The Sick Unicorn [Maker Update #82]
This week on Maker Update, a soap-vomiting unicorn, two new boards from Arduino, a mini marblevator, a neopixel thumb war, pool noodle box bots, gendered razor holders, Lego pinball, an Android tape deck, a business card stylophone, Hobart’s entry level MIG welder, the Voronator, and the Adafruit Crickit. This week’s Cool Tool is the Hobart Handler 140 MIG Welder.
Complaint Button [Maker Update #81]
This week on Maker Update, felted electronics, new 3D printers, wire bending, an angry woodpecker complaint button, a big head box, 3D printed tulle necklace, cordless sawzall, perfect painting, Tinkercad scribbling and Maker Faires. This week’s Cool Tool is a cordless reciprocating saw.
Neural Synthesizer [Maker Update #80]
This week on Maker Update, a Neural Synthesizer from Google, a 3D printed horse, welding plastic, a charcoal fume extractor, a constellation necklace, extending your drill by a foot, Eagle 9, and soldering unicorns. This week’s Cool Tool is the Irwin 12″ bit holder.
Light Up Trampoline [Maker Update]
This week on Maker Update, a Neopixel trampoline, pocket power supply, a mirrored arcade cabinet, light-up fingernails, Pixel Time, and a psychedelic scuba mask. This week’s Cool Tool is Socket Bit Hex Shanks.
Goth Glue [Maker Update #78]
This week on Maker Update, a $20 screen for your Pi, a cheeseburger battle bot, a giant LED ring, and Maker Faires. This week’s Cool Tool is black hot glue.
Treasured Trash [Maker Update #77]
This week, a Kalimba made from teeth, Arduino gives the Yun a second chance, hacking a greeting card sound machine, a giant button for $1, and 5 maker materials you can cut from a trash bike. This week’s Cool Tool is a Greeting Card Sound Player Module.
Alternative Controller [Maker Update #76]
This week on Maker Update, a MIDI compatible music box, alternative controller indie games at GDC, an Arduino for your knife, controlling your computer with zombie heads, free game developer software, and Hackspace issue 5. This week’s Cool Tool is the Makey Makey Kit.
The Makers of Alt.CTRL.GDC 2018
The annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco is a wonderfully outrageous, high tech fantasy land where corporations like Microsoft, Facebook, Sony and Google, hold court with their latest zombie-blasting simulators and VR headsets. But it has a secret.
Off in the back (technically in a whole separate building), away from the buzz and hustle of the main show floor, is a small cluster of 20 curated, one-of-a-kind games under a banner labeled “alt.ctrl”. Here, the creators of these games encourage people to come over and play their project. They call themselves Developers, but I see them as Makers like myself. People who take their fun from mixing equal parts Art and Engineering.
Permanent Ink [Maker Update #75]
This week on Maker Update, an automatic dice spinner, a desktop CT scanner, what taggers can teach us about permanent markers, and powering your Raspberry Pi from lithium iron phosphate. This week’s Cool Tool is the Krink K-70 Permanent Ink Marker.
Barcelona is for Makers [Maker Update #74]
This week on Maker Update, a mechanical hummingbird, the 2018 Hackaday Prize, a tour of Fab Lab Barcelona, casting metal from 3D prints, and getting started with Arduino without an Arduino. This week’s Cool Tools is 3M Virtua CCS Protective Eyewear.