Month: October 2009

Ladyada gets EFF Pioneer Award!

Ladyada gets EFF Pioneer Award!

We’re thrilled to announce that MAKE pal, and Advisory Board member, Limor Fried, aka Ladyada, has been honored with an 18th annual EFF Pioneer Award. Well-deserved, we say. Congrats, Limor! Here’s the little bio from the EFF announcement: A pioneer in the field of open-source hardware and software hacking, Ladyada helps the general public engineer […]

Fascination:  Bruce Hood

Fascination: Bruce Hood

Are you one of the nine out of ten adults who purportedly believes you can tell when someone is watching you from behind? If so, does it occur to you that this is a kind of supernatural belief? Dr. Bruce Hood, Director of the Bristol Cognitive Development Centre at the University of Bristol and the latest subject of our ongoing series of interviews with notable Makers, has some fascinating theories about how such “routine” supernatural beliefs come about as natural consequences of the normal psychology of child development. He also talks briefly about how his own childhood enthusiasm for the paranormal eventually came full circle in his mature scientific interest in the psychology of paranormal belief. Fascinating stuff.

First Halloween Microchip giveaway happening now

Just a reminder that the first promotional giveaway from this year’s Halloween contest sponsors is currently underway. First up for grabs is a PIC32 Starter Kit, shown above, with a retail value of $50, together with a PIC32 I/O Expansion Board, shown below, which sells for $72. To enter, leave a comment on the announcement page describing what cool Halloween-themed project you’d make with it. The winner will be announced this Friday, October 9.

Computational Pop-Up Book

Jie Qi made this whimsical, magical interactive electronic pop-up book using the paper arduino prototypes coming out of Leah Buechley’s new research group at the MIT Media Lab. Syuzi at Fashioning Technology did a nice report on some of the different pages and what they do. She used conductive paint, thread, and fabric to make […]