Makers and Defense

The Next Generation: How DARPA Democratizes Design from Maker Faire on FORA.tv

Last weekend marks the seventh year that we have attended the Maker Faire. During this time it has changed from a rag tag little show to an event with over 100,000 attendees.  The growth shows how the  Maker themes are becoming more mainstream.  Still, there was one talk at the MakerFaire that I did not anticipate.  Lietenant Colonel (LTC) Nathan Wiedenman, Ph.D. talked about the importance of the Make movement to national defense.  This fellow from DARPA describes how the technologies being developed by Makers can help the military and also make the world safer (go figure).  Normally it takes a significant amount of time to develop a new technology for the military.  The agile Maker community is much faster. Instead they have the raw materials to build just the parts they need when they need them.  Imagine a mobile force that doesn't need to carry every spare part they could possibly need. Imagine a developing country that can build their own pumps to create a safe water supply and avoid tribal conflicts over water.
DARPA has created some awesome challenges like the DARPA Grand Challenege and the DARPA Network Challenege.  They are just finishing up a challenge about quadcopters (you know we love quadcopters).  Who knows, the next challenge may be even more maker related.

New Ice Cream Scoop

We've all faced this problem.  Everything about ice cream is wonderful except for the calories and scooping it up.  Am I right?  Well, some folks have put together a new scoop to address some of the issues you may have run into while scooping.  First, there is the serrated edge that makes it easier to dig into the sweet frozen goodness.  Next is the funny dimply things on the inside of the scoop to allow it to easily fall off the scoop into your bowl.  Easy deployment is always a plus.  Finally it has a comfy handle and is dishwasher safe.  I say its revolutionary.

http://amcohouseworks.com/serrated-ice-cream-scoop.html

Convergence of Video and Still Imaging

Last year when we were looking to replace out video camera, we decided to get a Sony NEX-5 camera.  It is actually a still camera that doubles as a video camera.  We've seen this convergence of video and still imaging coming, but it is only recently that its gotten to the point where it made a difference to us.  It's true that the NEX-5 isn't quite as flexible of a video camera in some respects, but the image quality is great and the ability to have both the still camera and the movie camera available to me without carrying two cameras is fantastic.
I've always thought of this convergence as still cameras swallowing up video cameras, but the video above takes a different view.  It gives a Red Epic (an awesome film (video) camera) to a portrait photographer who is used to using a fancy, high-end Hasselblad still camera.  His reaction is very interesting.  Take a look and see for yourself.

The Little Dude on Your Shoulder

Some researchers at Yamagata University have developed a way to let a friend remotely sit on your shoulder so that you don't have to go through the day alone.  They created a little animatronic humanoid form that can gesture and look around via remote control.  This way, your friends can be there with you even if they can't... well sort of.

Its very clever, and you can tell it took a lot of work, but I just don't know that it is what I'm looking for.  I've seen too many cartoons where the angel is sitting on one shoulder and the devil is sitting on the other.  I can just imagine the conversation...
"Should I or shouldn't I?" I think out loud.
"Go on!  Do it!" says the devil.
"No Don't do it!  You'll regret it later," says the angel.
"Come on Roger, just press the button.  Post it!  Its just a blog post!" says the devil.
"You'll be sorry!" says the angel.

Thanks Phil!

What Happens When Two Black Holes Collide?

When I give talks, I make sure that there are no second graders in the audience for just this reason.  You know they always ask the hard questions.

Area of a Circle

OK, I admit that I did have to rewind and watch the last part twice to get it, but I really liked this proof without words of the area of a circle.  Take a look.

If you have trouble seeing what is going on, remember, the outer strand is the circumference, and as we unfold the circle the point of the triangle ends up being where the center of the circle was.  Thus the height is exactly the the radius of the circle.  Nicely done!

Golden Gate 75th Anniversary

We didn't make it up to the Golden Gate Bridge for the 75th Anniversary celebration this weekend.  Luckily, this video seems to capture the moment nicely.

Happy Birthday Golden Gate.  You're looking great!

Drowning

With summer coming up, you are likely to be around a few water activities. The pool/lake/beach are always great on hot summer days. That is why we decided to post this article about drowning. The stereotypical person yelling or thrashing about in the water that you see in movies is NOT usually what really occurs when someone is drowning. It is important to be able to recognize drowning's more common silent characteristics.  You never know, what you learn may just save someone's life.

This article does a nice job of laying out the facts.  It could be the most important thing you read this summer.

http://unofficialnetworks.com/drowning-drowning-important-read-summer-98693/

9 Year Old Takes on the Game of Life

9 Year old Nick Packard tells it like it is.

Shadow QRCode

This is clever.  A company in Korea had low sales during the lunch hour, so they introduced a shadow QR code promotion.  They created a sculpture whose shadows create a QR code (those 2D bar codes you see everywhere) at a certain time of day (around lunch time).  Shoppers who scan the QR code with their cell phones find special deals waiting for them.  Its quite brilliant really.  Watch the video and see.