NYCResistor wants to buy a Laser Etching Machine. We’re trying to figure out financially how we’d pay for it, and here’s the questions: If we get one, what would you use it for? Maybe you’d want to laser etch your iPhone, or a PCB, or maybe even your thumbs? Let us know in the comments.
Also, any suggestions of places in the the Tri-State area that we could get a decent etcher (used, discounted, leased etc.) please let us know.
How cool would be to say ‘Fire the Las-or!’
I had to do it… couldn’t resist(or). Now I have an iPhone with a pseudo game of Space Invaders on the back… Special thanks to Phil Torrone and Ladyada for letting me use the laser etcher 3000.
UPDATE: Don’t forget to DIGG this article here. Thanks!
It’s been a while since the last Microcontroller Study Group so it’s time to get together again… bring projects to show, and come and see the our new fancy space.
When: Wednesday, March 19th., 7:00 p.m.
Where: 397 Bridge Street, Brooklyn 11201 – 5th floor – Look for the pack of resistors on the door.
Who: You! Bring your project, meet the group, or just see what others are up to!
See you then! If you have any questions please contact the group.
Great, simple, idea. An etch-a-sketch hooked up to an old mouse with a couple of stepper motors, wired through RS232 connectors, a couple of couplers (I love saying that), and a nothing-fancy Atmel Mega 32.
Imagine the possibilities this could hold? Actually being able to draw a circle on an etch-a-sketch! We should build this and marry it up with Bre’s code for printing images of of people and we can have an etch-a-sketch Portrait Maker 3000! Here’s the link to the schematic, the code and the instructions.
Great interview at Ecolect.net with the founder of SMIT – a sustainable design startup that was started by Teresita Chochran from NYU’s ITP program. SMIT, located in Brooknam, is doing some really interesting work with solar power on homes and other sustainable energy projects. They are also featured at the MOMA design show we wrote about this weekend.
There is a great show going on at the MOMA, NYC right now. It’s called Design and the Elastic Mind and features lots of amazing projects built with Processing, Flash, hardware, solar panels, etc. Here is a link to the show which will be in New York from February 24–May 12, 2008. Also a brief description of some of the projects at the show:
The exhibition will include objects, projects, and concepts offered by teams of designers, scientists, and engineers from all over the world, ranging from the nanoscale to the cosmological scale. The objects range from nanodevices to vehicles, from appliances to interfaces, and from pragmatic solutions for everyday use to provocative ideas meant to influence our future choices.
Some updates to the Lilypad which are pretty useful. Speaking from experience it’s a nice add-on. Sparkfun just got these versions of Mrs. Lily in and describe them as follows: LilyPad is now even easier to use. LilyPad main boards now ship with a right angle male connector that connectors with the LilyPad USB Link.
This is by far one of the more interesting things I’ve come across in the past few days; the Gainer PSoC Development Board. It’s open source hardware and it is programmable in Flash, MAX/MSP and Processing. This is from the site:
Gainer is an environment for user interfaces and media installations. By using the Gainer environment, the user can handle sensors and/or actuators with a PC on various programming environments such as Flash, Max/MSP, Processing and so on. The basic concepts are:
- The user can use it for creative work from prototype stage to final output stage.
- Using a breadboard allows the user to learn by mistake.
- The user can build their own I/O module from components.
- The user can choose a configuration from various configurations (software and hardware).
- Open source software and hardware.
It’s freshly out the gate and available from SparkFun for the same price as our friend the Arduino. Looks very promising, especially when you factor in the Flash environment. We’ll have to get a couple and try them out.
This has been around for a while but I’m just getting around to posting about it. The Resistor iPhone App is good for on the go Hardware Hacking. The typography is annoying and unnecessary (comic sans?!) but it’s useful and easy to use.
This is a great new product SparkFun is selling. It’s called the ScreenKey RGB Graphic Button and is described on the site as follows: ‘The RGB24T can be programmed to display any text or graphics on its 36×24 pixel display. The programmable backlight can illuminate the graphic display with many different colors. With a simple microcontroller, you can change the display and backlight once the button is pressed. It’s an on-the-fly configurable, multicolor, multidisplay button!’
Here is the link to the Example Code so you can play with it and have some fun. More info at screenkeys.com
