Sunday, August 4, 2013

Tim Hunkin: Illustrator, Engineer, Cartoonist, and Maker

Tim Hunkin along with Andy Plant created the Astronaut's Caravan and brought it to Maker Faire UK. In his presentation at the the Elephant & Castle Mini Maker Faire last month, Tim Hunkin, an illustrator, engineer, and cartoonist, talked about the homemade amusement arcade he has built over the past 15 years and his work at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. It's a great talk. Have a look.

Read more on MAKE







via MAKE http://makezine.com/video/tim-hunkin-an-illustrator-engineer-and-cartoonist/

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Form follows functions

Functions are fun to play with. Just watch kids sitting around a graphing calculator. The more math you know the more fun you can have. Even better with the power of computers you can play with ideas that you do not (yet!) understand. Especially when you can engage actively so get to it…(click below to […]



via Maxwell's Demon http://maxwelldemon.com/2013/08/03/form-follows-functions

Rock out to Wikipedia

In the spirit of today’s euphonious talk from Beardyman, and our companion piece of the weirdest sounds to grace the TED stage, celebrate all-things-music with this incredible audiation of Wikipedia. The world’s largest crowd-sourced encyclopedia got a little more melodious this week, when Stephen LaPorte and Mahmoud Hashemi of Hatnote turned the cacophony of information […]



via TED Blog http://blog.ted.com/2013/08/02/rock-out-to-wikipedia/

Friday, August 2, 2013

Lego Mindstorms EV3 Source Code Available

EV3Hardware-large Hackers are chomping at the bit to tinker around under the hood of the new Lego Mindstorms microcontroller brick, the EV3, which packs an ARM9-based processor running Linux.

Read more on MAKE







via MAKE http://makezine.com/2013/08/02/lego-mindstorms-ev3-source-code-available/

August Timetable

The August timetable is here! Call us on 07450252039 to book your place on workshops.



via skillshare dundee http://skillsharedundee.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/august-timetable

Friday, July 26, 2013

C’est Magnifique! C’est le Tour de France!

This year's Tour de France was the hundredth edition of the world's biggest and best bicycle race - and it proved to be a race to remember. Jack Thurston talks with 'Buffalo' Bill Chidley about three weeks of outstanding bike racing. Next year the Tour will begin in Yorkshire and cycling journalist Peter Cossins is already excited about the race passing right by his house in Ilkley, West Yorkshire.



via Royshearer shared items on The Old Reader (RSS) http://thebikeshow.net/cest-magnifique-cest-le-tour-de-france/

Monday, July 22, 2013

World’s Biggest Data Breaches

This weekend, Apple’s developer site was hacked. 275,000 logins, passwords and other records potentially compromised. Two days before that, popular open-source operating system Ubuntu had its forums hacked. 1.82 million records stolen.


Are those big data breaches? Or just pin-points in the big data universe?


Explore our interactive dataviz of the World’s Biggest Data Breaches and find out.


We’ve pulled out the interesting and funny stories out of the data. Click on the bubbles to read.


quick analysis


Using the filter on the dataviz reveals a few interesting patterns.



  • Academic & financial institutions seems to have tightened their security since the mid 2000 – or become less attractive targets

  • Gaming sites, cumulatively, account for the biggest data breaches

  • Healthcare is truly truly leaky – a very worrying trend – with over 50% of the breaches coming from stolen or lost computers

  • Accidental publishing seems to be a growing trend – recently with Facebook granting inadvertant access to 6 million records






If we’ve missed any big breaches, please let us know or comment underneath the viz.







via Royshearer shared items on The Old Reader (RSS) http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2013/worlds-biggest-data-breaches/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=worlds-biggest-data-breaches

Unfold Radio - Sun 21st July 2013

Unfold with Robert Luis

Sunday 21st July 10pm-12am

Juice 107.2 fm






via Royshearer shared items on The Old Reader (RSS) http://www.tru-thoughts.co.uk/audio/Unfold-Radio/unfold-radio-sun-21st-july-2013

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Boardman versus Obree

The sporting rivalry between Chris Boardman and Graeme Obree is among the greatest in history, on a par with Ovett and Coe, Borg and McEnroe or Ali and Frazier. Twenty years on from their record-breaking exploits, Jack Thurston and Edward Pickering consider how their era marked a turning point in British cycle sport and how [...]



via Royshearer shared items on The Old Reader (RSS) http://thebikeshow.net/boardman-versus-obree/

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

How to Spot a Fake Arduino

9196612324_9ddb5a5598_b Arduino's Massimo Banzi wrote a lengthy piece on the Arduino blog describing the organization's challenges with fakes, clones, derivatives, and Kickstarter name-droppers.

Read more on MAKE






via Royshearer shared items on The Old Reader (RSS) http://makezine.com/2013/07/16/how-to-spot-a-fake-arduino/

Saturday, July 13, 2013

OpenReflex: another exciting step in 3D printing


So we were pretty excited to come across this fantastic project - and if you haven't yet, get ready for a whoa moment...


Recent design graduate Leo Marius has created the very first 3D-printed SLR camera! That's right, he only went and printed an entire camera (minus the lens and the film). But what got us even more excited, was when we realised that he has used sugru to ensure the entire housing is lightproof.


Wooo, sugru!



Leo has put the entire process on his Instructables guide, so those lucky enough to have access to a 3D printer can make it for themselves.The parts take around 15 hours to print, and about an hour to assemble.



This is pretty close to how we felt when we discovered that HYREL had managed to 3D print with sugru back in June.


Could this help get people using SLR cameras again? With Leo's invitation to "copy, understand, improve then share again" we reckon it's a design that will only get better and better.






via Royshearer shared items on The Old Reader (RSS) http://sugru.com/blog/openreflex-another-exciting-step-in-3d-printing

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Recent works pt. II

So alongside the Lloyd's Register tree, I'd been working on a model for the RSPB, for their visitor centre at their reserve on Islay. This model was so big (1.65 x 1.3m) that I had to rent further workshop space to be able to build it! Fortunately the unit next to mine was free, so pretty convenient.













The red line denoted the reserve boundary, and the area of water in the corner is a tidal loch. There's also flood plains that the RSPB manage to encourage certain species to visit. The model also has 9 LEDs to show the location of certain features - visitor centre, nature trails etc.



I was really pleased to be asked to build this model, I love the idea of making models that are for museums etc, so hopefully there's be more in the future!



In addition to these large commissions recently, there's also been a couple more MONUminies in the pipeline - these are due for release in mid-July, so keep your eyes peeled for these (our Facebook page is usually the best place to keep up with our news).



And just as I thought things were quietening down last week, I got asked to do a quick white interior model for Glasgow Science Centre. A lovely wee job, and nice to do something of a manageable size again!









via Royshearer shared items on The Old Reader (RSS) http://finchandfouracre.blogspot.com/2013/06/recent-work-pt-ii.html

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Pan_2013-06-08_19-09-50_01

Scotland Boy posted a photo:


Pan_2013-06-08_19-09-50_01






via Royshearer shared items on The Old Reader (RSS) http://www.flickr.com/photos/shearerclan/9001841822/

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Knitic, an Open Hardware Knitting Machine

knitic4 Knitic is a project involving a custom shield for an Arduino Due; these plug into a knitting machine's solenoids and sensors, allowing Arduino control of your machine.

Read the full article on MAKE








via Royshearer shared items on The Old Reader (RSS) http://blog.makezine.com/2013/06/05/knitic-an-open-hardware-knitting-machine/

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Magician automaton transforms some surprising items under his hat


Here is an automaton by Dave Goodchild, made in 2005. The automaton depicts a magician performing the classic 'different items appearing from under a top hat' routine -- in this instance, a rabbit, a dove, a banana, and then finally a miniature version of the magician himself performing the trick. Very recursive! Magicians and historians should note the small red imp whispering into the conjuor's ear, a common trope in in advertising posters for magic shows in the 1800s. Bravo!











via Royshearer shared items on The Old Reader (RSS) http://blog.dugnorth.com/2013/06/magician-automaton-transforms-some.html