MAKE needs you!
We’re working with a partner to put together a focus group session about technology-related projects and the projects you Make on your time. In this session, we will be brainstorming new ideas and getting your feedback on possible future concepts. This session is hosted by MAKE magazine but conducted by an outside focus group facilitator and is designed to get creative ideas about how the marketplace can better serve your needs. The focus group will be held in San Francisco this Saturday, Sept 17 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. All qualified participants will be compensated for their time. Link.
If you’re around the San Francisco Bay Area, please stop by Dorkbot-SF this Wednesday evening. MAKE: Magazine editor/publisher Dale Dougherty will talk about the “Making of MAKE.” Dale will be joined by managing editor Shawn Connally, art director Kirk Von Rohr, and me, your trusty special projects editor. Spot Draves and Jon Phillips will also be presenting their work. The festivities will begin at Blasthaus beginning at 7:30pm… 
LibriVox is an open source audio-literary attempt to harness the power of the many to record and disseminate, in podcast form, books from the public domain. It works like this: a book is chosen, then *you*, the volunteers, read and record one or more chapters. We liberate the audio files through this webblog/podcast every week. Subscribed! 
The most Maker friendly MMORPG is now free to start – Linden Lab, maker of the popular virtual world “Second Life,” is making membership to its metaverse free. The company said that because free membership will likely prompt a significant number of people to join Second Life, revenue from virtual land the new members buy will probably make up for the loss of subscription fees. “We’re going to make more because some of the people who wouldn’t have otherwise signed up are going to buy land,” Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale said this week. 
Good news for Xbox modders… the developers of Xbox Media Center for have added to the CVS their efforts toward a working DVD player with menus. Previously menus were not included due to XBMC’s use of mplayer and its current state of not natively supporting dvd menus. [
G4 TV’s AOTS has links to the old favorite Oregon Trail as well as the emulators to run it. Try taking a journey by covered wagon across 2000 miles of plains, rivers, and mountains. Try! On the plains, will you slosh your oxen through mud and water-filled ruts or will you plod through dust six inches deep? [
