This trio performs the Tetris theme on bottles of various sizes and water levels. They give you some clues to how they made it, one being the clicking metronome in the background and sped up effect; they must have performed it much slower then sped it up. My lips hurt just looking at it, though. Via Geekologie.

The steam mechanics, oilpunks, contraptors, neo-Victorians cosplayers, retro-futurists, post-apocalyptic Playa pirates, New Dandies, and electric cowboys were all out in force at this year's Bay Area Maker Faire. There was the Victorian castle on wheels, the steam-powered runabout, the steam-effects scooter, the fire-spewing bar with vaudeville side-stage, the radio-tubed Theremin, and the outdoor Victorian sitting room with a disgorged cabinet of wonders of brassy computer mods, rayguns, clockwork guitars, and a light-spewing violin covering several tables. There were also at least three airship crews.

One of the coolest things about all this is that many of these artisans were already great virtual friends, even collaborators, but had never actually met in person. Seen above is a drawing, by the amazing Suzanne Forbes, of the inimitable Jake von Slatt (left) and Datamancer (right). This is the first time these two well-known steampunk makers had met in meatspace. Here they're seen building a special Maker Faire Contraptors' Lounge keyboard (which we'll likely give away here on the blog at some point). More of Suzanne's drawings from the Lounge can be seen after the jump.

Sitting in the Lounge: Crewmembers of the HMS Chronabelle, Magpie of Steampunk Magazine. In the background (left) Captain Robert of Abney Park and Jake von Slatt, (center) MAKE photographer Sam Murphy and me (the bald dude -- and I swear I'm NOT picking my nose), (right) David S. Dowling (black vest). Seen on the table is Molly Freidrich's Sinister Device and one of her rayguns.

One of the tables in the Lounge, this one mainly featuring work by Jake von Slatt, including his clockwork guitar, his copper-plated etched mint tins, his telegraph sounders, and a phone project he's currently working on. Also seen is the forthcoming Steampunk Anthology edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer and a portfolio of Molly Freidrich's work.

Tom Sepe's steam-assisted motorbike.

Jake von Slatt: You've just been "steampunked" (by Meredith Scheff).

Designer Jens Praet makes furniture from shredded paper. He compressed it with resin into a mold, and out comes a new piece of furniture. I'm not sure how eco-friendly that resin is, or how much paper it uses (I'm guessing a lot, which keeps it out of a landfill), but the material technique sure is neat, and strong! Via Core77.

Boing Boing tv's embedded robo-combat reporter Xeni Jardin witnesses warfare inside Robogames and Combots at Bay Area Maker Faire 2008, where robots battle until death -- or at least 'til one competitor busts a sprocket.

Next, BB-gun wielding battleships go BOOM!, with the Western Warship Combat Club. Participants painstakingly re-create historic battleships on small scale, and outfit each warboat with actual artillery. He who sinks last wins. The cameraman took a pellet or two in the pants, but the goofy safety goggles kept all eyes intact.

In 1958 the BBC established the Radiophonic Workshop to explore and produce innovative sounds for radio programming. The group's unconventional approach to sound synthesis and arrangement poised them at the forefront of music technology - making them the envy of many pioneering musicians. Looking back at some of their hardware setups, it's no wonder current-day sound makers still hold the workshop in such high regard.

Workshop member Delia Derbyshire is responsible for what is commonly accepted as the group's signature recording - recorded in '63, the original theme from Doctor Who.

Simply unbeatable - electronic music doesn't get any better than that.

Visit the Radiophonic Workshop gallery

Read more of the group's history on Wikipedia

The PORTA2030 from 2006 is a mobile data sensing storage transmission unit that consists of a wireless hard drive (the WL-HDD2.5), a 1 GB flashcard and an open source backend. The device functions as a portable data sensing storage transmission system that can stream images to function as a simple communications device. Interesting design but we wonder how different it is from what a typical cell phone can do these days.

PORTA2030

This Sequential Resonation Machine by Joseph Casbarian routs any amplified sound source through a twelve position switch positioned at the top of the device. Each of the 12 valves contain a speaker, turning this steampunk looking device into a sequencer of sorts that uses pipe resonance to produce pitch.

Sequential Resonation Machine

/MUKANA (the Finnish for aboard, along, in, on, part, with and within) is a piece of cutting-edge smart clothing for the visually impaired. It connects technology with textiles and thus promotes new approaches to dressing up. Users were given the main focus in the design. A group of visually impaired participated throughout the process of development. The final prototype was thoroughly tested by them.

..includes a cell phone, a wireless headset, a Global Positioning System (GPS) module and voice recognition software. The system takes account of the special needs of the visually impaired. Users can ask //MUKANA to tell them their location, to give information on what route to take to their destination or on the timetables of public transportation.

This system provides light and food in the form of hydroponic solution for the plant. The plant reacts to the device by growing. The device in-turn reacts to the plant by producing a rasterized inkjet drawing of the plant every twenty-four hours. After a new drawing is produced the system scrolls the roll of paper approximately four inches so a new drawing can be produced during the next cycle. This system is allowed two run indefinitely and the final outcome is not predetermined.

Read more about the Growth rendering device - via ComputerLove

In each piece I attempt to design circuitry that creates nonsensical or random number patterns that move, blink, gyrate and mystify. Reactions of viewers range from giggles to attempts to deduce the function to suggestions that they are to be used to select lottery numbers.

Read more about Guy Marsden

The basis for operation is fairly straightforward. A tracking program (WiSP, Nova for Windows, The Station Program, and DK1TB's SatPC32 program are all known to work) sends data in the EASYCOMM data format out a standard serial port to the SAEBRTrack unit. The Parallax BASIC Stamp 2 decodes the azimuth and elevation information sent by the tracking program, and the array is positioned.

Read more about making your own Satellite Tracker

Bennett Williamson at FATLAB writes:

The default Mac OS X (I'm on version 10.4.11) screensaver picture slideshow function can read an alpha channel in a .gif file. That is to say, as the slideshow plays your images, a .gif with an alpha channel will appear to be "on top" of the previous image, and as the slideshow goes on, the .gifs will continue to "layer" on until an image of a different format is displayed, which has a default white or black background.

Take advantage of the randomizing function to create some home-made screensaver machinima art! The animation above is a sample implementation: The NEW Office Party Screensaver from FATLAB.

In the spirit of Men of the Internet, this screensaver is a series of carefully-sliced 800×600 .gifs, sourced from the faces of the hardest working local board members, regional vice presidents, administrative assistants, and other fruitful regular-dude-generating search terms on the internet. The .gifs layer over one another to hybridize these generic gentlemen into a randomly-generated ultimate budget-balancing force of suits.

Folder of gifs and screen saver configurations settings included.

Love your Boarduino but hate that FTDI cable? Ladyada to the rescue again, with a new kit: a USB Boarduino kit, with the FTDI chip (surface mount) and USB port pre-soldered and tested for kit-assembling ease!

Related:

Boarduino - Breadboard-compatible Arduino clone

Eric of LEMUR talks trons, slime, and sound -

Eric Singer has more than just a penchant for making his musical bots. In fact, he has a separate category altogether for very innovative musical controllers he creates and calls "Trons." Here, we take our first look at the Slime-o-Tron - a controller that works by moving conductive slime around copper nails.

Hmm, ferrofluid could be a fun option - LEMUR Slime-o-Tron: A Slimey Controller [via matrixsynth]

Related:

Slime-o-tron

Artist Thomas Doyle makes fascinating art, tells compelling stories, with model train miniatures and scenery. I've always been strangely attracted to these miniature components and wondered why more people don't make art, jewelry, dioramas, etc. with them.

Art by Thomas Doyle [Thanks, Patti!]

The Gnaural Java applet allows you to playback binaural beat sequences in a web browser - arrange your own programs using the Gnaural software or simply download example programs and load them via the java interface.

If you're looking for something a little 'flashier' - check out this visual HTML Dreammachine. Far simpler than Gnaural, it allows you to control the rate and color of basic full-window flashes.

You can get acquainted with the mental medium via this handy frequency chart listing each range's associated states of consciousness.

(Theta [4-7hz] FTW!)

It's always nice to see 'darn cute' & 'genuinely interesting' join forces - especially when it demonstrates autonomous extraction of task constraints (to the Benny Hill theme) -

The Chief Cook Robot learning to cook an omelet by whipping eggs, cutting ham and grating cheese.

Through the use of a probabilistic model using Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and Gaussian Mixture Regression (GMR), the robot progressively learns to generalize the skill to various situations. It is then possible to reproduce the skill by being robust to dynamic perturbations (e.g. by moving the bowl while the robot whip the eggs). This video is part of the Cogniron project.

Exercise your learning algorithm by ingesting more relevant data here - Research on robot learning by imitation

Andrew Turley turned a microfiche viewer into a musical/MIDI interface simply by pointing a photodiode at the screen and feeding the light values into an MCU and out to a Casio keyboard. As you scroll through the microfiche content, the changing light values of the data make music.

Maker Faire Highlights: Making Music the Hard Way

Related:

• Musical interfaces @ Maker Faire

There's a Cloud Appreciation Society. Who knew? Lots of pictures, art, poetry, science, folk lure, discussion, etc. Cloud books, too (The Cloudspotter's Guide).

The Cloud Appreciation Society [Thanks, Patti!]

Related:

• The wonder, science, and how-tos of snowflakes

Here are some of their latest products that looked interesting to me...


The AVR-GSM.

Series 2.5 XBee module with Wire antenna.

The GPS stick.

A great collection of mechanics tools. Includes 300 pc. Base Essentials Set (33300), 198 pc. Professional Essentials Set (33198), 189 pc. Specialized Essentials Set (35189), 204 pc. Advanced Access Pro's Set (33204), 106 pc. Advanced Professional Tool Set (35106), 89 pc. Specialized Access Professional Tool Set (35086), 83 pc. Ultimate Fully-Polished Ratcheting Set (35183), 77 pc. Heavy-Duty Mechanic's Set (35079), 94pc. Auto Specialty Professional Tool Set (35098) and 130 pc. Professional Impact Set (34130). Catalog# 34131

The space itself opened with powder blue billboard with “GENTRIFY THIS” painted aggressively in black, which a mother explained to her young daughter behind me in line was “delightfully ironic”, a phrase that applied just as well to the work within and its interaction with the crowd. The audience was incredibly diverse and indeed, I think it was the crowd that I found the most interesting. We had the entire age range, there more than a few grandmothers admiring the walls and strollers and children marveling. And of course there were more than our fair share of hipster types. The range of cameras was equally impressive. I lost count of the number of cellphone cameras (and yes, iphones were disproportionately represented), but there were lots of semi and professional photographers on the scene, and even a good number of videocams and tripods. And an equally diverse range of camera styles, flybys, the sit and wait type, etc. The need to document and capture the art seemed as pressing as the need to get in to see it! And of course, there were stencils of photographers that needed photographing…

More:

• Stencil art fest, The Cans Festival.
• Scanned program.
• Additional gallery @ NOTCOT.

The wood version of the "Weird Sound Generator" (pictured above), is one of a series of home built synths by Sascha Neudek. Really nice construction on all of the synths and he even sells them from his site which is pretty cool since they have a one-of-a-kind type look and feel.

Subtle Noise Maker

This PIC based countdown timer was used to control lighting for the Ultra-Violet exposure of photosensitive PCB material, although it would come in handy for many other applications, such as cooking, or even exercising. It also includes an audible alarm when the counter finishes and relays control to turn on or off the lights.

PIC Countdown Timer, [via]

This project by Aleks Kolkowski creates records by using a vintage record cutter to carve grooves into old CDs and DVDs. In his recent showing of the project at the Futuresonic Festival in the UK, visitors came by with sound files which he would carve into the discs and then give copies back as a playable record. Really nice remake of two technologies that are slowly dying out to MP3s.

[via], Aleks Kolkowski
CD-Recycled 45rpm

Introducing the "iDeal". It's the worlds best automatic poker dealer! Perfect for your home poker games and fits on the edge of a table. Features include:

• PIC microprocessor coded in C
• Preprogrammable games such as texas holdem (shown in video), bridge, gin, omaha, etc
• IR player position sensing using bicycle reflectors as indicators
• Ultrasonic player distance sensing which determines how far to shoot the cards

Related:

Make your own poker table

The chair can come complete with all the genuine scuffs and stains of its New York City roots or can come "squeaky clean" with a fresh coat of paint. The seating surfaces have been reglazed with one inch-thick polished resin, cushioned with felt suspension.

via TrendHunter - Walk - Don't Walk chair

CRAFT: 07 is on newsstands now! We celebrates spring in high style, devoting our theme section to shoes! And can we talk here, who doesn't like shoes? Now you can crafty your own by learning two ways to mod Converse Hightops: knit one pair and swap the fabric on another. Fashion a pair of ribbon-tie sandals, open source shoes and build your own rollerskates. Plus, learn how to batik fabric, découpage a map on a coffee table, reupholster a chair, and build a set of portable speakers. See the full table of contents online. (And yes, that's me on the cover with our CRAFT mascot, my little pomeranian Lulu.)

Take a preview of the issue with our Digital Edition. Subscribe today for only $34.95 (US) for 4 quarterly issues a year and also get full access to the Digital Edition.

In London? Check out the Paper Wars show, opening May 15 at the Craze Gallery. It's themed around the papercraft AK-47 and features many pieces based off that kit, as well as other sculptures like the one above. Via Core77.

Related:

Papercraft AK-47 on CRAFT

Hipstomp at the Core77 blog writes:

In some of Manhattan's better Japanese-staffed bars, like Tribeca's underground B-Flat, ice cubes are noticeably absent; ordering your scotch on the rocks gets you a large ice sphere. With less surface area than the same amount of ice rendered in cubes, a globe of ice will melt more slowly, keeping your drink cold without making it watery.

As an industrial designer, your correspondent couldn't help but notice the parting line on B-Flat's ice spheres; after all, it has to come out of a mold. But now a company called Taisin has come up with a clever device for making a perfect ice sphere with no parting line.

How does it work? You sandwich a large chunk of ice in between the two metal pieces pictured above. As the ice slowly melts, gravity brings the top half to close over the bottom half, enclosing what ice remains in its spherical cavity. Because the ice is in the process of melting into its new shape as the top closes, there's no parting line. Clever!

If you've been put off by the complexity of the Max/MSP multimedia development software in the past, you might want to give the new version a looksee. The developers have given the software a pretty major overhaul, visually simplifying much of the interface. - Max 5

Of course, the $495 price tag still remains an obstacle for most of us - there's always Pure Data as a free alternative for your next interactive art installation.

When I was a tween, I lived for slot-cars. Our small town outside of Richmond, VA had two slot car shops/tracks for a few years.

This video from Spain shows a race from fixed and car-mounted cameras. Really nice track too. And vroom-vroom sound effects.

Scalextric EXIN made in Spain [via]

Holy Wow!

Basically, it is exactly what it sounds like; a button that instantly launches a party. When pressed, the blinds to my apartment close, the kitchen, hallway, dining room, and living room lights dim, the stereo starts blasting Haddaway - What Is Love, black lights turn on, laser lights start moving to the music, a strobe light goes on, and the fog machine starts up.

With another press of the button, the party is gone as easily as it started.
It may not be the most hi-tech thing in the world, but people sure as hell love it when they come over.

Build pics and info - Emergency party button [via Zedomax - Thanks, Max!]

Related:

International Dance Party transforms to a booty shaking powerhouse

Here's a vid showing just a few of the many musical interfaces on hand at Bay Area Maker Faire. There were so many cool instruments, yet so little time to play them all. It was truly awesome to see such a great turnout on the sonic front - big thanks to all who made it happen!

John Edgar Park's RFID Conveyor Belt