by Peter Seibel
-- A fantastic collection of interviews with 15 famous programmers. Contains some great history and insights on the field of "computer science."
-- Geeks, drugs, and deception. An entertaining look into the (fictional) lives of techno con artists, and how a recently-fired comic book artist get pulled into their inner circle.
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-- Particularly useful reference when trying to eek out a few extra milliseconds of load times in older browsers.
-- Interesting tech, and somewhat engaging, but disappointing ending (or lack thereof.)
, by Neil Strauss
-- An engaging, first-person account on transforming from an urban writer into "Jason Bourne."
, by Cory Doctrow
-- A high school hacker fights the 'Department of Homeland Security' to reclaim American civil liberties after anti-terror tactics are taken to a new level.
-- Techniques-for, and the value-of sketching interactivity before developing products. Good ideas. OK book.
" -- About finding untapped opportunities in your market and repositioning yourself to capitalize on them. Easy to grasp; Longer then it needed to be.
" -- A thin book with some good best-practices, but a little disappointing. Perhaps it's JavaScript's fault, not the author's ;-)
" -- Good overview of usability issues in designing HTML forms, backed by examples and eye-tracking research. I bought the 
" by Marshall Goldsmith
-- Discusses interpersonal skills (and how to identify and fix them) that most commonly hold executives back in their career advancement.
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-- Lesson: Cut the corporate B.S. and stop wasting your time. Focus only on what matters most.
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-- Lessons on handling tough conversations: firing people, relationship problems, hostage negotiations (well, maybe not that last one.) Wasn't an exciting read, but I've been paying more attention to "turning points" in conversations since reading it.
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-- Lessons in building reusable ("pluggable") Django applications. Assumes you know the basics of Django and Python.
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-- I really enjoyed this one. Lots of suggestions and strategies for negotiating.
Leaf Labs : maple – Arduino-compatible board using a 72 MHz ARM Cortex M3 chip. Sounds like it's still a work in progress, but might offer Arduino hackers a more powerful alternative in the near future!
Latest Updates: make RSS
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erik
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MIT TechTV – Machine Shop Videos – Nicely done "intro to machine shop" instructional videos. -
erik
Bus Pirate manual « Dangerous Prototypes – Manual (and lots of helpful links) for the Bus PirateHow-to: Bus Pirate probe cable – Hack a Day – Details on making simple probe cables for a Bus Pirate.Using the Bus Pirate v2go on Mac – Connecting to a Bus Pirate using ZTerm on OS X. -
erik
my Bus Pirate v2 finally arrived from Seeed yesterday! http://code.google.com/p/the-bus-pirate/
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erik
APC step by step – a set on Flickr – Visual instructions for making a bare-bones Atari Punk Console.
For more background, see Atari Punk Console on Wikipedia.
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erik
Finished my compost bins
I finally finished my compost bins over the weekend. I decided to build a triple-bin (turning bin) system, each approximately one cubic meter (3′x3′x3′.)
The bins are constructed entirely of cedar (renewable, weather resistant, and generally termite resistant), using cedar fence panels and 2×4s. The lids are made from cedar 2×2 deck-railing slats, covered in a square, wire mesh (to keep the birds and squirrels out.) The bins are held together with cedar-rated Deck Mate screws, which I had left-over from another project. (It’s pointless to use nice, weather resistant wood if you’re just going to join it with cheap, rust-prone fasteners. Spend the extra money on rust-free nails/screws/staples so you don’t end up with rust stains running from every joint.)
For those new to three-bin compost systems, here’s how they work:
- New compost materials are put into the bin on the left. (You can still turn materials in this bin like normal.)
- Part-way through the composting process, you shovel-out the materials in the left bin and move them into the center bin. (This provides opportunity to fully flip/aerate the pile.)
- When done, shovel the center bin’s pile into the right bin. The right bin stores ready-to-use compost.
- Once you have a cycle going, you can have a new pile starting, while still having a steady stream of available compost.
It’s hard to tell in the picture above (by design), but the front of each bin opens for easy access. The doors are held on with a simple gate latch:
The screen lids lay on top of each bin, resting on simple guides made from exposed screws. The mesh is attached using staples:
Using cedar raised the materials cost a bit, but the extra durability should be worth it in the long run. All said and done, the materials were a bit over $100 for the whole unit (which is still significantly cheaper then buying a pre-made bin this size.)
For more on composting, see:
- Building Bins and Boxes for Yard Waste Compost
- How to Make Compost, a Composting Guide
- Composting on Wikipedia
- How to Compost on wikihow
- Composting Practices
- Compost on Wikipedia
- Container composting on Wikipedia
- Flickr pictures tagged with compost and compostbin
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erik
“Official Arduino Ethernet preview board”
Adding Internet connectivity to your Arduino projects might be getting a lot easier:
(Via: Matt Biddulph)
[Update: 2008-05-15]
Those shopping for Arduino’s might also check out this new Arduino Nano: -
erik
TechShop (was) coming to Austin!
[Update: 2009-12-28]
There’s still no TechShop planned for Austin, but check this out if you’re interested: Austin Local Fab survey![Update: 2008-03-29]
Unfortunately, I just got word that TechShop Austin, and six other planned locations, have been delayed until 2009. It’s a bummer for Austin makers, but the schedule was a little too aggressive for the TechShop crew; instead, they’ll be focused on a new headquarters in Sunnyvale, and bringing up the Portland and Durham locations.[Original post]
Just saw this last night, TechShop Austin is scheduled to open this summer (2008)! I haven’t had access to a decent shop in a few years. I can’t wait to play with all the toys a TechShop should have!
