TGIMBOEJ? TGIMBOEJ? TGIMBOEJ!!

Well met traveller! I am but a simply bard wandering from shire to shire singing tales of glories long past! Be merry friend for this is the heralded meadowlands of the great TGIMBOEJ! What? You know not of The TGIMBOEJ? Then I have much to tell you! You see The TGIMBOEJ initially appears to be a small unassuming cardboard box.  However when opened it’s true nature is revealed, the box contains a large assortment of random electronic components as well as two page document! No ordinary scroll this,  for on this hallowed document  simple directions on how to use the TGIMBOEJ along with a table of previous TGIMBOEJ users are written. The weilder is directed, compelled even, to take out small parts and replace them with various parts of his/her own then send the box to the next person on the list! Currently the TGIMBOEJ is in the caring hands of the Harford Hackerspace,  it being bestowed upon them not too long ago.

Rumor says that they have selected several motors and several pumps as well as a USB barcode reader from TGIMBOEJ! Wise choices! What will they replace them with you ask? Such knowledge is known only to the next worthy possessor of the mighty TGIMBOEJ! Perhaps it will be you traveller…

Netduino Unboxing and Tutorial

You can purchase the Netduino from our Amazon Store for $34.95!

Hmm… What is a Netduino? Check out the next video from our Netduino Debut Tutorial for a demonstration!

The Netduino looks like an Arduino and it’s even compatible with the existing Arduino protoshields. However, it’s a completely different beast which can be programmed using Microsoft Visual Studio C#. Oh… It’s also Open Source. Pretty cool eh!

Harford Hackerspace at Betascape 2010

Betascape was this previous weekend and Harford Hackerspace was on hand with robots, lightning bug jars, and general awesomeness. We setup early Saturday morning between Baltimore Node and the First Lego League representatives. The day was spent forging various cardboard blades with crayons and stickers with various children blacksmiths quietly honing their craft. All in all we gave away approximately 50 swords to young lads and lasses who,  no doubt, brought these mighty cardboard weapons to bear against a variety of fiends.

The previously mentioned Baltimore Node was there demonstrating various projects such as air powered rockets and some sort of power tool drag racing. Set up across from us was The Digital Media Center from Johns Hopkins  demonstrating cloth circuitry and teaching others about cloth circuits. The National Electronics Museum was setup in the back with some kind of robot (which I did not see). Various other people included a company demonstrating a 3D picture taking technology, Bryan Dolge with a makerbot, as well of a bunch of gamemakers in the game making section.

LED Fireflies in a Jar (v1.0)

Me and my wife recently had our first child.  I’ve been trying to come up with some projects I can do for the kid.  Well, around this time of the year the fireflies go crazy around my house, so we came up with the idea to do led fireflies in a jar.  It should be something cool for him to stare at and is easy to build.

Schematics, C source code and hex file are available here on our wiki.  If you want to build one it should only take about an hour.

I’m planning on making a version 2 with some changes, stay tuned for that one.

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

Robot Fest 2010 has come and gone. Some of the many interesting exhibits this year included the pneumatic rocket experience provided by the Baltimore Node, the many Lego Mindstorms projects, Maker Bot demonstrations, various art demonstrations, and a fashion show.

Make coverage and more pics here.

We’d like to thank everyone that stopped by our exhibit to view the Oobleck demonstration, PIC micro-controller LED arrays, the hand-powered Arduino random movie quote generator, build some cardboard robots, or just hang out and talk electronics. We had a great time and we hope to see everyone next year. Our next event will be at ArtScape in Baltimore. In the meantime, feel free to come by and do some hacking on one of our open hack nights.