NYCResistor’s Gian Pablo Villamil is working on a really interesting project with panoramic Video in New Orleans. He can’t tell us what the project will do, who is involved, or if space aliens really exist, but the few photos he has on his site look pretty amazing and he has written about some solutions to technical hurdles associated with the piece. Stay tuned for more on the project! As per Gian’s request, this blog will self destruct in 5, 4, 3, 2…
A 3D what you say?! One of the many projects we saw at The Last HOPE was the 3D Wiremap by Albert Hwang. The Wiremap, pictured above, is a surreal 3D display made with fishing wire. Yes, that’s right, I said fishing wire. Albert describes it as follows:
The projector throws its beam on an array of vertical wires. From the projector’s single-point perspective, all the wires are evenly spaced from one another. However, due to the randomized dimension of depth, from any other perspective, the wires create a 3d map… The result is a floating, glowing 3d object made entirely of light.
Check out this link to see some videos and read more about the project.
John Houck has created this really interesting installation, here’s his description of the guts of the piece:
This installation contains 35 motors that are controlled individually with an arduino microcontroller. Processing is used to send commands, via serial communication, to the arduino. The sequencing of the motors changing speed was inspired by the movement of people through public spaces.
The project is called Volumes of Emptiness and although the website doesn’t actually say where it’s exhibiting, there are some great photos and videos of the work in action. Looks like a very interesting and lively installation. I’d love to see a more concise write up about the logistics of the project.
Isn’t she pretty. It’s the Arduino Nano.
You see, when 2 Arduino’s get together (in private) and exchange their currents, a little robotstork brings you an Arduino Nano! Here’s a description from Trossen Robotics:
Arduino Nano is a surface mount breadboard embedded version with integrated USB. It is a smallest, complete, and breadboard friendly. The Nano was designed and is being produced by Gravitech. It has everything that Diecimila has (electrically) with more analog input pins and onboard +5V AREF jumper. Physically, it is missing power jack and power select jumper.
It’s a similar size to the Arduino Wee from Spark Fun but it’s a little different in size and features. It comes with the typical 6 analog pins, 14 digital pins (6 of which can do Pulse Width Modulation), 16 KB of Flash Memory (of which 2KB used by bootloader) and a 16 Mhz clock. What more could you ask for? And, it’s so cute!
Rob Faludi and Kate Hartman posted about the protype version of the XBEE Lilypad. The Lilypad is the incredibly small — wearable version — of the Arduino, and to borrow a phrase from a well known advertisment, the XBEE ‘gives it wings!’. Not sure how much power this require through the Lilypad, but I can think of 500 amazing projects this could be used for. Check out the post on Rob’s site to learn more about the direction of the project.
Oh, and when you’re done reading about fun electronic prototypes, you can check out their recipe for a nice glass of Vegan Pork Martini. Yes, I said that right!
… what more could a girl ask for!
I joke, but it’s pretty compelling how hot these little gadgets get and he’s got a neat little video to prove it. Something tells me the laptop on my, well, on my lap right now isn’t doing me any good.
The videos below were Directed and Creative Directed by James Frost, Aaron Koblin was the Technical Director, Justin Glorieux was the Executive Producer, Google stored the code, etc. etc. and they all teamed up (along with tons of other talented people) with Radiohead to make this amazing video for the song ‘House of Cards’. Aaron, best known for his Flight Patterns project is a Processing genius, and James Frost has worked with tons of amazing bands, which is all clearly evident in the video they helped create.
The about video below really shows how the entire team made this happen, but one of the most impressive parts of the shoot is the fact that they didn’t even use a video camera. The data was captured by a Geometric Informatics camera and a Lidar system, both of which determine the X, Y, and Z, coordinates of an object which were then filtered into processing to create the scenes below. The code is also available in Google Code and there’s a gorgeous interactive element where you can see the data being visualized on the X, Y, Z axis.
You can learn more about the video at James Frost’s website here.
If you’re looking for an introduction to making stringed instruments, Ranjit Bhatnagar is going to be teaching a rad class that will get you started actually making a stringed instrument right away. Check it out. – Link
The electric guitar is a sophisticated and highly evolved instrument. But, you can make your own out of a few bucks worth of junk and parts. Learn to wind your own guitar pickups and build them into a simple one- or two-string junk guitar with a surprisingly nice sound. Depending on your ambition and experience, you can make your junk guitar as simple or as sophisticated as you want, but everybody is guaranteed to go home with at least a fun twangy noisemaker.
I’m really curious about making my own guitar pickups right now and this looks like an awesome class. (Disclosure: I work for Etsy where this class is going to be held.)
Date: July 30, 2008
Time: 6:30-9pm
Location: Etsy Labs, 325 Gold Street 3rd Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201
It’s time again for NYCR’s public Microcontroller Study Group. The meeting is Wednesday (tonight!) from 7-9pm. We’ve all been busy focusing on other tasks, so for tonight, the agenda is open. After tonight, the Study Group is going on hiatus for a while, so bring stuff to show off, projects you want to talk about, or just be ready to talk microcontrollers!. The meeting is at the usual location, NYCR HQ @ 397 Bridge Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 — 5th Floor (look for the resistors on the door).
The MSG meetings are free and open to the public (a small donation is appreciated, to help pay the rent), so if you’re in the New York City area and you have an interest in microcontrollers or electronics or blinky things, why not stop by? And if you have a project that you want to show off or get help with, bring it along. We love meeting new people and seeing what everyone is working on.
With solder irons blazing, and the power of molten metal at their finger tips, New York City’s electricity enthusiasts and hardware hackers will connect components to complete circuits for the glory of being the fastest soldering gun in NYC.
On stage and under hot lights, contestants will complete an electronics kit in the shortest time possible while still maintaining the integrity of the circuit. Who will be New York City’s soldering champion? You’ll need to be there to find out!
Pre-Registration Required – Link
Competitor check in from 6:30-7PM.
Competition starts promptly at 7:15PM
$25 entry fee to cover the cost of the kit. (Undisclosed so you can’t practice)
We will have power strips available.
Space is limited to 25 contestants and will be on a first come, first served basis!
Location is M1-5
Requirements
1. Be able to solder, this is a competition, not a class.
2. Be 21.
3. It’s advised that you bring your own soldering iron and solder.
Once the smoke has settled, it’ll be time for the pechakucha-inspired lightning-style ignite talks. This format is a blast and you’ll want to stick around for the presentations! (I know a few NYCResistors will be giving talks!)
