Pumping Station: One

A small group from Geeks Without Borders will be visiting us on Friday, September 17th!

Who are Geeks Without Borders? From their wiki:

Geeks Without Borders (GWOB.org) is an international coalition of passionate problem solvers working together to assist people whose survival is threatened by lack of access to technology or communications due to violence, neglect, or catastrophe.

How do we do this? There are three main components:

Digital Mountaintop (DMT)

The Digital Mountaintop is a free, open communications hub, accessible via voice, text (SMS), plain old telephone (POTS), Skype (SIP), Google Voice, Twitter, Facebook, Email, Instant Messaging (IM)…and as many other networks we can connect to. In crisis situations, neighbors can ask for help simply by sending sending a message to the DMT, as long as they (or someone they know) can connect via any of the messaging or real-time communication methods it supports.

Cloud Collective (CC)

Geeks are naturally passionate problem solvers. The Cloud Collective is crowd-sourced problem solving in the cloud. Geeks and other technology-friendly people actively listen to the DMT via existing social networks like Twitter and Facebook. This is already happening, as we’ve learned through amazing stories about Geeks all over the world donating time, expertise, project management skills and resources during 9-11 in 2001, the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Hatian earthquake in 2010. The CC is not meant to replace first-responders or boots on the ground, rather, it’s designed to empower them. It’s neighbors helping neighbors.

Water in the Well (WW)

In situations where human lives are threatened, there is no way to accurately predict the needs of a community in distress. A solution could be something as simple as being able to receive a wireless text message that indicates whether or not a well 5 miles away has water in it. WW allows for the easy creation and deployment of applications that sit on top of the DMT; applications custom built by members of the CC and rapidly deployed in response to requests shouted from the DMT.

A small group from Geeks Without Borders is currently traveling across the continent, speaking at hackerspaces and makerspaces to spread awareness of their missions and goals.

The official launch of Geeks Without Borders will take place on 10.10.10 (42 in binary!), so come see the talk on Friday, September 17th and learn how you can use your inner geek to save the world!

For more information on Geeks Without Borders, their hackerspace/makerspace tour, and their mission, visit their website!

This Tuesday, instead of our usual 5th Tuesday potluck, we’ll be running a food-type fundraiser:

Capitalist Pig Roast* and Ice Cream Socialist
This Tuesday night!

$7 gets you:

Italian sausages
pork chops
veggie kabobs
and ice cream

Plus any generous food donations that folks want to bring to share.
(Not required: depends if you lean capitalist or socialist.)

Hang out, nom on noms and contribute to PS:One! Hope to see you there.

*no actual pigs will be roasted, just their parts. batteries not included. products provided exclusive of warranty and in an as-is condition. some assembly may be required. cash gladly accepted.

(photo by Anne Petersen)

Come get your electrons & solder on at Pumping Station: One’s Circuit Hacking Wednesday (2nd & 4th of the month)!

Mitch Altman presents 'Hacking Cool Things with Microcontrollers' at Maker Faire Detroit 2010

Mitch Altman (co-founder Noisebridge & TV-B-Gone inventor) and Jimmie P. Rodgers (creator of the OpenHeart & LoL Shield) will be our special guest stars on Wednesday, August-25, 7pm-10pm.

Jimmie P. Rodgers instructing makers of all ages in the Learn to Solder tent at Maker Faire Detroit 2010

Inspired by Noisebridge’s Circuit Hacking Monday, any experience level is welcome. Beginners can learn to solder and make cool stuff in a couple hours.  DIY electronics kits from Adafruit Industries, Cornfield Electronics (Mitch Altman), Jimmie P. Rodgers will be available for sale.

And remember: Soldering is Easy!

Many members of Pumping Station: One will be attending and helping to produce BARcamp Chicago.  Press release follows.

On August 21-22, Chicago will host its 5th annual BARcamp Conference.  Come to BARcamp Chicago 2010 to learn from and mingle with Chicago’s most talented and innovative computer and technology enthusiasts in an impromptu, informal setting.  BARcamp Chicago is an un-conference, meaning event participants are the people who run the event, give the presentations and host the various activities throughout the weekend.
Here is what they have lined up for you:

• Many talks and demos concerning a wide range of technology topics
• Socialize with Chicago’s top technology enthusiasts
• A drunken panel discussion
• Geeky/technology related movies that run all night
• Free food and drink
• BARcompany – Start a business over the weekend
• Random other activities

Guests from a multitude of backgrounds will be in attendance, including programmers, developers, engineers, tech students, open-source advocates, entrepreneurs and business professionals.  Participants are encouraged to share, learn and break off into smaller focus groups, brainstorm and collaborate on any project or idea.  Professional networking is highly recommended.

Words really cannot describe this event! Take a look at the videos and pictures linked from their website:  http://barcampchicago.com/

BARcompany

Returning to BARcamp this year is BARcompany, which challenges small groups of participants to come up with an idea and create a company around it in about a day’s time. The resulting companies and ideas are presented at the end of the weekend to the conference attendees and to a panel of judges made up of local, influential people in the technology community. The team who organizes the best company has a chance to win prizes which may include server hosting for the developed web application, co-working space and possibly even some start up capital.

More Information

The event is expected to draw several hundred attendees and is free and open to the public.  The majority of talks and activities will be between the hours of 10 AM and 7 PM each day. Complimentary food and beverages will be provided as well as activities on Saturday night through Sunday morning.

This month (tonight!) our guided tour speaker is Erin Robinson of Ivy Games.  If you’re a fan of adventure games and the game industry moves away from your favorite genre, what are you to do?  Erin decided to start making her own.  After a making a few award winning games and giving them away for free, she decided to make games her career and create Puzzle Bots, which was recently named one of the Pax 10.   Puzzle bots was produced through a small studio, which means it was made with a lot less money and a lot more hacker ethic.  Erin will be talking about what inspired her to take this difficult path, the process of making her idea into an actual product, and the awesome along the way.

The doors will open at 7pm, the talk will begin at 8pm. I hope to see you all there!

You! Over there bangin’ yer pots and pans, glitching toy circuits, playing that weird looking pipe thing! No, don’t stop! We want you to join us this Saturday, July 23rd for an open jam session. It’ll be at Nothin’ Less Cafe, located at 2642 N. Milwaukee Avenue (right next to the Logan Theatre), from 11 am to 7 pm. We’ll have some instruments set up, but feel free to bring your own mutant trombones or circuit-bent toys (or that thing from the picture above). If you want to bring a traditional instrument, that’s okay too. You don’t have to be a “musician,” just be ready to make noise. It’s free and open to the public, so come out and invite your friends. It’s part of the Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival going on all weekend, so there’ll be plenty of things to see and do in the area.

(Picture licensed Creative Commons BY-NC-SA, by SWARM Sounds on Flickr.)

Photo by Anne Petersen.

Adults who missed the thrill of Power Wheels or Little Tikes cars as a child now can go one better: by modifying the battery-powered child-size vehicles and competing at Maker Faire Detroit. Teams of DIY mechanic enthusiasts have been upgrading the small-scale cars far beyond stock performance levels to win prizes and bragging rights.

Among many other activities at Make magazine’s Maker Faire at the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, July 31–August 1, the DieHard-sponsored Power Racing Series (PPPRS) will premiere. In its inaugural year the event was internal to PS: One, but this year brings teams together from far beyond the Midwest.

Jim Burke, a Pumping Station: One Director-at-Large and the Director of the PPPRS, said “I want Makers to meet face to face with a common project. Modifying and racing these toys is fun, creative, and challenging.”

This year, with DieHard Platinum batteries and chargers powering the series, nine teams from six different hackerspaces and makerspaces will compete in the three events of PPPRS: a drag race, a road race, and an endurance race. The PPPRS will be a main event at Maker Faire: Detroit, and families are encouraged to attend. We hope to see you there!

Heat up them skillets and put on your eating face, Pumping Station: One is once again ringing it’s funny little metal triangles and yelling “Cooooome ‘n get it!” That’s right faithful onlookers, stop your bacon, get eggcited, and stop by PS:One for a pun-themed potluck.

Bring a dish to share and parcake in everyone else’s. While as the saying goes, becoming a vegetarian is a missed steak, it’s inevitable that there will be vegan and vegetarian options. If you feel like bringing some drinks, feel free, but don’t drink beyond the pint of no return or we may require you take a leave of absinthe. More than anything, come relish time to ketchup with friends!

Seriously though, food & puns, Tuesday the 29^th at 8:00 pm, we’ve got a microwave for reheating, but the cutlery may well be up to you. Bring your galores through the red doors! See you there!

This month we have two Guided Tour talks from a couple of great people doing very interesting things. In the June “It’s so awesome it’s probably illegal” edition of PS:One Guided Tours we’ll have the following talks:

This Friday, June 18th:

DIYLILCNC

A low-cost, open-source desktop CNC mill – http://www.diylilcnc.org

Chris Reilly and Taylor Hokanson will talk about the history and evolution of the DIYLILCNC project, some general bvackground of CNC technology, some of the shortcomings of the present state of CNC and how those are addressed by open-source hardware projects like the DIYLILCNC. We’ll also go over the specs of the DIYLILCNC, giving details about how it is built and its functions.

Chris Reilly is a Chicago-based artist, writer and teacher. He received his BFA with a focus on New Media from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2006. Chris is currently employed as manager of SAIC’s Advanced Outptut Center, and a part-time faculty member teaching between SAIC’s Design and Film/Video/New Media departments. Since 2003, Chris has shown work in several solo and group art exhibitions in the US and Europe; he works with modded video games, virtual/augmented reality, scripting/programming and kinetic sculpture.
http://www.chris-reilly.org http://www.rainbowlazer.com

Taylor Hokanson is an artist and educator based in Chicago. His studio practice fuses functional design (as exhibited by the DIYLILCNC project) with artworks of a more conceptual nature (such as his Sledgehammer-operated Keyboard). Until recently Taylor taught digital production/fabrication at DePaul University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
www.taylorhokanson.com

Tuesday, June 22nd:

Unatronics

Making unusual and fun electronic musical instruments and turning it into a business – http://unatronics.com/

Maker and Circuit-bender Michael Una will give a talk about the steps involved in turning a hobby into a business. Topics will include business plan creation, logistics, and marketing. Michael will discuss the creation of his company Unatronics, demonstrate his products and discuss his development process.

These are some great talks that I’m really looking forward to seeing. The doors will open at 7pm, the talks will begin at 8pm. I hope to see you all there!

PS:One GP, Pumping Station: One’s Power Racing Series team, is proud to present the video evidence of our early-bird test run.  In order to earn 100 points towards the main event at Maker Faire: Detroit, we were challenged to create a video of our car driving, at full speed, on a straight-away run of, at least, 100 feet.  You can check out the proof of our progress below: