright cellphone screen) could play.

This one looks quite ripe for a remake - Heatstick's wearable hummingbird feeder gives a very close-up view of a fascinating animal. If the $79.95 asking price is a bit outside of your current birdwatching budget - do consider painting up a face shield, drilling a hole, and mounting a nectar-filled bulb within - just be sure to give the little guys some alone time to grow acquainted with the feeder before attempting to 'interface'. [via Boing Boing]

These "musical towers" are featured in the short film 901: After 45 Years of Working by Eames Demetrios. 901 documents the dismantling of the office of famous U.S. designers Charles and Ray Eames in 1988 following Ray's death. The Eames office was a kind of maker fantasy-land, with finished and unfinished projects scattered about, meticulously organized tools and supplies, and wonderful little gewgaws in every nook and cranny.

The first few minutes of the film feature a delightful bubbling xylophone soundtrack that is eventually revealed to be coming from these prototype toys designed by the Eameses themselves, and installed in their office for their own amusement.

The towers are wooden boxes six inches square and about 15' tall, fronted with acrylic, and having sides slotted to accept metal xylophone keys which fit loosely enough to allow free vibration and easy rearrangement. The slots for the keys are angled toward one another, slightly, so that the surfaces of the keys present a series of alternately-sloped platforms for a small hard plastic ball which, when dropped from the top of the tower, will plunk its way slowly down to the bottom, playing a little tune as it goes. The balls are injected using a manual pneumatic piston which shoots them up a pipe to the top of the tower.

There does not seem to be any video of the towers in operation available online, but 901: After 45 Years of Working is available on the first disc of The Films of Charles and Ray Eames, which also includes final and rough draft versions of the classic Powers of Ten. Highly recommended.

At first glance, this Magic Wand For Levitation may look like it is performing something supernatural when it is levitating strange objects. Unfortunately, it's not actually doing anything magical, but instead is just a neatly packaged Van de Graaff generator, which uses electrostatic charge to attract (presumably metallic) bits of Mylar. While slightly disappointing, I still like the effect, and the idea of whisking things around with the flick of a wrist fascinates me. It also means that it should be possible to remake without any special crystals.

About that profit part- anyone know how much metallic content is in paper currency? Because I could think of a good use or two for a bill-levitating wand... [via neatorama]

I'm digging Rich Gilbert's SuperFoam chair, especially the construction video. I've always wondered how you could form bubbles in silicone, and now I know: balloons! Any other ideas about what you could make using this construction method? What if you wanted the bubbles to be some other shape instead of spheres? [via core77]

If you're still looking for ideas for this (or next) year's Halloween display, check out HauntProject.com. They've done a great job of assembling cool Halloween projects from all over the web and have nearly 1,000 indexed and categorized as of this writing. Shown here are three of my faves so far. Above, a sweet crashed flying saucer prop by Scott Rossi. Below, a motorized monster-in-a-box by Bob and Cindy Stewart.

Finally there's this squishy-eyeball doorbell modification by Scott of Modd3d:

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.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout met with Noridan, a South Korean band that makes its instruments from cast-off objects.

Noridan's eco-friendly music ]]> <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/south_korean_band_makes_music_from.html" />Read more</a> | <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/south_korean_band_makes_music_from.html" /> Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/south_korean_band_makes_music_from.html#comments" />Comments</a> | <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/music/" />Read more articles in Music</a> | <a href="http://digg.com/submit?url=blog.makezine.com%2Farchive%2F2009%2F10%2Fsouth_korean_band_makes_music_from.html&title=South%20Korean%20band%20makes%20music%20from%20found%20objects&bodytext=Embedded%20video%20from%20CNN%20Video%20CNN%26apos%3Bs%20Kristie%20Lu%20Stout%20met%20with%20Noridan%2C%20a%20South%20Korean%20band%20that%20makes%20its%20instruments%20from%20cast-off%20objects.%20Noridan%26apos%3Bs%20eco-friendly%20music...&topic=tech_news" />Digg this!</a> http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/south_korean_band_makes_music_from.html http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/south_korean_band_makes_music_from.html Music Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:27:46 -0800 Metal sculpture artist Gabriel Dishaw uses found objects from typewriters, adding machines, and old computers, held together with fine wire and glue, to create his awesome sculptures. He pays homage to his favorite sneakers by piecing together these replicas....

Metal sculpture artist Gabriel Dishaw uses found objects from typewriters, adding machines, and old computers, held together with fine wire and glue, to create his awesome sculptures. He pays homage to his favorite sneakers by piecing together these replicas. Pictured above is the Junk Dunk (Left), based on the Nike Dunk Low. Here's a side view:

In previous iterations, like the first version shown below, he sacrificed a shoe from his personal collection to harvest the sole as a base to build off of.

The newest addition is the Blazer Pentium 1.0:

(Via Geekologie. Thanks Brookelynn!)

Ever wish you could climb over your chrysanthemums, or roll over your roses? Well, now you can with this giant hammock, designed by Jane Hutton and Adrian Blackwell for an installation at the Jardins de Métis.

Anyone else build a climber over your garden? It seems like a great way to make efficient use of a small backyard space. The only issues I can think of would be the light that the structure blocks, and making sure that there is enough space underneath the structure to actually tend to the garden. As an extra benefit of this arrangement, if your vegetable garden is extra prolific, you could enjoy a nice snack and a nap without getting up. Just watch out for the thorns! [via inhabitat]

Need extra bling on your bike? How about some human powered, light-up pedals? Rather than drawing power from a wheel-mounted generator, each of these pedals actually has a tiny generator built in. Neat! [via Gadget Lab]

A beautiful wooden radio from designers Solène Le Goff and Christophe Gouache. Solar and/or wind-up powered. [via Dude Craft]

Does grabbing onto a grimy faucet to turn on the water to rinse your hands strike you as an odd contradiction in sanitation? Then a touch-sensitive faucet might just be the solution for you! Rather then turning a handle to start a flow of clean, refreshing water, you simply swipe your arm or back of your hand across the spigot.

This seems like kind of a neat idea, however I'm not sure if it is better than the distance sensor ones that grace most public bathrooms nowadays. It would be really neat if you could adjust the water temperature by swiping your hand across it, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Anyone have a better solution for this? [via core77]

Now this is a welcomed development. The company Blendtec provided iFixIt with one of their Total Blenders to take apart and document. As you know, we're always prattling on about "If You Can't Open It, You Don't Own It" and other litanies from The Maker's Bill of Rights. This is a company that apparently understands these rights. Looking at the teardown docs and watching the video, you can see that the blender is well made, with user-accessible parts, clearly marked circuit boards, etc. They obviously know they have a quality, intelligently-designed product, which is why they're not afraid to subject it to public inspection. Let's hope this starts a trend.

Blendtec Total Blender Teardown

I love this lamp made from its own coiled extension cord by Craighton Berman. He'll sell you one ready-made with a cord, or just the laser-cut acrylic frame and lamp guts so you can roll your own.

While we're on the topic of low-tech visualizers, here is another neat one. This Lightfader floor has a (presumably slow moving) fluid in it, that gets displaced when you step on it, and then slowly returns to it's original state. This produces a footprint path that slowly fades away, without any electronics. It is a few years old, however I just became aware of it.

It kind of reminds me of what happens to your footprints when you walk down a beach, and then the waves wash them away. I'm guessing it is made of a thin layer of very viscous, tinted liquid. Think that would work, or does it have to be something more complicated? Perhaps some sort of liquid crystal-based polarizer, to improve the contrast? [via transmaterial]

Propnomicon has an ongoing project to assemble a set of props from the fictional Miskatonic University expedition to Antarctica from Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness.

A plastic skull and ribcage, a stick, and some old curtains dunked in gray house paint. From Dave Lowe Design.

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.

Real time power monitoring has been proven to effectively reduce power consumption due to waste. It is intuitive to consider that humans need some sort of feedback in order to recognize the presence of waste. For example if one leaves the faucet open one has sound and sight feedback indicating there is waste. What sort of feedback do we have for electricity? None really, this is why these systems can help with waste reduction

The system uses images from a camera to track changes on the power meter, which is then fed through the network, converted to data and ported to the Google Powermeter. The data can then be viewed online from any browser. The history page gives some more context on the data. Check out more about the project's impact on the Analysis page.

The data can be sent to any device as long as the device has internet access and can read a RSS feed. So a web browser can display it, as well as a cell phone that has internet access. The data that the Chumby takes comes from this address. The Chumby application is a simple flash movie that reads from the above RSS feed and displays the data. The color changes from green to red as we use more electricity, so at night, the text will be green/yellow. This is a link to the exact same flash movie that is running on the Chumby. It updates in real time. The data is being served from a web server I built.

More:

• Chumby guts -- so delicious!
• Smart grids, smart metering, and Make: Green
• Home automation gear
• Energy auditing for greater efficiency

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

I'm digging the rocks supporting this 'Agua Table' by designer Domingos Tótora. Though they look totally real, they are actually made of recycled paper and glue. His website is made of unlinkable flash, however Contemporist has a nice set of photos showing how they are made.

The table is pretty nice, but I think I would want to make a giant boulder and roll it towards my anthropologist friends. What would you make out of fake rock? [via curbly]

I've come across some pretty cool headphones, but most of them lack the mic and remote of the newer Apple earphones that come with the iPhone. This mod is pretty much what you'd expect, but sometimes a good visual cue helps trigger the creative process. In the accompanying video Andreas Ødegård walks through swapping out the inferior Apple drivers for a set of Sennheiser CX300 drivers from a broken pair. Not only does this create a superior product that could never be purchased in a store, but it re-uses something that would otherwise have been thrown out with the trash.

Over on DinoFab, Dean shows off his latest bike improvement, an LED light system that uses a generator built from an old printer stepper motor. He points readers to this article about how to generate electricity using steppers.

Stepper Motor Powered Bike Light