This week on Maker Update, a freeform LED ball, a preview of Alt Control GDC, rolling your own image sensor, touchy triangles, cardboard Sithcraft, hydro-dipping, and optical punching.

This week on Maker Update: Everything is awesome with this 3d printed lamp, over 2000 guides, a Xenomorph Candy Bucket, a creepy beating heart, mobile coding, keychords, IoT security and crazy cartoon eyes.

This week on Maker Update, a robot with a staring problem, the end of Maker Media, holding rainbows, a robot dating simulator, DaVinci machines, a Pi movie tracker, and surface mount soldering with sand.

Tool:

ALITOVE 16.4ft WS2812B Individually Addressable LED Strip Light
http://amzn.to/2kmpGKB

Transcript:

It’s time for another Cool Tools review. This week I’m going to show you a 16-foot reel of WS2812B LED lights. I got these for under $30 on Amazon. And by picking some up using the link in the description, you help support my videos and the Cool Tools blog.

This week on Maker Update, a Star Trek themed alarm clock, Oblique Strategies, an animated GIF display, a high tech View Master, a NeoPixel corset, and a blood glucose display.

This week on Maker Update, flipping switches, free boards for PyCon, shields, swords, robot music, purple rovers, LED legs, neon bikes, Lidar for dogs, and a look at PyPortal.

This week on Maker Update, the slowest video player ever made, a 5-axis 3D printer, a flip-digit clock, an NFC music player for kids, an internet controlled drawbot, NeoPixel optocouplers, gesture controlled LEDs, and the joys of gaffer tape. 

This week on Maker Update, a dance-activated sampler, MegaBots goes open source, a futuristic bike light, a vertical turntable, 5 ways to upcycle old filament reels, edge banding with Bob, Mitre Saw with Diresta, and controller hacking for a great cause.

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.

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.