Are you a hackerspace member? We want to know about cool projects you are working on, or have completed, tools you’re using, fun stories about your space and its members, best practices you’d like to share with other spaces, etc. Say you build a new CNC mill–we want to hear about it! Maybe a member is organizing a Mini Maker Faire, has designed a cool robot, or has built something beautiful out of wood. We want to cover all of these things. Send it to johnb@makezine.com or tweet me at @johnbaichtal and I may be able to post it. Also feel free to subscribe to my hackerspaces Twitter list.
LED Flipbook at CRASH Space
At LA’s CRASH Space, Matt Pinner helped create a flip book kit (appropriately named FlipBooKit) that was a Kickstarter hit. Now he’s experimented with a LED light strip to illuminate it, and posted an intractable showing how to do it.
Matt along with Kyle Cothern also worked on this cool LED disco ball.
In another Crasher project, they have a CNC Router that needed someone to figure out how to make it work. Kyle Cothern figured it out and is teaching classes on how to use it. He also made a time-lapse video using the CNC to make a lighted sign.
How to Make a Makerspace: Artisan’s Asylum
Somerville, MA’s Artisan’s Asylum hackerspace and MAKE put on a cool event at the space: How to Make a Makerspace:
Artisan’s Asylum and MAKE are teaming up to put on a weekend of presentations and discussions about how to make a makerspace. The goal of this event is to give attendees a roadmap and the resources needed to start the process of creating sustainable makerspaces of their own, while also introducing everyone to each other and forming a support network for the long and arduous process of space development and creation.
There were over 175 guests, including delegations from universities, libraries, and smaller groups.
Video from the sessions will eventually be found on Makerspace.com.
Artisan’s Asylum also had fun recently when they started an impromptu blizzard party in Somerville’s Union Square.
Chicago Hackathon Next Weekend
MonkeyBars Spring Build is a Hackathon unlike any Chicago has ever seen. Build is not simply a coding challenge, it is a place where anyone from the hardware hacker to the designer can, with the support and resources from the MonkeyBars team and partners, bring an idea to the realm of reality in just 24 hours.
We have also thrown traditional judging out the window; MonkeyBars gives prizes for being awesome. While we will definitely reward you for building a robot that cures cancer, we believe that having a passion for learning and creating is the mark of a true innovator and, thus, should be rewarded. No cash prizes. If you’re in it for the money, then this Hackathon isn’t for you.
If you live to create and think working on projects inside of a 13,000 sq. ft. rapid prototyping lab is a dream come true, then we’ll see you at MonkeyBars Spring Build 2013.
Minne-Faire at the Hack Factory
Mark your calendars! Our fourth annual Minne-Faire will be held at The Hack Factory, April 13th and 14th, 2013. This year is going to bigger than last years show!
Participate, meet and get inspired by other makers and DIY artists that are interested in electronics, 3-D printing, metalworking, woodworking and textiles. This year’s Minne-Faire will include exhibits, demonstrations, power wheels racing, vendors, music, and food.
Cost is $5-$8, for early registration, and $10 at the door. Children under 15, accompanied by an adult ticket get in free. One badge gets you into both days and after hours events. Order your event tickets now to save some cash: http://minnefaire2013.eventbrite.com/
Baltimore Hackerspace Kicks Off Drone Group
Baltimore Hackerspace hosted the first meetup of the new Baltimore Drones Meetup group. The event was a huge success. There were about 10 drones on display and everyone had stories to tell and knowledge to share. One of the hot topics discussed was the perception of the word Drones. Baltimore Hackerspace can relate to this problem. The word “Hacker” has been tainted for decades and our decision to call ourselves a Hackerspace vs a Makerspace was a big one. What is the definition of a Hacker anyways? Everyone has their own opinions of the word.
Baltimore Drones is in the same boat. What is a Drone? Should we call our toys Drones, UAVs, or Multirotors? This was a hot topic and we all seemed to agree on most things. There are so many positive things Drones can be used for. Most of which can create new jobs which are disparately needed these days.
Exploding the Phone at Alpha One Labs
Author Phil Lapsley is visiting New York City’s Alpha One Labs to read from his book on Tuesday, March 5 from 7-9pm:
Phil Lapsley’s Exploding the Phone traces the birth of long-distance communication and the telephone, the rise of AT&T’s monopoly, the creation of the sophisticated machines that made it all work, and the discovery of Ma Bell’s Achilles’ heel. Lapsley expertly weaves together the stories of the clandestine underground of phone phreaks who turned the network into their electronic playground, the mobsters who exploited its flaws to avoid the feds, and the counterculture movement that argued you should rip off the phone company to fight against the war in Vietnam.
AT&T responded with “Greenstar,” an unprecedented project that would ultimately tap some thirty-three million telephone calls and record 1.5 million of them. The FBI fought back, too, especially when a phone phreak showed a confidential informant how he could remotely eavesdrop on FBI calls. Phone phreaking exploded into the popular culture, with famous actors, musicians, and investors caught with “blue boxes,” many of them built by two young phone phreaks named Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Soon, the phone phreaks, the feds, and the phone company were at war.
Based on original interviews and declassified documents, Exploding the Phone is a captivating, ground-breaking work about an important part of our cultural and technological history.
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