дивани
My presentation for this year’s New York City BarCamp was Fog of Bar, a hands-on workshop in the creation of Dry Ice Martinis. BarCamp is an tech un-conference and had nothing whatsoever to do with bars until I got on the case. We were able to prepare about forty dry ice “martinys” along with a full-size demonstration model. Yummy.
If you try this at home of course, use caution as contact with dry ice can cause cold burns. For extra safety you can wait to drink the martini it until all the ice has sublimated away. Dry ice martinis are not recommended for children under 12, or at any time while operating the space shuttle.
Thanks for assistance from volunteer barbacks Alicia and Adam. Also Fog of Bar benefitted from short-notice testing by friends Max, Mike, Adam and Sean, and received its essential inspiration from Patrick Buckley and his Hungry Scientist Handbook. Here’s more photos:
Photo credits: Mike Dory, Eric Skiff and me
Nick Hardeman at Parsons put my clock code in a monster. His sun-bringing Morning Monster is awfully cute, but I’m still suspicious that something nefarious might be lurking behind those button eyes…
He’s got a video of it serving up sunshine.
<
I was recently photographed and “grilled” by ComputerWorld’s Sara Forrest. Her article was published today, complete with my appreciation for Jimmy Carbone’s restaurant, the Inuit people and tomato seeds. My thoughts about sociable objects, GroundedPower, mesh networking and reconnecting to nature can be read online here:
The Grill: NYU’s Rob Faludi wants your toaster to befriend your smoke alarm – ComputerWorld
PDF version:
PDF: Faludi ComputerWorld
The XBee Terminal Max is an improved version of the original XBee Terminal for Processing that features a much bigger screen, scrolling text areas, interactive serial port management and helpful reminder messages.
Thanks to Max Whitney for generating many of the improvements and Tom Igoe for the original code.
NYC Resistor is offering our Wireless Wearables class again on May 3rd. The last one sold out pretty quickly, so if you want to join us for an intensive afternoon of sew-on radio fun, it’s a good idea to beat the ninjas and sign up early.
Gave a talk (more of a conversation really) about Smart Energy and What Lies Ahead at ETech, the Emerging Technology Conference in San Jose last week. Slides for the online casinotalk are online.
Also gave a workshop called Socializing Stuff about wireless objects that was a hands-on introduction to 802.15.4 and ZigBee radios. Wrapped it all up at the last-night Fest with Wireless Wearables and the LilyPad XBee before renting a car and heading to Point Reyes to unwind by the foggy Pacific. Lots of cows and no cell phone service are the perfect complement to a week of tech.
ZigBee Internet Gateway at ITP
Getting physical projects to talk to the Internet can be tricky. Students making Networked Objects have always had tons of choices, but each with a significant downside:
- Embedded Ethernet modules like the XPort and Wiznet Shields cost about $40 and tether your project to a thick cable.
- Embedded WiFi modules like the WiPort and MatchPort cost $70 – $120 and require extensive manual configuration each time they change networks
- Cell phone modules start at around $150 – $270, require intricate plug converters, a detailed setup and of course a SIM card and data services
- Bluetooth connections require an individually paired base station like a laptop or cell phone within less than 30 feet, and frequently don’t even stay in that pairing
Now each of these methods has an upside too. Ethernet is fast and reliable, WiFi easily found, cell modules can connect from anywhere and Bluetooth has a zippy data rate and a smart-looking logo. But I’ve always thought it would be great if you could just attach a microcontroller to a cheap radio and hit the Internet wirelessly with a simple URL. No thick cable, no tricky setup, no IP address management, no encryption configuration, no data plan and no pairing.
The ZigBee* Internet Gateway I’m developing at ITP aims to accomplish just that. Students link their radio to the Gateway, then simply print a URL to the serial port and wait for the results to come back from the Internet. Each radio costs as little as $19. Using Digi’s ConnectPort X2 as a base, I’m developing code in Python that processes these requests in a way that’s simple and open to everyone. This afternoon I installed a beta test unit for my Networked Objects class to try out. Right now it supports HTTP and HTTPS requests, with plans to expand to email, FTP and XBee I/O direct formats if there’s a demand for that. I’ve started a basic documentation page for the ITP community and will publish the Gateway code when it comes out of beta.
ITPers who are interested in testing should contact me.
* the beta is running 802.15.4 since more students have those modules. Full ZigBee will be included after testing.
I’m working with a group of smart folks on a new energy-monitoring startup to put mesh networked devices into about 100 homes on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard. GroundedPower’s new Smart Energy Monitoring pilot project will begin in April. I believe we’re finally seeing the first wave of embedded communicative computing that Mark Weiser predicted back in 1991 and I’m relieved that rather than mechanizing our breakfasts, the vanguard devices will be combating climate change.
Weiser described ubiquitous computing by what it wasn’t, “Ubiquitous computing is roughly the opposite of virtual reality. Where virtual reality puts people inside a computer-generated world, ubiquitous computing forces the computer to live out here in the world with people.”* The sociable objects that we’re making to moderate power consumption take this one step further, enlisting embedded computing to protect the world in which we people live. I’d like to think that Weiser would be pleased.
The 4 Projects in 4 Days event is now underway at ITP with about 30 students and faculty participating. Due to ceiling replacement over break, we’ve taken over the Tisch lower level lobby area with surprisingly comfortable results. Coffee is hot, bagel are sliced, tunes are cranked and people are drawing, soldering, programming and sewing away. The 4-in-4 blog will get updated daily with project reports.
Today I’m just coordinating, but tomorrow I plan to create a networked object for realtime teaching feedback. It’s the kind of self-directed fun I’m sure I’ll learn to regret…
