The Sikorsky prize for human-powered helicopters has been claimed by a Kickstarter-funded startup called Aerovelo. Aerovelo’s founders, Canadians Todd Reichert and Cameron Robertson, won the $250, 000 purse for the 30-second flight of Atlas, a huge quadrotor with a bike in the middle whose flight is an absolute marvel to behold.
Tag: charlie-stross
IRS database of nonprofits is filled with unredacted SSNs
Remember when rogue archivist Carl Malamud asked the IRS for data on $1.5 trillion worth of data from nonprofit organizations ?
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IRS database of nonprofits is filled with unredacted SSNs
Small batch artisanal high-fructose corn syrup
Matt sez, “Maya Weinstein is an artist who just finished her MFA at Parsons, with the awesomest thesis ever: a DIY kit for making your own High-Fructose Corn Syrup , the industrial sweetener that is, well, let’s say problematic these days. “Amazingly, HFCS is not available for consumers to buy, and as Weinstein discovered, making it yourself requires some pretty unusual (and expensive) components, like Glucose Isomerase. But it’s a totally fascinating process, and only the first in what Weinstein hopes will be a series of ‘citizen food science’ kits.” DIY High-Fructose Corn Syrup by Artist Maya Weinstein
Astronaut Chris Hadfield performs David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” on the ISS
Astronaut Chris Hadfield — the tweeting , tumbling Canadian astronaut who’s a one-dude astro-ambassador from the space programme to the Internet — has produced and released a video of his own performance of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” (AKA the “Major Tom song”) on the ISS. He adapts the lyrics a bit to his own situation — and changes out the whole dying-in-space chorous — but is otherwise pretty faithful. From the credits, it appears that David Bowie gave permission for this, though that’s not entirely clear. I would think that not even a major record label would be hamfisted and cack-handed enough to send a takedown notice over this one (it’s been suggested for Boing Boing more than any other link in my memory), but I’m prepared to be surprised. Space Oddity
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Astronaut Chris Hadfield performs David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” on the ISS
HOWTO build a working digital computer out of paperclips (and stuff)
Windell at Evil Mad Scientist Labs has dredged up an amazing project book from the Internet Archive: How to Build a Working Digital Computer (1967) (by Edward Alcosser, James P. Phillips, and Allen M. Wolk) contains a full set of instructions for building a working computer out of paperclips and various bits and bobs from the local hardware store. You can even use paperclips for switches (though, as Windell notes, “Arrays of paperclip logic gates can get pretty big, pretty fast.”) The instructions include a read-only drum memory for storing the computer program (much like a player piano roll), made from a juice can, with read heads made from bent paper clips. A separate manually-operated “core” memory (made of paper-clip switches) is used for storing data. So can this “paper clip” computer actually built, and if so, would it work? Apparently yes, on both counts. Cleveland youngsters Mark Rosenstein and Kenny Antonelli built one named “ Emmerack ” in 1972 (albeit substituting Radio Shack slide switches for most of the paper clips), and another was built in 1975 by the Wickenburg High School Math Club in Arizona. And, at least one modern build has been completed, as you can see on YouTube . How to Build a Working Digital Computer… out of paperclips ( via O’Reilly Radar )
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HOWTO build a working digital computer out of paperclips (and stuff)
Japanese folk music glitch hop
Daniel Ryan describes his music as “a mix of Japanese folk music and glitch hop.” This isn’t normally my sort of thing — I pretty much only listen to music with words — but I played this one three times in a row this morning. There’s a lot of clever stuff going on here that I lack the vocabulary to describe but possess the aesthetic apparatus to appreciate. According to one redditor, the folk song is this track off the Samurai Champloo soundtrack. Nagasaki
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Japanese folk music glitch hop
DIY cellphone
David Mellis at the High-Low Tech group at the MIT Media Lab built a DIY Cellphone, making a custom circuit-board and laser-cutting his own wooden case. The files are hosted on GitHub in case you’d like to try your hand at it. An exploration into the possibilities for individual construction and customization of the most ubiquitous of electronic devices, the cellphone. By creating and sharing open-source designs for the phone’s circuit board and case, we hope to encourage a proliferation of personalized and diverse mobile phones. Freed from the constraints of mass production, we plan to explore diverse materials, shapes, and functions. We hope that the project will help us explore and expand the limits of do-it-yourself (DIY) practice. How close can a homemade project come to the design of a cutting edge device? What are the economics of building a high-tech device in small quantities? Which parts are even available to individual consumers? What’s required for people to customize and build their own devices? The initial prototype combines a custom electronic circuit board with a laser-cut plywood and veneer enclosure. The phone accepts a standard SIM card and works with any GSM provider. Cellular connectivity is provided by the SM5100B GSM Module, available from SparkFun Electronics. The display is a color 1.8″, 160×128 pixel, TFT screen on a breakout board from Adafruit Industries. Flexures in the veneer allow pressing of the buttons beneath. Currently, the software supports voice calls, although SMS and other functionality could be added with the same hardware. The prototype contains about $150 in parts. Mellis’s Master’s thesis is “Case studies in the digital fabrication of open-source consumer electronic products” and includes a 3D printed mouse, fabbed speakers and a fabbed FM radio. High-Low Tech – DIY Cellphone ( via Hacker News ) ( Images: Laser-cut plywood and veneer case , a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from mellis’s photostream; Making a call , a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from mellis’s photostream )
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DIY cellphone