Comment Venus Labs (Score 1) 122
I started Venus Labs http://venuslabs.org/ to research and promote exactly this idea! Join us and we can live in stratospheric penthouses on Venus, rather than basement tunnels on Mars...
Comment engineered creatures (Score 1) 59
A lot of science fiction postulates worlds full of designed creatures - Oryx and Crake, The Windup Girl, etc. Your efforts to revive extinct species could be seen as a stepping stone to that kind of technology. Are you intrigued by the possibilities? What kind of creature would you design?
Comment wearable electronics vision? (Score 3, Interesting) 139
Adafruit has been doing a lot of interesting stuff around wearable electronics recently, having hired Becky Stern. Do you have a vision for where you want to go with that stuff, how much of your own time is spent on wearables now?
Comment Montreal Mini Maker Faire (Score 3, Informative) 18
I recently attended the Montreal Mini Maker Faire, had a total blast, you can read about it on my blog: http://www.digitalcrusader.ca/2012/08/montreal-mini-maker-faire.html
Comment hackerspaces.org (Score 5, Informative) 27
Metrix Createspace is just one example of a hackerspace. There are lots more all across the world. To see if there is one in your area, check the hackerspaces.org list. I've been a member at both noisebridge (in San Francisco) and hacklab.to (in Toronto), and it's been a wonderful experience.
Boost Your Wi-Fi Signal Using Only a Beer Can 229
First time accepted submitter AmyVernon writes with a small hack that "is supposed to boost signal strength by at least 2 to 4 bars," and which requires little more than a can of beer (or Orangina). She writes: "What you need: scissors, a utility knife, some adhesive putty and an empty beer can. The brand doesn't matter for the router, but I suppose it would be cooler looking if it were Asahi or Stella Artois than if it were Budweiser." Perhaps this will be added one day to my favorite (and very extensive!) list of low-budget Wi-Fi amplifying rigs.
Comment value of travel (Score 1) 135
I know that you did a lot of travel when you were younger (e.g. backpacking in Asia for years). How important was that for your status as a "Renaissance man"? Would you still recommended extensive travel to young people, or has globalization changed the opportunities?
Comment North Paw (Score 4, Informative) 289
Some friends and I are the creator of the North Paw compass anklet. You can check out our website at sensebridge, or read all of our hack notes on the noisebridge wiki: compass vibro anket. You can purchase North Paw kits from us for $95, and then you don't have to take Quinn's word for what it's like to wear one :-)
Comment Greentech! (Score 5, Insightful) 552
"Name an industry that can produce 1 million new, high-paying jobs over the next three years", challenges BusinessWeek. The obvious answer is Greentech. We need to scale wind and solar power production rapidly, for a whole host of reasons. Currently installed base took decades, and is still only 1% of the electric grid, so clearly there is lots of room to expand... and that's not even counting such opportunities as electric cars.
Comment Sensebridge Cyborgs (Score 1) 290
There is a group of people meeting on Sundays at Noisebridge in San Francisco, to work on devices like this compass belt, check us out here:
https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Cyborg_Group
