Future Tense

Future Tense

Future Tense  //  Future Tense is essential listening for those interested in exploring the social, cultural, political and economic fault lines arising from rapid change. The weekly half-hour program/podcast takes a critical look at new technologies, new approaches and new ways of thinking.

At the moment we are asking you for your 'Tales of Tinkering'

Dec 3 / 7:45pm

Tinkering or 'modding'

by Future Tense

Julian Tuckett wrote to use about modding and a group called Mod Off.

My artist friends just held a show wherein they presented a whole rooom full of 'Tinkering', which they term 'Modding'. The show was called Mod Off and they have now started a blog at http://modoff.wordpress.com/ which documents the work in the show, and is intended to act to continue to document more Mods.

I had a work in the show myself. The two who ran the show are very articulate and I reckon they'd be glad to talk to you about their ideas. They wrote a couple of short essays for a show catalogue, which are on the blog. If you want to talk to me about this, give me a hoy, or contact them via the blog.

Cheers - Julian

Bicycle Pannier, Ka-Yin Kwok

 

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Nov 29 / 9:05pm

Tinkering for a better environment for a pet.

by Future Tense
via youtube.com

Jim Borman doesn't tinker with robotics or rockets, he likes to build better environments for his mice

I created an arena/tower for them to climb and live in. I've developed my own structure and toys for them. All of the work i did i my garage and with only a few tools.


Thanks Jim, your mice look happy!

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Filed under  //  pets  

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Nov 29 / 8:58pm

A follow up to Ross' rocket

by Future Tense

Ross Findlay who sent us a list of tinkering projects he’d been doing sent us some follow up on the most interesting – his rocket Colossus II – in the form of three videos.

Thanks Ross. It’s great to be able to visualise Colussus II.

 


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Nov 29 / 8:49pm

Tinkering with robotics, solar and wireless devices

by Future Tense

Made in Oz contributed these pictures of a range of open source projects to our Tinkering Flickr group. They include solar powered lights, a Widgetmesh Coordinator/ Gateway Device and wireless strobe lights.

All the details can be read on the blog – Strobotics.

               
Click here to download:
WinZip_Compressed_Attachments.zip (521 KB)

You can contribute to the Future Tense Tales of Tinkering Flickr Group.

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Nov 29 / 7:08pm

Tinkering for learning

by Future Tense

Peter Steindl wrote to us about how his tinkering has developed into a learning tool used worldwide.

I began developing interactive tables for my daughter to learn some information contained in these tables.
 
I then developed 3 interactive E-books in physics, chemistry and biology, and then I began developing a digital calculator for science students. I made a freeware version of this science calculator and set up a website where it could be downloaded.
 
Within 6 months there were over 70,000 downloads of the calculator, so I began making new versions, and the calculator is now being used throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It has been included in the front cover disc of PC utilities magazine in the UK, and it has been rated by the editorial staff of CNET in the US, giving it 4 1/2 stars out of 5, making it the 6th highest rated science software program currently on the CNET media network. Out of many thousands of programs on the CNET system, my program appears to be the highest rated software program from Australia on their system.
 
The calculator is now being used in a number of US universities, which is ironic really because nearly all software being used in Australian schools and universities in Australia comes from the US.
 
So my tinkering has lead to a small business producing educational software, but that educational software is exported only.

Future Tense wants to hear (and see) your tinkering. Find out how you can contribute.

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Nov 23 / 4:13pm

Tinkering all her life

by Future Tense

This comment on tinkering comes from Vivianne Summerhayes

I've just discovered that I'm a Tinkerer all my life.

When I was a little girl I wanted to fix the hingees on the paddock gate. I was told by my Mother that little girls don't do that kind of work!

Since my Father wasn't around to fix it, I decided that I had two hands the same as everyone else? So I persisted and finally got the hinge adjusted. While I was struggling with it, (A man came along and showed me how to put a piece of wood under the gate to hold it at about the hight it would have been when new.) My latest tinkering is a Barrow/Cart with sides that are drop-down to conveert it into a flat top work bench etc.

The body is:

Length: 1.8m Body + handles

Width: 77cm including 4cm thickness of ssides

Hight: 92cm to the top of the sides

Hight: 73cm when side is down.

I used the back wheel and fork and stay from two full sized bycycles o make the wheel assembly.

Vivianne Summerhayes

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Nov 22 / 9:28pm

My name is Ross & I am a tinkerer

by Future Tense

Ross Finlay sent us an email with some of his wide range of tinkering projects.

Hello, My name is Ross & I am a tinkerer.  I grew up in Glasgow where engineers used to get more kudos than pop stars.  Mechano was my favourite toy, then as a teenager I took washing machines and TVs apart, I even got a Vespa scooter going, which had cost me 5 at a jumble sale.  It had broken down, been dismantled, and had cement in the cylinder. 

On leaving school my hardest decision was whether to study mechanical or electronics engineering, I went with electrical & electronics in the end because it had more overlap with my apprenticeship on washing machines & TVs.

Favourite projects:

DIY Rain Tanks:
To combat the Melbourne drought I have invented my own collapsible rainwater tanks for the suburbs. They are small enough (1m square, 800-900 liters) to fit in unused parts of the garden.  I have 18,000 litres of storage in my garden, and the toilet & laundry are connected.  I had to put a small header tank on top of my shed and change the inlet valve on ther washing machine to low pressure version.  Our consumption is at 45% of the 155 litres / person / day, includingusage from evaporitive aircon & two daughters with long hair. 

Who would have thought that taking washing machines apart in Glasgow would help reduce the effect of the Melbourne drought?

Big Flexible Rockets (BFRs):
In 2000 I learned how to make (working) model rockets at a 5 rocket workshop.  Two years later I had a British & unofficial world record, not for the altitude the rocket goes to, but for the hight it is on the launch pad. Goliath was 25 , The fool story is in the UKRA Magazine "David & Goliath - A Tall Tail" see page 24 of: 

To be so tall yet weigh less than 1500g and fly on limited power Goliath was different from other rockets - The motors were at the front, the rocket is hollow, and it has no fins. A year later I tried for 35 (10m) but Colossus had problems, (the rocket did not let go of the string attaching it to a fence post).

Last weekend (15/11/2009), in Melbourne at Rocketfest X, I flew Colossus II successfully so at 10.67m it should be an Australian & World record for a model (not high power) rocket.

Chimney Channel:
Five years ago we were fixing up our house for sale before moving to Australia.  The plumber said we would have to spend  5000 to put a metal liner in the chimney. Our smoke was coming out of our neighbours chimney as well as ours.  Apparently 100 years of Scottish rain had leached away the mortar between the bricks inside the chimney.  Wouldn’t it be better to replace the mortar, I said. “That would be fine if you had eight foot long arms” Alan responded. Hmmm I thought.

Some open channel rectangular electrical conduit worked well as a chute for the mortar to slide down before slapping into the gap between the bricks.  It took a week, but I was so pleased, I videoed the process, and on occasion I am still sad enough to watch Chimney channel .      

Now I must go and pull the string on our fridge, which stops it making that terrible noise!

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Nov 19 / 3:13am

Tinkering interview remix by Stu Brown submitted to Pool

by Future Tense
via pool.org.au

Pool contributor Stu Brown produced a remix with the sounds of the Alex Pang tinkering interview.

Thanks Stu!

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Nov 18 / 3:53pm

Hi, my name is Jesse, and I am a Tinkerer

by Future Tense
Hi, my name is Jesse, and I am a Tinkerer

I've been somewhat of a tinkerer all my life.  I'm a software engineer by trade so tend to have a somewhat logical bent to things - I need to pull things apart and see how they work - and even if I don't understand all the innards I can usually see a thing or two that I can change or might want different.

My tinkering projects change as I discover new interests - they're more than a hobby as I tend to go intensely into things and pull them apart and see how they work and how I can make it better.

My latest tinkering project is the Android Operating System (OS) - this is a new OS created by Google for your mobile phone and is based on Linux.

I've always tinkered with my phone as it's first thing I see in the morning (when my phone alarm goes off) and the last thing I see at night when I go to bed.  I have it with me all the time and if I have a spare moment during the day I pull it out and check my emails, tweets, or read an ebook on it. So of course I want it working well.. and the way I want.. so I tinker with it ;)

Now the Android OS base is mostly open source - so if something doesn't work the way you want it to you can change it.  You can also tweak/tinker other versions of Android (from say a different brand of phone or different model of phone) as they're shipped by the manufacturers and they're all subtly different.
There is a massive community of people who do this on all manner of phones - go to http://forum.xda-developers.com and you'll find a community with almost 2 million registered users all tinkering with their phones.

My personal contribution to this tinkering community include a wiki page for new tinkerers for my particular phone ( http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HTC_Sapphire_Hacking ) and a custom kernel port for my phone for a very popular rom that recently made headlines (CyanogenMod):

http://www.cyanogenmod.com - original rom
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=568032 - my kernel port

I know my own kernel port gets about a thousand downloads each release - while the official CyanogenMod releases get about 50 times that - so it's reasonably popular ;)

Tinkering gives me a sense of satisfaction and as I like sharing what I learn (hence the wiki) I get an additional pleasure when I help other people learn and enjoy their tinkering experience too.

For me.. tinkering is not just something I do, it's a part of life.

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Nov 17 / 4:39pm

More on tinkering making a comeback and American Innovation

by Future Tense
via onpointradio.org

More on how tinkering is making a comeback. This is a radio interview from the program 'On Point' from NPR in the US. One of the guests is Justin Lahart who wrote the article 'Tinkering makes a comeback amid crisis' in the Wall St. Journal and we highlighted in this blog.

Are you a tinkerer 2.0? We still want to see your tinkering. Let us know what you're up to through pictures, words or video. See the Future Tense tinkering project page to find out how you can contribute.

 

(Photo: Scott Beale/Laughing Squid via Flickr)

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Filed under  //  media   tinkering  

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