Jinsei Game of Life pedometer makes you exercise to play
July 21, 2008 Category: Uncategorized No Comments »
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
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Bletchley Park kicks so much ass
July 21, 2008 Category: Uncategorized No Comments »
Yesterday, I got one of the best and most memorable birthday presents of my life -- a trip to the legendary Bletchley Park, site of the British WWII codebreaking effort, where Turing and co invented modern computer science and cryptography. The site is just as I'd imagined it -- a rotting, lovely old mansion surrounded by modest, slope-shouldered sheds with a variety of exhibits staffed by knowledgeable, friendly geeks who clearly find it all every bit as exciting as I do.
The exhibits are a nice mix of technical and historical, ranging from a truly impressive collection of memorabilia related to Winston Churchill (who visited Bletchley and congratulated the women and men there on their excellent work), including his school report-card that makes him out to be a villainous, disruptive and scattered child; to a series of exhibits of vintage wartime toys. There's a museum of ancient cinematographic equipment complete with a beautiful little theatre that shows reels of vintage newsreels and propaganda films. And of course, there are the computers and related devices.
The cipher machines and radio equipment naturally form the centerpiece of the museum, and there's an entire computer history museum onsite (it was closed, with the strangest sign I've ever seen, words to the effect of, "This site is closed for maintenance. Enter at your own risk. You may be escorted off the grounds by security if you are caught here." Huh?) along with the notorious Nazi Enigma machine that was kidnapped in 2000 and ransomed back (the crime was never solved). The historic material on the Enigma (which began life as a commercial product before the war!) is really excellent, as are the technical explanations of how it worked.
But best of all are the "rebuilds" -- reconstructions from plans of the bombes (parallel decoding machines) and Colossus (the massive and gorgeous machine that was one of the earliest general-purpose computers. These hulking beasts are real artisanal pieces, with the hand-crafted, prideful look of devices built by loving and obsessive engineers who really, really care about their work.
Walking the grounds, I got a real sense of the lives of the people who'd worked at Bletchley, through a series of exhibitions that included quotations from oral histories about the dress, romance, food, family life and internecine conflict that characterized Bletchley Park during the war years. The exhibit on clothing was especially memorable, if only because it could bring home the gold for Britain in the 2012 Scariest Mannequin event, as was the astoundingly cool room devoted to the wartime use of messenger pigeons, including replicas of the awards given to especially brave and dedicated birds.
We spent three hours on site and barely scratched the surface. We had hardly any time to look at the war-plane, didn't get to the gigantic model railroad exhibit, didn't see the whole film presentation at the Enigma theatre, and only got the most hurried of walks around the American Gardens -- and we missed the mansion tour altogether. I could have easily spent eight or more hours there, and still wanted for more. Just the tantalizing mini-lecture I got on the Colossus rebuild from one of the electronics engineers who worked on it was enough to pique my interest, and I could have spent an hour looking at the details in Turing's office.
The Trust that runs Bletchley Park has done a really fine job, and is clearly thinking creatively about the best way to continue to fund their operations. The mansion's slate roof is in need of a multi-million-pound replacement, and they're selling "genuine fragments" of the existing slate -- holy relics of crypto's formative years, as well as soliciting donations and selling memberships. But most intriguing was the idea of renting out part or all of the site for parties and weddings -- maybe for my 40th birthday in three years...
Link, Link to my photos
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Minted Launches with Threadless-like Approach to Stationary Design
July 21, 2008 Category: Uncategorized No Comments »
After working as an executive at The Body Shop and becoming an Internet entrepreneur in her own right as the co-founder of Eve.com, Mariam Naficy is a web veteran known for her experience in the retail market. Her latest project, Minted.com, launches today as both an online retail site and a community, targeting nearly every aspect of the stationary market.
Minted is angel-funded with more than a dozen private investors, most of which are other tech veterans including Ben Elowitz, Founder and CEO of WetPaint, as well as Toby Lenk, Founder of eToys and President of of Gap, Inc. Direct. Minted has also managed to steal one of Facebook’s former employees, Biren Gandhi, as its new Vice-President, Engineering.
As a retailer and a community, Minted acts somewhat as an outsourcing tool for independent designers of paper products. It’s the exclusive online retailer for about 17 top independent stationary brands in the US, and looking through Minted’s site, it’s clear that it would like to build on this foundation and connect designers and consumers through an olnine community. Similar to Threadless, designers can submit designs to the site, where they are voted on. Top designs get to become part of the inventory available on Minted, and the community voting process acts as a filter for incoming content.
Such filtering is good for the consumers, as Nacify noted that they’re a busy group and would rather not have to sift through hoards of content in order to find the best designs. But Nacify feels that the designers not only gain exposure through Minted’s online market, but that the contest approach as well. “The competitive format also creates an aspirational element that I think the designers appreciate – they like that the site is selective, and they enjoy the fun and challenge of the competition,” says Nacify. “I think there is a lot of respect among our designers for each other, so winning means a great deal to them.”
We’re seeing a number of retailers take the community approach to filtering content before it even reaches the marketplace, and others like Cameesa combining this with a micro-investment aspect for community members to become financially involved in the success of independent designers and freelancers as well. The Web has certainly made such business models more viable, and with the experience behind Minted’s team, and its chosen $10 billion market in stationary products, it looks like the site will do quite well.
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Gama-Go: giant wooden Deathbot and membership program
July 15, 2008 Category: Uncategorized No Comments »
Our pals at Gama-Go are making 50 of these giant wooden Deathbot statues. They're 30 inches tall and sell for $350 including shipping. I am anxiously awaiting arrival of my new Deathbot overlord! And for those seeking an even more intense Deathbot experience, an armor-plated version is also available as part of Gama-Go's new Store Fund Club. To raise money to open a store, GAMA-GO is offering four tiers of membership support where you pay $80 to $5000 in exchange for a 10% to 40% discount and a limited edition creation, from a signed print to metal designer toys. (The giant armored Deatbot is part of the top-tier offering, 'natch.) Membership program sign-up ends July 31.
Gama-Go Store Membership (Gama-Go)
Previously on BB:
• New Boing Boing t-shirt by GAMA-GO!
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How to Probe Electronics for Circuit Bending
July 14, 2008 Category: Uncategorized No Comments »
I think the title says it all. The video, by Lorin Edwin, explores some simple techniques to figure out how to circuit bend your own toys and electronics.
Read more about How to Probe Electronics for Circuit Bending
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Circuit bending flea market - Chicago 7/19/08
July 11, 2008 Category: Uncategorized No Comments »
A big 'ol circuit bent group sale-a-bration sounds like a great idea -
Experimental Garage Sale will take place at the Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago on July 19th, 2008 between Noon-9 PM. This free event will be a perfect opportunity for circuit benders and anyone interested to snag up toys for bending and to talk shop with all the Artists present. Already bent devices will be available for sale also. The entertainment planned is an all day Experimental Open-Mic, plus various other activities.
Special guests include: Beatrix*Jar ( MN ), Creme Dementia ( IL ) , Spunky Toofers ( MO ), Roth Mobot ( IL ), DJ Demchuk ( IL ), Mike Una ( IL ). Come one come all to socialize, enjoy the day, talk shop, snag up circuit bent and unbent gear.
Trading hardware with other bender/makers swap meet style could be quite the awesomeness. Find out more - Experimental Garage Sale on Myspace [via GetLoFi] Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Events | Digg this! Tags: makeRelated posts
Share the Joy and Cheers of the World iPhone 3G Release via Qik Events
July 11, 2008 Category: Uncategorized No Comments »
I’ll be in line at a 6:30 am Tweetup in Manhattan at New York City’s 5th Avenue Apple store and sharing the joy, the moments and scene with my N95 on Qik.
If you are at or going to be in line for the iPhone 3G at any AT&T or Apple store, share the scene, the joy when the doors open, and the shouts and cheers (and boos) as the first people leave the store with their brand new “toys.”
Thank to Qik, as long as you are signed in and click through our “iPhone 3G Launches Around the World” event that “You are Attending” then your streams will be live on the page for everyone to see. I’ll update this post with the link to the best videos.
FYI, event is “scheduled” from 6am EST till 9am PDT, so any Qik during those hours will appear if you are “attending”. *Qik isn’t compatible with iPhone 3G yet
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iPhone 3G In The Flesh
July 11, 2008 Category: Uncategorized No Comments »
While the US waits agonizingly for their 3G iPhones to arrive, some of us have been playing with our new toys :-) There's been a lot of excitement over the App Store today, and on first inspection there are a lot of outstanding iPhone apps available. Right now the top 5 apps are: Sega's Super Monkey Ball, MLB.com At Bat, Enigmo, OmniFocus, and Cro-Mag Rally. No I've never heard of them either. I guess we will soon enough. See below for the RWW editor's first pics of his new unwrapped white 16GB iPhone...
Note: You can view an optimized version of ReadWriteWeb (as the above screenshot shows) on your iphone at: http://m.readwriteweb.com.
Update: Here's a shot of the old and new phone side by side, care of my friend Mark.
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Wireframe trucks and push toys from Africa
July 8, 2008 Category: Uncategorized No Comments »
These homemade wireframe trucks from Cameroon, Africa use a large steering wheel to maneuver a small car on the road. Really simple construction here, built from found materials and junk, but pretty inspiring nonetheless.
via Street Use
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Anatomic model puzzles of surpassing loveliness
July 5, 2008 Category: Uncategorized No Comments »
I just stumbled on Kikkerland's "Anatomic 3-D Puzzles" in a shop and was absolutely enthralled. These are snap-together models (calling them "puzzles" is a little weird, actually) showing the anatomy of various critters, from humans to cows, mammoths, and my favorites, beetles and snails. They're made out of plastic that feels just like the plastic they use for the anatomical models you had in senior biology class, with the same color schemes, but the sculpting is absolutely gorgeous, making them into stylish knick-knacks as well as interesting scientific instructional materials.
Kikkerland's online shop carries the whole line, albeit at about 10 percent higher prices than other webstores that carry one or two. My advice is to check out the items here, find the ones you want and google for a cheaper one at another store.
Link
