GlitchNYC

I stopped in at NYC Resistor Saturday night looking to really start learning how to program electronics using the Arduino platform, and started taking apart the twitchie kit that I’d bought from Raphael to hack on.

It turns out that Bre was already in the middle of a similar project, and had fashioned a DIY robotic arm out of servos, a twitchie board (which uses the same firmware as the Arduino Lilypad) and Popsicle sticks. We joined forces and put together this amazing little thing:

Things - Eric Skiff and Bre Pettis created a Popsicle Stick Robotic Arm from Bre Pettis on Vimeo.

We hacked an old Atari joystick to control the arm, and each servo is manipulated in turn as you press the red button. It really was a ton of fun to bring this project together, and I’m amazed at what we did in a few hours. Huge thanks to Bre for having the hardware all set to go and to Raph for his awesome Twitchie kit and all his advice along the way.

If you’d like to embark on a similar project, here’s the code for SuperRobotArm v0.2.

Bre is debating keeping the popsicle stick aesthetic or making a slick laser-cut body, and is taking votes via comments on his blog. Let him know what you think!

By the way - this video is part of Bre’s excellent “Things” series, where he features a new awesome thing each day. You can check out the archives at bre.blip.tv, or Subscribe in itunes to get new episodes as they come out!

Sara and I took a Segway tour with “Segs in the City” a few weeks ago when we were down in D.C. We had a great time, and both remarked at just how intuitive the Segways are. You step on the and for 2 seconds you think “this might be interesting,” and then you’re off! It’s really incredible. If you get a chance to try one of these things, it was a cheap, fun way to tour the city, and you really have to ride a Segway once to understand the amazing technology inside them.

Music: “Come On” by Number One Fan, via the Podsafe Music Network

Thanks to Chef Mark of ReMARKable Palate and Remarkably Mark for his twitter advice on keeping Guacamole fresh.

If you like this episode, be sure to check out FearlessCooking.tv and GardenFork.tv, two of the shows that inspired it.

Want to get new videoblog posts on your iPhone, iPod or other device? You can subscribe to this show in iTunes or via RSS

Guacamole Recipe:

Fresh Salsa base

• 1 white onion, chopped
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped, seeds and pulp removed
• fresh cilantro
• Lemon Juice and Apple Cider Vinegar
• Salt to taste

Guacamole:

• 2 Ripe avacados, sliced
• 4 tablespoons fresh salsa (tomato, onion, cilantro)
• Lemon or Lime juice (keeps avacado fresh)
• Salt (I use morton’s hot salt for salt & a little kick)
• Combine ingredients and stir / mash lightly. Don’t overmix - big chunks of avacado are nice!

Last night, Sara noticed that I always run the water while brushing my teeth, which honestly is a total waste. There’s no need for it to be running, it’s just habit.

Instead of “going green” or making some other token effort today, I’m going to actually make a small fix in the way I do things. From now on, I won’t waste that water every day when I brush my teeth. It’s a small thing, but it’s a lot of fresh clean water going down the drain just because I’ve always done it that way.

So, this is my challenge to you: what one small thing can you change today and going forward that will make a little bit of difference. When you’ve figured out what it is, twitter it, and tag it #EDF (earth day fix).

(Photo credit: mms0131, CC-BY-SA)

I shot this video of Bre’s knitting machine as demoed by Kelly at NYC Resistor last night. They just don’t make machines like this anymore! It’s incredibly intricate and the pieces move and work together in amazing ways.

Crossposted from: http://www.nycresistor.com/2008/04/17/the-knitting-machine/

Yesterday, the awesome Kelly Farrell took some time to demo the knitting machine that Bre’s got at the NYCResistor space. The machine looks incredibly confusing when you first open it up, but Kelly makes it look easy. She even fixes a problem on the fly in this video.

Want to see the knitting machine in action? Maybe if we ask really nicely Kelly will break it out again for a demo at our public “Microcontroller Study Group” meeting next Wednesday!

In this video: Kelly Farrell, Eric Skiff (behind the camera / CC-BY music), Raphael Abrams (”this machine is my grandma!”), George Shammas, and Bre’s knitting machine.

At about midnight last night, I realized that it was now April Fools and that the internet pranks were about to start rolling in. Right then, Gmail started boasting it’s new “Custom Time” feature, a.viary rolled out their auto-aging tool “Dodo”, and blip.tv added a new “rickroll” advertisting format to go with pre-roll and post-roll.

I knew I wouldn’t be the only one to want a way to collect the gags I’d found and that others would find ones I hadn’t seen yet, so I asked Nate to whip up a quick BricaBox for us. A BricaBox is like a really advanced plug-and-play website. Within 5 minutes, Nate had the site ready, including the ability for anyone to add a listing, vote on them, and add their comments and more info. The best listings will rise to the top, Digg style. The only way he could have whipped up something this functional that fast is with BricaBox, and that’s what makes it so powerful.

We’ve done other quickie BricaBoxes, like the ResistorSource, which lists great food and drink venues near NYCResistor (also handy for BarCampNYC and PodCampNYC which happen nearby as well). When you’re working with locations you can just add the google maps module, and all the places will appear on the map automatically. It’s pretty freaking cool.

As BricaBox grows, Nate and his team will be making more modules that let you do even more with BricaBoxes at lightning speed. I’m really looking forward to seeing where the next few months take them as they focus on UI and functionality and a few big projects give them the opportunity to develop new modules.

For now, take a look at the April Fools Joke Sites BricaBox and add any gags you’ve discovered!

I just uploaded my 4th gameboy music track, “All of Us.” It took a LOT of revisions to get me happy with this one, but I was able to bend it to my will and I’m really digging the second half. I’m going more in that “soundtrack-style” direction for my next song. I’m determined to finish my album, but I can’t decide how many tracks that should be. 12 seems right, but I might stop before then if I feel finished.

In the meantime, Noel Hidalgo go in touch the other day to ask if my music was free to use under a Creative Commons license, which it most certainly is - the super-permissive “Attribution” license that simply asks for credit with no other restrictions.

Since that means anyone can use my tunes in anything they want, he grabbed a copy of “Underclocked” to use in his latest episode of Taxinyc.tv - his new videoblog about becoming a taxi driver (also known as a “hack”). Here’s the episode, where he finally cuts off the hair and beard he grew during his last project:

While at SXSW, C.C. Chapman created a video series called SXSW for Newbies using mDialog.

Here’s my interview with him, where he asked for advice for Newbies:

We also recorded a quick demo of Nanoloop, the Gameboy music creation cart I’ve been working with.

Watch the nanoloop demo

I’m part of a collective called NYC Resistor - as it says on the top of our site “We learn, share, and make things”. We’ve been meeting over the past few months to get up and running, and things are really starting to take shape now!

We’ve gotten an awesome space in Brooklyn, and as of April 5th, we’re going to be starting classes. If you’ve ever wanted to get started with electronics, this is the time. We’ll be beginning with 101 and 102 classes in soldering and electronics, and I’ll be honest that I’ll actually be taking a spot in some of these classes myself to get my basic skills ready for more advanced stuff in the months to come. Bre’s also going to be running a class on “video basics for people who make things“, and Justin’s going to be teaching a class in freaking gameboy programming. How cool is that?

We’ve created NYC Resistor to help build the NYC hardware hacking community, so we’re running these classes extremely cheaply - $25 per class hour. Because we’re keeping them cheap, we really need to fill the classes to keep NYC Resistor running. Please, spread this around, tell you friends, and sign up to help us grow the NYC tech community.