We have a pretty neat class coming up this Saturday. It’s a beginners look at powering small devices with very small energy sources. Not only will you be saving the world, but you’ll learn a thing or two about electronics along the way! From the class description:

Using the most basic components, you too can gather electricity from a light breeze or a tiny solar cell.  We’ll cover generating power from wind, from simple bike generators and from light, and we’ll each build a simple boost circuit to convert small voltages into useful power. Gather year-round data on the top of a mountain! Make an immortal LED throwie! The possibilities are endless!

Taught by Raphael Abrams, Saturday from 1 to 3 at NYCR

Sign up here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/235889552

Ready to do the (seemingly) impossible? Of course you are! Take the “Joule Thievery” class here at NYCR. From the class description:

“A Joule Thief is a simple electronic circuit that can extract useful work out of a very feeble power source. It can be used to extend the life of batteries, gather power from a dimly lit solar cells or a tiny windmill. It’s a fascinating device, and is very easy to build. You will learn about transistors, inductors, diodes, LEDs and more! This is a great introductory course for absolute beginners.”

Click here to sign up.

$25, taught by Raphael Abrams

Ages 12 and up wlecome!

Craft night is now Hacks and Crafts night and it’s back! Working on an autonomous glowing frisbee that tells time in six languages? Making a new dress that will solve all of Humanity’s problems? Knitting something the likes of which has never been knitted before? Robofrog? Bring a crafting or hacking project over to NYCR and hang with other hackers and crafters. Craft night is back and it’s better than ever! This week we will also have a book binding project to work on.

Thursday August 28th from 6-9 PM, right here at NYCR, 397 Bridge street , Brooklyn

Suggested donation of $5 (if you can’t afford it, come on over anyway. Free cookies!)

We had a dandy ol’ time at the Surface Mount Soldering class this weekend! We made adorable microcontroller based blinky red hearts. Yes, we’ll do anything to take the percieved threat out of SMT and bring YOU the power of the teeny tiny! There will be another session soon, so keep an eye on the calendar.

I’m making a really tiny board and I thought I’d share a picture of it. It’s a little tiny data gathering widget with an RGB LED on it for feedback. There’s an AVR there too. It’s 1.25″ square. I think it looks nifty!q