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Space

Video Aspiring Astronaut Gideon Gidori Invents a New Holiday: Star Day (Video) 46

Posted by Roblimo from the it's-easier-to-make-a-wish-than-to-make-it-come-true dept.
Gideon wants to be an astronaut. You could even describe him as "space-obsessed." He wants to be the first astronaut from Tanzania. The only African to make it into space so far is Mark Shuttleworth, who is from South Africa. Can Gideon talk Elon Musk into launching from Tanzania, which is directly on the equator? How about bringing in other space buffs and entrepreneurs? Don't think this is a silly idea. Gideon is only 14, but he's a straight-A student at the Florida Air Academy, and before that was one of the top students at Shepherds Junior School in Arusha, which Mama Lucy Kamptoni originally financed by raising and selling chickens. Gideon's scholarships to Shepherds and later to Florida Air Academy have been financed in part by EpicChange.org, which is also helping him spread the word about Star Day (tomorrow; June 7), the holiday Gideon created, which is being celebrated all over the world even in this, its first year of existence. You can celebrate it, too. All you have to do, weather permitting, is sleep outdoors under the stars, and maybe make a wish or two. After all, wishing (and a lot of studying and hard work) have helped Gideon get to where he is today, and may yet help him become Tanzania's first astronaut.

Comment Being nice doesn't make it an ad (Score 4, Interesting) 59

And I use http://spotthestation.nasa.gov... myself, and don't want a $1500 electric bicycle, but there are people who like cute little LED gadgets and have $150 to spend on them, and who want hipster-cool, retro-styled, expensive electric bicycles. So why should I knock them?

And 100th repeat: Slashdot doesn't get paid for running positive stories about a person or device or whatever. Sometimes it's nice to look at something and say, "Y'know, that's kind of cool and the person making it is kind of likeable." That's pretty much Tim's thought process at a show or conference when he points his camcorder at someone or something.
Space

Video ISS-Above Tells You When the International Space Station is Overhead (Video) 59

Posted by Roblimo from the look-up-in-the-sky-it's-a-bird-it's-a-plane-it's-a-space-station dept.
It's a device, and quite a small one, based on the Raspberry Pi. It tells you when the ISS is visible from your part of the world and when it will soon be visible so you can grab the kids and dogs and run outside to wave at the astronauts. Or just to watch the closest thing humanity has to a space colony orbit the Earth. Liam Kennedy, ISS-Above's creator, points out that the ISS passes over most of the inhabited parts of the Earth five or six times a day, which is more than most people know. And about ISS-Above and Kickstarter: It's too late to climb on that wagon, and it already was when this interview was recorded in mid-May. But don't despair. Liam managed to raise $17,731 -- which was far more than his $5000 goal. Can you buy one of these things in its various manifestations? Yes. But you need to look long and hard at the ISS-Above website to spot the all-caps word HERE that takes you to the order page. Liam also points out that you can get all kinds of smartphone apps that will tell you where the ISS is at any given moment, but the ISS-Above has an advantage or two over those apps that will be revealed only to those who watch the video or read the transcript. (Alternate Video Link)
Hardware

Video Fuel 3-D Claims to be a High-Res, Point and Shoot 3-D Scanner (Video) 25

Posted by Roblimo from the two-dimensions-was-more-than-enough-for-grandpa-so-it's-more-than-enough-for-us dept.
The Fuel 3-D website has a blurb that says, "The world’s first handheld point-and-shoot, full color 3D scanner. Our planned list price is $1500 but by placing your advanced order now you pay only $1,250. Fire up your creativity!" We've thought about getting a 3-D scanner ever since we first messed with a 3-D printer, but we've thought more about something in the sub-$300 price range than in $1000+ territory. But that's just us. There is no doubt a healthy market for 3-D scanners to use in commercial applications where $1250 (or even $1500) is hardly worth noticing. Ah, well. Maybe we need to look at the The DAVID website which describes their device as an "Incredibly Low-Cost 3D Scanner for Everyone!" Their 3-D starter kit is only $529 from a randomly-selected U.S. reseller, which isn't too bad compared to the alternatives. But waiting for prices in this market niche to come down is another possibility, and it's one a whole lot of individuals -- including us -- and smaller companies will probably choose. (Alternate Video Link)

Comment Re:Offer a ROI? (Score 1) 61

by Roblimo (#47158757) Attached to: This 360-Degree, 4K Video Camera isn't Getting Kickstarted (Video)

No, the finished cam looked great. But they took Tim through the whole development process, starting with early prototypes. This jazzes people like Tim and me, but can put people off who are used to seeing the finished device, not prototypes. This is a good lesson for you if you ever do a crowdfunding campaign.

Comment Re:Well, thanks for telling us after the fact (Score 1) 61

by Roblimo (#47158735) Attached to: This 360-Degree, 4K Video Camera isn't Getting Kickstarted (Video)

Not only that, but there are other ways of raising an early round of funding if you bomb on Kickstarter. It's the biggest crowdfunding site, but neither the only one nor necessarily the best. Here's an article on Forbes.com about crowdfunding: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ch...

Now, the sad thing about Centrcam is that they had excellent engineering, and a detailed proposal, but that proposal was probably too technical for the majority of people who might have helped them through Kickstarter. Other sites might be better for them. And they might want to get some marketing advice, too.

About Slashdot running this after their Kickstarter campaign failed: I didn't know about their Kickstarter deadline until last Friday. Way too late. And I don't think they explicitly told Tim the expiration date of their K campaign. If they had, I'm sure he would have jumped the Centrcam interview in our video editing queue. If I had known, I sure would have. Ah, well....
Hardware

Video This 360-Degree, 4K Video Camera isn't Getting Kickstarted (Video) 61

Posted by Roblimo from the not-everything-makes-the-cut-even-if-we-like-it dept.
This is something that caught Tim Lord's eye as he cruised the 2014 Bay Area Maker Faire: A 360 4K-resolution video camera. It's not out yet for retail sale, but if you look at the Centrcam website you can see a number of videos their cameras have shot, including some high-motion ones that they say, truthfully, are excellent to watch full-screen. The people who came up with this aren't college students who have never done any professional design work. Rather, they're "the same team that engineered and built the Apple iPhone cameras." So it's no wonder they have made something pretty cool that has already been used to make videos for Fox Sports, National Geographic, and the U.S. Army, among others. Their Kickstarter blurb is pretty cool, too. It is one of the most detailed ones we've ever seen. It's sad that they only got $607,628 of their $900,000 funding goal, considering all the work they've put into their product, along with the great presentation. They didn't know this would happen at the time this video was shot at the Maker Faire; their Kickstarter time window didn't close until four days ago. But there are other ways to fund a startup, and we hope they manage find one -- because we would eventually like to get our hands on one of their cameras and test it for ourselves, possibly with a little help from some of the Bradenton Riverwalk Skatepark regulars. (Alternate Video Link)
Hardware

Video A Bike Taillight that Goes Beyond Mere Taillighting (Video) 86

Posted by Roblimo from the a-bike-light-that-plays-pong-on-your-back dept.
Meet David. Tim Lord ran into him at the 2014 Maker Faire Bay Area. He didn't have a display, and he wasn't obviously trying to sell anything or promote a Kickstarter campaign. He was just walking around with a panel full of LEDs that he wears as a backpack while riding his bike, which beats the heck out of regular bike taillights, even the blinky flashy ones a lot of us have these days. So good on you, David. This is your three minutes of Slashdot fame -- and please note, people, that you can now fast-forward through any preroll ads longer than 30 seconds, so you won't get bombed with multi-minute ads to watch a three minute Slashdot video. (Alternate video link)

Comment Re:NO, No its not even close (Score 1) 66

by Roblimo (#47126495) Attached to: Not A Hoverboard, but Close (Video)

(shrug) This thing struck me as something an Audi buyer would want. I have a bike, but due to recent balance problems I have "stabilizer wheels" (adult training wheels) on it. Tomorrow my banana seat and sissy bar kit is supposed to get here. Crank-forward bikes cost mucho buckaroonies, so I figure a banana seat will give me an ass-back seating position and provide similar goodness for my old, messed-up knees. End result, hopefully finished by this weekend: A lowrider Aluminum (Schwinn) beach cruiser with training wheels. One of a kind. Cost? Not enough to buy ANY of these electric skateboard thingies. Not even close.
Transportation

Video Not A Hoverboard, but Close (Video) 66

Posted by Roblimo from the if-one-wheel-is-$1500,-does-the-two-wheeled-version-cost-$3000? dept.
It's a one-wheeled, self-balancing electric skateboard called (appropriately) the Onewheel. You can't buy one right now. They've already shipped all of their first production runs and still have Kickstarter backers' orders to fulfill. After that, though, they might make one for you -- if you come up with a deposit of $500 against a total price of $1499. Plus shipping. This may seem like a lot of money to some people, but enough folks have found it reasonable that Onewheel has sold out not just its first production run but also the second one. Their Kickstarter success was nothing short of amazing, with $630,862 raised although their goal was only $100,000. Inventor Kyle Doerksen is the man behind Onewheel, but he's also one of the people behind Faraday Bicycles, whose flagship model costs $3500 -- and whose initial production run is also sold out -- which means there are people around who are willing to pay $3500 for an electric bicycle instead of putting a motor kit on a used Schwinn for a total cost of less than $500 (with a little careful shopping). Alternate video link.

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