Just a reminder, there’s about a week left to register for Ben Combee’s Webduino
class; it’s next Sunday at 2pm at NYC Resistor.  Here’s what’s
happening in the 2+ hour timeslot:

1) you’ll setup Arduino boards with Ethernet shields.  Ben has some
extra shields if you’re interested.
2) you’ll hook them all up to a router
3) you’ll load up web server code that reads input pins and can modify
output pins.  It will be fun toggling LEDs on each others boards
over the net.
4) Ben will go over how to modify the web server to read your own sensors
and control things like speakers and displays.

Ben’s library of code is online at http://webduino.googlecode.com

* Because of overwhelming interest on the Microcontroller Study Group Mailing List

Hi all,

We officially have set aside today from 6pm to 9pm as a Blender study
group. All are welcome, whether you have some blender experience or
none. We will have a projector set up to demonstrate how to use the
interface for new users. Basically, bring what you know, or questions
about what you want to know and we will try to get them answered. Or
bring an idea for a project and we can talk about how it would be done
using Blender 3D.

For those who don’t know, Blender 3D is a 3D modeling, animation,
compositing, and game creation tool (among other things). It can be
used to create still images, animations, or interactive content. It is
completely open source (free as in free beer and free speech) and
available for download at http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/
. If you want to get an idea of what is possible with Blender watch
Big Buck Bunny (http://www.vimeo.com/1084537) which is an open source
movie created by the Blender Foundation. One of the great uses of
Blender is designing 3D models which can be printed out on 3D printers
such as RepRap (www.reprap.org) or MakerBot (www.makerbot.com). I am
told that there may be some MakerBots set up this Wednesday and we may
have an opportunity to print out some models.

I primarily use Blender professionally for modeling and animation,
though I have dabble in compositing, non-linear editing, physics
simulation, and the game engine. Bring a laptop and be ready to have a
great time and learn something new!

NYCResistor is located at

397 Bridge Street,
5th Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201

See you there!

-Angelo Tartanian

P.S. If you want to get a head start, download and install Blender on
your favorite laptop and bring it ready to go! Blender is available
for all major operating systems. As with any graphically intensive
program Blender will run best on a computer with a fast processor, a
good video card, and as much RAM as possible. None the less, Blender
is an incredibly light program and many of its features can be run on
average hardware so don’t assume it won’t work on your computer.

Mike liked it.

Don’t know if anyone likes my reviews yet, but in light of the LCROSS, and LRO NASA projects currently orbiting our celestial ornament, I think this particular work is applicable fodder for my errant scripture. Oh and of course meeting Buzz Aldrin didn’t help any.

In 1966, Robert A. Heinlein one of the great science fiction writers of the age released a work that he hoped would eclipse all of his prior established works. Some consider this to be his literary coup de grâce. Personally, I’m not quite sure. Despite my enjoyment of the work, there is something more primal in the way he expresses social commentary in works like starship troopers that really rob this work of any real controversy. That being said, this work may yet be seen as a harbinger of real events yet to come. Though, I’ll try to spare you the spoilers.

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That’s a long title. I know. But filled with awesome. Fatman and Circuit Girl is an internet video series that is the culmination of the combined efforts of the indomitable Jeri Ellsworth, and the 8-bit era superstar Fatman (George Sanger). Earlier this year Fatman and Circuit girl did a live show at Notacon. I was running a hackspace at Notacon with the help of Mitch Altman (who is a hell of a guy). However, the night before Notacon we were running into some problems with our mode of transportation to Notacon. Our man with a van so to speak was without the proverbial van. So I called everyone I knew who wouldn’t mind a call at 11 at night and might be willing to shuffle off to Cleveland at a moments notice. This basically was a very very short list. But as luck would have it… Nick Farr came through with a car ( a now infamous vehicle known amongst the hacker world as mr black, though very nearly mr pink ). We still needed a backup driver. So I called Noah, figured this sort of event would be right up his alley. And sure enough he was excited to go. So he joined NYCR members Rose and myself on a trip to overcast Cleveland. We had a great time, and Noah was able to show off his augmented reality rig at Fatman and Circuit girl’s live show. Anyways this is the video from that event.

Oh the stories we have… and the videos that follow.

So during the Thursday craft night we received a request from one of the hackerspace folks for some time lapse videos of the space over a 24 hour period. They are working on a project that will no doubt be stupendous and magnificent. However this spawned a quick project.

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