• MAKE: Blog: Update on the Twittering power usage project
  Phil Torrone and Limor Fried giving a glimpse of a not-quite-completed project hacking into the kill-a-watt energy monitor.
  (tags: twitter energy environment co2 electricity monitor)

Coming in the Spring.

Workshops are at Intermedia Gallery, at CCA in Glasgow, so presumably the launch party is there as well.

“hello world” is the first installment of Ben Dembroski’s Alt-w funded project. project2891 is focused on developing a series of devices capable of communicating with each other via the net or other electronic means. The whole system is designed to be as modular as possible, allowing others to play with as much or as little of the makeup of the project as they see fit.

“hello world” introduces the first batch of nodes and the methods used to control them. A series of workshops will explain how the system works and how it can be adapted for use by others. Introducing PureData, Arduino, and simple networking protocols to create interactive artworks. All work produced as part of project2891 is released under an “open source” style license.

Launch Party:
Friday 16th January 6 - 9 PM

Free workshops (booking required):
Wednesday evenings 6:30 - 10:00 PM
January 21, 28, February 4, 11.

Help sessions
Saturdays, 12 - 5 PM.

For more information on the exhibition and accompanying workshops, please visit the project website.

[ Via New Media Scotland. ]

• The Pragmatic Bookshelf | iPhone SDK Development
  Book by Pragmatic, PDF currently in beta for $24
  (tags: software mobile reference programming iphone pdf ipod xcode sdk)

• 25C3: Mining social contacts with active RFID
  "We describe the implementation of a distributed proximity detection firmware for the OpenBeacon RFID platform. We report on experiments performed during conference gatherings, where the new feature of proximity detection was used to mine and expose patterns of social contact. We discuss some properties of the networks of social contact, and show how these networks can be analyzed, visualized, and used to infer the underlying social structure."
  (tags: socialnetworks hacking rfid 25c3 mining datamining openbeacon)
• 25C3: Objects as Software: The Coming Revolution
  "How physical compilers (CNC machines, laser cutters, 3D printers, etc) are changing the way we make things, how we think about the nature of objects. This talk will focus on the future of digital manufacturing, and how self-replicating machines will make this technology accessible to everyone: ushering in a new era of technological advance."
  (tags: software rapidprototyping fabrication manufacturing 25c3 reprap digitalmanufacturing)
• 25C3: The Ultimate Commodore 64 Talk
  Everything about the C64 in 64 Minutes
  (tags: hardware retro tech 25c3 c64 cbm commodore 64 homecomputer nostalgia)
• 25C3: Algorithmic Music in a Box
  Doing music with microcontrollers. "Solder a few bits together, program a few lines, and you can build a deep device to support your musical exploration. This lecture will show you quickly how the hardware and code works, and then focus on a few interesting applications: controllers, sequencers, sound generators."
  (tags: music arduino hacking midi 25c3 composition algorithmic microcontrollers)
• 25C3: Hacking the iPhone
  "This talk will summarize what we have learned about the internal architecture of the iPhone platform, its security, and the ways we have found to defeat these security measures."
  (tags: development hacking iphone coding 25c3)

• FutureSound by FutureAcoustic
  Generative music app for iPhone, responding to its acoustic environment via microphone. First release includes content by Scanner and David Toop.
  (tags: sound music mobile art generative iphone responsive reactive soundtoys app soundscape soundart scanner toop)
• Beebhack
  Treasure trove wiki with loads of code and tools for accessing BBC online content.
  (tags: bbc media hack video download wiki tv iplayer)

• Seeed Studio Depot, Arsenal for interaction engineering
  PCB fab house in Shenzhen, China aiming to help open source production, and selling monome and arduino-related stuff.

  "We are serving open source hardware, including protype PCB capacity. We would like to host a new pattern [...] The initiator make a board (maybe own design or any work under open source license), get 5 pieces PCB for just $30, we share the manufacturing costs and produce extra. The extra PCB will be stock by us and listed on a very affortable price like 7-9$ with minimal shipping cost. (About 2-3$ flat rate). You may share the $30 with other people, end up getting an industrial standard PCB for less than 10$."

  (tags: arduino opensource electronics hardware interactive DIY store fabrication pcb shopping monome arduinome production)

• Hand Made Theory: The Craftsman - getting craft on the cultural radar
  Discussing reviews of Richard Sennett's book The Craftsman
  (tags: design media research theory craft sennett sociology)

Today the Design Museum announced its shortlist of contenders for the 2009 Designs of the Year Award. I’m very happy to see that This Happened is among the nominations. Well done Chris, Joel and Andreas!

The new awards took over in 2008 from where the much-criticised “Designer of the Year” awards left off, and the shortlist runs alongside an exhibition of about 100 projects, which opens in London on 12th February.

Dezeen has the full shortlist — a good mix of usual suspects and less-usual suspects. Troika are nominated 3 times in 2 different categories, which perhaps goes to show that the inter-multi-trans-disciplinary approach pays off after all. ;-)

There’s also a blog for the awards which will feature the chance to vote for a people’s award.

This Happened will also be launching a new website in February 2009 along with some exciting new developments. Watch that (and this) space.

[ update: official shortlist press release (PDF). ]

• mobileframeworks - Google Code
  "An extension of the openFrameworks platform for creative coding http://www.openframeworks.cc/ to the iPhone."
  (tags: programming iphone openframeworks music code art library software)