Technology Review - laser sensors for wind turbines...

A new fiber-optic laser system can measure wind speed and direction up to 1000 meters in front of a wind turbine, giving the massive machines enough precious seconds to proactively adapt to gusts and sudden changes in wind direction. The device, developed by Catch the Wind, a startup based in Manassas, VA, could improve the efficiency of wind turbines and keep them from breaking down.

More:

Wind Powered Generator. With a motor and some piping, it's suprisingly easy to build this inexpensive, efficient windmill generator--and enjoy free energy forever. Read this article in MAKE: 05: Science, Weather, and Outdoors, Page 90. To get MAKE, subscribe or purchase single volumes. MAKE: Digital Edition subscribers—read this article now in your digital edition!

HOW TO Build a 17-ft Wind Turbine.

DIY 1000 watt wind turbine.

HOW TO - Build your own wind turbine.

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robertjmoore writes "Everywhere I go lately, I see these lawn signs that say "Single?" and then give a URL with my town's name in it. Being a huge business intelligence geek with too much time on my hands, I decided to track down who was behind them and wound up uncovering ten thousand domain names, a massively coordinated and well-funded guerilla marketing machine, and the $45 Million revenue business hiding behind it all. Hot off the presses, these are my findings."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

There were all sorts of amazing and wonderful costumes at Steam Powered. I found myself stopping people in their tracks, in hallways and in the vendor area, asking them to back it up so I could take in their get-up. Now normally, people might be a little creeped out if you stopped them so you could ogle their outfit, but here, everyone was more than happy and enthused to show off everything, explain how they made it, how many hours in took, etc. Some people even had a different outfit for each day of the convention. Crazy.

While all of the outfits were cool, and I love the geographical, historical, and time-period mash-ups, the playfulness and humor of steampunk cosplay, there definitely is a standard steampunk look and feel. And that can become a bit too uniform-y.

And there's Holly Conrad. I spotted her the first time I entered the vendor area. She was behind the Etsy Steam Team tables, probably deploying her tattered and moth-eaten Da Vinci-esque wings for the umpteenth time. The wings are amazing. I went over to see them close up. By now, she was pulling on their ripcord handles, ratcheting them back into place. So cool! Then I started to take in the rest of her outfit. There were layers and layers of it and obsessive levels of detail. E.g. There was a burn patch on one of her leather gauntlet gloves. Inside the burn hole I could see exposed wires, suggesting that there was even more going on under the surface. Later, I noticed that there were blackened rocket nozzles at the bottom of the wing-pack, and realized she'd probably *really* thought this through and put the scorching on the glove as the work-a-day wear and tear on a steampunk faerie's flight systems. She was so laden down with layers of stuff, there was little of Holly peering through. As she talked, she struggled to keep her ornately-decorated goggles on her forehead and the feathers, baubles, and leather flaps from her flight cap out of her face. It was simultaneously comical, charming, and cute.

I really enjoyed talking to Holly, who also goes by the character name Fyriel and sells on Etsy under the name Orpheus Alchemy. She's a 22 year old medieval studies major from USCB. She's fascinated by alchemical texts, occult grimoires, and crypto-history and incorporates much of this design style and iconography into her work. The name for her Fyriel persona came from a medieval manuscript were it was written, without explanation, as marginalia. The mysteriousness of this appealed to her. Holly grew up playing D&D, other RPGs, and World of Warcraft and credits these game worlds for much of her sensibility and inspiration. The Fyriel costume involved a laundry list of craft and construction techniques, from leather work and resin casting to metal work and electronics. She says that she gets home every days between 4 and 5PM, heads into her garage studio and doesn't emerge until 3AM. Every day. She makes a point of "every day." Somehow, I don't doubt this.

Holly won the Steam Powered costume contest later that night. I heard that the Weta Workshop folks had been talking to her. Given the impact she made, the way she stood out from an already creative, talented crowd, they should be talking to her. She *is* looking for a job. Somebody should snatch her up, 'cause I have a feeling that, if she can keep the goggles out of her eyes, Holly Conrad is going places on those shabby, but o' so chic, faerie wings.

[The drawing above is by the amazing Suzanne Forbes. She did this sketch within the 20 minutes or so it took me to interview Holly. Amazing. Photos are by Kathleen of Figments.]

More:

• Steam Powered reaching pressure
• "Maker" is what I do, "steampunk" describes the style
• The Etsy Steam Team
• Steampunk conference report, part II

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This MAKE-made-looking self balancing unicycle will go on sale soon, $1,500 looks like a lot of fun, love it!

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During filming of the latest set of episodes, I gave Maker's Notebooks to some of the wonderful crew members on the set of the Make: television show. We got to talking about modding them, and someone said, "I wish the thing had a reading light". My idea is to use the embedded bookmark ribbon as a reading light platform. I've never worked with conductive thread or surface mount LEDs before, so any tips/warnings before I go down that road would be welcome!

This is an LED, battery, and thread from the new Lilypad e-sewing kit I just got. That thing puts out a pretty bright light!

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Wow, makers like map visualizations! JB (and a couple other folks) sent in this map of the boroughs of NYC and the populations of entire states that fit inside them!

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After years of intense opinionating...



Watching some newborn puppies sleep.

BigPoppaT writes "Eric Brechner writes a best practices blog called Hard Code for Microsoft under the name I.M. Wright. His most recent post sounds like an endorsement of open source development (and does end with a call for Microsoft developers to participate in the shared source community). But even better is his advice regarding patents: 'When using existing libraries, services, tools, and methods from outside Microsoft, we must be respectful of licenses, copyrights, and patents. Generally, you want to carefully research licenses and copyrights (your contact in Legal and Corporate Affairs can help), and never search, view, or speculate about patents. I was confused by this guidance till I wrote and reviewed one of my own patents. The legal claims section--the only section that counts--was indecipherable by anyone but a patent attorney. Ignorance is bliss and strongly recommended when it comes to patents.' Interesting advice from inside Microsoft. I wonder if Ballmer would agree that ignorance should be 'strongly recommended when it comes to patents'?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Every day, we wake up hoping that some bit of common sense will find its way into the world when it comes to copyright issues, and yet every day we seem to find out about more and more ridiculous situations. For example, the Berlin Metro system has ordered a 21-year-old student to stop distributing an iPhone app that helps travelers look up a train schedule. I've used similar apps for train schedules in the US, and they're quite useful. In fact, the convenience of them makes it more likely that I would ride a train. So what's the complaint? Copyright, of course, with a touch of jealousy thrown in.

The Berlin Metro people are claiming that the application somehow violates their copyright on the train schedule and map. It's unclear whether or not there's any substance to the copyright claim. While in the US you can't copyright facts (such as a train schedule), in Europe they do have "database rights," which allow someone to copyright a collection of facts. Perhaps a timetable might fall under such a definition, though it would still be ridiculous to stop this app from being offered.

But, based on statements from the folks at the Berlin Metro, it's clear that this is not just a copyright issue. It's a jealousy issue:

That is our copyright and Apple is one of the richest firms in the world.

This fits with the psychological theory that many people are upset at being better off if it means that someone else is in an even better position. In this case, the Berlin Metro is worse off, because fewer people will use the Metro (and pay for it) because it's not as convenient to get the information. But according to the Berlin Metro, that's fine, because Apple is too rich (even though this app doesn't make Apple any money). Logic, apparently, is not a strong suit of the folks who run the Berlin Metro.

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Wow, here's a giant widget that has... everything - I put it on the extra hacked up display here until I couldn't take the info overload via RW.

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mallumax writes "David Pogue of New York Times has reviewed the Pico, which is a pocket projector from Optoma. The review is quite entertaining (Pogue projects the images on to a plane's ceiling, leaving passengers baffled) and detailed. The highlights are: It is a pocket-sized projector which runs on batteries and can project images and videos from a variety of sources like iPhone, iPod and DVD players with a 480x320px resolution, with a maximum screen size of 65 inches at 8.5 feet. It uses a non-replaceable 10,000 hour LED lamp and a DLP chip from Texas Instruments. The battery lasts for 90 minutes and can be recharged through USB or with its own power cord. The device weighs 115g and comes with an inbuilt speaker which is practically useless. If you want one, it will set you back by $430."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

mallumax writes "David Pogue of New York Times has reviewed Pico which is a pocket projector from Optoma. The review is quite entertaining (Pogue projects the images on to a plane's ceiling, leaving passengers baffled) and detailed. The highlights are: It is a pocket-sized projector which runs on batteries and can project images and videos from a variety of sources like iPhone, iPod and DVD players with a 480x320px resolution, with a maximum screen size of 65 inches at 8.5 feet. It uses a non-replaceable 10,000 hour LED lamp and a DLP chip from Texas Instruments. The battery lasts for 90 minutes and can be recharged through USB or with its own power chord. The device weighs 115g and comes with an inbuilt speaker which is practically useless. If you want one, it will set you back by $430."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

My friend Eric Spitznagel took on the Bigfoot beat for Vanity Fair and filed: "Everything's Bigfoot in Texas." From the Texas Bigfoot Conference in Jefferson, Texas, he reports:

Drawing on interviews with dozens of eye-witnesses, [Sasquatch expert Dr. Henner] Fahrenbach went on to say that Bigfoot’s diet is rich in mussels, clams, peacocks, and the “hindquarter” of deer. He insisted that Bigfoots enjoy wrestling, tickle fights, and, most surprisingly, gangbangs. He assured us that even a horny Sasquatch has an impeccable sense of orgy etiquette.

“When an especially large male came onto the scene,” Fahrenbach said, describing a sexual pileup involving one willing female and lots of dudes, “he didn’t try to buck the line but simply stood there and took his turn in good time.”

In the beginning of his lecture, there was some nervous giggling from those in the audience. After a while, they just stared at Fahrenbach, a few with jaws agape. Somewhere in the back row, a woman turned to her husband and whispered, “I can’t tell if he’s kidding.”

It’s been a rough few months for Bigfoot true believers.

"Everything's Bigfoot in Texas." (Illustration credit: John Hogan.)

Newsweek is publishing a seven-part "Secrets of the 2008 Campaign" series, which includes reports that the computer networks of both the Obama and McCain campaigns were compromised in a complex systems attack before the election. A "serious amount of files" were downloaded from the Obama campaign's network, according to the piece. Here's the link to "Hackers and Spending Sprees." Snip:

At the Obama headquarters in midsummer, technology experts detected what they initially thought was a computer virus—a case of "phishing," a form of hacking often employed to steal passwords or credit-card numbers. But by the next day, both the FBI and the Secret Service came to the campaign with an ominous warning: "You have a problem way bigger than what you understand," an agent told Obama's team. "You have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system." The following day, Obama campaign chief David Plouffe heard from White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, to the same effect: "You have a real problem ... and you have to deal with it." The Feds told Obama's aides in late August that the McCain campaign's computer system had been similarly compromised. A top McCain official confirmed to NEWSWEEK that the campaign's computer system had been hacked and that the FBI had become involved.

Officials at the FBI and the White House told the Obama campaign that they believed a foreign entity or organization sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps' policy positions—information that might be useful in negotiations with a future administration. The Feds assured the Obama team that it had not been hacked by its political opponents. (Obama technical experts later speculated that the hackers were Russian or Chinese.) A security firm retained by the Obama campaign took steps to secure its computer system and end the intrusion. White House and FBI officials had no comment earlier this week.

And in related news: Palin's couture shopping spree was apparently far more extensive and expensive than previously reported, and she apparently has a compulsive spending problem. Snip:

One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards.

Secrets of the 2008 Campaign: Highlights (Newsweek)

A new video from Beck for "Gamma Ray," starring Chloë Sevigny and a lot of groovy visuals. Rex sez: "Pretend it's 1995 again." Not recommended for those of you who are on acid. (Via Some Notes on Napkins.)

Check out this Instructable on converting an army surplus bag into a bike pannier. $5 at a flea market is a bit cheaper (and cooler) than the commercial panniers I've seen.

Here are some other DIY panniers we've covered:

• Bike pannier from messenger bag


• DIY panniers from ammo containers

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From the BFI National Film archive, via YouTube:

"Tibetan Scenes was made by Tsien-Lien Shen in the early 1940s - he was resident Chinese Commissioner in Lhasa from 1942-47. The colour film records many of the ceremonial events that took place in Lhasa, including the New Year ceremonies, and Shen himself appears in the film. There is also evidence of the presence of the Chinese in Lhasa.

Although the majority of the film focuses on Tibetan ceremonies, there are some invaluable scenes capturing everyday life in Lhasa, as monks, porters, market stall sellers and the occasional yak compete for space."

Another related film from the same archive:

"This film was shot by Sir Basil Gould who succeeded Derek Williamson as Political Officer of Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet in 1935. His films record two visits to Lhasa. The first, Lhasa (1936), shows his Diplomatic Mission to the Tibetan capital. His cameraman Frederick Spencer Chapman was commissioned by the BFI in 1937 to write an article for Sight and Sound magazine describing that visit ("Tibetan Horizon"). The film features an intriguing sequence of Tibetan women playing darts.

And more:

These extraordinary scenes were filmed in Tibet in the 1940s and include shots of the current Dalai Lama (then still a very young boy) and his family. The opening scenes show the Dalai Lama's parents and siblings, and a procession of high-ranking men and women. This is followed by a clip of a procession with the Dalai Lama in a golden palanquin, his presence indicated by the peacock feather umbrella being carried alongside. The final scenes, in contrast, show ordinary children dancing and ice-skating in Lhasa."

(Thanks, Clayton Cubitt)

Reader Mike Z. points us to an interesting experiment by the band Francis and the Lights. Rather than going out and signing a record label deal, where the record label basically gets near total control over the band and its works, the band has incorporated itself into a company and raised $100,000 from The Normative Music Company as an investment. As the folks at Normative note, this structure is much more like a startup going out and raising angel or venture capital. It also makes a lot more sense. The label structure often takes way too much control away from a band. A model more similar to the venture capital model has some very compelling aspects to it. What's unclear from the article, though, is how the investment is structured. Unlike a startup, it seems unlikely that the band will be acquired (or go public). I'm guessing there must be some sort of "dividend" structure, where the band is expected to pay out a percentage of earnings to the investor. Who knows if it will work for this particular band, but it definitely seems like a model worth watching. Hopefully we'll see some more bands test it out as well.

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Photographer Dan Tobin Smith exploded, and photographed, teddy bears for the latest issue of Kilimanjaro magazine. Creative Review posted a feature about the magazine - tagline: "art, love, and everyday life." The online feature also includes a video of one of the bears going boom. Kilimanjaro: Teddy Killers

On the day before Election Day, the NYT ran an editorial about eleventh-hour scrambling by Bush and aides to alter rules and regulations on the environment, civil liberties, abortion rights, and other issues. There are 75 days remaining for the Bush presidency, and they're evidently hard at work on change, too. Snip:

CIVIL LIBERTIES We don’t know all of the ways that the administration has violated Americans’ rights in the name of fighting terrorism. Last month, Attorney General Michael Mukasey rushed out new guidelines for the F.B.I. that permit agents to use chillingly intrusive techniques to collect information on Americans even where there is no evidence of wrongdoing.

Agents will be allowed to use informants to infiltrate lawful groups, engage in prolonged physical surveillance and lie about their identity while questioning a subject’s neighbors, relatives, co-workers and friends. The changes also give the F.B.I. — which has a long history of spying on civil rights groups and others — expanded latitude to use these techniques on people identified by racial, ethnic and religious background.

The administration showed further disdain for Americans’ privacy rights and for Congress’s power by making clear that it will ignore a provision in the legislation that established the Department of Homeland Security. The law requires the department’s privacy officer to account annually for any activity that could affect Americans’ privacy — and clearly stipulates that the report cannot be edited by any other officials at the department or the White House.

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has now released a memo asserting that the law “does not prohibit” officials from homeland security or the White House from reviewing the report. The memo then argues that since the law allows the officials to review the report, it would be unconstitutional to stop them from changing it. George Orwell couldn’t have done better.

So Little Time, So Much Damage (New York Times)

Smelly Jeffrey writes "With the release of this whitepaper, the FCC unanimously approved plans for a new technology with strong supporters and even stronger detractors. White Space Wi-Fi effectively allows manufacturers of wireless devices to incorporate transceivers that operate on unused DTV channels. Although the deregulation is new, the idea seems to have caught Google's interest recently as well. It seems that this has been rather rushed through the normally stagnant channels at the FCC. While some view it as interference in the already crowded spectrum, it seems the FCC Chairman really likes the idea of re-purposing dark parts of the newly allocated DTV bands once more." Update: 11/06 18:15 GMT by T : You may want to look at Tuesday's mention of the decision as well, but the additional links here are interesting.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Sigma has announced a firmware update for its DP-1 compact digital camera. Version 2.00 will make it possible to allocate different functions to each of the Digital Zoom buttons. In addition, the image magnification ratio will now appear during playback.

Vintage poison labels - high res files available, perfect to print out and put on your projects and things in the refrigerator at work! via LoL.

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I'm John Park and I've been invited to blog here at Make. I'm thrilled that Phil and the rest of the incredible team are letting me join them.

By day I'm a character rigger making animated movies; by night (and early morning), I'm a father and husband, Maker, and freelance writer. Thanks to a chance encounter at the 2008 Bay Area Maker Faire, I'm going to be the host of the Maker Workshop on the upcoming Make: television show airing on PBS in January.

Topics I'm likely to post about:

• Coffee hacking


• Needlessly complex electromechanical contraptions


• Diving into projects with an imbalanced enthusiasm-to-knowledge ratio


• Shocking behind-the-scenes tales of making the TV show

Topics I'm unlikely to post about:

• Hydroelectric power plant overclocking


• The undiscovered "Soilpunk" gardening technology genre


• Arduino-based marital aids

It's a tremendous honor to be here, thank you for having me!

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Ok, Vader - you have a toaster now... but the DIY rebels have been cooking up some stuff too...


CNC toast!

Play with your food: Rework your toast.

MAKE: toast...

Toast art...

Dale burrito, ok - not toast.

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Wow, this might be the coolest thing ever - The astrometry pool on Flickr automatically adds labels to the astronomy photos you upload. Brought to you by the folks at Astrometry.net...

If you have astronomical imaging of the sky with celestial coordinates you do not know—or do not trust—then Astrometry.net is for you. Input an image and we'll give you back astrometric calibration meta-data, plus lists of known objects falling inside the field of view.

We have built this astrometric calibraton service to create correct, standards-compliant astrometric meta-data for every useful astronomical image ever taken, past and future, in any state of archival disarray. We hope this will help organize, annotate and make searchable all the world's astronomical information.

More:

Astronomy Hacks. Why use the traditional approach to study the stars when you can turn computers, handheld devices, and telescopes into out-of-this-world stargazing tools? Whether you're a first timer or an advanced hobbyist, you'll find Astronomy Hacks both useful and fun. From upgrading your optical finder to photographing stars, this book is the perfect cosmic companion...

Cover up to see in the dark... MAKE 03 - page 190.

'Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders'--get out under the stars. If you're interested in observing multiple stars and astounding deep-sky objects (nebulae, galaxies, and clusters), this book shows you how to do it--everything from choosing your equipment to actually finding the objects when you are out there in the field.

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Peter (Professor) Fo writes "I've recently had two CD-Rs reported to me as faulty which are just 3 years old. This is worrying — I suspect the failure rate for this batch could be 10%. When researching CD longevity there is old and unreliable information; pious 'how to cosset your discs so they last 100 years' blurb; and endless discussions of what sort of dye to use, don't use cheap media, burn slower (or don't), but not much by way of hard facts besides there's a lot of data loss going on. Does anyone know of a generic utility (win or *nix would suit me) that can map sector readability/error rates of CDs? I'd like to measure decay over time in my environment with my media and my other variables; and I expect others would too."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Plenty of countries have different types of "blank media" levies, which act as something of a "you must be a criminal!" tax. Basically, industries have convinced governments to force consumers to pay a lot more, on the assumption that they're all criminals, and rather than pushing the industries to innovate new business models, they just get to collect that "tax." In the US, the RIAA has suggested such a tax should be added to broadband connections, though there seems little chance of that happening any time soon.

However, Sean alerts us to an effort under way in Italy to do exactly that. Apparently the Society of Authors and Editors has asked the government to impose a tax on all DSL connections (the article's in Italian, but Google has a decent translation). Hopefully this is one of those outlandish proposals that goes nowhere, but it's worth paying attention when these sorts of proposals are being pushed, as they have the inevitable tendency to spread.

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Gorgeous.

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Ladyada writes -

If you have an Arduino project where the dev board is stuck inside a machine, or attached to the rafters or is inaccessible in some other way, a wireless programming/debugging link will save you tons of time. This tutorial is an extension on Rob’s version. In this version, no extra firmware or hardware (other than a capacitor) is necessary. Just use the default bootloader. I demonstrate it with a ‘classic’ Arduino but of course this can be easily adapted to any version or clone.

You will need 2 XBee adapter kits, 2 matching-protocol XBee modules, an FTDI cable (or other FTDI breakout board, if you can wire it up correctly) and a 0.1uF capacitor (although sometimes a 1.0uF capacitor worked better)

The big trick is turning on “Digital I/O passing” where the reset pin is wirelessly mirrored from one XBee to the other. I spent a few hours reading the datasheet to figure it out!

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Phase One has released an update to its RAW workflow software, Capture One. Version 4.5.1 supports RAW files from the Canon 50D and offers preliminary support for EOS 5D Mark II files. The update also improves general performance of the software.

narramissic writes "Researchers Erik Tews and Martin Beck 'have just opened the box on a whole new hacker playground, says Dragos Ruiu, organizer of the PacSec conference. At the conference, Tews will show how he was able to partially crack WPA encryption in order to read data being sent from a router to a laptop. To do this, Tews and Beck found a way to break the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) key, used by WPA, in a relatively short amount of time: 12 to 15 minutes. They have not, however, managed to crack the encryption keys used to secure data that goes from the PC to the router in this particular attack. 'Its just the starting point,' said Ruiu."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Mark Newman's, Department of Physics and Center for the Study of Complex Systems, University of Michigan election maps based on population via Waxy. I suspect in 4 years we'll see these on all the networks doing "live morphs" from geographic view to population view on a big touchscreen with a hologram operating it...

Most of us are, by now, familiar with the maps the TV channels and web sites use to show the results of the presidential election:

The states are colored red or blue to indicate whether a majority of their voters voted for the Republican candidate, John McCain, or the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, respectively. Looking at this map it gives the impression that the Republicans won the election handily, since there is rather more red on the map than there is blue. In fact, however, the reverse is true – the Democrats won by a substantial margin. The explanation for this apparent paradox, as pointed out by many people, is that the map fails to take account of the population distribution. It fails to allow for the fact that the population of the red states is on average significantly lower than that of the blue ones. The blue may be small in area, but they represent a large number of voters, which is what matters in an election.

We can correct for this by making use of a cartogram, a map in which the sizes of states are rescaled according to their population. That is, states are drawn with size proportional not to their acreage but to the number of their inhabitants, states with more people appearing larger than states with fewer, regardless of their actual area on the ground. On such a map, for example, the state of Rhode Island, with its 1.1 million inhabitants, would appear about twice the size of Wyoming, which has half a million, even though Wyoming has 60 times the acreage of Rhode Island.


Here are the 2008 presidential election results on a population cartogram of this type...

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Smivs writes "Bletchley Park, the home to the allied codebreakers during WWII, and a major computing heritage centre, has been given a financial lifeline, reports the BBC.The grant of £330,000 will be used to undertake urgent roof works as the rooms of the Grade II-listed mansion, replete with painted ceilings, timber panelling, and ornate plasterwork, are at risk because the roof has been patched rather than renovated so many times during the 130 years of the mansion's history. The donation follows efforts to highlight the dilapidated state of the huts and other buildings at Bletchley. Discussions are also in progress on a further three-year, £600,000 funding programme for the historic site. "Bletchley Park played a fundamental role in the Allies winning the Second World War and is of great importance to the history of Europe," said Dr Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

It's not really for hamsters, but it's about the right size. Mydogellen made this awesome knitted bike - she made an Instructable that explains her approach and the techniques she used.

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Dragged kicking and screaming into 2008 we've finally decided to break the code of silence which hovered over the inner workings of the dpreview beast and launch our very own blog, or blogs to be more precise. As of today we now have a more informal channel for our editorial and developer teams to communicate directly with our readership, answer some of your burning questions and give you a peek through the window into the hive of activity which occurs in our basement. It's early days but we've already got a few entries, more to come!

It's been over six years since we began banging the drum around here to get Congress to repeal Sarbanes-Oxley, the law that was hastily written post-Enron to try to prevent such collapses again, but instead simply added a huge compliance tax, without doing much of anything to actually prevent corporate fraud. Corporate fraud is still rampant, and the law did absolutely nothing to prevent the financial collapse we see ourselves in today. There were, instead, massive unintended consequences, leading companies to go public elsewhere, go private or avoid the public markets altogether. The lack of IPOs, especially in the tech space over the past few years, even as the economy was looking strong, is incredibly telling.

So, it's good to see a renewed effort to get Congress to repeal Sarbanes-Oxley, which simply created a massive tax in terms of compliance, with awful unintended (though, totally predictable) consequences -- all while doing almost nothing to cut down on actual fraud.

I am a strong believer in the idea that fraud should be punished heavily -- but Sarbanes-Oxley didn't do that. It just moved the loopholes and punished the honest companies by dumping a huge compliance tax on them. It's been bad for the economy, bad for startups and bad for innovation, and it's time to go.

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jddeluxe writes "In an article in today's NY Times, John Doerr of Kleiner-Perkins proffered up Bill Joy's name when queried by Barack Obama for a recommendation for the position of Chief Technology Officer of the Unites States which Obama has promised to create and that the country is overdue to have. I think that's a brilliant idea, and while you're at it, have the FCC report to him as well, why don't you?" If Bill is unavailable, I'll throw my hat in the ring, although I'm holding out for Secretary of Tubes.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

?These urban camoflauge sculptures by LA-based artist John Callaghan are brilliant ways to hide the typically undesirable city objects such as utility boxes and power sources. Check out all of the photos of these projects and more at the link below.

Joshua Callaghan via Today and Tomorrow

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MAKE author Steve Lodefink remade one of those cool n' fancy vapor projection screens you've likely seen in used for special effect video display -

If you’ve ever ridden the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland, you will remember how, right before you hit the first drop, you are greeted with the ghostly image of the tentacle-faced Davey Jones creature warning you that “dead men tell no tales”. I certainly did.
[…]
I have no idea how the commercial fog screen makes those glass-smooth sheets of air, but all I could think of was to shoot the air through some drinking straws. I made a little box-jig and hot-glued up some bricks of 2 inch straw sections. I then chained those bricks together into long vents. It does straighten out the airflow quite a bit, but certainly does not produce a laminar flow.

Well, it looks pretty impressive from here! Head over to Finkbuilt to see how it's done - DIY Fog Screen

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Good article from 10/07 - "The new Sputnik Crisis"-

Fifty years ago today, the first satellite launched into space set the nation on a course that ultimately made the United States the technological envy of the world. It also changed my life in ways that I never could have imagined at the time.

I was 7, living in St. Louis, when our family first saw Sputnik-1 orbiting the Earth on Oct. 4, 1957. It was an awe-inspiring and frightening experience. Awe-inspiring, because the United States was then assumed to be the leader in missile technology and sending a satellite into orbit was clearly an amazing technological feat by another country. And frightening, because Sputnik was a visible reminder in the sky for all of us during the Cold War that the Soviet Union had now pulled ahead in the nuclear arms race. If the Soviets had the technological know-how to build missiles capable of putting a 184-pound, basketball-sized satellite in orbit, it was only a matter of time before they could launch nuclear weapons in our direction.

The Sputnik Crisis, as it became known, prompted our nation to invest heavily in scientific research and in the education of scientists and engineers. In 1958, President Eisenhower created NASA, starting the space race that eventually put the first astronauts on the moon. In 1959, Congress appropriated $134 million for the National Science Foundation, a huge amount at the time, considering that it was nearly $100 million more than the entire agency's budget the previous year.

More:
Pictured above... HOW TO - Build your own Sputnik.

...and new president promises new era of scientific innovation.

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An anonymous reader writes "As a sequel to their Is Ubuntu Getting Slower? Phoronix now has out an article that compares the performance of Ubuntu 8.10 to Apple's Mac OS X 10.5.5. They tested both the x86 and x86_64 spins of Ubuntu and threw at both operating systems a number of graphics, disk, computational, and Java benchmarks, among others. With the Mac Mini used in some of the comparisons, 'Leopard' was faster, while in others it was a tight battle."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader writes "As a sequel to their Is Ubuntu Getting Slower? Phoronix now has out an article that compares the performance of Ubuntu 8.10 to Apple Mac OS X 10.5.5. They tested both the x86 and x86_64 spins of Ubuntu and threw at both operating systems a number of graphics, disk, computational, and Java benchmarks, among others. With the Mac Mini used in some of the comparisons 'Leopard' was faster while in others it was a tight battle."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

DIY Security systems @ NYTimes... via /.

WHEN Ken Jongsma built his new house, he found that the builders had already installed a basic security system — sometimes called a prewire. A tinkerer and engineer, Mr. Jongsma, 50, decided to upgrade and monitor the system on his own.

“What most people do not understand is that a residential alarm prewire is a come-on by alarm companies to get you to sign up for their — usually expensive — monitoring,” he said.

Until recently, Mr. Jongsma’s attempt to install and maintain his own security system would have been impossible. Now, however, with a little knowledge, even nonengineers can add a security system to their homes for less than a standard prewired installation by a professional.

Most security systems consist of two parts: the hardware and the monitoring service. For decades, the hardware (window and door sensors and motion detectors, for example) was often installed by professionals, as it required some wiring and cabling.

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?This sculpture was made from several dozen bicycles that were connected to each other at the wheel hinge by a simple seperation of the quick release lever that typically allows one to exchange or remove tires. Pretty interesting structure that somehow manages to balance using the seats as feet.

Aiweiwei.com via FFFFOUND!

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I've found the power jumper on Arduino (Diecimila, NG, etc.) comes in handy for quickly powering down a project - helpful when you'd rather not disconnect the DC or USB power. Even handier if you actually replace the jumper with a little slide switch, like so -

And who can resist the super-bonus leftover jumper! Well, it's good to have an extra around anyway ;)

Arduino Diecimila

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KentuckyFC writes "All invisibility cloaks to date work by hiding an object embedded inside them. Now a group of physicists have worked out how to remotely cloak objects that sit outside a cloaking material. The trick is to make the cloaking material with optical properties that are exactly complementary to the space outside them. Complementary means that the material reverses the effect the space has on a plane wave of light passing through it. To an observer this space would appear to vanish. The scientists say that to cloak an object sitting outside the cloaking material, first measure its optical properties and then embed a "complementary image" of the object within the cloak. So a plane wave is first distorted by the object but then restored to a plane by the complementary image of the object within the cloak (abstract). An observer sees nothing. This method has another benefit. Objects hidden in conventional cloaks are blinded because no light enters the cloaked region. But objects that are remotely cloaked like this should still be able to see their surroundings."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Slashdot points us to the news that, over in the UK, various ISPs are closing in on some sort of an agreement to "deal with" unauthorized file sharing. A representative for the ISPs notes:

"Some kind of agreement between rightholders and ISPs can be reached. Everyone wants to work together to make legal online models work."

Of course, that's rather misleading on a few significant points:

• It's not everyone who is working together here. Consumers are entirely left out of the equation. Consumers end up being worse off in these scenarios, and open to losing their internet access or potentially other charges due to weak evidence. Plus they end up paying more for less music.
• Musicians in many cases (the labels certainly don't represent musicians' interests) are being left out here -- especially those musicians who have learned how to embrace free music and use it to their advantage. Those musicians will end up getting punished for their innovation by having industry agreements backstop obsolete business models.
• There's no reason why ISPs should be involved. The recording industry's problem isn't that ISPs aren't helping out, but that the recording industry refuses to recognize the changing market that necessitates a different business model.
• An agreement, inevitably means both sides gave up something, and it continues the myth that business models in this market are antagonistic. It ignores the fact that there are win-win business models, such as those employed by Trent Reznor, where no one is worse off. Instead, these sorts of agreements make everyone worse off.

Rather than trying to come to any "agreement," it's about time that the entertainment industry realizes that the market dynamics have changed -- for the better -- and if they looked around they'd realize there are tons of opportunities to embrace. Instead, they're focused on locking down old business models, shrinking the overall potential market and making the overall situation worse for everyone.

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Rooting the Googlephone round up... via HaD.

What with its open source operating system and developer-friendly nature, cracking open phones running Google's Android was always going to be easier than the full-on assault that was required to hack the iPhone, but we're still impressed by the speed with which hackers have broken the T-Mobile G1. First is full access to the file system on the phone. This part is easy, but you could potentially break everything with an errant rm -r. You need to grab PTerminal, a command line tool, from the Android marketplace. From there, you navigate to your system/bin folder (where the binaries are kept) and type telnetd to launch the telnet program which lets you login to the phone remotely.

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From the MAKE Flickr photo pool

Anthony and his son created these Wall-e costumes using mostly recycled materials - giving them some awesomely unique character! - EVE and WALL-E on Flickr

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Video metadata has become a strategically critical factor in the successful creation and distribution of video content on the Internet. Photo credit: SSilver As major search engines can't yet make sense of what is being said inside a video or where and who is being portrayed, unless you take the time to learn how to provide relevant and detailed video metadata efficiently to those services who will distribute your video content, you take a high risk of publishing video content that no-one will ever see. Two types of video metadata exist:

• Operational, automatically gathered video metadata, which is typically a set of automatically-generated information about the content you produce, such as the equipment you used, the software you employed, the date you created your content, GPS coordinates of shooting location, and more.
• Human-authored video metadata, which can be created, aimed at providing more search engine visibility, audience engagement, and better advertising opportunities for online video publishers.

In the following two-part report entitled "The Currency of Internet Video", Gotuit, a company specializing in online video metadata management, explains why online video metadata is so critically important today for any serious online video publisher. Here the full report: Intro by Robin Good

The Currency of Internet Video

Executive Summary

Internet video is all the rage among consumers. Publishers, broadcasters and advertisers are all eager to catch this wave. Internet video is projected to be the majority of consumer Internet traffic in the coming years, and the Internet is a significant distribution medium for video. Paradoxically, publishers are facing challenges in monetizing Internet video despite consumer demand. The Internet differs from traditional means of distribution. Much of the value propositions of the Internet as a distribution medium have not been recognized and utilized towards the strategic goals of video publishers. Metadata is the linchpin to unlocking this value. As the title of this paper states, metadata is the ‘currency’ of Internet video. With quality metadata, publishers can create video experiences integral to Internet audiences and new monetization schemes around these experiences, including advertising. Metadata enables the following and more:

• Search - both at a file and scene level - that is a key function of the Internet
• Multiple navigation paths within or across different videos in a manner that users are accustomed to in Internet navigation
• Clip and playlist creation for exploiting viral sharing and social networking trends
• Dynamic and targeted programming to create higher user engagement
• Precise targeted advertising tailored to user behavior
• Accurate reporting and analytics critical to advertising and monetization

Publishers, therefore, need to consider metadata as the third key element of video production, in addition to video and audio. While metadata is critical to the success of Internet video strategies, costs associated with authoring metadata are insignificant to the overall costs of video production. Metadata quality must be assured for publishers to deploy successful Internet video strategies. Quality metadata is human authored as opposed to automated. While automated schemes are neither sufficiently accurate nor reliable, they also do not allow the programming choices possible with human authored metadata. Moreover, human authored metadata is more efficient to create. At the same time, such meta-data can be added to video even after video has been published, creating new use cases and programming options. Such quality metadata cannot be an afterthought, or worse, overlooked. Publishers need to recognize that successful Internet video strategies may well rest on suitably authored metadata and metadata management systems.

Introduction: The Internet Is About Data, People - and Metadata

Figure 1 Metadata is data about data - it is the connective tissue between people and the large amount of information on the Internet. Metadata provides usable context to data for users. For the foreseeable future, metadata will be used to harness the usefulness of the Internet as machines cannot bridge the semantic-gap between people and machines, nor understand the context of information that humans generally take for granted and understand intuitively. As we enter the era where video is gaining importance on the Internet, the role of metadata becomes vital. Video on the Internet not only adds to the semantic gap between humans and machines, but also creates a visual gap that machines inherently cannot understand. Internet video is forecast to comprise 90% of consumer Internet traffic by 2012 (Figure 1). Today, Internet video delivers 70% of the impressions of television. At the same time, Internet video advertising in 2007 was around $400 million compared to $70 billion that television advertising generated. The industry is abuzz whether the Internet will create monetization of video the way traditional broadcast media has. Publishing to broad-band with associated advertising like television is not driving desired returns for video. This paper discusses the role of human-authored, quality metadata as an overlooked imperative of Internet video programming towards this objective.

All Metadata Is Not Created Equal

Figure 2 Metadata itself is not a new concept. It is important, however, to recognize that use of metadata during the production process is very different from use of metadata as the ‘currency for video’ - a new construct that deserves attention. This construct is explored in the next section. Overall, in the course of video production, a large amount of metadata is created for administrative, compliance, and operational purposes. Most of this metadata does not make it to the final publishing process owing to the various transcoding processes in the production workflow. Even if it did, metadata to build engaging consumer experiences and <a href="">optimal monetization of video must be authored with this distinct objective. Such metadata needs a high level of accuracy and flexibility to serve its purpose (Figure 2). Amongst the growing need for metadata, the industry is also hoping for a silver bullet to address metadata creation through machine functions such as speech-to-text, facial, and object recognition. As we shall see, such technologies are not sufficiently developed to achieve the quality and accuracy required to engage and monetize audiences that human authored metadata can. Nor are such technologies, even when perfected, suited to entirely meet the needs of consumers, given the man-machine semantic gap discussed earlier. For publishers, the following considerations are central to this discussion:

1. The limited accuracy of automated metadata can drive basic video search, but cannot be used for the purpose of improving the viewing or advertising experience.
2. Machine functions require significant training by a person, and therefore are not truly automated.
3. Machine functions are limited to the existing data set, and cannot add new information about the video like a person can.

Metadata Is The Currency of Internet Video

Figure 3 Metadata based applications allow the inherent value of video to be unlocked and monetized on the Internet. These applications range from elementary search and discovery, to advanced use cases such as, scene level search, targeting, social networking, advertising and interactivity (Figure 3). Video is intended to deliver an experience and engage us more than any other medium. People relate to, experience, and consume video on many levels. People develop affinities or characters, storylines, events, special-effects, and many other aspects of information captured on video. Bringing the vernacular of Internet experiences to video applications is extremely challenging in the absence of quality metadata. Let us elaborate on some of the features listed in Figure 3 for the purpose of illustration. More in-depth implementations of such features are described later in the paper:

• Advertising: Metadata defines instream ad insertion points with accuracy. This can be used to create flexible ad logic, targeted advertising, and new forms of advertising supported programming such as playlists, mashups, and viral sharing consistent with Internet user behavior.


• Search: Scene metadata can be used to drive better and more granular search results. Metadata can capture intent of the video in addition to the content of the video to aid more sophisticated search. For example, a serene seascape has a very different intent with an accompanying music track from the film Jaws as opposed to a Largo from Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’.


• Navigation: Video programming, whether news or primetime sitcoms, is being produced in shorter, more discrete segments than before. Metadata allows scene and segment level search, virtual clips, sharing and playlisting without compromising the integrity of the original video asset. With metadata, advertising can be associated with such clips and playlists, in addition to the full length program.

For video publishers and broadcasters, the absence of rendering video without the level of relational information - i.e., metadata - commensurate with the diverse associations people have with video and use cases on the Internet means that consumption, and therefore monetization, of video is compromised.

Applications of Video Metadata

It is also important to understand that metadata is not a single attribute of video, but rather serves multiple purposes. Among these, metadata creates new avenues for creative expression by video publishers and new models of advertising. The uses of metadata are varied such that metadata creation and applications can continue to evolve much after a video title has been published. Let us consider a few examples of video programming that has been tailored for Internet audiences using metadata.

Increasing Advertising Options For Advertisers and Publishers

Dynamic ad insertion and flexible ad logic: Implementations of meta-data for dynamic advertising and flexible advertising logic enable broadband video publishers to enhance how they monetize their video libraries by authoring structured metadata describing each meaningful scene within the original source videos. This metadata defines the optimal in-stream video ad insertion points, allowing publishers greater control and flexibility with their advertising strategies. In addition, the ads served in the precise insertion points can be targeted by third-party ad providers based on the scene metadata such as Character Name, Player Name, Topic, Keyword, etc. Banner or overlay ads can also be targeted based on the rich metadata. As a result of this greater ad logic flexibility, rather than just pre- and post-rolls for each asset, publishers can set their ad logic to utilize the mid-roll insertion points. The publisher sets the ad timer, and the ad will play at the next available insertion point, no matter what asset or scene is being viewed, after the timer has expired. The result is that the viewer has the freedom to sample more assets and navigate directly to the most interesting scenes, while the publisher is able to monetize that experience in the most effective way possible. This capability has been applied to Flash and Move Networks’ video formats.

Increasing Programming Options For Publishers and Syndicators

• Search, clips and playlists: Extreme Outdoor Network (www.xontv.tv) specializing in outdoor recreational activities such as hunting and fishing realized that regular thirty to sixty minute programming was not suitable for its Internet video audiences. In order to maximize the impact of their online video programming, XON choose to author metadata for its videos such that enthusiasts of individual sports could find video segments tailored to their specific interest within their genre of interest. Rather than create a large number of individual clips through editing the videos, XON applied metadata to their original thirty to sixty minute programs such that the original video assets can be rendered as virtual clips that can be searched, organized and programmed to meet individual user’s needs.


• Chapterization, skip and search: When Fox Reality decided to broadcast their Fox Reality Really Awards show on the web, the indexed the entire award show in segments so that users could watch sections that were of interest to them. It was unlikely that most users would watch the entire program on the web. However through metadata indexing, users can skip to sections based by award, show, presenter, musician and so on, as well as create playlists and watch them in linear fashion, thereby creating their own highlights of the awards ceremony.


• Dynamic programming and multiple navigational paths: Sports Illustrated uses metadata to create dynamic programming for College Football fans through its FilmRooms™ video portals. Users can navigate through multiple paths to view highlights, which are updated as the games progress and ranking get updated. Users can search by team, player, position and othe ways that give them easy access to create their own highlight clips that can be shared with others and posted on user websites and blogs.

Increasing New Consumer Video Experiences

• Mashups, personalization and sharing: Lifetime uses metadata to allow users to define their own virtual scenes within a video program. These scenes can be shared with others, and concatenated to create user-defined playlists (mashups). Users can also add additional metadata to make the scenes more meaningful and manageable. The scenes are organized by meta data and the underlying video assets are not changed, eliminating additional storage and management costs.


• Reorganize and collaboration: Similarly, Carleton University uses video on demand to create lectures that students can tailor to their needs through indexing parts of video lectures and reorganizing them to their individual requirements. At the same time student notes and annotations make the videos searchable by other students.


• Customize and Self-programming: Sprint has used metadata to create a new application for fantasy football with the National Football League. NFL Fantasy Video is the first mobile application that allowed users to watch their own custom video highlight reels of just the players they want. Each week during the season, every play of every game in the NFL is indexed using metadata. Sprint customers can then set up their fantasy team, or favorite players, including a QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, TE, K, and a team defense. Once set up, users can see the video highlights of just their players, and even jump to a specific play. In addition, users can scout any other NFL player’s video highlights and choose to add them to their team.

End of Part 1

Originally written by the Gotuit Team for Gotuit and first published as "The Currency of Internet Video" on October, 2008.
Sources

• Approaching the Zettabyte Era, Cisco Systems, Inc., 2008
• Display Impressions: comScore Ad Metrix, Jan -08, Television GRP’s: comScore Estimates
• IAB
• http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/26/the-wb-rises-from-the-ashes-as-a-hulu-competitor/

About the author Gotuit is a developer of video metadata technology. Founded in 2000, Gotuit is privately held and funded by Highland Capital Partners, Atlas Venture, Motorola, and private investors.The company enables users to add metadata to sections of videos that are uploaded to their site. Gotuit powers video for leading brands such as Lifetime, Fox, Sports Illustrated, Major League Soccer and more.

Photo credits: Executive Summary - Rafael Angel Irusta Machin Introduction: The Internet Is About Data, People - and Metadata - Gotuit All Metadata Is Not Created Equal - Gotuit Metadata Is The Currency of Internet Video - Gotuit Applications of Video Metadata - chaoss Increasing Advertising Options For Advertisers and Publishers - Antonio Nunes Increasing Programming Options For Publishers and Syndicators - Konstantinos Kokkinis Increasing New Consumer Video Experience - picpics

www.CircuitBoardsToGo.com looks pretty cool, anyone use them?

CircuitBoardsToGo produces single layer circuit boards from your design. This service is typically used by students and hobbyists who need 1 or more simple boards for a project or testing.

More: Printed Circuit Boards from MAKE: 02: Home Entertainment - Step-by-step instructions for making your own PCBs at home by Andrew Argyle. To get MAKE, subscribe or purchase single volumes. MAKE: Digital Edition subscribers—read this article now in your digital edition! Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in DIY Projects | Digg this!

Apple has released a RAW compatibility update for iPhoto '08 and Aperture 2. Update 2.3 supports RAW files from the Canon EOS 50D, Nikon D90, Sony A900 and the Nikon Coolpix P6000. The latest update also addresses unspecified issues relating to certain cameras already supported and overall stability of RAW conversion.

I really like automatons, and this piece by Pablo Lavezzari is no exception. Some day I have to try and make one, although I doubt it will be as good as The Death Trick.

More about The Death Trick automaton

In the Maker Shed:


More on our Designing Automata Kit

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Hah! Looks like LED "Art Object" is the new LED throwie!

Kit consisting of a small 3V BR2032 Lithium battery, a 10mm clear lens blinking red LED and a small rare earth super magnet. No soldering necessary -Just connect up the LED to the leads of the battery. Use clear tape (not included) to attach the super magnet to the battery. You are now ready to throw your miniature bright red "piece of art" onto any steel structure where it will flash for days. Complete with magnet, LED, battery and diagram.

More:

HOW TO - Make LED Throwies.

Make - Volume 06 - LED Throwies (Page 116).

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Since when can fish mix music better than I can? OK, they always could!

Submersed Songs is a sound installation that generates mp3 player remixes through the movements of four live fish. The animals' movements and the proximity among them work as a parameter for mixing and spatializing the audience's music tracks in real time.

More about Submersed Songs: Fish that make music

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There's a great opinion piece by Shane Richmond on the website for the UK's Telegraph newspaper, pointing out that various newspaper execs complaining about the fact that news is free online seem to be missing the point. They are complaining about news being available for free, and claiming that if newspapers had agreed to charge online from the beginning things would be different. But, as Richmond points out, the only real way they'd be different is that no one would get their news from newspapers (online or otherwise) any more. News was going to be free online from the beginning because it's the fundamental nature of information. When it's abundant, it becomes free. That's your basic economics of supply and demand at work. The whole theory that newspapers could charge is based on the false assumption that the only sources for news would be newspapers. If all newspapers charged, it would open up a huge opportunity for other news sources to make the news free online -- and then why would people pay the newspapers? It's sad, in this day and age, that so many newspaper execs still don't understand this basic fact -- because, until they do, they'll never really be able to adopt web-aged business models. Instead, they'll just keep (incorrectly) regretting that they didn't charge.

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On a cold night in January of 2005 I set out to find a magazine stand. One of my students, Michael McKinley, now a Mechanical and Industrial Engineering senior at UMass Amherst, had shown me an announcement in Wired about a new publication from O'Reilly. The new magazine was called Make, and though I had been using O'Reilly's books for years, somehow I hadn't figured out the connection. Basically, I went to every shopping mall with a bookstore, checking the magazine racks as I went. Eventually, I found myself in Harvard Square, where legend has it that a young Bill Gates first glimpsed a photo of the Altair kit computer. My timing was not quite as good as Bill's. Make # 1 had yet to hit the press, let alone the street. I figured out what O'Reilly publications was when after another reading of Wired I found the article again and looked up O'Reilly, "oh, the one with the animals!"

Rather than going out on another quest, I decided to subscribe. Then I just had to wait. Fortunately, there was the Makezine.com and the blog. Rather than just one hack a day, now I could have a bunch. I started feeding links and ideas to Phillip. I opened a Flickr account to join the Make photo pool. I tried out and really got into pbwiki for my classroom websites. I wrote up online descriptions of projects, added links to the pictures of the work by my students. Before I had an mp3 player, I burned a disk of audio podcasts and listened to them on the highway from Seward to Anchorage during the Summer of 2005. I passed on just about every cool link to an interesting project I could find. Instead of running out of online resources, I found more.

Students came into my high school engineering program familiar with projects that had been done the year before because of what they saw on the Make blog. Students in the program got more excited about their work because they saw that it could have a much wider audience than the walls of the school could provide.

So, now I find myself with a wonderful offer. If you are a teacher or work with kids or adults on Make friendly projects and would like to share them, Make and I would like to help. We would like to see how we can provide resources for educators. Did you try a project from the magazine or blog with a class, or other group of people? How did it go? What did you find out? You can post photos to the Make Flickr Pool, make a blog or wiki posting or provide other resources that would be handy for another teacher venturing into a project with a group of clever people. I will be trying out some of the projects and writing them up to share as well. You can post in the comments to help spread the word about great school and education projects.

TeachMake!

Chris Connors

Duxtech Wiki - Link

Fussing With Stuff - Link

Some of my Make submissions- Link

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Relays are used in a lot of electronics projects, but did you ever actually think about what makes them work? This website has a ton of information on various relays and how they work.

Read All about relays

In the Maker Shed:


DIY Design Electronics Kit

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Pretty spiffy, plans for a robotic fish via imakethings.

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A UK bookmaker has lowered the odds on proving that god exists to just 4-1 to coincide with the switching on of the Large Hadron Collider. The chance that physicists might discover the elusive sub-atomic object called the "God particle" has forced the odds lower. Initially the odds that proof would be found of God's existence were 20-1, and they lengthened to 33-1 when the multi-billion pound atom smasher was shut down temporarily because of a magnetic failure. A spokesman for Paddy Power said, "The atheists' planned advertising campaign seems to have renewed the debate in pubs and around office water-coolers as to whether there is a God and we've seen some of that being transferred into bets. However we advise anyone still not sure of God's existence to maybe hedge their bets for now, just in case." He added that confirmation of God's existence would have to be verified by scientists and given by an independent authority before any payouts were made. Everyone getting a payout is encouraged to tithe at least ten percent.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

mytrip writes "Google has pulled the plug on on a search-ad partnership with Yahoo that would have given Yahoo major new revenue but that raised antitrust concerns. 'After four months of review, including discussions of various possible changes to the agreement, it's clear that government regulators and some advertisers continue to have concerns about the agreement,' said David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer in a blog post Wednesday."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

I'm loving Susannah Breslin's guest posts on BoingBoing. Here she writes about Gwendolyn Huskens' medical-themed footwear:

Created by student designer Gwendolyn Huskens, the set of six sick shoes aim to "reveal the taboos associated with physical deformities." Couture for the clubfooted? Reminds me of Romain Slocombe's medical fetishism, "Crash," and stumbling supermodels. More images at designboom.

Photo by René Van Der Hulst.

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One of the best examples of copyright being used to stifle the sharing of content is the fact that no one is able to see the famous sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati in its intended form because no one can get the licenses to use the music that was part of the original show. Instead, all of the great classic rock that was used has been replaced with not-very-good made up songs. It appears that something similar happened with the 1986 movie version of Little Shop of Horrors. Apparently, the DVD release contained a special "alternate ending" that cost $5 million and 11-months to produce, showing 24-minutes of footage of an army of giant plants devouring New York City. The apparently gruesome ending upset test audiences and wasn't used in the movie release -- but was available on the DVD... for a grand total of five days until someone realized that there were (of course) copyright problems and the DVD was recalled. Warner Bros. Studios promised that the ending would be rereleased on DVD, but while the studios fought over copyright issues, apparently the original footage was burned in a fire. Ain't copyright great?

10 Zen Monkeys looks into the history of the lost footage, noting that even while the studio argued over the content which ended up lost in a fire, some folks have uploaded the alternate ending to YouTube. Now, obviously, this is technically in violation of copyright, but considering that the studio let the original version burn up in a studio fire, doesn't it make sense to let the content remain?

The article linked above notes a few interesting other factoids around the story -- including the fact that in the alternate ending, there's a scene where an agent is haggling over the rights to the story of the killer plant, and exclaims: "We don't have to deal with you. A god-damn vegetable is public domain! You ask our lawyers!" Turns out he was wrong, apparently. Also, the original 1960s version of the movie was shot in two days, in order to get it done before the end of 1959 -- because after 1959, any movie would have to pay residuals to actors. We've pointed out how destructive such royalty agreements can be, and as the article notes, it made it much harder to create certain types of movies. Just a few more stories of unfortunate results of a bad system.

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Banana ricotta pancakes writes "Microsoft has confirmed that there will be a widespread public beta of Windows 7 in early 2009, while urging device manufacturers to start immediate testing with its pre-beta release to avoid the widespread hardware compatibility problems that contributed so much to the negative perception of Vista. 'There is not another WinHEC planned before Windows 7 is released,' Microsoft has warned them. Better hope that testing goes well."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

These two new kits from Sparkfun debuted at Maker Faire Austin this year, and I can say from playing with them that they're really cool. If you're interested in getting started with soft electronics or the LilyPad Arduino, the worlds first sewable microcontroller, give these a whirl:

Lilypad E-Sewing Kit

The LilyPad e-sewing kit contains the bits to sew LEDs into any piece of clothing. Add turn signals to a jacket, accentuate a t-shirt, or light-up your favorite pair of jeans with this simple to use kit. This kit contains the very basics to the LilyPad system. It's a great entry-level kit for people who want to experiment with wearable electronics. Consider adding the LilyPad Pro Kit to extend control and use of the LilyPad system.

Features:

• 5 LilyPad Bright White LEDs
• 3 LilyPad Button Boards
  
• 2 Coin Cell Batteries 20mm
  
• 1 Coin Cell Holder
• 1 Spool 4Ply Conductive Thread

LilyPad Pro Kit

Think of this kit as an 'add-on' to the LilyPad E-Sewing Kit. The LilyPad Pro Kit gives you the full flexibility and power of the LilyPad system. Program the LilyPad main board to respond to physical changes in light, sound, or motion. Create displays of light, sound, and get physical feedback using the various LilyPad periphery boards.

Features:

• LilyPad Mainboard
• LilyPad Power Supply
• LilyPad USB Link
• Mini USB Cable

Here are some project we've featured on the CRAFT/MAKE blogs to get you inspired:

Electronic Embroidery - CRAFT Video Podcast

HOW TO - Make a Turn Signal Bike Jacket

Dress with Electronic Flapping Butterflies

TV-B-Gone Hoodie and Zipper Switch

WAY more projects after the jump including how to make soft sensors! If I forgot your favorite soft circuit project, post it up in the comments.

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Over the years, we've had plenty of discussions over the pros and cons of free vs. fee-based WiFi in restaurants and coffee shops, and these days, for the most part, we're happy to see that free has won out in most cases. However, that doesn't mean there isn't room to experiment, and reader Jon, alerts us to a story of a cafe in Holland, called CoffeeCompany, who is constantly renaming its WiFi SSID name with gentle reminders to buy something. Among the names being rotated around:

OrderAnotherCoffeeAlready, BuyCoffeeForCuteGirlOverThere?, HaveYouTriedCoffeeCake?, BuyAnotherCupYouCheapskate, TodaysSpecialExpresso1.60Euro and BuyaLargeLatterGetBrownieForFree

It's a cute, and probably somewhat effective way to get the folks hanging out in the coffee shop to feel good about buying something at the shop (though, the cheapskate claim might piss off some).

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Herpe, the unfortunately-named but very talented "Obama Dog." Video Link. (thanks, Brandon Elkins)

Many readers have submitted stories about the death of Michael Crichton. The 66-year-old author of Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain died unexpectedly Tuesday "after a courageous and private battle against cancer," a press release said. In addition to writing, he also directed such sci-fi classics as Westworld and Runaway. Crichton was married five times and had one child.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Sheesh, here I was bragging all over the place about Boing Boing's amazing guestbloggers -- most notably, our current star, Susannah Breslin -- and the guys at Gizmodo have to one-up us over here. NASA's frickin' Mars Lander is guestblogging over there. Brian Lam says the Phoenix Mars Lander is blogging about its "last days on Mars, recalling its life and bravely facing impending death." Gah! Brilliant.

Callie Shell followed Barack Obama for much of the last two years, and captured some excellent photos (and micro stories to go along with them). Keep clicking 'Show More Images' at the bottom to see them all. #

This Instructables details the construction of a PICAXE-based digital oscilloscope designed to meet most hobbyist's needs and which can be built for under $100 (the author spent about $70 on his). Cost varies depending on what you might have hand.

LCS-1M - A Full-Featured, Low-Cost Hobby Oscilloscope

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Glen Jackson Taylor of Core77 visted NASA to profile the designers of the next manned lunar rover.

Evan Twyford and Carl Conlee are two of three industrial designers working in NASA's Habitability Design Center (HDC), and in just over 2 years they have transitioned the department from one that dealt only with small isolated ergonomic projects to working on arguably the most exciting project at NASA today—a next generation pressurized lunar rover. The thing is, NASA doesn't actually have an industrial design department. They don't even have a design department. Not technically, anyway...

Designing for Space: Core77 visits NASA's Industrial Design Team

Earlier this week, Salesforce.com founder and CEO Marc Benioff bashed Microsoft and its new cloud computing initiative, suggesting that it was unfriendly to partners: "They hate everybody and we love everybody, and that's pretty much the difference. We even love Microsoft. ... This is our core strategy, love." While we tend to agree that Microsoft's strategy leaves much to be desired, that doesn't mean that Salesforce's strategy is really all that much better. In response to Benioff's claims that they "love everyone," the CEO of Zoho suggests a less lovey-dovey version of Salesforce.com, noting that Zoho was all set to launch products on Salesforce's own cloud computing platform, Force (formerly AppExchange), when suddenly Salesforce.com blocked Zoho -- mainly because Zoho offers a competing CRM system.

Just a reminder that it's easy to say you're open -- but if you're not really open, someone's going to call you on it.

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An anonymous reader writes "The US Army is ramping up the development of technology right out of the X-Files; 'making science fiction into reality' as Dr. John Parmentola — Director of their Research and Laboratory Management — puts it. The list of things currently in the works is amazing: regenerating body parts on 'nano-scaffolding,' telepathy through electronic impulses in the scalp, and self-aware virtual photorealistic soldiers that can be deployed in the battlefield through 'quantum ghost imaging.' To test these they want to use them into a massively multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft or Eve online."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader writes "The US Army is ramping up the development of technology right out of the X-Files, "making science fiction into reality" as Dr. John Parmentola--Director of their Research and Laboratory Management--puts it. The list of things currently in the works is amazing: regenerating body parts on "nano-scaffolding", telepathy through electronic impulses in the scalp, and self-aware virtual photorealistic soldiers that can be deployed in the battlefield through "quantum ghost imaging". To test these they want to use them into a massively multi-player online games like World of Warcraft or Eve online."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Gomi Style guys have built a new edition of their telepresence robot, incorporating the Make Controller:

Build instructions, including a custom Skype plug-in to control the robot via text messages, here.

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