MakingThings News and Events

August 14, 2006.
MAKE IS NOW SHIPPING MAKE CONTROLLER KITS
Our first shipment of untis went from the factory to Make Magazine on Friday. We will have significant stock of these units in the coming days.

April 22-23 , 2006
MAKINGTHINGS AT MAKER FAIRE, SAN MATEO FAIRGROUNDS
MAKE Magazine is "a magazine that celebrates your right to tweak, hack, and bend any technology to your own will" and is "loaded with exciting projects that help you make the most of your technology at home and away from home." They're holding their first annual Maker Faire, bringing together tech DIY enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, science clubs, students, and authors.
MakingThings will be giving demos of new products, and we'd love for you to stop by, take a look, and discuss them.

April 6-8 , 2005
MAKINGTHINGS AT FLASHFORWARD 2005, SAN FRANCISCO
The 13th Flashforward conference and Flash® Film Festival, the largest and longest running Flash user conference in the world, shares the latest in design, development, education and inspiration at The Herbst Theatre, San Francisco. MakingThings will present the Technology Showcase session called "Flash Things: Interacting with the Physical World Using Flash" and present the Ask The Experts session "Flash and Electronics" to teach the basics of electricity, electronics, and digital electronics.

February 17-18, 2005
MAKINGTHINGS PRESENTS AT COLLEGE ART ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE.
MakingThings will be exhibiting at the Book and Trade Fair at the College Art Association's annual conference in Atlanta, GA. Our exhibits at this show will be geared towards the educator, and we'll be available to talk about how you can use MakingThings technology in the classroom. We'll look forward to meeting you.

The Book and Trade Fair is open on Thursday, February 17 and Friday, February 18, from 9:00 AM through 6:00 PM, and on Saturday, February 18 from 9:00 AM to 2:30 PM.
MakingThings will be at booth 604

February 15-17, 2005
MAKINGTHINGS PRESENTS AT LINUXWORLD, BOSTON.
MakingThings will be presenting 4 sessions at LinuxWorld in Boston next week, at the O'Reilly Media booth, as part of the new O'Reilly magazine "MAKE". In addition to showing our existing products, we'll be introducing some new products we've been working on. Please stop by and say hello.

MakingThings is presenting:
Tuesday, February 15 at 2:30
Wednesday, February 16 at 11:30 and at 2:30
Thursday, February 17 at 12 pm.

The MakingThings presentation title is: "Make: technology on your time"
O'Reilly Media is at booth 509

January 10-14 , 2005
MAKINGTHINGS PRESENTS AT MACWORLD.
In the event that you're thinking of attending MacWorld in San Francisco this week, MakingThings will be presenting numerous "how to" sessions at the O'Reilly Media booth. These sessions will focus on fun, easy to make projects with Teleo. Presentation times are as follows:

• Tuesday, January 11: 11:15 am
• Wednesday, January 12: 12:30
• Thursday, January 13: 10:15 am, 2:00 pm, 4:00 pm
• Friday, January 14: 11:00 am, 1:00 pm

MakingThings is presenting these sessions in order to help O'Reilly, a leading publisher in the computer industry, launch a new magazine called MAKE. MAKE is targeted at hobbyists and home-grown inventors who like to design and build new devices and machines -- be they artistic or functional in nature. Learn more about MAKE

November, 2004
MAKINGTHINGS IN THE NOVEMBER ISSUE OF I.D. MAGAZINE.
A new product targeted at surfers is highlighted in this month's I.D.Magazine. It's The Wave Pillow and it vibrates when surfing conditions are ideal. The pillow's designer, surfer/artist Elmar Trefzis, prototyped and developed the pillow with MakingThings' Teleo™ tools. Teleo™ enables the pillow to tap into online surf reports and, in turn, to trigger a motor inside of the pillow. The bigger the surf, the bigger and faster the vibration! You can read the full I.D. article.

September 18-21, 2004
MAKINGTHINGS UNVEILS ITS SMART DISPLAY KIT AT ASTC CONFERENCE, SAN JOSE
MakingThings announces the first in its new line of "Solution Kits" targeting professionals. The Smart Display Kit is specifically created for designers and developers in search of a fast and inexpensive way to build exhibits with media playback capabilities, including museum exhibits, tradeshow exhibits, information kiosks, and point-of-purchase displays.

July 7-9, 2004
MAKINGTHINGS AT FLASHFORWARD 2004, NEW YORK CITY
The 12th Flashforward conference and Flash™ Film Festival, the oldest and largest Flash user conference in the world, shares the latest in design, development, education and inspiration. MakingThings will present at a technology showcase, showing off the latest version of the Teleo Flash Class Library.

June 16, 2004
MakingThings is showcased as Macromedia's Site of the Day. Check out the screenshot here, and the archive here

May 10, 2004
MAKINGTHINGS RELEASES THE TELEO FLASH CLASS LIBRARY V1.0
We're pleased to let you know that we've just completed work on a new Flash Class Library for our Teleo™ product line. This opens up a whole new world of possibility for the Flash community. For the first time ever, Flash developers, working in Action Script 2.0, can easily develop interactive applications that extend beyond the computer – i.e. that can read data from external sensors and drive a variety of external motors, servos and LEDs. read the press release

May 1, 2004
California College of the Arts Interface Show
The California College of the Arts Interface Fall Show will occur this Saturday, May 1, from 7 - 10 PM, in various locations around Founder's Hall at the CCA Oakland campus (5212 Broadway, near the intersection of Broadway and College).

This semester's show features work by 45 students in the Emphasis Fabrication, Recombinant Media, and Chain Reaction classes, exploring the nature of interfaces, narration in random access environments, the poetic potential in electromechanical devices, interactivity and isolation, and the integration of time-based mediums such as video and audio into sculptural environments and objects.

The show will include a networked collaboration between many of the works shown, with media and mechanics from one work triggering responses in another.

Food and drink will be provided; please bring your ID if you are planning to imbibe.

Hope to see you there!

March 3-5, 2004
MAKINGTHINGS AT FLASHFORWARD 2004
San Francisco, March 3-5, 2004 - MakingThings exhibited at this years Flashforward conference and presented Teleo and the new Teleo Flash Component Set in the Technology Showcase on March 5, 2004, 9:00am - 10:00am.

MakingThings has released the new Teleo Flash Component Set for Flash developers. For the first time ever, Flash programmers can easily and inexpensively create and control applications that sense, react and interact in the physical world. These applications range from interactive works of art to interactive kiosks and window displays to interactive museum installations and environments.

February 27, 2004
MAKINGTHINGS IN FLASHMAGAZINE

November 25, 2003
MakingThings releases the Teleo Max external objects for Windows XP. Windows users can now use Max and Teleo to create their kinetic, dynamic, robotic projects.

With the free, trial version of Max or Max/MSP available from Cycling 74 and the free Teleo objects you can start playing around with the software immediately. If you have the Teleo hardware already, you can be sensing and controlling devices in the real world in minutes. If you do not have the Teleo hardware, you can order it from the MakingThings webstore which is accessible through our products page.

Cycling 74's free, 30 day trial version of Max and Max/MSP for Windows XP can be found here.

MakingThings Teleo Max external objects can be downloaded for free here.

The Teleo Starter Kits + Max or Max/MSP now ship with both the Mac and Windows XP versions of Max and Max/MSP. MakingThings will provide Teleo Starter Kit + Max/MSP/Jitter for Windows once Jitter for Windows is released.

September 26, 2003
MakingThings releases the Teleo Video Module which is designed to provide basic capabilities for tracking movement using up to two video cameras.

The Teleo Video Module can be run in two modes; static background and dynamic background. The static background mode involves setting a master image to which all subsequent images are compared. The Module will then report which pixels are different from the master image. In the dynamic background mode, each frame the camera sees is compared to the frame before it.

This Module works with any camera provided that it has NTSC composite video output and can be fitted with an RCA plug.

The Video Module is available for $95.00. In addition to the Video Module we stock a black and white, micro video camera for $49.50.

September 19, 2003
MakingThings releases the Teleo Stepper Motor Controller Module which is is a specialized module designed to provide a Teleo Network with the means to control bipolar and unipolar stepper motors up to 2.5A in full, half, quarter and eighth step modes. It can operate a stepper motor in one of two ways, either by positional control or speed control.

The Teleo Stepper Motor Controller Module is available at the MakingThings store for $125.00 and is supported with free, downloadable Max OS X and OS 9 externals. The Teleo Application SDK will be supported in the near future.

August 13, 2003
Michael Shiloh from MakingThings will present Teleo this week at Dorkbot London. For more information check out the Dorkbot London website.

July 25, 2003
MakingThings releases the Teleo Analog In Module which is a specialized module designed to provide a Teleo Network with twelve analog inputs. Previously the only Teleo Module that permitted input of any kind was the Multi IO Module which has four analog inputs and four digital inputs. The Teleo Analog In Module is, therefore, ideal for projects that require more than four analog inputs or up to twelve mixed analog and digital inputs

The Teleo Analog In Module is available at the MakingThings store for $95.00 and is supported with free, downloadable Max OS X and OS 9 externals. The Teleo Application SDK will be supported in the near future.

June 25, 2003
Lots of new things are happening this summer at MakingThings:

TELEO APPLICATION SDK V1.0 RELEASE
MakingThings announces the release of our Teleo Application SDK v1.0. Special thanks to those who had participated in our Beta program and assisted in making the SDK a better product.

Click here to download the Linux x86, Linux ARM (Zaurus), Windows, and Mac OS X versions.

SPECIAL OFFER $199.00 TELEO Starter Kit
MakingThings is offering a 20% discount on the Teleo Starter Kit. You can go to our store or email sales@makingthings.com for more details.

NEW PRODUCTS IN DEVELOPMENT
MakingThings is developing three new Teleo Modules. We have had many requests for a Stepper Motor Module, an Analog Input Module, and a Video Module and plan to release them in time for the Fall, 2003 semester. Contact anne@makingthings.com to place an advance order or to be notified of the official release date.

NEW PROJECTS SECTION
MakingThings has a new section on the website called Projects which showcases projects that use Teleo products and includes the Teleo Cookbook which offers step-by-step instructions that solve a variety of problems. The Teleo Cookbook will include solutions to very simple problems such as how to set up a bend sensor as well as more complex problems such as how to make a mobile chassis for a robot base. It is intended to help people make things, so any suggestions for Cookbook recipes are most welcome.

June 7, 2003
MakingThings will be demonstrating Teleo at the Robotics Society of America monthly meeting. Come check out our new animatronic hand designed by Andrew Laska. It is controlled by the Teleo Servo Module and we will demonstrate our Max/MSP Externals as well as a Teleo Application built with our SDK running on Sharp's Zaurus.

May 28, 2003
MakingThings released the Teleo Application SDK Beta which enables programmers on Mac OS X, Linux, Windows and other operating systems to interact with the Teleo System.

To experiment with the samples and your own applications, you can download the free Linux x86, Windows and Mac OS X Beta versions from our downloads page. And you can check out the documentation here. Feedback and comments are most welcome.

May 11, 2003
Come hang out with us at the second annual Power Tool Drag Races at Ace Junkyard, SF. MakingThings will have a table set up with Teleo demonstrations. The power tool racing will surely inspire you to design something, whether for next years' races or other projects. We will be available to discuss project ideas and answer technical questions so stop by and say hello!

POWER TOOL DRAG RACES
MAY 11, 2003
HIGH NOON!
Ace Junkyard
2255 McKinnon Street, San Francisco

$10 Ticket pays for the whole seat but you'll only need THE EDGE!!!!!!

Some Highlights:
- Flash-O-Matic on the steam irons grilling hot dogs and sno cones
- The V-8 blender making 10w-40 cocktails
- Cheerleaders . . . Cheerleaders . . . Cheerleaders (greasy ones)
- Special mystery prizes for:
Most spectacular crash
Most pathetic engineering

More information can be found at: http://www.qbox.org/

May 4, 2003
MakingThings will be displaying and demonstrating Teleo products at the fourth annual Expo for the Artist and Musician , May 4 in San Francisco at the CELLspace. The Expo is a very low-cost community connection fair bringing artists together with galleries, studios, arts-service groups and the general public to create a space for education, networking, sharing resources and cultivating music and the arts from the grassroots up.

MakingThings will demonstrate Teleo running on the Mac using Cycling 74's Max/MSP software as well as the Teleo Application SDK in an embedded Linux platform running on Sharp's Zaurus. MakingThings engineers will also be available to discuss project ideas and answer any technical questions. Stop by and check it out!

The event will be held on Sunday, May 4, 11am-6pm at:
CELLspace, 2050 Bryant St. @ 18th, SF, CA 94110
http://artsandmedia.net/expo/ -- general info & directions
No one turned away -- $2 suggested donation

May 3, 2003
CCAC's Film/Video/Performance department's Recombinant Media class presents the final show for this semester. MakingThings will be there checking out all the student projects that use Teleo. Hope you can make it!

Recombinant Media Class final show
When: May 3rd, 7:00pm
Where: Founders Hall, California College of Arts and Crafts, 5212 Broadway, Oakland, CA

 

APRIL 23-25, 2003
MakingThings has been invited to display Teleo products at the Microchip booth at the 15th annual Embedded Systems Conference in San Francisco. If you are interested in attending the conference you can register here (it's free!) Look for us wandering around the exhibition (we will be wearing MakingThings t-shirts.) And if you are interested in meeting with us at the conference, please email us at contact@makingthings.com to set up an appointment in advance.

MARCH 25, 2003
MakingThings is proud to have participated in the Tim North Benefit which was held in San Francisco Tuesday, March 25, 2003.
This event was a most amazing evening of Music, Art-auction, Videos from local, national and international artists - all for the remarkable Tim North who was recently diagnosed with Level 4 stomach cancer.
MakingThings, along with an anonymous donor, supported the event by donating a Teleo Starter Kit along with Cycling 74's Max/MSP/Jitter package to the auction. The lucky bidder had the pleasure to walk home with a fun new toy while at the same time supporting Tim and his family. We are thankful to be a part of such a loving community.

MARCH 12, 2003
MakingThings is in the News at powerpage.org read the story here

"Two companies have come to the rescue of those who want to add hardware power to the immensely deep interactive software MAX/MSP, without starting from scratch. Making Things' Teleo is a set of hardware tools for building interactive art, with USB translators for your Mac, modules for I/O control, and the ability to power motors (MOTORS!)"

MARCH 06, 2003
MakingThings is now offering two new Teleo Starter Kits that include Cycling '74's Max and Max/MSP software at a 10% discount. See the MakingThings products section for details.

"The Teleo System has catapulted the scope of what we can teach at CCAC," said Barney Haynes, "These unique tools have allowed us to encourage students to think way outside the box because the Teleo Modules allow for complex integration of technically driven conceptual art."

January 15, 2002
MakingThings presented Teleo at Dorkbot SF. Check out their website for more details:
http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotsf/

January 9, 2002:
MakingThings presented Teleo at a party for Macworld hosted by Cycling '74. Fun!