Posts Tagged ‘open’
The Open Source RepRap Simpson 3D Printer Design Reduces Friction, Uses Less “Vitamins”
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This is the Grounded Experimental Delta 3D printer, aka the Simpson, a project built by computer science teacher Nicholas Seward that does away with the excess frames, pulleys, and hardware associated with earlier models. Seward wanted a machine that could print itself and used “less vitamins,” namely metal parts that the machine couldn’t create from scratch. There are still motors and controllers, but there are fewer in this model than in any other I’ve seen.
Does it work? In the video below we see the Simpson in action. Seward named his bot after George Gaylord Simpson, the creator of the theory of quantum evolution, and I’d say this bot is an interesting leap forward.
The motion of the arms, in this case, is far more organic than the traditional linear gantry style devices I’ve seen. Because it uses fewer parts it’s far cheaper to make and because it can build itself it is a true RepRap or “self replicating machine.” Seward writes: “I want a machine that can walk or crawl and hopefully scribble its name. Maybe later the machine will run or skydive and make works of art. This is new territory for me and if I am not messing up then I am not working hard enough.”
The absolute best thing, however, is how open the RepRap community has been to Seward’s work. In less than a month, Seward went from idea to actual finished project and he is currently able to build smaller “baby” Simpson arms and hopes to print larger arms over the next few weeks. Rather than tear him down, the commenters are quite kind (“Congrats on getting it going. Such a magical moment when you see your creation actually starting to do what it was made to do, and it actually works!” wrote one with no apparent trace of sarcasm). It is the best of 3D printing, the maker movement, and the Internet rolled into one.
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Jedi ‘Using The Force To Open The Elevator Doors’ Prank
Author: Stefanie Jenkins
This is a video from the JesterLads at King’s College London where a Jedi appears to make the doors to an elevator consistently reopen when they’re closing. The prank works by having an additional person hiding outside the elevator secretly push the call button every time the dude inside makes a Jedi hand swipe. Not bad, but the very best elevator prank is still lifting and down as hard as you can and hollering ‘I HOPE THIS THING F \*\*\* ING PLUMMETS!’.
Struck the jump for the video.
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Jedi ‘Using The Force To Open The Elevator Doors’ Prank
Author: Markus Smith
This is a video from the JesterLads at King’s College London where a Jedi appears to make the doors to an elevator repeatedly reopen when they’re closing. The prank works by having another person hiding outside the elevator secretly push the call button every time the dude inside makes a Jedi hand swipe. Not bad, but the best elevator prank is still jumping up and down as hard as you can and yelling ‘I HOPE THIS THING F***ING PLUMMETS!’
Hit the jump for the video.
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Mozilla Science Lab encourages scientists to share ideas over open web
Author: James Cliff
Even though scientists created this glorious internet you see before you, current scientific practice is still based more on publishing academic papers than sharing ideas online. As one of the more prominent proponents of the open web, Mozilla stepped in to offer a solution with a new open science initiative called Science Lab. It’s designed to bridge the gap between the open web community and researchers so that they can share ideas, tools and best practices on how the web can be used to solve problems and improve research techniques. Led by Kaitlin Thaney, a long-time open science advocate, the Lab will initially focus on bringing digital literacy to the scientific community with the help of Software Carpentry, a program that teaches basic computer skills to researchers. From there, the group hopes to foster a global conversation on how to encourage the use of the web in science. It’s great to see that the internet has a lot more to offer the field than just Foursquare check-ins.
[Image credit: Håkan Dahlström, Flickr]
Filed under: Alt
Source: The Mozilla Blog, Mozilla Science Lab, Kaitlin Thaney
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ESPN launches more second screen coverage with golf’s US Open
Author: Janet Odell
ESPN is further boosting its major sports coverage by producing a raft of extra material for golf enthusiasts at the US Open. And the outlet will be doing the same during the British Open, along with Wimbledon, the US Open and Australian Open for tennis. The network is employing a special team during the tournament (including some not normally involved in golf coverage) to supplement the main ESPN broadcasts with featured group and hole coverage, hole flyovers, shot tracking and more. Some of the extra goodies will appear on ESPN3, DIRECTV, and USOpen.com. All that means you might need to drag that extra TV out of the spare room, and possibly your Xbox, laptop or tablet. Who says watching sports reduces your attention span?
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Source: ESPN Frontrow
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Hipstamatic’s photo filter app Oggl now open for everyone
Author: Dave Adams
Hipstamatic’s subscription-based photo filter app is now publicly available on iTunes, a few weeks after its invite-only launch. Oggl is a free download, and you get five of its parent app’s virtual lenses and films that you can mix and match to concoct your own filters from the get-go — it also lets you edit a photo’s effects after you’ve taken it. But if you find its small selection of lenses and films limiting and you’d prefer to have the whole enchilada (read: all Hipstamatic filters), you’ve got to part with $ 2.99 per quarter or $ 9.99 per year. No word yet on whether an Android version is in the works, but a preview of the app shown at the Nokia Lumia 925 launch event indicates that it’s on its way to Windows Phone 8.
Filed under: Misc, Software, Mobile
Source: iTunes
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Kindle Fire HD 7 and 8.9 now available for pre-order in ‘over 170 countries’ (update: Appstore open in ‘nearly 200′)
Author: Charity Woods
Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD 7- and 8.9-inch slates have only seen limited shores since they were formally announced, but today the company said they’re now available for pre-order in more than “170 countries and territories around the world.” We could try and list all the new tablet markets, but it’s easier to say that until now, they’ve only found spots in Amazon stores in the US, Europe and Japan. We’re not surprised to see the hardware get a much wider release, given that the e-tailer revealed its plan to take the Appstore global last month. The only other nugget in the PR is an expected shipping date of June 13th. Head over to your local Amazon portal to confirm if your region is one of the lucky 170.
Update: Amazon’s issued a second PR saying those international plans for the Appstore are no longer plans — it’s now up and running in “nearly 200 countries.”
Source: Amazon
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Video Compilation Of Crazy Ways To Open Beer Bottles
Author: Brittany Turner
Because it’s the weekend before Memorial Day weekend, here’s a compilation video of unusual ways to open beer bottles. Maybe you’ll learn something you can use to impress your friends next weekend while you’re all getting drunk and grilling or whatever the hell people with friends do on Memorial Day. Sadly, I lost my last friend over a year ago. “To drugs?” No, to being an @$ $ hole. But enough about that dickbag, we’re here to talk about beer. I like opening my bottles the way I imagine farmers kill chickens: cutting their heads off with a ninja sword then drinking the blood to ensure a bountiful fall harvest. Can you tell I was home sick on farm field trip day? Sucks too because a kid on the bus told me they witnessed a goat orgy and our teacher was freaking out about it and the farmer was all, “Aw miss, they’s just bonin’.”
Hit the jump for the happiest hour in action.
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President Obama issues executive order to make government data open and machine readable
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Remember Data.gov? The President does, and he has issued an executive order that should give the information portal a shot in the arm. Starting this week, new and modernized Government information systems should use open and machine readable formats by default, adhering to the guidelines of a new Open Data Policy. The policy requires agencies to use open, machine readable formats that are non-proprietary, publicly available and unrestricted, and aims to put useful data in the hands of US companies while increasing privacy and security.
According to the White House blog, this means new data will be served in CSV, XML, JSON and other machine readable formats, and will even be accessible via API in some situations. The White House hopes the new policy will help foster innovation. “There are private companies using open data to fight credit card fraud; consumers using open data to save on their energy bills; families leveraging open data to compare health care options; and a host of new apps and tools in areas ranging from public safety, to financial planning, to education, and more,” the blog explains. “We are very excited about the path ahead and can’t wait to see what new ideas and yet to be imagined innovations can be unlocked by increased access to open data.” Head past the break to read the executive order for yourself, and check out the source PDF for a peek at the new Open Data Policy.
Source: White House (1), (2), PDF (3)
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President Obama signs executive order requiring agencies to publish ‘open data’
Author: Ian Simpson
President Obama came into office 2009 with a promise to make his administration the most “open” in history in terms of revealing information to the public about the inner-workings of government, a claim that has been challenged vociferously. But to further advance his open government ambitions, the President today issued an executive order requiring all major federal agencies under the executive branch to make their data “easy to find, accessible, and usable,” with an important caveat: ” wherever possible and legally permissible.” The White House also released a new set of open source software tools on Github that federal agencies can use to get more of their data out onto the web in software developer and user-friendly formats,…
