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Archive for the ‘geekcraft’ Category

Geek on the Cheap #124:
More TEI – Demos, Workshops & Kits

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

NOTE: I switched out computers this weekend and Adobe is not allowing me to reinstall CS2 (yes, I’m still using 2). So no pics this week because I’m Photoshop-less.

It’s now been an entire week away from TEI and I must admit the glow is starting to fade as the day-to-day toils of life clog my mind. But here are some great links to take me back to it all:

TUI Blog by form+zweck
Written mainly by Christian Zöllner, one of the creators of the SMSlingshot which was demoed at TEI (it allows you to type in a message then slingshot it onto a wall).

Groove Mechanic: TEI Demo Roundup
This blog by Abel Allison, one of the creators of the TessalTable, offers another nice roundup of the demos.

Technology Review: Malleable Maps, Artistic Robots and Bubble Interfaces
Videos of five of the demos — 3-D Responsive Map, Interactive Art Cobots, Tangible Jukebox (very cool), Augmented Reality Pattern Table (very very cool), Soap Bubble Interface (see my video from last week). Unfortunately, the vids are narrated (oddly) by a monotone voice that makes what’s being described sound almost boring.

Humanism at the MIT Media Lab’s TEI Conference??!
Last but not least, Jon Kolko looks back at the conference and comes up with the conclusion that “the geeks are begging for design.”

KITS

Below are a few kits available from people who gave related workshops at TEI. I would have loved to have taken these workshops, but we could choose only one. Oh well, at least I can pretend to conduct my own pseudo-workshop at home. And you can, too.

Fabric Sensor Kits
Hannah Perner-Wilson is currently a grad student in MIT’s High-Low Tech group (read this interview with Hannah from Fashioning Technology). She held a workshop at TEI on making textile sensors from scratch.

Fritzing
Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Fritzing is open source software that helps non-technical designers move from physical prototype to actual product: creating a printed circuit board with the appropriate circuit and desired shape.

Vital Threads Biofeedback Apparel
Sean Montgomery is a recent neuroscience PhD who likes to stand out in a crowd. I had a blast meeting him at TEI and seeing his devices in person. On this site, you can get kits for his Truth Wristband (turns from blue to red as the wearer becomes aroused) and Heart-felt Apparel (detects your heart beat and displays it as a pulsing LED heart on your t-shirt).

Top 30 Wiimote Hacks
I also missed the Wiimote Hackery workshop and the presenters — Amanda Wiiliams and Daniela Rosner — don’t have any kits. But Wiimotes are crazy-easy to hack, so here are Hack N Mod’s top 30 Wiimote hacks (my favorite is #2 Wiimote Controlled Lawn Mower).

Have fun hacking and don’t forget — if you’re not pulling your hair out at some point in the making, you must be doing too many things right.

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Geek on the Cheap #123:
TEI ‘10 – Best Conference Ever

Monday, February 1st, 2010

TEI Studios from jay silver on Vimeo.

So I went to the TEI Conference last week and had a fantastic time — learning, meeting people, having braingasmic fun. This conference concerns itself with the interlinking of the digital and physical worlds through tangible interfaces, whole-body interaction and interactive surfaces.

There were about 230 attendees from around the world and everyone was brilliant, accomplished and collaborative. Although English was the lingua franca, people were gabbing in German, Japanese, Portuguese, Swedish, Chinese (just to name a few) — a refreshing breeze through my Brocas since I live in very white Vermont.

Of course, right off the bat, I went to the wrong building. Somehow I didn’t know that MIT has built a brand new Media Lab building, a cross between an Apple store and Kubrick’s 2001 — very white with lots of glass, a floor-to-ceiling central atrium with wrap-around labs and walkways criss-crossing from one side to the other. Apparently I have no sense of direction at all whatsoever, because the second I was off the conference floor I was lost. (Though quite happily so.)

I had planned to tweet during the papers, but I couldn’t get past the rudeness of having a computer in my lap while someone’s presenting. I know from first-hand experience that it’s awful to look out at an audience and not find anyone looking back at you. And I didn’t tweet from the hotel because you had to pay for wifi, which I refused to do (yes, I’m cheap).

However, I did shoot a few videos, and this week’s Geek includes a couple that describe the breadth of the work shown at the conference.

The Soft and the Hard

We all use interfaces every day — our phones, microwaves, light switches, cars. We push a button, click a mouse, swipe a finger. We expect them to be where they always are which is, in fact, considered to be good design.

However, what if an interface is temporary, ephemeral? Do we really need to know where it is all the time if we know what it is? And what if the interface requires great care in its handling? Does this make it more precious or the work it accomplishes more dear? These are just a few of the questions that come to mind with the work of Tanja Doring, an integration of art and technology:

With Soumitra Bhat, however, we have a lovely synthesis of music, technology and social impact. He has created TouchTone, an electronic musical instrument for children with cerebral palsy. It’s a clever way of giving these children access to the joy and therapeutic benefits of making music. Normally, their limited physical abilities make it impossible for them to play a musical instrument.

These two innovations describe the breadth of work presented at the conference — from concrete applications of interaction design to more abstract ideas of how we might use the various properties of physical objects in combination with either current or projected computational and/or electronic capabilities.

Stay tuned for more next week — workshops (and kits). The video at the top is just a tease of how cool they were.

Posted in Geek on the Cheap, fashion-tech, geekcraft, music, smart girls | No Comments »

Geek on the Cheap #111:
The Holidays Are Creeping Up

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Yes, it was just Halloween but Hanukkah/Xmas/Kwanzaa (in order of appearance) are just around the corner. So here are three DIY projects to get started on, in order of difficulty (though none of them is truly difficult). Two of them require a minimal amount of sewing and one involves duct tape. Take your pick:

Cellphone Beanbag Chair
ThinkGeek customer photo of cellphone beanbag chair Why does your cellphone need a beanbag chair? Because it needs to relax after getting poked all day by somebody’s gigantic meaty fingertips. Never made a beanbag before? It’s easy: 1) cut out 2 circles of fabric, 10 inches in diameter each; 2) put the “right” sides (the sides you want to show) of the fabric facing each other and sew the edges together, except for about 2 inches; 3) turn the fabric rightside out; 4) pour in dried beans until the bag is about 75% full; 5) stitch up that 2-inch hole. Now if this is too much work for you, ThinkGeek is selling them for a mere $9.99. Be sure to check out the customer action shots. Those are some happy, relaxing devices.

RFID-Blocking Wallet
What’s RFID and why do you want to block it? RFID is radio frequency identification — the technology used to tag and track animals in the wild. It’s also used in some credit cards, many corporate IDs, and in U.S. and Euro passports. Why should you care? Because an RFID can be hacked with $8 worth of gear. So for $8, a thief can steal your credit card name and number or any other information stored in your RFID-enabled card. Or weirder yet, your movement could be tracked if someone wanted to know where you were.

But with a little aluminum foil and duct tape, you can make your own RFID-blocking wallet. Yes, I know, this sounds suspiciously crazy, as though I’m telling you aliens are reading your brain waves — beware! But RFID isn’t alien; in fact it’s pretty simple technology. And the ease with which it can be hacked is well known. In fact, there are RFID-blocking wallets and cardholders on sale at Amazon for as little as $14.39. But wouldn’t it be more fun to Macgyver your own? (My husband wants one of these.)

Touchscreen Gloves
It’s getting cold here in Vermont, which means I’ve switched from my zip-up fingerless driving gloves to my boring-but-vastly-warmer fleece-lined gloves. This also means that in order to use a device with a capacitive touchscreen, such as my iPod Touch, I need to take off said fleece-lined gloves. Brrrrr. Instead, I would prefer to be able to control my device with those toasty gloves still on my hands. And no, I don’t want sew some funky fingerhoods on fingerless gloves and have to fool with them every time I want to poke my device. What to do?

Easy fix. Sew patches of conductive thread on the tips of your gloves. This allows the conductive property of your fingertips/thumbtips to reach your device. I must admit, this is my favorite project of the three here and I will soon be updating all my winter gloves. You can find full instructions at GirlieGirl Army. And yes, you clever cheap geek, conductive thread is not cheap compared to everyday cotton thread. But there are many fun things you can do with conductive thread. For example, you could mod gloves for your friends, make a robot t-shirt with LED eyes or create a winter hat that lights up from front to back. To see more projects, go to Instructables.

Posted in Geek on the Cheap, fashion-tech, geekcraft | 1 Comment »

Geek on the Cheap #104:
Math Craft – Crochet the Shape of the Universe

Sunday, September 6th, 2009

The kids are back in school, or your neighbors’ kids are anyway. What about you? Have a yen to learn something new? How about a little non-Euclidean math that describes the shape of the universe? But trying to understand hyperbolic space is awfully abstract (even the term is a little scary though undeniably enticing). Wouldn’t it be more fun to, well, wrap not just your mind but your hands around the concept?

If you live in Vermont, you can take a math craft class at Burlington’s The Bobbin, a Sew Bar + Craft Lounge. But if you can’t find a class near you, no matter. Read “Move Over String Theory, It’s Yarn’s Turn,” then buy a skein of acrylic yarn (it works better for creating a hyperbolic shape than wool, which is less stiff) and a size F (or 5) crochet hook. Cast on 6 stitches, make a circle and start applying the ratio of N + N + 1, which is double-crochet (N), double-crochet (N), then double-crochet twice in the same loop (+1). Basically, you’re increasing by 1 every 3rd stitch.

Anyone can crochet — men, women, boys, girls, probably monkeys. If you don’t know how, start with How to Crochet: Lesson 1. Go on to lesson 2, then do the N + N + 1. If you make a mistake, who cares? This is supposed to be fun.

However, if crocheting is really not your thing, you can still achieve a better understanding of the higher math concept of hyperbolic space through crochet. Check out “Margaret Wertheim on the Beautiful Math of Coral” on TED.com, one of my favorite sites. Wertheim explains her project, which re-creates coral reefs using crochet to model hyperbolic geometry. Even if you never made it to trig, this talk is not over your head.

If you’re getting excited by all this — if you yearn to understand the parallel postulate and the Poincaré disc model of hyperbolic space — see the Hyperbolic Space Online Exhibit at the Institute for Figuring (IFF).

And the next time you’re making small talk, throw in a little hyperbolic this and pseudosphere that. Because isn’t the shape of the universe just plain cool?

P.S. I am slowly crocheting my own hyperbolic pseudosphere.
P.P.S. Write me a comment! Let me know what you think about Geek on the Cheap or what you want cheap.

Posted in Geek on the Cheap, geekcraft | No Comments »

Geek on the Cheap #101:
Back to School – DIY Laptop Sleeves

Monday, August 17th, 2009

My sturdy laptop sleeve took an hour to make and cost me $3.

Welcome to the first Geek on the Cheap, a new weekly blog post offering inexpensive (or free) ways to meet your tech needs.

I lust after the hottest/coolest gadgets and software that hit the market every day. I salivate over Engadget and Geek Brief, but I can’t afford to be an “early adopter” like all those lucky owners of the iPhone 3GS or Palm Pre. So I’m always figuring out ways to get as close as possible to what I want or need for as cheap as possible.

Geek on the Cheap is for everyone — including me — who wants to know how to get the best tech bang for the buck. If you have a suggestion, let me know. Or if you have a question, I’ll try to find the best and cheapest solution to your problem or I’ll explain why there’s just no cheap way to do it and what your options are.

What’s the cheapest and best virus software? Do you really need it? Do you need a video cam when your camera shoots video? How fancy does it need to be? What about that new cell phone – maybe you need all the bells and whistles right now, or maybe you should wait six months to buy it. Or should you get it off eBay? I’ll give you as much information as I can, as simply as possible, so you can make your own decision.

#101: Back to School – DIY Laptop Sleeves

Of course, you have to take care of your lovely tech once you buy it, so this first post is a fun back-to-school DIY (do-it-yourself) idea.

This summer I needed to get a laptop sleeve because I was going to start using my new (free) messenger bag which has no padding. I was about to go on vacation and needed something fast but my computer is an odd size (an ultra-portable). So I made my own sleeve out of bubble wrap and duct tape. It cost me $3 for the roll of bubble wrap (I already had duct tape in the house) and it took me an hour.

I just winged it with the creation of my sleeve and it was easy. The sleeve is sturdy and I like the way it looks (it came out just the way I pictured it, kind of technopunk). But after the fact, I discovered there are some great instructions one of my favorite websites, the aptly-named Instructables. Here are three of the most highly rated projects:

Cushioned Duct Tape Laptop Sleeve — similar to mine
Hoodie Laptop Sleeve — very green, but be careful of static!
Laptop Sleeve from a FedEx Envelope/ — total camouflage

Follow the directions (or use them as a jumping-off point) and make your own laptop sleeve. This isn’t a huge savings — you could buy a simple laptop sleeve for $20. Or you could use that money to help pay a bill or go out to eat. Or you could put it toward your next great tech buy. Hmmm, what should it be?

See you next week! (And be sure to write me your questions and ideas by clicking Discuss, below.)

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A Fascinating Woman — Carleen Hutchins — from Science Teacher to Violin Maker

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

Carleen Hutchins, who I’d never heard of until today, died this past Friday at 98. What an interesting woman! After receiving a BA in biology from Cornell in 1933, she followed the then-common career path for college-educated women: teaching degree and marriage. But her life took a thrilling turn in 1947 when — unhappy with the viola she was playing — she decided to build herself a violin and became an innovator in the field. But my favorite story about her is when she stole a shelf from a phone booth at Columbia U with her friend Dr. Virginia Apgar (creator of the Apgar score), who thought it would make the perfect back for a violin. It did.

LINKS:

Posted in geekcraft, random | No Comments »

Ascii Heart Necklace

Monday, April 27th, 2009

Okay, I was initially impressed by Becky Stern because I loved this ASCII Heart necklace she made in her metalworking class. Then I saw the LilyPad Arduino Blinking Bike Bag Patch tutorial she submitted to Instructables. What I especially like about this project is that she’s using the ability to illuminate clothing for a purpose. She’s someone to watch.

LINKS:
- Sternlab (Becky Stern’s website)
- Craftzine.com: ASCII Heart Necklace

Posted in fashion-tech, geekcraft | 1 Comment »

Kyoto Box defines ingenious

Friday, April 17th, 2009

The Kyoto Box

I would define an ingenious device as one that solves a complex problem with a cleverly simple and inexpensive (and therefore accessible) solution. The Kyoto Box is a solar-powered oven made from cardboard — yes, cardboard.

This device recently won the FT Climate Change Challenge, which is a Brit competition to find the most innovative solution to the effects of climate change. The box’s creator, Jon Bøhmer, is a Norwegian who lives in Kenya.

So what makes this box so great and so “green”? It can be used to purify drinking water (did you know that water pasteurizes at a mere 65 degrees?) and it decreases the need for firewood. In the developing world, these are big issues.

Kyoto Energy, Bøhmer’s company, has a few other really cool inventions, including the Kyoto Bag, which heats and cleans water and can be used as a shower, and my favorite: Kyoto Mosaic — plastic mirrors that can concentrate the Sun up to 500 times.

LINKS:
- Kyoto Energy
- “Cardboard Oven Wins £50,000 Green Contest”
- FT Climate Change Challenge

Posted in geekcraft | 1 Comment »

Our robot-ruled future (it’s not as scary as you think)

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

Howie Choset with a robot inspired by the elephant's trunk. Photo: Jeff Swenson Actually, it’s pretty cool. Then again, it’s not just pretty cool — it’s extremely cool. Icy even.

Most people have an idea of what a robot should do: it should serve us –- cart snacks over to the couch, rub our feet, make the bed. Kind of like a slave, which is when all the worries about robot consciousness crop up. Uh oh!

But the technology coming out of robotics allows your camera to self-focus and gets rid of pink-eye. It’s also allowing for better medical treatment with regard to, for example, prostate surgery (just went to a lecture on this last night, with video).

In fact, maybe someday –- and this is the most fascinating robot-related research I’ve read about recently — you’ll be able to pull a mobile phone out of your pocket and morph it into a laptop. Seriously. I’m shivering over here.

LINKS:
- “Intel Talks Up Our Wire-Free, Robot-Ruled Future”
- “Ready for the Robot Revolution”

Posted in geekcraft, robots, sci-osophy | No Comments »

Periodic Table of Videos makes elements fun – especially K

Sunday, August 31st, 2008

My 11th-grade chemistry teacher was five feet tall with four-foot boobs and wore lab coats over her minidresses (no, this wasn’t the ’60s) so all you saw were her spindly toothpick legs on top of platform shoes. Sounds cool, doesn’t she?

But she wasn’t cool at all. In fact, she was so crabby and had such an instant dislike to me that I despised chemistry class, including all the experiments that I otherwise would have loved. (At least my Physics teacher was kind of nice.) But now I can re-learn fun facts about all the elements with The Periodic Table of Videos.

It’s such a blast! Just click on an element and discover some of its most interesting qualities. Right now K (potassium) is my favorite. It’s highly reactive and according to Professor Martyn Poliakoff (the vid host), one of his colleagues describes it as evil — wha-ha-ha. Check it out: