Announcements

The end of Spiral Island…

The end of Spiral Island…

Diagram-1 Giorgio write “Hi, with respect to the post you wrote about Spiral Island, well it seems that island was destroyed during the past hurricane season.” – Spiral Island was a floating artificial island in a lagoon near Puerto Aventuras, on the East coast of Mexico south of Cancun. It was built by British expatriate Richie (or “Reishee”) Sowa beginning in 1998; he filled nets with empty discarded plastic bottles to support a structure of plywood and bamboo, on which he poured sand and planted numerous plants, including mangroves. The island sported a two-story house, a solar oven, a self-composting toilet, and three beaches. He used some 250,000 bottles for the 66-by-54-foot structure. Spiral Island was destroyed by a hurricane in 2005. Mr. Sowa plans to build a stronger island in a more sheltered area. Link.

What Would MacGyver Do?

MacgyverThis looks like an excellent book “What Would MacGyver Do? is a book-in-progress. When it is finished, it will be a collection of 75 to 100 original stories by and about people who have exercised MacGyver-like ingenuity in solving their everyday problems. The stories will be selected and edited by Brendan Vaughan, an editor at Esquire magazine.” Link.

EFF’s Bloggers Right Fundraiser

EFF’s Bloggers Right Fundraiser

Blog 150X60We’ve added a badge on our /blog section for the EFF Bloggers Rights fundraiser, we hope Makers out there will consider supporing the EFF too – “EFF is a donor-funded nonprofit group of passionate people—lawyers, technologists, volunteers, and visionaries — who depend on your support to continue successfully defending your digital rights. Litigation is particularly expensive; because two-thirds of our budget comes from individual donors, every contribution is critical to helping EFF fight —and win—more cases.” [via] Link.

The New Inventors

The New Inventors

InventNick writes “In reference to Xeni Jardin’s mention of the “American Inventor TV Series” on Boing Boing, I thought you might be interested in a TV series that runs on the Australian national broadcaster called ‘The New Inventors’ – It’s a revival of a late 70’s series called ‘The Inventors’ and each week features three makers and their projects which are assessed by a panel of design and engineering experts. The linked page doesn’t reference more recent episodes, but should give you some idea of the kind of ideas presented.” Link.

MAKE @ American Inventor – November 17th

MAKE @ American Inventor – November 17th

AmericaninventorMAKE will be covering ABC’s American Inventor’s auditions November 17th at 8am in San Francisco. If you’re going, let us know (before or after if you want to share your experience). “AMERICAN INVENTOR is an exciting new primetime reality show for ABC from Simon Cowell and the producers of American Idol. Set to premiere in early 2006, the show will undertake the biggest search ever for America’s best new invention. An embodiment of the ultimate American dream, the show will uncover the hottest new product and make some struggling inventor’s dream come true. The show will celebrate the best in homespun American ingenuity and will turn one person’s idea into the next big thing.”Link. Look for our special write up this week!

MAKE OUT :-]

MAKE OUT :-]

750ThumbOne of our favorite web comics The Joy of Tech did an excellent job of breaking the story about our new entry in the Magazine arena – MAKE OUT: Geek love on your terms. In the premiere issue you can win a McGyver Fantasy date and build a love detector. Thanks to everyone who sent this in! Link.

MAKE at Portable Media Expo

MAKE at Portable Media Expo

PortableIf you’re at the Portable Media Expo, pop by and say hi for the MAKE session! – “…hacks, mods, tips and how-tos that will likely void the warranty of just about anything you might consider to fetch or record podcasts. From the pages of MAKE magazine, to sharing his publishing tips and tricks, to a flurry of how-tos for mobile devices, this session will be action packed with everything you didn’t know was possible with a myriad of technologies.” Link.