Gregarius » MAKE Magazine » October 6, 2008

MAKE Magazine

Ocarina from soda can

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 10:00pm CDT

Ranjit made a one-minute tutorial on turning a diet coke can into an ocarina - the "Diet Cocarina." Doesn't sound great, but hey, it's a start!
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Music | Digg this!
Get MAKE updates via Twitter - and MAKE Magazine print/digital/web support via Twitter! (and a special offer)....

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 8:09pm CDT

Twitter is a neat service that a lot of folks use to get updates from their friends and to just stay in touch, all in 140 characters, via email, phone or the web. MAKE has a Twitter feed too, you get updates from MAKE by visiting (or "following" make) at Twitter.

We are trying something new - If you're a MAKE print/digital edition subscriber you can direct message MAKE at anytime with questions, comments or suggestions. Anything about MAKE really... I think we're the only "magazine" that is offering support this way, if there are others let me know - I'd like see what's working and what's not. So far I've seen Comcast, JetBlue use the direct message and the @ replies feature. For fastest results with MAKE "d make yourmessagehere".

But wait, there's more! If you happen to be following MAKE on Twitter I will post a discount code each day for the rest of the week that will get you $10 off a MAKE subscription (USA) -- so if you're thinking of subscribing, follow us on Twitter and it could be your lucky day! I'll wait until the end of the day so you have time to add/follow make. This is likely a one time only promo to test the waters, when it's over it's over.

A little note for the current followers of MAKE on Twitter... Twitter was posting duplicate Tweets from our site, we didn't change anything on our end but we switched to another way of doing this once we saw the multiple message and that seemed to have solved everything, sorry if you received multiple messages.

Oh, last up - We also have CRAFT, HACKS and Maker Faire on Twitter. You can use these for CRAFT subscription support, comments and questions as well Maker Faire support (please direct message if you want immediate help or have questions). During Maker Faire Austin we'll be Tweeting the entire time with news, events and get togethers!

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Announcements | Digg this!
Steam Powered - California Steampunk Convention

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 7:48pm CDT

On Friday Oct 31 - Sunday Nov 2, 2008, Steam Powered - the California Steampunk Convention, will take place at the Domain Hotel in Sunnyvale, CA. Presenters and performers include Greg Broadmore, Senior Conceptual Designer at Weta Workshop, Jake von Slatt (Steampunk Workshop), Abney Park, the Brassworks Band, Ann and Jeff VanderMeer (Steampunk Anthology), Studio Foglio, and many others. I'm planning on being there as well. Friday night, Halloween, there will be a Victorian Ball and costume contest.

Steam Powered
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Halloween | Digg this!
Homebrew Multi-touch display

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 6:00pm CDT

IDEO has a new lab blog that catalogs some of their projects and experiments, here's a multi-touch display... They released the code for the FTIR server and the Flash API here if you want to check it out...

At IDEO we're all about building to think. Learning from books and websites and product demos is cool, but we think the really good stuff comes when you get in there and start messing around for real.
In the case of multi-touch interfaces, that meant building a system we could start prototyping on. What we wanted was:
-a multi-touch display large enough to facilitate use by several people at once
-an API for flash that would let us quickly prototype multi-touch interfaces and applications

It took us about 5 weeks to get everything together. Kyle, one of our all-around gearheads, had already been building a drafting-table-style FTIR system in his garage which helped kick-start us.

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Computers | Digg this!
Anti-slip stickers

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 5:00pm CDT

Nice skakeboard grip tape pattern made with subhead anti-slip stickers via BB. Usually used for slippery areas, designer Jesse Milden has a lot of nice patterns for keeping humans upright.

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arts | Digg this!
Pinhole tophat

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 5:00pm CDT

Seen on the Make: Flickr Pool, a pinhole camera housed inside of a top hat.

Abracadabra Pinhole Camera
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Imaging | Digg this!
MAKE/CRAFT at Crafty Bastards!

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 4:00pm CDT

Brian runs an LED Throwie workshop

I'm building a Blinkybug. Kids LOVED the Blinkybugs... and the Mini-Monster kit.

Last weekend (Sept 28), Brian Jepson and I, along with the most awesome Esti Gerson, ran a mini Maker Square at DC's venerable Crafting 2.0 event Crafty Bastards! It was a surprisingly fun day, given the fact that Brian and I were coming off of a round-the-clock book push and the sky kept on leaking heavily at regular intervals. (I asked one friend, who stopped by the booth, how long he'd been there. He said: "About three cloud bursts.")

We ran LED Throwie and button ring workshops, and Teresa Levy did a paper bead workshop. We talked to a lot of enthusiastic MAKE and CRAFT readers, sold some merch, turned on some new folks to what we do, and talked up Maker Faire. A good time was had by all. If you're in DC next year when the crafty bastards pitch their tents again in Adams Morgan, it's definitely worth checking out. [Photos by Esti.]

Esti's Flickr Set for the Day
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Events | Digg this!
Make: Philly's ArtBots

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 3:08pm CDT

Our pals at Make: Philly held their latest meeting on Sept 14th. They had a speaker, world-renowned robotics Professor, Dr. Mark Yim, who's currently a professor at Penn and formerly Stanford. Dr. Yim's research focuses on modular reconfigurable robots and locomotion ("PolyBots"), MEMS, and batch fabrication techniques. After his talk, the Make: Philly challenge was for members to create an "art bot," a mechanized device that, when powered on, pushed, or propelled, will make some sort of mark. [Pics here are by Cyenobite and are under a Creative Commons license.]

MakePhilly 9_14_08
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Robotics | Digg this!
Madonna made from dice

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 12:01pm CDT

Robert keeps doing interesting things, when he's not making the coolest visualizer (now part of iTunes) he's making a giant Madonna out of dice... via BBG. He writes...

Those that know me know I am a sucker for multitudes. Many of anything intrigues me more than single things ever could. So it wouldn’t be much of a surprise to find out that I took 2925 dice and formed them into a bitmap image of the Madonna. Thats the Madonna, and not just plain ol’ Madonna.

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arts | Digg this!
Maker Faire wins "American Magazine Vanguard Award" !!

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 11:20am CDT

Maker Faire won a "American Magazine Vanguard Award"! The first annual American Magazine Vanguard Awards (AMVAs) were announced last night during a ceremony for Ad Age’s annual “A-list.” The AMVAs recognize magazines “that are innovating smartly beyond print.”

Make is for nerds and dorks -- nerds and dorks who are proudly nerdy and dorky. The editorial mission is to "celebrate your right to tweak, hack and bend any technology to your own will." Published quarterly since 2005 by O'Reilly Media, it's tapped into the powerful DIY movement that has millions of consumers rewiring their own realities by making their own media (with tools ranging from iMovie to YouTube to GarageBand to Blogger to Facebook) -- only Make's not afraid of throwing a soldering iron or a little duct tape into the mix. It's about tangible creations -- and good old-fashioned American ingenuity.
Make earns an AMVA because of its remarkable Maker Faire, a cult event that has been growing almost mainstream. The first fair, held in 2006 in San Mateo, drew 22,000 attendees -- people interested in everything from growing their own food to building hybrid vehicles. In 2007, 45,000 showed up; this spring, 65,000. A second edition of the event started up in Austin, Texas, drawing 20,000 attendees; the second two-day Maker Faire Austin kicks off this month on the 18th. (Watch for Make to expand its fair to other cities in 2009.) Considering that some of the greatest leaps forward in American technological history have been scrappy homebrews (Apple Computer was a literal garage start-up), it's really kind of exciting to think that, given its explosive growth, the Maker Faire might well help along an invention or two that's truly important.

Maker Faire is labor of love for everyone involved from the staff at MAKE to all the Makers who make it one of the most inspiring weekends you can imagine. In just 2 weeks we have Maker Faire Austin (Oct. 18th and 19th) if you didn't get tickets yet, what are you waiting for??

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Announcements | Digg this!
Hand grenade mouse

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 11:00am CDT

Very cool looking homemade / modded hand grenade mouse from a Russia modding forums. Looks pretty easy to remake...

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Computers | Digg this!
Making Austin Weird: Blacksmithing!

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 11:00am CDT

From now until the awesomeness that is Maker Faire Austin, I'll be highlighting projects that you can find at Travis County Fairgrounds on 10/18-19. Tickets here; see you there!

Blacksmithing isn't just a scene in medieval movies: check out the Austin Metal Authority area at Maker Faire for "a live demo of blacksmithing techniques, including sculptural and functional projects." Yet another reason to plan on being in Austin on 10/18 to 10/19:)
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Maker Faire | Digg this!
DIY Halloween - Simply Weird :: Glowing Pickles

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 10:50am CDT

Something a little weird to start your week. Yes I know this is not too scary but it does make a great great prop for the Mad Scientist lab in your garage. Check out how to make a Pickle Glow here.

Usual warnings with something like, don't just attempt something you see on the internet without knowing what you are doing.

More

DIY Pickle Light.
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Halloween | Digg this!
Balls 17 - Experimental rocketry launch contest

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 10:00am CDT

Erik writes-

BALLS 17, the premiere experimental rocketry launch contest, was held Sept 26, 27, 28 in Black Rock, Nevada. The event website has details on BALLS 17 and the competition rules.
This is the extreme rocketry event where experimental rocketeers push the envelope of size, staging/clustering, altitude, home-made components and motors, and cutting-edge rocket tech. Not for the faint of heart and not for children. Bring your hard hat.

Here are Erik's fantastic photos!

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Events | Digg this!
Halloween inspiration - Carnivale masks from Venice

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 10:00am CDT

If you're looking for mask-making inspiration, look at these photos taken by Roadknight Labs of amazing masks made for Carnivale.
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arts | Digg this!
Browse the web from your rotary phone

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 9:00am CDT

The "Phone Dial Web Browser" by artist / designer David Lu is a custom web browser that uses a vintage phone dial as a physical interface. Dial the IP address of the website that you want to reach and the browser will get you there. The project was built back in 2003 with a BX-24 microcontroller, basic electronics, and a Java interface to access the Internet.

phone dial web browser

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arts | Digg this!
Skateboard flower

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 8:00am CDT

Ted Hunter's skateboard flower via NOTCOT. Ted writes-

This piece, I built is called Reach for Light. It was last shown at the Wood Turning Center in Philadelphia but was originally built for an art exhibition in Hawaii . It’s a good example of free hand vacuum veneer bending. The flower petal designs are actually printed using photo’s of real tulip petals. The inside is printed griptape (sticky back sandpaper) and the outside is printed styrene. The internal core is Canadian maple veneer. The shape of the decks are our Roarockit classic pintail skateboard shape that is included in our longboard deck kits.
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arts | Digg this!
Pole dance - Strain sensor+ LED experiment

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 8:00am CDT

This is interesting, an interactive pole dance experiment that uses strain gauges to change the lighting and colors by Daito Manabe + Motoi Ishibashi. The best part about this video is you get to see a couple Japanese hacker/maker/engineers test it out. Well, at least that was my favorite part.

Somewhat related, here's a nice exchange about using a strain gauge from a scale to weigh a keg, clever!

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arts | Digg this!
New ZigBee sports ARM architecture

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 8:00am CDT

This ZigBee radio module has a 32-Bit ARM Processor and its architecture reduces component amounts on the PCB which ultimately reduces power consumption and the overall cost of these efficient modules. This package needs an external crystal and there's room for an optional 50 Ohm antenna as well. The two onboard ADCs and 8 general purpose I\O pins make this an even more handy interface than the current ZigBees to get started with wireless projects.

FreeStar Pro 32-Bit ARM-Based Radio Modules via Electronics Lab

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arduino | Digg this!
Typewriter robots get a facelift

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 7:00am CDT

We've written about Jeremy Mayer's typewriter robots before here on Make, but here are a couple new ones he has built that make interesting use of the keys as teeth and the innards as legs on this spider-like bot. He's also bent the body to add more expressive features to the "face" of this bot. Check out the link to his portfolio site for a tour of the rest of the bots.

Jeremy Mayer's Portfolio via Technabob
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arts | Digg this!
ReleShield for Arduino

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 6:00am CDT

You might remember Mau and his Flush-O-Matic that I wrote about a while back. He sent me his latest work called the ReleShield. It's a relay shield for the Arduino that allows you to control high voltage appliances. No word on kits yet.

This is a prototype for use Arduino protoshield and a few other components, the purpose is simple but very useful. Ever wanted to control the lights from your home computer? Or perhaps some other appliance in the house.

More about the ReleShield

More:

The Flush-O-Matic

In the Maker Shed:

Make: Arduino
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arduino | Digg this!
How To: Breakable Tombstone

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 5:00am CDT

This is a great instructable on making a breakable tombstone. The end result is a tombstone that explodes when you punch it. This is a great prop for your next zombie movie.

So Halloween is coming up and you need to put your neighbor to shame. Well I am going to show you how to make a tombstone that not only is a good yard decoration but can be made into a breakaway tombstone for your movies.

More about making a Breakable Tombstone
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Instructables | Digg this!
Review: Rovio by WowWee

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 4:00am CDT

Robert sent in this review of the Rovio robot by WowWee. The new Rovio can be controlled via WiFi, and has a built in Web Cam. Somebody please hack this thing ASAP!

Check out the detailed Review of Rovio

More:

WowWee Alive Cub dissection
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Robotics | Digg this!
Hacking the Esquire cover e-ink screen with an Arduino

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 3:00am CDT

Matt hacked around with the Esquire cover e-ink screen (see our past posts) and did a cool Knight Rider type pulse... Source included. He writes-

Last month, Esquire magazine published a cover that contained an E-ink screen. I was really looking forward to it, actually... so much so that I marked it in my calendar to make sure I picked one up around the corner. There was quite a bit of hype about it, and a lot of people wrote about it on their blogs and websites, and Esquire even encouraged hackers (does that include me?) to play around with the screen. The local store had a couple of copies left over this past week, so I grabbed one, and decided to see what I could do in a couple hours of playing around.
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arduino | Digg this!