RM must try harder in second half 12. May 2008
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a commentFull year expectations unchanged
RM has pinned its hopes on the second half of the year after turning in sluggish revenue growth and a slide in profits for the first six months.
DIY: Cat Faucet controller
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a comment
Show your cat just how much you love them with this project. I know a lot of cats like to drink from the faucet. The problem is getting them to turn the water off when they are done! [Thanks struzik]
Somehow our cats learned to drink from the faucet. We’d turn the water on for them, but they never turn it off when they were done! I’m sure there are other cat owners out there with a similar problem. So, I built the Cat Faucet so the cats could turn the water on and off for themselves.
Make you own Cat faucet controller
Related:
Make a Homemade cat drinking fountain
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MakeZine.com
Wi-Fi detector shirt 10. May 2008
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a comment
Why? Because I swear, those little bars on my laptop screen are just too darn hard to see. - Wi-Fi detector shirt
Related:
Make your own wireless network detector
HOW TO Embed a wifi detector into a backpack strap
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MakeZine.com
Adobe fixes Photoshop Express 9. May 2008
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a commentAdobe has released an updated version of Photoshop Express, its online photo sharing software, days after delaying the update because of a last-minute bug discovery.
MacWorld
US: BAE ‘could have’ pirated our secret Stealth 3.0 tech sauce
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a commentArms globocorp enters grey zone?
Global arms and aerospace colossus BAE Systems this week released a high-profile audit into its internal ethics and served it up with a big slice of humble pie as it promised to be a better corporate citizen in future.
Norbits-pirat snakker ut 8. May 2008
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a commentMedlem av det lukkede nettverket retter kritikk mot fildelingssiden.
ITAvisen
Kvitter seg med Codegear
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a commentDelphi og Jbuilder har blitt solgt fra Borland til Embarcadero Technologies.
Hardware.no
WiMax Player Intel Nears Own Rollout (Investor's Business Daily) 7. May 2008
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a commentInvestor’s Business Daily - WiMax, which brings fast wireless Internet communications, is finally coming — but the long-promised advance might find competing technology LTE stealing some of its thunder.
YahooTechNews
Bill Gates says Microsoft going 'independent' way (AP)
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a comment<p><a href=”http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080507/ap_on_hi_te/japan_microsoft_gates”><img src=”http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080507/capt.9239a4f679044efbb8b35ca9358a0d01.japan_microsoft_gates_xkan101.jpg?x=130&y=98&q=85&sig=nTlj5lGkru0hARMS05YWuw–” align=”left” height=”98″ width=”130″ alt=”Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates speaks during a press conference in Tokyo, Wednesday, May 7, 2008. Gates said Wednesday the company isn't pursuing other deals following the withdrawal of its US$47.5 billion (euro30.7 billion) takeover bid for Yahoo. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)” border=”0″ /></a>AP - Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said Wednesday the company isn't pursuing other deals following the withdrawal of its $47.5 billion takeover bid for Yahoo.</p><br clear=”all”/>
YahooTechNews
Bill Gates: Microsoft going 'independent' way (AP)
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a comment<p><a href=”http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080507/ap_on_hi_te/japan_microsoft_gates”><img src=”http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080506/capt.3e9e79f703ed4e9ead95c3c1e7b3c132.south_korea_bill_gates_ljm109.jpg?x=130&y=87&q=85&sig=qLCJV30GSjRvEbLuqiYC9A–” align=”left” height=”87″ width=”130″ alt=”In this photo released by Microsoft, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates delivers a speech during a forum in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 6, 2008. Gates and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak held talks Tuesday, discussing information technology for vehicles and games and the future of the Internet. (AP Photo/ Microsoft)” border=”0″ /></a>AP - Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates says the company isn't pursuing other deals following the withdrawal of its $47.5 billion takeover bid for Yahoo.</p><br clear=”all”/>
YahooTechNews
DIY Bookmaking: The Book Binding Guy
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a comment
If you want to make high quality hand crafted books, then this is the DVD for you. By the time you are done watching this instructional video, you will have all the skills necessary to make your own heirloom quality books.
There are a lot of little tricks that you are not going to figure out by yourself. I really like how he found the grain of the paper by rolling the paper back and forth. Also, he describes how to make your own organic, white rice, glue as an alternative to wheat paste.
If you want to make you own books, this is a must watch DVD. The instructions are clear and the audio and video are very well done. I really enjoyed it from start to finish.
Read more about The Book Binding Guy
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MakeZine.com
AOL launches new Desktop for Mac software 6. May 2008
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a commentAOL has launched a new Desktop for Mac software — its first new Mac software in more than five years.
MacWorld
Sony Ericsson Z770i mobile phone
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a commentWaving the flag for flip-phones
Review Fans of clamshell phones may feel a touch hard done by when it comes to Sony Ericsson. Despite some desirably stylish Walkman and Cyber-shot designs, the real style icons to date have tended to be candybars.
Enorm interesse for spill-studier
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a commentNorsk utdanning med suksess. (Digi.no)
ITAvisen
Blir den AMDs redning?
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a commentHelt ny prosessor i 2009.
ITAvisen
Lights, Rockets, Robots Take Center Stage at Maker’s Faire
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:
SAN MATEO, California — Maker Faire has a reputation as the premiere destination for people who like to build stuff of all shapes, kinds and scales.
This year’s Bay Area iteration of the event didn’t disappoint, with tens of thousands of nerds, hackers and crafters descending on the San Mateo fairgrounds outside San Francisco for two days of circuit boards, fire and do-it-yourself demonstrations.
With nearly 500 exhibitors presenting their creations, the Faire can be bewildering, so we sent a crack team from the Wired.com office down Highway 101 to cherry-pick the 12 coolest projects that we spotted over the weekend.
Left: Members of LUNAR, the Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry, sent rockets flying into the air. They also provided the lighter side of rocket science. In this shot, some of the group’s junior members give it a go.
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Bay Area husband-and-wife art team, Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito led the creation of these 30-foot-tall sculptures along with more than 100 collaborators from the Headless Point Artists’ Retreat and Labor Camp.
Originally created for Burning Man, the two sculptures, Ecstasy, the feminine sculpture, and Mambatu, the squatting man, guarded the food court at the Maker’s Faire.
The oversize figures are part of a larger eight-figure installation called Crude Awakening.
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An enormous skull greeted visitors to the Faire, 9-feet-tall and made out of e-waste. Its eyes and teeth were flat-panel screens.
A projector mounted on the skull played a series of sci-fi classics like The Last Man on Earth. Faire-goers could even text the skull and hear their message read aloud by one of hundreds of synthesized voices. Self-powered, it moved to the theme from the movie Jaws.
Its maker, James Burgett, describes himself as a “self-educated electronics recycler and generally strange guy who gives away computers.”
:
Acme Muffineering presented their whimsical take on personal transportation, which is essentially an electric vehicle set inside a metal “muffin” tin. The group says the muffins are about 18 times the size of your average muffin, but decidedly less delicious. On the other hand, the muffin cars can speed up to 18 mph, which is beyond the reach of your ordinary morning confection.
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A 17-foot robotic giraffe with webcams in his eyes and special touch-sensitive sensors proved a crowd pleaser over the weekend.
“Hello, my name is Russell,” the electric giraffe, aka Rave Raffe, said to a crowd of children.
Russell rewarded kids tickling his sensors by saying, “He. He. He. That tickles,” and “That feels nice.” The whimsical giraffe is the creation of Russell Pinnington, after whom the robot was named, and Lindz Lawlor, who provides the base for its voice. You might have caught earlier versions of the beast at Burning Man over the last couple of years.
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Husband-and-wife industrial-arts team Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito presented their 6-ton, 20-foot-tall sculpture Epiphany to the Maker Faire.
The team considers the fire-spewing figure a manifestation of the current state of an oil-dependent economy.
“She could be fearful or hopeful, worshipping either a tree or oil derrick,” Cusolito said, “but either way, she’s engulfed in a state of fervor.”
Fire technicians Danya Parkinson and Joe Bard of art collective Pyrokinetics were responsible for rigging Epiphany’s pyrotechnics: They installed a pilot light in the cardiac region of her 20-foot-tall frame that, when triggered, radiates fire outwards through her hands. The blazes are supposed to mimic a fiery vascular system.
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Any good carnival wouldn’t be complete without rides, and at the Maker Faire, a 21st-century experiment in artistry, science and sideshow acts, the Unwheeldy, a two-wheeled cycle, was in high demand.
In the photo, Festival-goers Alex Woodman and Taylor Johnston, both 12, pedal the tandem two-seater.
Bay Area computer software engineer Matthew Blaine, 34, co-designed and built the vehicle, which he called a “giant tandem dicycle.” The dicycle’s wheels are each 9-feet tall and positioned 5-feet apart from one another, set in a steel frame.
The hardest part about building a monstrous bike? Finding super-size materials. “Most bike shops don’t carry giant, 4-foot spokes,” Blaine said. “So we made them out of salvaged steel.”
:
Stanford neuroscience grad student Alan Rorie showed off his hand-built, steam-powered time machine.
Created out of copper, sheets of steel and nitric-acid etched brass plates, the sculpture is hooked to a steam engine with a steam boiler to power its movement. Of course, Rorie’s machines don’t actually bend the laws of physics, but he credits his creations with helping to pass the time and “keeping [him] sane.” His steampunky time machine, or “dihemispheric chronaether agitator,” as he calls it, was handcrafted over the last few months.
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If one thing is true about the crowd at Maker Faire, it’s that they love robots. If two things are true about Makers, it’s that they love robots fighting.
This year, the world’s largest robotic fighting league, RoboGames, put on an exhibition called the ComBot Cup. You’ve undoubtedly seen RoboGames bots in action, so we went backstage to snap some pictures of the competitors retooling their machines after several rounds of combat.
Here, R.D. van Noy and Scott Kincaid worked on their heavyweight robot “S.J.” on Saturday.
:
This year, the world’s largest robotic fighting league, RoboGames, put on an exhibition called the ComBot Cup. You’ve undoubtedly seen RoboGames bots in action, so we went backstage to snap some pictures of the competitors retooling their machines after several rounds of combat.
Backstage at the RoboGames competition at Maker Faire, Curt Meyers pushes his robot, “Jaws of Death,” into position.
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At sunset Saturday, the emphasis of the fair shifted from making to burning. One group, Interpretative Arson, built a “large-scale fire toy that translates anyone’s movements into fire.”
Functionally, the 2πR project consisted of a series of propane tanks arrayed in a circle around a central platform. The platform was mounted with ground-based sensors that were rigged to torches atop the propane tanks. A person standing on the platform could point in the direction of a tank, thereby covering the sensor, causing the torches in that direction to explode into fire.
The group allowed audience members to get into the central platform and make the fire dance, like this young boy.
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Russell the Giraffe lights up after dark, an indication that he was originally designed as a sideshow for raves. Inside that friendly exterior lurks a 1,000-watt sound system for all your electronic music needs.
Nettnøytralitet - hva gjøres? 5. May 2008
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a commentNettnøytralitet har de seneste årene blitt et stadig mer aktuelt tema. Debatten går i store trekk på om en ISP har lov til å blokkere innhold fra innholdsleverandører som ikke betaler penger til ISP’en eller ei, og forøvrig om ISP’en har rett til å begrense hvilke tjenester deres kunder benytter.
ITpro.no
Corsair HX1000W 4. May 2008
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a commentSom første publikasjon i Europa har vi sjekket ut Corsairs nye flaggskip.
Hardware.no
BBC sees strong sales through iTunes Store 2. May 2008
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a commentThe BBC is off to an incredibly strong start as it begins selling selected TV shows through iTunes in the U.S.
MacWorld
Big Blue, Intel chat up little guys online
Posted by Nerdmaster in : MAKE Podcast , add a commentI’m feeling bored today - wanna buy some software?
Intel and IBM are trying to drum up more trade in the small and mid-sized (SMB) market by separately launching online offerings that they hope will lure the little people.