"Origami" condom prototype My Great Ghost, "Glass Machine"—remixing Philip Glass, with an app BargainBinBlasphemy: a tumblog of greatness Drug cartel violence in Mexico, an animated video explainer Pogo insanity in New York City Space Invaders chairs Velvet Underground & Nico lost studio recordings now on vinyl! Michelle Bachmann stiffs her campaign staff, they retaliate by ratting to the feds JOHN WILCOCK: The History of ECHO, "The Magazine You Play on Your Phonograph" (1958) Setting the record straight on Aaron Swartz's contributions Parrot drives robotic bird buggy Hunt your family's killers in Westerado $400,000 in diamonds stolen Why does the software in cable boxes suck so? Secret messages in games The life and death of the American arcade Ontario tells US Megaupload prosecutors to get lost Dreamliners grounded Horde of space GIFs Kickstarting an Internet-of-Things for your garden The protective power of antioxidants might be vastly oversold GSI coffee grinder and french press 86.54% liked this De-frosting a building-sized refrigerator Fantastic tour of the International Space Station Useful words with no English equivalent Shipment of 18 human heads intercepted at airport The history of how-to What your New Year's Resolutions tell us about the way you think "Origami" condom prototype
By David Pescovitz on Jan 17, 2013 12:44 pm A prototype "Origami Condom" that is meant to be much easier to, er, deploy and pleasurable for the wearer.
Read in browser My Great Ghost, "Glass Machine"—remixing Philip Glass, with an app
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 17, 2013 12:34 pm Scott Snibbe, the developer for Björk's "Biophilia" app, has developed an iOS app for the Philip Glass remix projec:
REWORK_.
Read in browser BargainBinBlasphemy: a tumblog of greatness
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 17, 2013 12:25 pm At "
BargainBinBlasphemy," vinyl album covers of pop-rock icons are upgraded into Black Metal.
Read in browser Drug cartel violence in Mexico, an animated video explainer
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 17, 2013 12:21 pm An animated short on the escalating drug cartel violence on the US-Mexico border.
Read in browser Pogo insanity in New York City
By David Pescovitz on Jan 17, 2013 12:20 pm A talented group of pogo stick enthusiasts, displaying mad skills.
Read in browser Space Invaders chairs
By David Pescovitz on Jan 17, 2013 12:14 pm Design firm DoKC Lab created these excellent Space Invaders-inspired chairs. "Game Over" (via Juxtapoz)
Read in browser Velvet Underground & Nico lost studio recordings now on vinyl!
By David Pescovitz on Jan 17, 2013 11:59 am In 2002, a fellow paid 75 cents at a New York City flea market for a curious acetate recording of the Velvet Underground. Turns out, the acetate contained early recorded takes and mixes of songs that in different form eventually became my favorite album of all time, The Velvet Underground & Nico. As I posted ...
Read in browser Michelle Bachmann stiffs her campaign staff, they retaliate by ratting to the feds
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 17, 2013 11:51 am Senior campaign staffers who worked for Michelle Bachmann in the 2012 race say that she's refused to pay them unless they sign an NDA promising not to disclose any criminal and unethical activity they witnessed on the campaign. Now it seems that some are fed up with dickering with Bachmann for what they're owed, and ...
Read in browser JOHN WILCOCK: The History of ECHO, "The Magazine You Play on Your Phonograph" (1958)
By Ethan Persoff and Scott Marshall on Jan 17, 2013 11:45 am The story behind Larry Adler, Flexidisks and Echo, "the magazine you play on your phonograph."
Read in browser Setting the record straight on Aaron Swartz's contributions
By Glenn Fleishman on Jan 17, 2013 11:40 am I don't have to say more about Aaron Swartz's death; I knew knew him a little, but felt his loss keenly. As coverage appeared, however, I found myself concerned about his legacy. Aaron did so much in such a short period of time, but several of his accomplishments have been glossed over in a way ...
Read in browser Parrot drives robotic bird buggy
By David Pescovitz on Jan 17, 2013 11:40 am University of Florida grad student Andrew Gray built the Bird Buggy for his parrot to drive around the house.
Read in browser Hunt your family's killers in Westerado
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 17, 2013 10:45 am Westerado is a fantastic free browser game, a western whodunnit and revenge story that combines great scene-setting visuals with easily-grasped and simplified JRPG conventions. If you've ever played Zelda and loved a spaghetti western, you'll find yourself an hour in before you know it. Even the music is absolutely spot-on.
Read in browser $400,000 in diamonds stolen
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 17, 2013 10:11 am They're still figuring out whether it was a well-planed heist or simply an everyday burglar's lucky day.
Read in browser Why does the software in cable boxes suck so?
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 17, 2013 10:06 am John Siracusa marvels at how conspicuously awful the software was in stuff like cable boxes and televisions at this year's CES: "All of this software is terrible in the same handful of ways. It's buggy, unresponsive, and difficult to use. I actually think the second sin is the worst one, especially when it comes to ...
Read in browser Secret messages in games
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 17, 2013 09:36 am The Cutting Room Floor collects hidden messages in videogames, but it's Cabel Sasser who most eloquently recalls them. Here's some developer trash-talk, from the Amiga age's pirate-infested waters: I'll warn you now that this game has a LOT of protection, so it will be a few late nights for you lot. It's a mugs game ...
Read in browser The life and death of the American arcade
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 17, 2013 09:08 am At The Verge, Laura June takes us on a beautifully-illustrated journey through the life story of the American video arcade: If you've never been inside a "real" arcade, it could be hard to distinguish one from say, oh, a Dave & Buster's. Authenticity is a hard nut to crack, but there are a few hallmarks ...
Read in browser Ontario tells US Megaupload prosecutors to get lost
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 16, 2013 09:10 pm Michael Geist sez, Nearly one year ago, the U.S. government launched a global takedown of Megaupload.com, with arrests of the leading executives in New Zealand and the execution of search warrants in nine countries. Canada was among the list of participating countries as the action included seizure of Megaupload.com servers. Last week, a Canadian court ...
Read in browser Dreamliners grounded
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 16, 2013 08:14 pm After a series of mishaps and problems—the latest being an electrical fire before takeoff in Japan—Boeing's 787 Dreamliners have been grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration. Only 6 are so far in service in the U.S., but with 800 in the production pipeline, much rides on the luxury airliner's success. At the NYT, Hiroko Tabuchi ...
Read in browser Horde of space GIFs
By Dean Putney on Jan 16, 2013 06:13 pm 4chan's worksafe GIF board– a treasure trove of excellent content before it hits the social media tracts –has a great thread of space GIFs up now. I've selected a few of the best here. There are a couple hundred more in the full thread. Put your face to the GIF firehose that is my Tumblr.
Read in browser Kickstarting an Internet-of-Things for your garden
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 16, 2013 06:07 pm Students from the University of Illinois have launched a Kickstarter project for an internet of things garden control system.
Read in browser The protective power of antioxidants might be vastly oversold
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 16, 2013 03:47 pm Scientists are beginning to question the idea that free-radicals cause aging and, with that, the entire basis of the antioxidant industrial complex. Maybe, now, everything can stop tasting of acai berries.
Read in browser GSI coffee grinder and french press
By Jason Weisberger on Jan 16, 2013 03:41 pm I'm planning a several week trip in my VW camper to Baja. As my traveling companion is particular about breakfast, I figured coffee was going to be awfully important. I will trust Tonx for our beans but I wanted to make certain her morning brew was special. GSI's hand operated conical burr grinder and a ...
Read in browser 86.54% liked this
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 16, 2013 03:37 pm Science blogger Matt Springer analyzes the surprisingly fascinating math behind Reddit upvotes.
Read in browser De-frosting a building-sized refrigerator
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 16, 2013 03:29 pm Architects are turning an old cold storage facility into modern office buildings. But first, they have to thaw it out.
Read in browser Fantastic tour of the International Space Station
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 16, 2013 03:00 pm Space Station Commander Sunny Williams takes you on an in-depth tour of humankind's home away from home in space.
Read in browser Useful words with no English equivalent
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 16, 2013 02:54 pm Surprisingly, they're not all long, Germanic compound words (generally a font of useful no-equivalent words): 8. Tartle (Scots) The nearly onomatopoeic word for that panicky hesitation just before you have to introduce someone whose name you can't quite remember. 9. Koi No Yokan (Japanese) The sense upon first meeting a person that the two of ...
Read in browser Shipment of 18 human heads intercepted at airport
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 16, 2013 02:38 pm "Because the shipment's paperwork was not in order, agents confiscated the heads and sent them to the Cook County Medical Examiner for safekeeping." [Reuters]
Read in browser The history of how-to
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 16, 2013 02:27 pm A tour of old technology user manuals. Highlight: A Volkswagen repair guide that urges you to bond spiritually with your vehicle.
Read in browser What your New Year's Resolutions tell us about the way you think
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 16, 2013 02:11 pm It's a little late, but I kind of love these 2013 props made by PaperandPancakes on Etsy. How did you write your New Year's resolutions? I don't mean, like, the tools you used — pencil and paper vs. tablet and bluetooth keyboard. What I'm talking about is how you put the goals into words — ...
Read in browser Meet SparkTruck, an “educational build-mobile” for the twenty-first century.
Dreamed up by a group of Stanford d.school students and funded through Kickstarter, SparkTruck is a mobile maker space currently traveling across the United States. At schools and summer camps and libraries around the country, the SparkTruck team offers workshops to help kids “find their inner maker” as they design and build projects like stamps, stop-motion animation clips, and “vibrobots.”
[video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmRKXqDwieY&feature=plcp]
This might seem all shiny and new. And it is—but only in part. What’s so striking (and exciting) about SparkTruck is the way it combines old and new. It does so in the tools it gets kids using, which range from pipe cleaners to laser cutters. It does so in its educational approach, which combines cutting-edge (get it?) STEM and design pedagogy with the fundamentals of an old-school shop class. And it does so in its method, which combines the iconic, century-old technology of the bookmobile with the hot new form of the maker space.
In doing so, SparkTruck joins a growing number of libraries which are combining time-tested principles (like equal access to information) with new technologies (like 3-D printers), putting in maker spaces and media production labs alongside bookshelves and meeting rooms. As I’ve argued over on bookmobility.org, these combinations make sense because reading and making actually have a lot in common. They’re both creative processes that take existing materials and combine them in new ways. Getting people engaged in those kinds of processes—through imaginative thinking, contemplation, hands-on problem-solving, and collaborative learning—is what both maker spaces and libraries are all about.
Taking that commitment on the road with scissors and hammers and 3-D printers and a great big bookmobile-like truck, SparkTruck serves as a laboratory for new approaches, as well as a reminder that trying new things doesn’t have to (and probably shouldn’t!) necessarily mean tossing old ones out.
After all, what would those vibrobots be without classically crafty pipe cleaners and tongue depressors? And what would a library be without the creative, participatory, straight-up awesome experience of reading?
SparkTruck schedule [sparktruck.org]
How to arrange a visit from SparkTruck [sparktruck.org]
SparkTruck YouTube channel [youtube.com]
Signature: --Derek Attig, bookmobility.org
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