Everyone knows the pro-social fun of the TV-B-Gone, right? Well, it’s creator and fellow of NoiseBridge in SF – Mitch Altman – is gracing the MadLab with not just a visit, but a workshop. He’s one of the US’s most prolific makers and hackers, and it’s a real honour to have him stop by – as part of his effort to unite hackerspaces around the world, he’s on a UK tour starting at the UK maker faire in Newcastle and working his way across the country. Let’s give him a huge MadLab welcome, as he’s putting on his all-ages, any-experience-welcome introduction to soldering, tinkering and making… (more…)
News Listings
Mitch Altman is coming to town!
Monday, March 1st, 201011th March Graphic Novel Book Club Preliminary Meetup
Thursday, February 18th, 2010Coming off the success of our Sci-Fi Book Club, MadLab would like start another Book Club. This time we are interested in a Graphic Novel/Comic/Comix Reading group.
We will have a preliminary meeting to establish the group: the agenda will cover
- scoping out a reading list
- direction of the group and format of meetings
- deciding when to meet and at what regularity
Manchester’s finest comic book shop, Travelling Man are helping us out and will be at the first meeting to lend their support and expertise in starting us off in the right direction.
If you are interested in being part of the group, please leave your name to come to the preliminary meeting on the 11th of March starting at 6:30.
Equally, if you’d like to take a lead organising the group, also let us know – Madlab is for the community, by the community.
Arduino and Physical Computing Workshop
Thursday, February 4th, 2010Over the past couple of years, the Arduino has given artists, designers and programmers the ability to rethink the ways in which the physical and digital worlds coexist – going beyond keyboard and mouse into creating electronic objects and installations which can sense and respond to the physical world in new and interesting ways.
Needless to say, we at the Madlab love the Arduino – and for this reason we’ve put together a 1-day workshop covering the basics of getting started with the platform – what you need to know, a hands-on introduction into what you can make it do, how to get the most out of the platform and some ideas for where you can take it next.
The workshop will be on Friday the 26th of February, from 10am until 5pm. Cost is £65 which includes a starter kit (http://www.oomlout.co.uk/arduino-budget-pack-ardb-p-217.html) from our friends at Oomlout containing all the bits you need to get going including the Arduino board itself. Attendees will need to bring a laptop, and if they like some lunch (although we can recommend lunch at Common). Prior computer programming experience would be desirable but not essential and we will aim to accommodate everyone, regardless of their skill levels or confidence.
We really hope that you’ll come down and check this out – we’ve kept the costs as low as we can, to give more people the chance to get involved!
And finally, some of our favourite Arduino-based projects:
An interactive shop window display, for HBO in New York courtesy of Soso. Sensors detect the movement of passers-by and respond by launching snowflakes into the air.
(VID)
The Arduinome – a DIY (and much cheaper) version of the Yamaha Tenori-on electronic instrument as used by Lady Gaga and others.
(VID)
The “responsible robot bartender”, SoBear. Based on how boozy your breath is, the SoBear gives you what it considers to the be the appropriate blend of spirit and mixer!
<object width=”480″ height=”324″><param name=”allowfullscreen” value=”true” /><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always” /><param name=”movie” value=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4551381&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1″ /><embed src=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4551381&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowfullscreen=”true” allowscriptaccess=”always” width=”480″ height=”324″></embed></object><p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/4551381″>SOBEaR v02 :: the responsible robot bartender</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user579902″>j saavedra</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
And, saving the best for last, the all-twittering Bubblino from friend of Madlab Adrian McEwen. Bubblino looks out for messages on twitter about him, and blows bubbles in response.
<object width=”480″ height=”362″><param name=”allowfullscreen” value=”true” /><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always” /><param name=”movie” value=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3775263&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1″ /><embed src=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3775263&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowfullscreen=”true” allowscriptaccess=”always” width=”480″ height=”362″></embed></object><p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/3775263″>Bubblino at Bookcamp</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user1027252″>Adrian McEwen</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
UPDATE: The booking page for the workshop is now up! Go to http://madlab-arduino.eventbrite.com to book your place.
Over the past couple of years, the Arduino has given artists, designers and programmers the ability to rethink the ways in which the physical and digital worlds coexist – going beyond keyboard and mouse into creating electronic objects and installations which can sense and respond to the physical world in new and interesting ways.
Needless to say, we at the Madlab love the Arduino – and for this reason we’ve put together a 1-day workshop covering the basics – what you need to know, a hands-on introduction into what you can make it do, how to get the most out of the platform and some ideas for where you can take it next.
The workshop will be on Friday the 26th of February, from 10am until 5pm. Cost is £65 which includes a starter kit from our friends at Oomlout containing all the bits you need to get going including the Arduino board itself. Attendees will need to bring a laptop, and if they like some lunch (although there are plenty of places nearby if not). Prior computer programming experience would be desirable but not essential and we will aim to accommodate everyone, regardless of their skill levels or confidence.
We really hope that you’ll come down and check this out – we’ve kept the costs as low as we can, to give more people the chance to get involved!
And finally, some of our favourite Arduino-based projects!
An interactive shop window display, for HBO in New York courtesy of Soso. Sensors detect the movement of passers-by and respond by launching snowflakes into the air.
The Arduinome – a DIY (and much cheaper) version of the Yamaha Tenori-on electronic instrument as used by Lady Gaga and others.
The “responsible robot bartender”, SoBear. Based on how boozy your breath is, the SoBear gives you what it considers to the be the appropriate blend of spirit and mixer!
And, saving the best for last, the all-twittering Bubblino from friend of Madlab Adrian McEwen. Bubblino looks out for messages on twitter about him, and blows bubbles in response.
Themed Hack Days!
Sunday, January 24th, 2010After the huge success of robot day, and the other ad-hoc hack events (don’t try saying this drunk) that have happened since, we’re reserving the last Saturday of the month for a themed hack day.
We’re kicking things off with an Arts and Crafts hack day this coming Saturday (Full post here), with plans for a Tangible Interfaces day in February and a Food and Drink hack day in March. Watch this space!
Interesting Monday
Monday, January 4th, 2010Interesting Mondays
Mondays. A day of the week which isn’t frequently associated with the word “interesting”. Not any more, thanks to our new monthly meetup Interesting Monday!
How it works:
Essentially the aim is for Interesting Monday to be a “show and tell” kind of affair, a way for you to communicate your knowledge and passion for a particular subject or subject area to an audience of your peers. Other than that the rules are simple – presentations should be between 5 and 15 minutes long, and be about something which isn’t directly computer or social media related, as those are covered better by other meetups. Most important of all, they should be on something which is… interesting!
Obviously the scope is quite wide, so a good place to start might be a particular strand of science, a historical movement or figure, or even something such as a particular animal.
So, who’s game? The first event is planned for Monday the 18th of January, in just 2 weeks time.
Monday. A day of the week which isn’t frequently associated with the word “interesting”. Not any more thanks to our new monthly meetup!
How it works
Essentially the aim is for Interesting Monday to be a “show and tell” kind of affair, a way for you to communicate your knowledge and passion for a particular subject or subject area to an audience of your peers. Other than that the rules are simple – presentations should be between 5 and 15 minutes long, and be about something which isn’t directly computer or social media related. Most important of all, they should be on something… interesting!
So, who’s game? The first event is planned for Monday the 18th of January.
