Author Archives: tigoe
MAKE: Electronics: I love this book!
Make: Electronics, Charles Platt.  © 2009 Make Books, Sebastapol, CA; 1st edition ISBN: 0596153740 Just go buy it. It’s the best introductory book I’ve read on electronics. To start with, the book is gorgeous.  Maybe you can’t judge a book by … Continue reading
Traceroute Fun
The students in my Understanding Networks class had a short assignment this past week, to run a couple dozen traceroutes, and do visualizations with the results. A few interesting points came out of it. Alejandro Kaufmann did traces mostly on … Continue reading
Idle speculation on the shan zhai and open fabrication
Strategy & Business magazine has an interesting article on the shan zhai manufacturers in China at the moment. It’s the first business press article I’ve seen in the US that takes a relatively balanced approach to reporting on them. It’s … Continue reading
Just like Riding a Bike
The chances are good that if you’re reading this, you probably know how to ride a bicycle. You probably learned so many years ago that you don’t even remember how you learned. When you get on a bike now, it’s … Continue reading
Word Problem
In the remake of The Taking of Pelham 123, a one-car train of the R142/142A generation of NYC subway cars starts up at approximately 33rd st. on the Lexington line. It’s carrying 16 people. With the throttle rigged to full-speed, … Continue reading
Bye, Nick
Nick West passed away yesterday after fighting cancer for about two years now. Nick was a major influence on me when I was a student at ITP, and a good friend, so I want to write down some of my … Continue reading
A novel idea: repair instructions
Given how pervasive the idea of planned obsolescence is, I’m always on the lookout for counterexamples — cases where a company actually wants you to fix what you bought from them, and keep it longer, rather than just replacing it … Continue reading
SIGGRAPH Asia E-Tech call for participation
I’m on the jury for SIGGRAPH Asia’s Emerging Tech this year, thanks to Lars Erik Holmquist. Looking forward to seeing some great submissions, so submit! Here’s the CfP: Call for participation: EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: ADAPTATION SIGGRAPHA ASIA 2009 Pacifico Yokohama, Yokohama, … Continue reading
Monkey Tracking adventures (the complete story)
A few people asked for the story of my visit to Tony Di Fiore’s research site in chronological order. Here are all the posts in order: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 part 5 part 6 part 7 … Continue reading
What’s next: TEI, Shenzen, Tokyo, Etech
I’ve been collecting notes and ideas on open source hardware (and open fabrication in general) and sustainable technology development for awhile now, and over the next few weeks I’ll finally get a chance to try them out in a couple … Continue reading