Podcasts may seem very mid-Aughts, but they’re still the Internet’s best answer for the Internet. What else are you going to listen to while on your cross-country trip?
Judge John Hodgeman (http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/judge-john-hodgman/id337713843). Hilarious John Hodgeman is the geeky man’s Everyman. He doesn’t disappoint in this podcast, centered around Mr. Hodgeman “settling” disputes emailed in by listeners.
The Bugle (http://thebuglepodcast.com/). A political podcast (that’s funny, I promise!) from Andy Zaltzman and The Daily Show’s John Oliver.
Stuff You Should Know (http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/hsw-shows/stuff-you-should-know-podcast.htm). An astounding, educational, and all-around entertaining podcast highlighting the amazingness all around us.
LSAT Logic in Everyday Life (http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/lsat-logic-in-everyday-life/id165999105). Now defunct, but still worth a listen. This podcast teaches you how to apply basic logic (like the kind used on the Law School Admissions Test) to live a healthy, skeptical life.
Hardcore History (http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/hharchive). A hands-down amazing podcast. Without any gimmicks, Dan Carlin brings the past into sharp focus and makes you glad you live in the present.
A painter is nothing without a paintbrush just like a Maker is nothing without his tools. Regardless of what kind of Maker you are – Lego lover, UAV builder, Arduino fan – there are a few key ingredients that complete a true makerspace. Think about expanding your repertoire to include all of these tricks of the trade.
1. 3D Printer
The 3D printing industry is the next big thing and we mean that in the best way possible. Pick up your own fully assembled version for $499 – the cheapest we’ve seen yet. Then head on over to Thingiverse where you can pick up some free digital designs for just about anything.
2. Kinect
Xbox 360’s $150 motion-sensing addition, Kinect, started a motion-sensing revolution. Oh, it can be used for so much more than just playing video games. Kinecthacks.com documents all the latest discoveries – you’ll be bit by the Maker bug in an instant.
3. Lego Mindstorms
Humanoids, machines, animals, vehicles. Lego Mindstorms kits let you build and program your own robot – on your own terms – for $279.99. A small price to pay for the amount of confidence you’ll gain when you upload your first robotics creation to YouTube.
4. Arduino
It’s easy-to-use. We swear. Arduino is an open-source electronics platform that can be programmed to control lights, motors, and more. The boards are affordable and many design files are available for free.
Which is your preferred medium? Comment below!
If you’re a tech lover, it’s a given that you own a pile of the latest gadgets, you read all the best tech blogs (ahem, this one), and you can answer any techy question your friends and family throw your way. But there’s one thing that makes some tech lovers truer than others: epic techy pilgrimages. Until you’ve journeyed to one of these conventions, you can’t call yourself tech obsessed. So start booking.
South by Southwest
What started as a small-town music festival has morphed into a multi-week corporate-sponsored takeover of Austin every March. SXSW Interactive is where all the best in tech congregate for a week of geek. Hotel rooms are hard to come by so start searching early — or use your favorite sites like Couchsurfing or Airbnb to help you out.
Comic-Con
Held in San Diego in July, this event is the largest of its kind in the US and always makes the headlines for its celebrity appearances and previews of upcoming movies and TV shows. Sure it’s not your typical tech gathering, but there’s no way any tech lover can attend without geeking out.
Consumer Electronics Show
This international event is the largest consumer technology show in the world. It’s held in Las Vegas in January and it’s not necessarily open to the public so you’ll have to find a way in. You have connections, right? During this show, the blogosphere always blows up with the latest and greatest discoveries, so don’t miss the influx of awesome online.
You’re busy. All those unanswered text messages and smartphone notifications prove it. And with the whole World Wide Web at your fingertips, sometimes it can be tough to make a decision (http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html). Sometimes you don’t just need a guide; you need a decision.
Can’t figure out what to eat? Can’t figure out what to eat? Urbanspoon (http://www.urbanspoon.com/mobile-downloads) is the king of foodie decision-making. Slap in where you are, what you’re looking for, and how much you want to spend and Urbanspoon will tell you where to go. If you want to live dangerously, let the app go into “full auto” (with no or limited restrictions) and go nuts.
Can’t figure out what to wear? Why not crowdsource the decision? Tryiton.com (http://www.gotryiton.com/faq) lets you upload an outfit and gather feedback. Advice from strangers! What could go wrong?
Can’t figure out what to Tweet? Hey, sometimes 140 characters is 139 too many to think up. The solution is easy: use That Can Be My Next Tweet (http://yes.thatcan.be/my/next/tweet/). The website looks at your Twitter history and followers, and then creates a new tweet. Careful, it has a tendency to be more interesting than you.
There are probably more than a few legendary life experiences you’ve added to your to-do-before-I-die list like skydiving or climbing Mount Everest or completing a marathon. We think about those things too. But mostly we think about these: the epic pilgrimages every Maker must make. These locales are worthy of the long journey and will bring you great rewards (at least we’re telling ourselves that). Start scheduling, because you won’t want to miss these adventures:
It’s the ultimate celebration of the Maker lifestyle, which means you gotta head there at least once. There are smaller events across the country all year, but the biggest festivals are in the Bay Area in May and New York City in September.
Seattle is home to a four-day, adults-only, unofficial Lego convention. Fanatics travel from all over the world assemble to observe the Lego masterpieces that are unveiled at this October gathering. One look through their Flickr page and you’ll be convinced you must attend.
Called the Olympics of robots, robot masterminds compete in various events from combat robots to Lego bots to kung-fu androids. Anyone can enter the competition. The April event already passed which gives you a full year to create a winning robot.
Which Maker event is on your must-see list? Tell us!
Your worst fear: losing your iPhone or having your laptop (and your life in pictures) stolen. I get it. It’s a horrible thought. Which is why you need to act now. Just like installing a security system in your house, these precautionary steps will ensure that you and your gadget can remain together forever — or at least until your next upgrade.
PHONE
If your phone has been stolen, download the Find my iPhone app on another iOS device (you must activate it on your own device first, so do that now in your settings). For Android devices, Lookout can help find your phone or wipe your data clean to protect your personal information. If you lost your phone somewhere at home and you’re all alone — the most helpless feeling — call it from Gmail.
LAPTOP
Losing your laptop would suck the most, but finding who stole it would be the most rewarding. Beyond adding an obnoxious laptop decal, it’s best to rely on one of these programs. If your laptop has a camera, get a glimpse of who’s using it right now with Gadget Track or Hidden. Busted!
DIGITAL CAMERA
Alright, so there’s nothing precautionary you can do to a phone beside taking a picture of a piece of paper that says “If lost, return to…” and trusting whoever finds it to return your baby back to you. But the good news is that every pic taken with your camera is embedded with bits of information that can be traced back to that specific device. Stolen Camera Finder or Camera Trace can help you find it.
Wait wait wait. In order to take a traditional class, you want me to get in my car, drive to a physical campus, walk to a physical classroom, then sit through a lecture during designated times in the middle of the day, learning at a predetermined speed?
Sounds kind of medieval if you ask me.
Online and distance learning are the next evolutionary step in learning, and facilitate a type of learning that is democratic, cheap, and always in session. Khan Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org/), for example, has literally thousands of online videos on hundreds of subjects. But it’s more than just a classroom version of YouTube. Khan Academy also has interactive teaching modules and real-life instructors.
Want something a tad more structured? Old-school schools are shaking the dust off their books by jumping into the online learning sphere. MIT (yes, that MIT) offers free online seminars and courses (http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm), and even lets you attain certificates so you can impress your schmancy friends. And the newly launched Coursera.org (https://www.coursera.org/), a private start-up partnering with major schools like Stanford and the University of Michigan, also promises to help you get your learn on, sometimes for a small fee, sometimes for free.
Disclosure: I’m not one of those Makers who builds a computer from scratch. Sorry, everyone. But I do love hacks and tricks that make my favorite gadgets even better. There are projects out there that make my smartphone – and my wallet – even smarter. Save a few bucks and build it yourself! That’s what I say. See if you agree with me.
Even worse than dropping a call is when the battery on my phone dies. Because it’s all. My. Fault. Luckily, there are a couple of DIY options that make charging your phone easier. Take solar power for one. Usually solar powered chargers cost an arm and a leg but IKEA conveniently makes a solar-powered desk lamp for $20 … and Voltaic created a hack to turn it into a gadget charger.
If you’re looking for a more classic way to charge your phone, why not build your own charging station? Those wood valets can cost as much as $100 but here’s another IKEA hack that will cost you only $6 – the price of a serving bowl. Maker bliss.
And finally, for those who are looking to pimp out their phone with something a little more impressive, here’s an uber-cheap smartphone projector that costs only a few bucks. Sure it’s a shoebox and a magnifying glass but compared to the $250 versions you might find online, I think the price outweighs the looks.
What other accessories have you built for your smartphone?
Comments (2)
6.21.2012 - Leonard Marks
great post
6.21.2012 - My Homepage
I as well conceive so , perfectly indited post! . 162069
Everybody dreams of what it would be like to bask in 15 minutes of fame. Thanks to the Internet, that may be easier than you think — and it might translate into a book deal, a sitcom or a lot of money. Before you commit to a platform, study the success stories and see if you have what it takes.
Tumblr
Welcome to the land of blog-to-book deals. If you’re funny and you have a repetitive but catchy idea (think Feminist Ryan Gosling), head straight to Tumblr. The best bloggers have landed book deals with pretty nice paydays.
YouTube
I’m not talking about one-hit wonders. I’m talking about long-term YouTube careers. Just look to iJustine or Fred to see how viral video stars really make it. You gotta put out a lot of high-quality content. Your second option is to produce a really awesome short film — like Caine’s Arcade — that goes viral in a big way.
It’s quite possibly the hardest way to achieve viral stardom, but it has been done. Don’t get discouraged, just get really, really funny. Sh*t My Dad Says started as a Twitter feed and turned into a book and then transformed into a sitcom. (Yes, it got canceled after a year, but William Shatner was the lead. How awesome is that?)
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6.20.2012 - I’m Now on Tumblr Too (How To Export WordPress to Tumblr) | Boldly Voyaging the Multiverse!
[...] So you Wanna Be an Internet Sensation? [...]
OK, so it turns out we still can’t travel faster than light (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/20/us-science-neutrinos-idUSTRE7AJ0ZX20111120). That doesn’t mean that we’re forever to be lashed to our mortal coils, bound by E=MC2. Not while we have social media.
First, Google+ Hangouts (http://www.google.com/tools/dlpage/res/talkvideo/hangouts/) is a powerful instrument for being in two places at once (or as I like to call it, multipresencing). Use it to simultaneously be at your cousin’s bat mitzvah and your roommate’s barbecue.
Or say you’re at a big event like SXSW, where several great shows can be happening at the same time, just not in the same area code. No problem. Use Twitter’s geotagging capability to see who’s livetweeting the event nearby, then “eavesdrop” on the event that you’re not attending. If you’re lucky, you may come across a livestream of the other event and be able to check it out on your device!
Finally, take advantage of a social media dashboard like Hootesuite (http://hootsuite.com/) that allows you to auto-publish preset content. This way it’ll seem like you’re busily posting from your desk at work, when in reality you’re chilling in a hammock on the beach.
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