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Milwaukee Makerspace

Milwaukee Makerspace

I stopped by the Milwaukee Makerspace for a few hours last weekend, and I was pretty impressed with the progress they’ve been making.

If you’re not familiar with a Makerspace (also sometimes referred to as a Hackerspace) check out hackerspaces.org where you’ll learn that they are: community-operated physical places, where people can meet and work on their projects.

CNC Mill (In Progress)

At the Milwaukee Makerspace you’ll meet people who know how to build robots, hack Arduinos, weld, cut, drill and use every power tool/hand tool you can imagine. These guys have built electric cars, furniture, camera control systems, and even gained some recognition in the PowerWheel Racing series at the Detroit Maker Faire.

What was going on Saturday? Brant was working on building shelving space for projects, Matt was planning his guitar repair, Ron brought his keychain video camera (and I played with it a bit) and Royce repaired the access control system. There’s still much to do before the open house on April 9th, 2011.

Makerbot

So even though the Makerspace has drills and saws and tools and welders and electronics testing equipment, and they’re building a CNC mill, and repairing a laser cutter… you might wonder why you would really want to be a member… and the reason is: community.

The guys at the Makerspace are passionate about making things, but they want to do it around other people, not in their basement or garage, but in a space where collaboration takes center stage. And these guys are pretty smart, so if you’re trying to do something but don’t know how… chances are there’s a Milwaukee Makerspace member who knows how to do it, and can help you.

"If you can hack it, you can have it"

This might be my favorite photo of the Makerspace, and it’s a great motto: “If you can hack it, you can have it.” :)

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Three Apples

Three Apples

Milwaukee-based developer Josh Dean wonders what Apple product he should get?

Well, I’ve got two of the Apple product he’s considering, so I thought I’d share my opinion…

iPad
I’ve only had an iPad about two months now, and for me, it’s a consuming device. I do very little creating with it. That said, it’s an amazing consuming device. I use it for reading, mainly with Google Reader, for which there are many good clients. I also use it around the house as it’s often much more convenient to grab it for quick searches than any full-fledged computer. If you took away my iPad, there would be a hole in the way I access information around the house. That “around the house” bit is key to my usage. I rarely take it out of the house, but that’s just me. I could live without an iPad and still get all of my work done. For me, the iPad is much more about enjoyment and fun than it is about work.

MacBook Pro
I have a MacBook Pro, and before that, I had an iBook, and before that, a PowerBook… A laptop, for me, is a supplemental device to get more work done, or be able to work anywhere. I tend to do probably 80% of my work on desktop machines, but having a laptop lets me take the show on the road, and also lets me do two things at once. As a sidenote, the iPad has filled in much of what I used to use the MacBook Pro for around the house. As for work, the MacBook lets me do (almost) any work I need to do away from the office. It’s got FireWire, USB ports, an SD Card reader, video out, etc… The MacBook Pro is a full-fledged computing device for creating anything I need to create.

MacBook Air
I do not have a MacBook Air, and I don’t think I’d get one. It looks like an awesome netbook (though Apple will never call it that.) I used to use an Asus Eee PC 701, the first real netbook to hit the market. I loved the small size and light weight of the device, but it left a lot to be desired (not running Mac OS X was one thing.) The netbook was limited, but I learned to live within those limitations. I think the MacBook Air would be a little limiting for me, but then, I tend to want to do hardware as well as software stuff, and I need FireWire. If was just a developer writing code and didn’t need to worry about interfacing with certain hardware or having an optical drive available, the MacBook Air would probably be fine. Still, I tend to prefer the extra features a MacBook Pro affords, but again… that’s just me.

I don’t know if this will help Josh, or anyone else, make a decision, but I figured I’d share my opinion.

Here’s a few previous blog posts that may also be helpful:

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Scuttle Me Bookmarks

Apologies for the poor attempt at Pirate-talk, I was just excited to see that Phil Wilson mentioned me in his post about Scuttle.

My post Scuttle rides again! talks about how I was pulling data from Delicious and posting into my install of Scuttle. Phil goes the other way around and posts to his own installation of Scuttle, which then auto posts that to Delicious.

This is the awesome stuff that smart people can do with open APIs…

Keep hacking!

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5 Tips for the RPM Challenge

RPM Challenge

Are you doing the RPM Challenge this year? Well, I’ve done it twice successfully, and once unsuccessfully, so I have a few tips for you…

  1. Have fun.
    Really. It should be fun. It will still be some work, but in the end, you’ll hopefully have enjoyed the time you spent doing it. I know that when you’re still mixing at 2am on the 28th you’ll question why you thought it would be fun, but really… try to have fun. That should be the #1 rule.

  2. Don’t get stressed out.
    Remember, it’s a “challenge” not a competition. It’s about you, and what you can do, so don’t worry about others, and how far along they are, or how much better their stuff sounds. You should be doing it to challenge your own creativity. If you’re getting stressed out, you’re probably not having fun. (See #1)

  3. Don’t get bogged down.
    If you get stuck, move on. You’ve got either 30 minutes of music, or 10 songs to make, so getting stuck trying to get “just the right sound” or the “perfect drum loop” is going to kill your productivity. Either finish what you are working on, or abandon it, move on, and if there’s time later, come back to it.

  4. Don’t expect perfection.
    You’re recording an album in 28 days. That’s a little insane. Especially if you work full time, have a family, or do anything else with your life. Don’t be too hard on yourself. It won’t be perfect. Deal with it. You’ll hear things when you’re done and think “If only I had…” but hey, you only had 28 days! Perfection takes time, and time, and more time. I’m still trying to find it, and I’m old.

  5. Have fun.
    Wait, didn’t I say that already? Yes… don’t forget it. Unless you’re some sort of masochist (and some would argue anyone trying to record an album in 28 days is a masochist) you should enjoy the experience. I just listened to my previous RPM Challenge albums last night, and while they are far from perfect, I completed the challenge, and I had fun doing it.

If you’d like to read my previous blog posts on the RPM Challenge, please do… I hope these tips help you to complete the challenge!

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Scrabble for iPad

Scrabble

I could probably condense my entire post about Scrabble for the iPad into 3 words:

Scrabble. In. Bed.

But I’m not one to quit after 3 words, so I’ll ramble on for 3 more paragraphs.

The wife and I are Scrabble fans, but two things prevent us from playing this time of year. First, we usually have to sit at the kitchen table to play. The kitchen table is fine for enjoying Chicken Tikka Masala, but I’m not a fan of sitting there to play games. Second, our house is cold… really cold… and in the evening the warmest place is in bed, under the electric blanket, so being able to play Scrabble in the comfort of a nice warm bed is ideal. You play Scrabble on the iPad by taking your turn and then passing the iPad to the other player for their turn.

But Scrabble on the iPad isn’t just limited to playing in bed. You could probably also play on the couch, at the park, in the car, or anywhere else a Scrabble board won’t easily go, like the International Space Station.

When Scrabble for the iPad first came out (which was long before I had an iPad) I joked that I could convince my wife the iPad was the greatest invention ever because you could play Scrabble on it… I’m still working on convincing her, but I think I’m getting closer.