Make Magazine
DIY projects, how-tos, and inspiration from geeks, makers, and hackers
Updated: 1 hour 29 min ago
Maker Scouts: Light it Up
As the Los Angeles host for the Maker Education Initiative's Maker Corp program, The Exploratory has had the honor of seeing 18+ adults using the same materials that we use with 4+ Maker Scouts and noticing the differences and similarities. It occurred to me today, that children are more apt to have a story - a narrative that is connected to their making projects. Sometimes, its a story that comes from the project - a way for them to establish a sense of place. Other times, we find that a provocation is helpful as a starting point. I've done e-textile projects before and without a provocation, I have noticed that the young makers tend to make copies of other people's design. So, for this introduction to e-textiles, I thought that I would ask " What kind of superhero would you be and where would your power come from?" I also asked " What do you LOVE so much that you feel a strong need to protect it?" We had the best answers - " Cats, Dogs, Eagles, my family, and best of all - MILK."
Categories: Makers
Maker Pro Newsletter #10
"Complexity is free." From the editors of MAKE magazine, The Maker Pro Newsletter is about the impact of makers on business and technology. Our coverage includes hardware startups, new products, incubators, innovators, along with technology and market trends.
Categories: Makers
A Foot-Powered Lathe
Youtube user QueticoChris uses an old cast-iron flywheel and vintage building techniques to design and make an efficient foot-powered wood lathe. 
Categories: Makers
The Six Bottle Test
Marco Robustini wanted to test the accuracy of the ArduCopter code and show the accuracy of the IMU, so he decided to suspend bottles from his multi-copter to find out how it would cope with huge variations in weight and trim
Categories: Makers
Simple Machines: The Lever
The lever is one of the six classic simple machines. A simple machine is a mechanical device that changes a force's direction or magnitude. The other five simple machines are the wheel and axle, the pulley, the inclined plane, the wedge and the screw. Explaining simple machines to kids can be a fun learning experience, especially if you include some demonstrations in the lesson. Here's how I built a lever for a demonstration of simple machines for my son's 3rd grade clas
Categories: Makers
Designing the Electronics User Experience
In February I did an interview with Eric Jennings, co-founder of Pinoccio. Pinoccio is a new open source hardware business, building “a complete ecosystem for the Internet of Things.” The Pinoccio is a pocket-sized microcontroller board with wireless networking, rechargeable LiPo battery, sensors, and the ability to expand its capabilities through shields, much like an Arduino board. It features the new Atmel ATmega256RFR2, a single-chip AVR 8-bit processor with low power 2.4GHz transceiver for IEEE 802.15.4 communications.
Eric Jennings, along with his partner Sally Carson, co-founded Pinoccio. In my interview with Eric he said:
"Sally Carson, Pinoccio's other co-founder, is an expert in the intersection between humans and technology. What I mean by that is that she thinks very deeply and carefully about the psychology of humans interacting with computers. Human-computer interaction, user experience, and usability all fall under her umbrella. I consider her contribution a secret weapon in what we're trying to achieve with Pinoccio."
A Secret Weapon?!... I had to find out more what Eric meant, and just what exactly is Pinoccio’s Secret Weapon. I contacted Sally Carson and asked her about the intersection of User Experience (UX) with electronics and the design of the Pinoccio. Along the way, I learned some good lessons on why design is important, even to just a set of electronics.
Categories: Makers
Maker Faire UK: Interview with Artist Giles Walker
British scrap artist and roboticist Giles Walker has been making provocative art robots and kinetic sculptures for over 20 years. His unique vision and aesthetic often bear strong social commentary and refuse to go unnoticed. Giles has been a member of guerilla-art group the Mutoid Waste Company since the 80s [...]
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The Future of Wearable Technology
This is a great video that covers the wearable scene. Super cool MAKE alum (and Adafruit wearables engineer) Becky is one of the artists and engineers interviewed. As computing moves from our desktops to our phones, we look into the future to see how technology will become increasingly ingrained in [...]
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MAKE Visits the Inaugural Inside 3D Printing Conference & Expo
Nick Normal and I attended the first Inside 3D Printing Conference & Expo recently. Here's a collection of our pictures and recollections.
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Wearable Tech: Smart Fabrics 2013
Last week I had the opportunity to attend and speak at Smart Fabrics 2013 in San Francisco. Smart Fabrics is the most interdisciplinary conference I’ve been to in a while. As Stacey Burr (member of the conference advisory board and VP of adidas Wearable Sports Electronics) said in her opening address, topics ranged from “bras to tanks and DARPA to DIY.” In the crowd were CEOs, students, textiles and PCB manufacturers, artists, fashion designers, material scientists, “integraters”, consultants, and branders. It reminded me of the mix that we’ve been aspiring to achieve locally at the Toronto Wearables Meetup.
Categories: Makers
Decode Your Resistors With Mho the Resistor Plushie
Instructables user caitlinsdad modified a Mho the Resistor plushie with color bands glued to PVC rings serving as a resistor value decoder. He also modded a Ruby the Red LED plushie to Filed under: Electronics
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Tonight: MAKE’s International Robot Meetup
Well, really we’re looking to attract robot enthusiasts, but robots won’t be turned away. If you’re a member of a hackerspace or school robot club sign up to participate in the meetup right here and join robot fans around the world. Everyone who registers will get a free PDF download of MAKE’s Volume [...]
Categories: Makers
Tux Cases for Arduino and Raspberry Pi Now Available in the Maker Shed
Aluminum cases for the Arduino and Raspberry Pi, custom CNC machined by Tux Labs, are now available in the Maker Shed. 
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Deek’s Lollipop Fort of Death
This is Derek "Deek" Diedricksen's last video for us. And it's...a little different. He pokes fun at his rather sketchy looking single-pole tree house, which he jokingly has dubbed "The Lollipop Fort Of Death." It looks less than safe, but he insists it is. The song he wrote about it sure is catchy.
Categories: Makers
The Solder Buddy
This mechanised solder dispenser was built by design engineer Jude Pullen, as an example of what could be done using ABS plastic sheeting, a broken brake cable from a bicycle, and some Sugru.
Categories: Makers
MAKE Welcomes Ken Denmead as Editorial Director
I'd like to welcome Ken Denmead to Maker Media. He'll start May 13 as editorial director. He replaces outgoing editorial director Gareth Branwyn. Ken has been editor and publisher of Geekdad and publisher of Geekmom, which recently struck out on its own. Ken is a civil engineer who will be quitting his day job to join us at MAKE. We're excited to have his energy and experience to help us shape our online community.
Categories: Makers
Metrix Open Hardware Lab’s Brainwave RepRap Controller
Located inside Metrix Create:Space at the heart of Seattle, Metrix Open Hardware Lab features a pick and place machine and a reflow soldering line for manufacturing various open source electronics. Its first product, the Brainwave, purports to be the lowest-cost alzl-in-one 3D printer control board solution on the market.
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Freaklabs’ Akiba Visits Dharamsala, India
Expatriate hacker Chris “Akiba” Wang of Tokyo recently participated in a cool opportunity to deploy a sensor network in Dharamsala, India. I got an email from Marco at the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. He’s part of UNESCO and we’re working together on a weather monitoring project. [...]
Categories: Makers
Being a Printer Master: Managing Mass Printing in a Makerspace
Sure, your 3D Printer runs reliably as long as it sits safely at home, but what would happen if dozens of college students used it each week? Georgia Tech Mechanical Engineering student Jeff Landrum discusses the challenges behind building, managing, and automating a "printer farm" at one of the largest student-run makerspaces in the country. 
Categories: Makers
How-To: Shimmering LED Skirt
Becky's latest wearables project, over at adafruit, combines three components from their FLORA sewable electronics ecosystem—the microcontroller, the accelerometer/compass module, and the RGB LED "pixels"—to create a no-solder sewable circuit that sparkles when you sashay! 
Categories: Makers