Great LEGO project, I’m hoping they release the code – “Introducing GameByEmail’s Dice-O-Matic. Made from Legos, a USB camera, and a bit of software, it’s a home-grown, dice-rolling monster. Don’t let it’s rickety looks deceive you; this puppy can easily crank out the 20,000 rolls a day consumed by GamesByEmail. In fact, at full speed it averages almost one roll a second, well over 80,000 a day!.” [via] Link.
Nothing says Christmas like a Yeti ornament. Craftlog posted up her tips on using Print Gocco to create her abominable creature. Make one yourself or if you are up for a swap, she’ll make you one for something else in return. Also big news here, you might want to stock up on the cool printing machines as Gocco’s are being discontinued from the manufacturer. Link.
Great article by Cory Doctorow in the NYTimes about FabLabs and beyond…“Plastic created the age of whimsical forms. Suddenly a radio could look like a moo cow. A chair could look like an egg. Toy ray guns could bulge and swoop. The exuberant designers of the golden age of plastic explored all the wacky, nonfunctional, decorative shapes that household objects could take. Now that same plasticity is coming to microcontrollers, the computer chips that act as brains for the chirping, dancing, listening and seeing devices that line our knickknack shelves and dashboards and fill our pockets.” Link.
I’ve always thought instant messaging was fast lightweight way to get information – often better than opening up a browser on your computer, or trying to use a phone to browse the web. So, we’re now in “beta” of a new way to get the latest from MAKE, it’s a little MAKE buddy you’ll be able to add to you buddy list on AIM/iChat. Right now you can get the latest posts, news, gadgets and events from MAKE, and have the little MAKE buddy message you when there are new posts if you choose. We’ll also add queries, for example you could type “How do I weld” and the buddy would send you a link. Here’s a screen shot of him now, once he’s ready for more testers I’ll let you know! Image – MAKE Buddy.
Chris is looking for things to do with 20 old hard drives “I have twenty 3.5 inch hard drives collecting dust in my garage (10Gb and all working) and I will use them to do things. What things I haven’t decided yet, but I already have a couple of ideas. We have 20 nice shiny discs, as many read/write heads complete with arm, 40 very powerful magnets, and so on. It’s actually only the imagination that sets the limits. In this first part we go through the, maybe trivial but vital, task of taking the drive apart in its components without damaging anything.” Link.
I think most of the online worlds will eventually swing this way – Multiverse is in beta “Make a complete Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) or virtual world for less money and in less time than you could have dreamed possible. Participate in the game industry’s most exciting frontier. Build the features that make your game unique, leveraging the expertise of the networking and infrastructure experts who helped build the web. Deliver your vision to a built-in market of players–without having to ask a publisher’s permission or give up your intellectual property.” [via] Link.
If you’ve ever taken a spin on one of those theme park rides that show movies, shift/thrash the audience simulator-style you might like the idea of building your own. Jared, the Maker writes – “For some time I have wanted to make my own, seeing the NASA shuttle simulator and other similar training simulators all over. Well one day while playing mech 4 I realized that I had the power to do so literally in the palm of my hand. So I decided to mod out my simulator. Well a lot of R & D went into this and this is actually a prototype for the main build to come.” Link.
