The folks over on the Manufacturers’ Blog (Coolstuffbeingmade.com) have videos of interesting manufacturing and this week they need your vote for which one to show…Ford Cars and SUVs (just b-roll, no narrative), Deep Impact (Animation of how a device that collides with a comet was made), Microchips Being Made (Animation mostly with on screen text), and How Aluminum Is Made (video, narrated, begining with the mining process). Link. Vote Aluminum!
Good article by Andy Oram on oreillynet “Modding is childish and eccentric and deeply serious. People are investing major chunks of disposable income and (astonishingly, in a flat-out work-obsessed society where no one has time) untold hours in modding. It’s one of the fastest up-and-coming social trends in the United States.” Link.
The Design Trust for Public Space, in cooperation with Parsons The New School for Design, presents Designing the Taxi, an exhibition that builds on the momentum of the extraordinarily successful two-part workshop held last spring that investigated the future of the iconic New York City taxicab as it approaches its centennial in 2007. The exhibition of designs presenting future ideas for the taxi will be on view from November 3, 2005, through January 15, 2006, at the Parsons gallery at 2 West 13th Street. An opening reception will take place on Wednesday, November 2, 6-9 p.m., which will also celebrate the publication of the Designing the Taxi findings. Link.
MAKE is nominated for “Best new title” and “Science/Technology coverage” in the Utne Independent Press Awards. There isn’t any voting, but wish us some happy thoughts – and thanks to everyone for making this a wonderful first year of MAKE. Link.
The genome-sequencing technique from 454 Life Sciences was selected as the Gold winner in The Wall Street Journal’s 2005 Technology Innovation Awards competition. Innovative technologies from around the world were eligible for awards in categories including biotechnology, software, security, energy and the environment, among others. Judges selected Gold, Silver and Bronze winners, as well as giving out an Honorable Mention award. [via] Link. There’s also a podcast on the page that discusses the decision process and entries.
The 8th annual Vintage Computer Festival is being held on November 5th – 6th at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. The highlight of this year’s event is a Homebrew Computer Club retrospective featuring a panel of original members of the Club including Steve Wozniak, Lee Felsenstein, and others. [via] Link.
Just a reminder (since I’ve been saved each year by someone reminding me)…It’s daylight savings time, so on October 30th at 2am, roll your clocks back an hour. Lots of computers will likely do this on their own, but alarm clocks and other gadgets might not. [