The new generation of WAMIs is in the works and functioning, its time to put the final touches on. I am very pleased with the sounds coming out of this bad boy. This WAMI definitely going to make some crazy beats.
And also I will put out the info aka DYI so you can make your [...]

I had the pleasure of joining the ITP student-run 5-in-5 for as a guest for a day. Day 3’s fun and innovative projects included an adult Lite Brite, a dynamic map of the everchanging ITP floorplan, and a fabulous Processing-based rendition of the Brady bunch intro that included a blonde wig made of gaffer’s tape.
For [...]

I’m pleased to announce that my new programming with Processing book will be released this August (by the end of the month). You can pre-order the book from Amazon, download a sample chapter from the web site, and, yes, even become a fan of the book on facebook (since that’s what all the [...]

I recently participated in 7 in 7, a scheme cooked up by the ITP resident researchers to do seven creative projects in seven days. The project inspired the currently running and oh so more manageable 5 in 5. The rules are:
Projects must be completed in a day.
Each project needs a name and documentation [...]

I’ve decided to try to get this blog going again. I’ve been very busy with my most fun interactive project of all time, but with a month to go before the ITP semester begins, I’m getting back to several projects.
So here come a string of posts. . . hopefully it won’t be another four [...]

Got 3-minutes to get away from technology and into the lush summer woods of New England to North Pack Monadnock Mountain?! Sure, video of a hike is a poor substitute, but maybe you can’t get into the woods? Maybe you’re in the city? Or a wheelchair?

Get some headphones, clear a few minutes, take a few deep breaths and follow me into the woods. Who knows, the deep breaths alone might be good? I’ll keep the editing mellow, with no surprises and make the peak in 3-minutes. It’s a beautiful 1.5 mile hike in south-central New Hampshire at the northern end of the Wapack Range.

From Wikipedia: “According to local tradition, the word “pack” is a Native American word for “little” and “monadnock” is used to describe an isolated mountain summit; thus “Little Monadnock” refers to its relationship to the higher Mount Monadnock, 3,165 feet (965 m), 11 miles (18 km) to the west.”

Day 2 of 5 in 5 brought to life a periodic tote, tickets to a sunset, a year in pictures, balls of light. In an impromptu celebration of old-time computing we got earrings compatible with your PC, AsteriskFTP, and thank goodness there’s finally BASIC for Twitter. Clink your glasses for a laser photo trigger, trip [...]

Working on a prototype for a future version of the Botanicalls Kit, we’ve started toying with a leafy motif….

Today I officially launched FlashPrototyping.com
For my 3rd project in 5-in-5 I held a workshop at PLNU and released this launch e-mail.
Pass it on!

1502 solder points. ~7.5 meters of solder. 7 hours. 1 peggy. This is the Peggy Lite-Brite…

I’ve owned a Peggy 1.0 for several months now, but never assembled it. Ever since I got it, I’ve wanted to solder female headers to it so that I could re-use it indefinitely. But the idea of soldering 625 headers to all available pixels, as well as the other necessary componenets, was daunting. Fortunately, 5in5 gave me the opportunity to realize my dream. I got to work at 11:30am, and finished soldering the last component at 6:35pm. (I did take about 20 minutes to each lunch.) I’m extremely happy with the outcome! I know the Peggy has been called an “adult Lite-Brite” for a while now, but until now no Peggy has ACTUALLY become an adult Lite-Brite…as far as I know.

This was a ton of work, and I now I wish I had accomplished this on a Peggy 2.0. Maybe someday, but for now I have the next best thing! For more photos, check out my flickr stream.

• Zaha Hadid Architects :: arcspace.com
  from Tim. I love the newer organic alien-esqe buildings.

It’s the first day of 5 in 5 and there’s a parade of projects. See the gang free themselves from Positioning Systems, choose their food decisively, sash a speaker, stick socks to a tee, mate software circles, print Mega Man, enliven their claw prizes, greet with robots, calm a TV, root for poops, Eco-nomize a [...]

When I sat in the kitchen this evening in this apartment in this little city in Germany, Wiesbaden, I started to wonder did I really live in NY? Does anyone in NY notice my absence? Did I leave any traces there? How can I approve I did live there? Even…

2008 summer in Paris and Wiesbaden(Germany)

• Themepunks by Cory Doctorow - Salon.com
  The first chapter of the excellent CD novella that was serialized on Salon years ago.

Dial (212) 796-0729 ext. 160 to access the Asterisk File Transfer Protocol Server!

Today as my contribution to 5in5, I created a prototype method for transferring files via an Asterisk VoIP PBX. The inspiration came from my early computing days using a an audio cassette recorder to store applications for my first personal computer, a TI-99/4a. Programs were stored on audio cassettes, and were literally transferred to RAM via an audio signal over a 1/8” jack. If you didn’t plug in the jack but instead listened to the files through the cassette player’s speaker, they had an eery digital quality (a lot like a fax machine). So, I decided to recreate this experience over the telephone. If you have an acoustic coupler attached to your computer, you could potentially download files from the system at a blistering 300 baud!

For demonstration purposes, the A-FTP server transmits this file…an 8Kb jpeg image (which takes 3 minutes and 29 seconds to play):

I decided to use the “Kanas City standard” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_standard) for audio frequency-shift keying of digital files. This standard was established in 1975 at a symposium in Kansas City to provide an alternative storage solution to expensive floppy drives. (I’m not sure whether the TI-99/4a used it, but it sounds pretty close.) To convert the file into an audio file that conforms to the Kansas city standard, Adam Parrish clued me into the CSound audio programming language. Csound is “a unit generator-based, user-programmable computer music system.” Its syntax is excruciating, but it is extremely powerful. I spent most of the day trying to learn the basics to create the fundamental components of a CSound composition…the Orchestra File and the Score file.

The Orchestra file describes all the “instruments” used to generate audio. In my case, I needed two instruments…one 1200hz sine wave oscillator for “0” bits, and one 2400hz sine wave oscillator for “1” bits. The score file is what describes the audio piece itself…it tells CSound what sounds to generate, and when and how long to play each instrument. (CSound gets vastly more complex than my rudimentary needs.) Once I figured out how to generate this file, I wrote a PHP script that reads my binary image file and outputs the appropriate lines in the score file. (A big thanks to Adam Parrish again for helping with the bit masking stuff.) Once the .wav file was generated, I converted it to the GSM audio format that Asterisk loves so dearly. I then created a short dial plan to first playback a greeting, and then the file itself.

You can access the server by dialing (212) 796-0729 ext. 160. Unfortunately, the low quality GSM codec probably precludes the audio waveform from actually being used for file transfer…but it’s still a fun idea. You can listen to a higher-fidelity version of the file here (2.4mb).  If you’d like to see some of the code, go to the original post on 5-in-5.com!

 Failure.

Shawn Van Every rocks.
Click to Watch

I can’t even begin to describe…

Originally uploaded by swerdloff

The Foundling Circus Guild performed at PS1 and blew us all away.

Ten ITP students are doing 5 Projects in 5 Days:
“5-in-5 is a group event based on the New York University ITP resident researchers’ project “7 in Seven” that took place the second week of June 2008. The premise goes something like this: Do a creative project every day for five straight days, starting Monday, July [...]

My mom and I are working with artist Constance de Jong on a new piece of hers and here’s a look at the prototype. The finished work will hopefully…

We’re experimenting with a LilyPad-style wearable coin cell to supply 3.6 Volts to the XBee LilyPad from a 2450 Lithium Ion rechargeable cell. The voltage is nominally out of spec for the XBee, but seems to work just fine in our tests. First draft is at the board house right now.

As my first project for the 5-in-5 Event at ITP, I created the TuneSash…a wearable audio player speaker system.  My original intention was to hack an iHome iH85 bike speaker I have that does not support my beloved new iPhone 3G.  Unfortunately, I spent over six hours attempting to hack it, and in the end it just did not work. Instead, I created an audio amplifier out of an LM386 chip, and I have to say…it sounds awesome! Most of my day was spent taking apart the iH85 and resoldering the iPod dock’s ribbon cable, as well as a couple of solder points that came apart from handling the dismantled unit. Here’s what the iH85 looks like when taken apart:

Before I got started, I went to Paragon Sports to pick up a shoulder strap and spare Timbuktu pad:

My intent was to use the strap as the sash, and then velcro the replacement pad would be velcroed around it by removing the padding. Here’s how I would have laid out the electronics:

I needed to extend the iPod dock connector to extend to a separate pouch for holding an iPhone, which I also purchased. I used a ribbon cable and resoldered the EXREMELY tight solder points, and extended the existing ribbon cable on the dock connector to the new cable:

After I fixed this and added a battery holder, I tested the setup…and it didn’t work! Actually, one of the components started to smoke. So, I must’ve had a short in there somewhere…even though I tested it as best I could with a multimeter. So at that point I gave up and switched to my backup plan of creating my own amp with an LM386 and using a standard 2mm audio jack instead of the iPod dock.So first I created my circuit:

Then I soldered it to a perfboard:

I hot glued a small ~2” diameter speaker to the pad as well as the perfboard and battery. I also added a power switch and LED:

I’m actually glad that the iH85 didn’t work…using a 2mm input now allows me to use both my iPhone and an iPod shuffle (or any other device with a headphone jack…like a radio). This offers more flexibility in the long run. Here’s a shot of the TuneSash itself:

Here’s a demo:

Tatatattan… I have being renovated my scolarship from the Mexican Institute of Arts (FONCA). Muchas Gracias a Micaela que me ayudo con el reporte toda la noche.

Running for Office: It’s Like A Flamewar with a Forum Troll, but with an Eventual Winner

Now I’m willing to admit that the Internet has come of age. Or internet culture? I just hope his campaign posters aren’t loliticians. However - well played, sir, well played. (Thanks to Josh Knowles for the heads up)

I feel everything is tuned up (for the I feel community)

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }
.flickr-yourcomment { }
.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }
.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }

Tree, originally uploaded by swerdloff.

I have very definite pictures in my head of what New York looks like. The photos that I’ve captured in this set on Flickr are all taken in New York [...]

View original post with proper formatting, etc… // Or grab my RSS Feed

You’ve probably seen the Sean Tevis XKCD-style campaign comic. It’s a pretty fucking charming way for a politician to make their pitch, I must admit. (Tevis is running for Kansas House of Representatives District 15 — representing parts of Olathe, a Kansas City suburb, and some surrounding turf.) He seems like a great, smart guy and it’s sort of amazing to see what happens when an information architect — a web nerd (with a blog) — runs for office.

And while the outporing of internet love is great, people donating money to his campaign who do not live in his district are acting irresponsibly. He has apparently received donations from almost 6,000 people (~$50k). I bet almost none of those come from people who live in KS HR District 15. I’m not going to link to anyone specifically because I don’t want to be a jack-ass, but plenty of people who clearly do not live in Kansas have announced on their blogs or Twitter that they’ve given money. I don’t think this is right.

Everyone in the United States deserves proper representation in their state and national governing bodies. Sean Tevis is not running for representative of the Internet — he’s running for representative of Olathe, Kansas. I worry that by making him beholden to a vast network of contributors who live in California, New York, Texas, etc. that we are actually somewhat disenfranchising voters from that area. If you do not live in Olathe, you are not his constituent. If Olathe is conservative and would prefer to elect a conservative to represent them, well I certainly don’t personal agree with the politics. But that’s their decision. I have my own state and national representatives it’s their job to make my voice heard. Not Sean Tevis’. No matter how charming he may be.

I live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. My representative in the US House is Democrat Nydia Velázquez. She’s apparently quite a well-respected businesswoman — she chairs the House Small Business Committee and sits on the Financial Services Committee. My rep in the NY state Assembly is Joseph R. Lentol. And in the NY Senate, Martin Malavé Dilan. None of these people have cute web-meme-friendly comics on their sites, but I think the best way to use this excitement about Sean Tevis is not to give money to Sean Tevis — it’s to get excited about your local politics and learn a bit about what’s going on with the people who represent you. You’re paying them, after all…

End of rant.

July 27th Update: Sean Tevis responded in the comments (cool!) and I’ve somewhat revised my thoughts on the matter.

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories - “That’s no melon!”

As part of the Internet Archive, NASA has released NASA Images, a catalog of amazing other-and-this-worldly images.

Testing posting to my blog from my iPhone. Well played, Wordpress, well played.

On Monday (July 28th) a group of us from ITP will be conducting an event: 5-in-5. My fellow Fivers and I will be producing and documenting one creative project each day for 5 straight days. Check in on the website, follow us on the MAKE Blog, and cheer us on.

We are still in [...]