House That Follows the Sun

Bucky Fuller had the idea some three-quarters of a century ago to build houses that follow the sun, adjust to the wind, and otherwise move with their environment. The Dutch Situationists also had ideas about houses that could move, change their shape, their scenery, etc. But sadly, this type of both design smarts and creative whimsy rarely makes it into the marketplace. The only time we see anything like this is in show houses that pop up from time to time, like this one, designed by Rolf Disch, and built in Freiburg, Germany. It’s actually not new. It was built in the mid-90s, but is making the rounds of the blogosphere, thanks to a growing interest in alt.energy and “green” building.

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Most Hardcore Unboxing Pr0n EVER!

At Apple, even the swag packaging is pretentious! And the Applecore cares enough to lovingly detail the unboxing of a freakin’ Apple Store T-shirt. Now, we’re all for good design and smart packaging here at Street Tech, and we admit to several swoony Apple “out-of-box” experiences ourselvees, but this IS a bit on the obsessive side, don’t ya think?

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Amazing Cardcraft Robot Goes Up in Peeps Conflagration

Bunny Burn is an annual event that a group of friends (location unknown) organize.The purpose of the party is the spectacular immolation of marshmallow bunny Peeps, centered each year on a different theme. This Easter, the theme of the crime was Robots. One participant, Sengkelat, built this incredible six-legged cardboard robot piloted and crewed by oodles of Just Born Bunnies. Sparked up, the gooey treats achieve a Napalmy intensity unmatched in kitchen pyrotechnics. Sengkelat documents the construction, display, and destruction of the bunny hellbot in three Flickr sets.

[Via Brass Goggles]

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Belkin In-Desk Hubs and Docks

Here’s an interesting new product line from Belkin. Maybe inspired by a number of the projects that are floating around, where people either use the cable hole (a.k.a. “Grommet Hole”) in their desk or cut their own to build in-desk iPod docking stations or USB hubs, Belkin is now selling the same thing ready-made. They have several models of the USB port, designed for different size grommet holes (2″ or 3″) with four USB ports, and an iPod model that fits all Pods. They all sell for US$40 each.

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Oscilloscope Clock

You may have seen this on MAKEzine already, but it was too freakin’ cool to pass up. This guy in the Netherlands is selling a kit that turns the X and Y inputs of your oscilloscope into a clock. The kit uses the AtMega8515 microcontroller. It sounds like you can use it either on a scope that’s in active use, or an old one that you want to dedicate as a clock. I laughed at the idea of dedicating a working oscilloscope to a clock (I don’t even have my first scope yet, let alone one lying around!), but a quick peak at eBay shows a few old banged up (but working and cool-looking) models in the US$40-60 range. The clock kit costs $92 (69 EUR).

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Richard Dawkins and the Bishop of Oxford Discuss Evolution (& Other Things)

The Huffington Post has a fascinating video exchange between Richard Dawkins and the Bishop of Oxford. Given that Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist, an outspoken atheist, and the author of The God Delusion, and the Bishop is… well, an Anglican Bishop, you’d expect the fur to fly. But in fact, they’re friends and have written together about evolution and “Intelligent Design.” The discussion is very reasoned, surprising, and surprisingly interesting ( at least to me).

Thanks, Ron!

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Steam-Driven Stars Wars Droid

I think Jake von Slatt and I-Wei have a contest going to see who can post the most and coolest steampunky tech projects. We just blogged about I-Wei’s amazing Steam Beetle a few weeks back, and now, he has a new creation, each one always seeming to outdo the last. The R2S2 (R2 Steam 2) is a steam-powered droid built using the Cheddar steam boiler I-Wei uses in most of his creations, and Wilesco D48 marine engines. The R2 body is a Hasbro R2D2 Interactive Droid he snagged for cheap on eBay. I love the boiler pressure needle guage on the face plate. Check out the video. It’s hysterical. He has a little “ad” for his other Crabu creations at the end.

I just found out that I-Wei is going to be at the Maker Faire next month showing off his steam vehicles. I’ll finally get a cnance to meet him. I’m going to be there running Mousey the Junkbot workshops. Any other Street Techies going?

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How-To: Build a Flash Diffuser for Studio Photography

Man, does our boy Jake von Slatt ever sleep? Seems like he’s crankin’ stuff out of the Steampunk Workshop on a near daily basis.

His latest project should help all of his future projects look even snazzier than they do now. It’s a foamcore and packing tape-special, a light diffuser, used to soften the intensity of camera light flash. And as Jake points out in the project’s intro, light flare can be particularly problematic when shooting a lot of polished brass, as he frequently does.

Check out the results of using the diffuser on his Telegraph Sounder we blogged about last week. Nice!

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How-To: Make a Wallet Out of a Keyboard

I’ve always been fascinated by keyboards and the various types of materials and switch technologies that underlie them. This Instructable shows you how to make a cool-looking wallet out of the flexible circuit material used in the typical keyswitch assembly.

It sounds like it’s not the easiest cut n’ fold job you can do, but it looks like you get a very unique, and uniquely nerdy, bit o’ kit out of the effort. Hey, I need me a new wallet. Maybe me and my Leatherman will get Medieval with one of the half dozen old boards I have gathering Radon in the basement.

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