Reporting from Tomorrow, pt 3

I commented yesterday on some overarching themes that seemed to run throughout the World Future Society Conference. Supporting those themes were some good examples and cited sources, so to wrap up conference reporting, today's post will be a sampling of what I heard.

adafruit

Product sales + open source invention...buy a cool electronics kit (this photo is for the MintyBoost, an iPod battery charger made from an Altoids gum tin) or look at the photos and instructions and try it yourself. The site gives credit to other inventions who were inspiration as well as posts others' iterations of the original idea.

iRobot Create
iRobot bills itself as being in the "practical robot" business (every knows about the Roomba auto vacuum cleaner) iRobot also sells what's basically an idea starter. Its an iRobot that anyone from kids to roboticists can plug into the computer and being to program. Its open access design lets users add on other electronics or modifications without blowing the whole thing up. The company also paired up with Instructables and Tom's Hardware for the iRobot Create Challenge--you can guess its premise. Not sure if this one is an entry, but here is the Adverbot, which uses the iRobot as a base for mobile advertising delivery. If you've got an idea, entries due August 31, 2007.


Maker Faire

"build, craft, hack, play, MAKE" Sponsored by MAKE magazine, this is a two-day festival that encourages people from all skill sets to display their DIY-ness. This sounds like an improved version of the craft fair--nothing's for sale, so you don't walk around saying, "300 bucks for THAT?! I could make that myself at home!"

Jazz up nasty ppts

Jim Bumbgardner thought up this neat little flickr hack that allows you to search for flickr images by color.

This guy said it nicely:
"This is either something that designers and photo editors have been waiting their whole lives for, or one of those "I've created this because the Web lets me do it" kinds of things."
-- Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

I think it's both, actually.

Periodic Table--Wait! Come back!

The periodic table of visualization methods is a great planner gadget. Practically any method of organization...organized! And they even remembered Lachlan's prized iceberg chart. So please come back, I wasn't going to talk about science.

Freeloader: Free Tax Day Ice Cream

Been quite awhile since I've posted a Freeloader.

So take this: Tax Day is April 17th, but don't be depressed. It's also free cone day at Ben & Jerry's. From 12pm to 8pm, at all participating Ben & Jerry's, you can enjoy a free ice cream.