Words of a Middle Man

Ever wondered what your computer was thinking when it froze in the middle of a simple task, or crashed for no reason? Well new project 'Words of a Middle Man' is shedding some light on computer thoughts by translating computer activity into 'natural language'.

A project by Christoph Steinlehner, Lino Teuteberg and Jermias Volker at the University of Applied Sciences in Potsdam, the project involves a wireless router which, 'analyses the communication of its own network and reinterprets it on a computer display.' It documents the communication bewteen the device itself, the server, and the people using the computer and displays this relationship in understandable terms (for example with, 'Michaels Dropbox checks for updates in the cloud').

As they explain, 'Wi-Fi routers are the link to the Internet and thus the local hub of our digital communications. We send e-mail via them, establish connections to other devices or visit websites. In careless interaction with our computers, we assume that the network traffic is handled quietly and confidentially by the wireless router. In this space, the intimacy of digital wireless router stands as a silent observer.'

Like the Descriptive Camera project we featured back in May, its an interesting project that brings to life a digital activity we take for granted. Check out the video above and consider what your computer is thinking right now...

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Rinser Toothbrush

“Rinser” is a toothbrush with a built-in Power Fountain! You can brush without using a cup or using your hand to rinse your mouth. Clever.

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Bio-Computer

We were delighted to have Sam Henderson of Farm: Shop educate us about the future potential of aquaponic farming at last week's Future of Food forum. But we didn't think that aquaponics and the geeky 'computer modding' (or hacking) scenes were a natural fit. Now, hardware hacker Mike Schropp has proved us wrong with an awesome hybrid 'bio-computer'.

Mike hacked together the remnants of several old computers to create a 'bio-modd' desktop computer which can also grow wheatgrass. With computers of all shapes and sizes generating a lot of excess heat, Mike modified the innards of a regular computer to put the heat to good use and create the perfect environment for germinating and growing wheatgrass.

This type of 'hacking' , known as the Bio-Modd scene (or the symbiosis between biological and electronic systems) has been quitely blossoming in Indonesia for quite some time, but large scale efforts are less suited to urban dwellers. Now, with innovative ventures such as this bio-computer, city folk could soon be trying it out for themselves on a smaller scale.

If you feel like adding a sustainable flourish to your home computing set up, check out the wonderful 'how to' guide on Mike's blog.

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Sketch Synth

This Gizmo Lets You Draw A UI On Paper, Then Turns It Into A Touch Screen

YOU’LL JUST HAVE TO WATCH THE VIDEO TO APPRECIATE THE AMAZING POSSIBILITIES OF THE SKETCHSYNTH, CREATED BY BILLY KEYES.

You know those huge multichannel mixers--the massive boards that audio engineers manage during concerts to control everything from sound to lights? It’s the sort of highly specialized hardware that the average person would never come into contact with, because why would they? But what if you could just draw it?

That’s the idea behind the SketchSynth, by Carnegie Mellon student Billy Keyes. It allows you to draw your own specialized piece of sound hardware--in this case, a MIDI board--on any random piece of paper.

Check it out in more detail here.

MaKey MaKey: An Invention Kit for Everyone

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ABOUT THIS PROJECT

What's MaKey MaKey?

MaKey MaKey is an invention kit for the 21st century. Turn everyday objects into touchpads and combine them with the internet. It's a simple Invention Kit for Beginners and Experts doing art, engineering, and everything inbetween:

It comes ready to use out of the box with everything you see above: MaKey MaKey, Alligator Clips, USB Cable.

What Can I Make?

That's up to you! First, load up a computer program or any webpage (yes that's right, you're surfing the internet to invent). 

Let's say you load up a piano. Then, instead of using the computer keyboard buttons to play the piano, you can hook up the MaKey MaKey to something fun, like bananas, and the bananas become your piano keys:  

Or let's say you Google for an online "Pacman" game and draw a joystick with a pencil (yes, an actual ordinary pencil):

Then you can play Pacman by touching the drawing with your finger.

Or you could load up facebook or gmail and send a message on a custom-made alphabet soup keyboard:

How Does it Work?

Alligator Clip two objects to the MaKey MaKey board. For example, you and an apple.

When you touch the apple, you make a connection, and MaKey MaKey sends the computer a keyboard message. The computer just thinks MaKey MaKey is a regular keyboard (or mouse). Therefore it works with all programs and webpages, because all programs and webpages take keyboard and mouse input. 

Make + Key = MaKey MaKey! 

Who is MaKey MaKey For?

Artists, Kids, Educators, Engineers, Designers, Inventors, Makers... Really it is for everyone. Here is an 8-year-old girl in a Maker Space:

She invented a "knife-and-log" interface for cutting virtual wood in an online game.

We ran a workshop in February 2012 with some professors and grad students who specialize in interaction design. One grad student made this beachball game controller:

Another grad student made this working pressure sensitive switch by layering Play-Doh under a spring:

The workshop took place at Queen's University during a conference.

With MaKey MaKey, kids can start inventing right away, and experts can make working prototypes in minutes instead of days.

What materials work with MaKey Makey?

Any material that can conduct at least a tiny bit of electricity will work (if it doesn't already work, just rub it with bananas, spray it with water, or apply copper tape). Here are some materials people have used in our workshops including Ketchup, Pencil Graphite, Finger Paint, Lemons, etc.:

Other materials that work great: Plants, Coins, Your Grandma, Silverware, Anything that is Wet, Most Foods, Cats and Dogs, Aluminum Foil, Rain, and hundreds more...

Requirements?

MaKey MaKey works with any laptop or computer with a USB port and a recent operating system. How recent? We have tried it with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Mac OSX.

MaKey MaKey is part of the Kickstarter programme check out the site for more info and to back this great project!! 

Milk, Please

Ever got back home from the supermarket and realized you've forgotten to pick up a crucial item? A new concept, Milk Please!, aims to alleviate these annoying situations with a new crowd-sourced food delivery system.

Milk Please! is a service accessible from the web, smartphones or special in-store displays. If you need something from a local shop but don't want to go out and get it, you can send a request via the site with your order. Other local shoppers can check these requests, accept any they fancy, and pick up and deliver the goods to you. The system handles the online payment and compensates those who deliver the items.

It's a nice project as it aims to benefit everyone using the system and bring communities together to help each other out. Check out the video above to find out more, Lets hope this hits London soon!!

Patterned by Nature

Patterned by Nature was commissioned by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences for the newly built Nature Research Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The artwork, a collaboration between Plebian Design,Hypersonic Engineering & Design, Patten Studio, and Sosolimited, celebrates our abstraction of nature's infinite complexity into patterns through the scientific process, and through our perceptions. It brings to light the similarity of patterns in our universe, across all scales of space and time.

10 feet wide and 90 feet in length, this sculptural ribbon winds through the five story atrium of the museum and is made of 3600 tiles of LCD glass. It runs on roughly 75 watts, less power than a laptop computer. Animations are created by independently varying the transparency of each piece of glass.

The content cycles through twenty programs, ranging from clouds to rain drops to colonies of bacteria to flocking birds to geese to cuttlefish skin to pulsating black holes. The animations were created through a combination of algorithmic software modeling of natural phenomena and compositing of actual footage.

An eight channel soundtrack accompanies the animations on the ribbon, giving visitors clues to the identity of the pixelated movements. In addition, two screens show high resolution imagery and text revealing the content on the ribbon at any moment.