Month: February 2007

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The Open Source Energy Project

I love all of the ways in which the open source ethos are being applied to other realms beyond computer software, hardware, and Web dev. The Open Source Energy Project is one such example. Protein Feed explains:

“The project is being managed with a similar methodology to Open Source Software Development and the ideas and contributions are being published openly on the Internet without an attempt to secure patents. The hope is that with an open philosophy that the project shows similar Rapid Application Development and success as Linux and other Open Source Software projects and provides a system that can meet future energy requirements in a sustainable manner.”

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Jake von Slatt on Aether Emporium

Our favorite steampunk, Jake von Slatt, did a brief interview on Aether Emporium. Too brief. He’s a real interesting guy and does a lot more than his Steampunk Workshop projects. If you wondered what he does for a day job:

Currently I’m a Linux SysAdmin, but I’ve done lots of other jobs over the years. I’ve worked in a machine shop, as an HVAC tech, a TV repairman and have assembled everything from the little emergency buttons that you press when “you’ve fallen and you can’t get up!” to sensors used in nuclear power plants and undersea sonar systems. I’ve also worked on or rebuilt just about every automotive component you can think of including automatic transmissions. If you take a look at Vonslatt and Bike Recumbent you’ll see that the artsy etching projects are actually a bit of a departure for me!

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Wow Wee FlyTech RC Dragonfly Available for Pre-Order

Our pals over at Robots Rule write to tell us:

“WowWee’s wing-flapping flying insect robot is now available on Radio Shack’s web site for ordering. The US$49 Flytech Dragonfly is currently exclusive to the Shack, although reports indicate that in a month, shipping may be open to other retailers. Here’s the product page on Radio Shack.”

For more information on the Flytech Dragonfly and some videos, check out RobotsRule’s page.

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Travel Mug That Won’t Burn the Bejezuz Out of Your Tongue

I’m pretty much at the level of the caffeine drip at this point in my addiction (hey, everybody gets at least one). Given that, I frequently have my insulated travel mug with me on the go (I choose between two: my Amazon mug and a lovely Celexa one, in soothing hospital blue — somehow my travel mugs speak volumes). But with these insulated containers, designed to retain heat as long as possible, it’s inevitable that I burn the ever-lovin’ crap out of my tongue or the roof of my mouth.

So I was psyched to see these Brugo mugs (US$20). They have two chambers, the bottom one, which keeps your java hell-fire hot, and a “temperature-control chamber,” which cools off the coffee to a sipable temp before you drink it. My only question is: how finicky it is to operate, i.e. how fast can I get the coffee in me? Which brings me back to the drip. Maybe it’s time someone actually looked into the caffeine IV. Hey, when ThinkGeek is selling caffeine soap and infused water, is an IV really that out there?

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Mind-Bending Circuit Bends and Chaotic PCBs

MAKE comrade Bre Pettis posted a link to this incredible circuit bender’s website. This stuff is absolutely crazy (as in: cool, and as in: has this dude been skimping on the meds?). I love the whimsical PCB layout for the “Fryall Computer” (above) I’d like to wholeheartedly encourage more of this (grids are highly overrated). The builder, Peter Blasser, describes the chip/component arrangements as “villages,” and that’s a “temple” in the middle. He’s also come up with his own names for things. He writes:

The brass pegs are sandrodes, connected to multi-dimensional androgynous nodes within the circuit. Sandrodes are neither inputs nor outputs, they are both and none; connecting two together with copper makes a new node with characteristics from both. The nob dials don’t just control one feature, they interact on many different planes with the beast within.

I’ll have what he’s having. I’d LOVE to have one of these crazy bending rigs. And I can! He’s actually selling them as kits. They cost US$250 and include everything, including the veneered wooden box. Here’s a page of dozens of Fryalls made by different builders.

Be sure to snoop around the site and environs. There’s a ton of cool and delightfully head-scratchy stuff to be found. I have a feeling this is what happens to your mind when you do a lot of bending. Not a bad thing, I’m just sayin’…

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Etching Altoids Tins

Street Tech pal Jake von Slatt has a new piece at The Steampunk Workshop on copper electroplating, and then salt water etching, Altoids tins. The one shown here, his most successful etch, shows Lady Ada.

He also experimented with an image transfer process using pages from magazines as the transfer medium. Fascinating.

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Review of the Viewsonic N4251w HDTV

Increasingly, we’re starting to see big players in the computer display biz moving heavily into TVs, as the two techs converge. Here at Street Tech, we’ve been impressed with some of Viewsonic’s recent computer displays. I recently reviewed the ViewSonic VX1935wm 19″ LCD Monitor for our holiday gift guide. I liked the darn thing so much, when the review period was over, I bought it! Now with my 27″ CRT TV dying a slow and ungraceful death, I’ve been looking at *reasonably priced* HDTV displays.

I4U just did a review of the new Viewsonic N4251w 42″ LCD TV display and were very impressed with it (giving it 9.5 out 10). At a street priced of around US$1,500, it’s out of my price-range (I’m looking for something below that grand sweet spot), but if you’re in the market for an HD display in this size and price range, I’d seriously give Viewsonic’s line the ol’ once-over.

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More Pics of January Dorklbot DC

Dorkbot DC member Matt Billings has put up some of his pics from last month’s Dorkbot DC where Randall Packer spoke and I gave a presentation on BEAM robotics. The bot pics include the original Mousey the Junkbot and the Coat Hanger Walker (as seen in the Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Building Robots and MAKE vol. 2) and the VCR Solarroller from the cover of MAKE Vol. 6.

There are some funny pics of me (I didn’t realize I was this animated when I talked). See if you can match the caption to the photo: “No really. It’s THIS big.” and “Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Crap, this is hot!” and “Ya get ’em going by shakin’ ’em like this.”

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Fighting Comment Spam

Thanks to a regular, and growing, bombardment of Comment spam, most of it porn-related, we’ve been forced to turn off Comments until we can figure out a way of keeping these unsavory characters off of our site.

If you have a Comment that you’d like to post, you can still send it to me (using the Who’s Online site messaging system) or via the Contact button above.

We apologize to those who’ve been offended by this spam and to everyone here as we all get a little less of Street Tech, thanks to these bottomfeeders.

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How-To: Build an HD Antenna from Junk (Mostly)

Got an HD Tuner built into that LCD TV you got for Christmas and you’re just dying to grab some Over the Air (OTA) HD? Well, this ingenious couch potentato built himself a pretty sweet DB2 HD antenna out of a couple of over racks, plastic building wood and a couple of coat hangers. [Pictured above is a DB4, two DIY DB2s ganged together (with more store bought hardware. ]

[Via hackAday]

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