GarageGeeks Blog

The GarageGeeks and Yossi Vardi invite you to a special garage party event

“GarageGeeks hosting Google”

Sergey Brin, Co-founder and President of Technology at Google,

And
Meir Brand / Country Director, Israel
Yoelle Maarek / Director of Haifa R&D Center
Yossi Matias / Director of Tel-Aviv R&D Center
Riki Drori / Country Marketing Manager, Israel

The event will take place on Thursday May 15th, 21:30, Garage HQ (Hapeled 40, Holon).

Due to security and space limitiations, the event is private and closed. This invitation is for one person only and is not transferable. Please confirm your participation and bring a printed copy of this invitation to the event.

Reflections

• business week
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRvnkoZnj18
• http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3544510,00.html
• http://thenextweb.org/2008/05/17/sergey-brin-about-the-israeli-start-up-scene-video/
• http://hitech.themarker.com
• http://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000342562&fid=594
• http://www.nrg.co.il/online/16/ART1/734/327.html
• http://news.walla.co.il/?w=//1282861

ROBOTS, GADGETS AND
OTHER ANIMALS: TOMORROW’S TECHNOLOGY IN DAILY LIFE
Let us examine how tomorrow’s technology
will affect our daily life: robots, advanced
computers, electronic toys and just plain cool
gadgets.

I would like to invite you to a special post-Kinnernet GarageGeeks party. This time we have invited Kinnernet participants from Israel and aboard to join us.

The party will take place next Sunday (13/4) at 19:30. Please update the wiki (wiki.garagegeeks.org) which stuff that you bring to drink and eat.

please tag videos images etc’ with garagegeeks and hglp

See ya,

“Aviv”High School from Ra’anana, won the Microsoft Israel FIRST Robotics 2008, and they are going Atlanta to the national FIRST competition.

As part of GarageGeeks community activities, GarageGeeks members, Eyal Hershko, Tal Chalozin and Didi Vardi contributed and helped to “Reshit” and “Aviv” high-schools.
“Reshit” high school from “shechonat Ha’tikva”, Tel aviv, won the first place with 2 other robot in robot performance.
“Aviv” high school, won the chairman for robot preformance and contribution to comunity.

The FIRST competition takes place each year and is designed to encourage the younger generation to study science and technology. The FIRST ISRAEL Organization is supported by Microsoft Israel.

FIRST stands for : For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology

The FIRST Robotics Competition is one of the premier competitions of its kind in the world, having grown to more than 1,500 teams and 37,000 students from Brazil, Chile, Israel, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and every state in the U.S., competing at 41 regional events to vie for a chance to win it all in Atlanta.

more information at:

http://www.usfirst.org/

http://www.firstisrael.org.il/

http://www.firstisrael.org.il/news/article/there-are-winners-in-the-microsoft-first-robotics-competition/

Building Technological Leadership in Raanana

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/Features/2008/mar08/03-27firstrobotics.mspx

As in every year, we take our gaming consoles for a day out, Purim (the jewish version of halloween) event at Rogozin school.
We brought some Playstations, XBOXs, Wii, projectors into a classroom and setup a gaming room for the kids to play.

more images at flickr tagged with Purim and Rogozin

You are invited to a GarageGeeks party where we’ll play , eat, drink and socialize! Don’t forget to update the Wiki (wiki.garagegeeks.org) with food/drink that you’ll bring. The party is on the 6/3/2008 at 20:30. See ya all!

please tag your photos and videos with garagegeeks and hglp (hglp = Holon GarageGeeks Lan Party)

The GarageGeeks will be presenting at the next Pecha Kucha night Vol. 3:
Moadon Ha’Theatron, Tel Aviv, 27 February 2008, 20:20PM
Moadon Ha’Theatron,10 sderot Yerushalaim, Yaffo
Doors open at 19:00 event start at 20:20 sharp! party will follow….
http://www.pecha-kucha.org/cities/tel-aviv

Tal Chalozin at Pech Kucha TLV 3

Our made man, Ohad Eder Pressman reached to Speaker level at DLD* 2008, lecturing about connecting the Physical and Digital worlds.

Digital gets Physical session include Kati London, Julian Bleecker (NearFuture), Neri Oxman, Ohad Eder-Pressman and hosted by Kevin Slavin

watch the full video at sevenload

http://de.sevenload.com/videos/kHp4S78/DLD08-Day-3-Digital-gets-physical/sliderPage/2

DLD conference is a blast of sharing ideas, thoughts and vision.
It was a great opportunity to meet GarageGeeks friends from all over the world:

Pabls Holman the international hacker, Digital Dan Dubno , check out their great presentation at DLD*

http://en.sevenload.com/videos/bAoG482/DLD08-Day-2-Educate-experiment/sliderPage/2

JB Jean-Baptiste Labrune who creates our next generation of interfaces, Régine Debatty editor of the art/tech blog http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com

Michael Reinboth from Compost records, Munich, kindly had a meeting with us and we discussed about various ways to integrate the GarageGeeks activities with the music industry in Germany.

At this music workshop, we are creating modified toys music controllers that send their MIDI or Audio information to central audio and visual stations.

Reflections from this workshop

photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rafael_mizrahi/sets/72157603505744930/

videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4z5LKpeLZU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri4vpqTnP9A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd1H2T5uUqQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5raa-XiAFAo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S42jX6-n9K4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd1H2T5uUqQ

Date: 3 January 2008
Hosts: Rafael Mizrahi, Eyal ‘Person’ Sachar and Shira Miasnik

Schedule19:00 Garage Open: Prepare your “Basta”.
20:00 Workshop agenda: Enough with Baby Einstein, its Baby Clubber time.
20:30 workshop starts

Who should come?
* Experienced music technicians and interactive designer.
* The event is open for everyone. You can join others (see /write in the wiki http://wiki.garagegeeks.org) by helping take apart and stuff the musical toys with gadgets.

The Garage will be wired with MIDI, and Audio cables. Each station can choose from several methods of communication to the central stations Hub. Your Toy output can be connected to the central stations or to your Laptop, and from there, to the central stations.

Ingredients: bring one or more of the followings:

1. A Toy (or some device that you wish to convert into a controller)
2. Sensors http://www.sensorwiki.org/index.php/Sensors
3. Sensor interface board http://www.sensorwiki.org/index.php/Sensor_interfaces
4. Parts - Assorted switches, potentiometers and other parts
   http://www.anti-theory.com/soundart/circuitbend/cb04.html
5. Laptop
6. Cables:MIDI, LAN, Audio and converter accessories.
7. Tools: soldering iron, glue, etc’
   http://www.anti-theory.com/soundart/circuitbend/cb03.html
8. USB Keyboard to take apart.

How to participate with low budget:
Here is a list of ingredients to build a Music Toy Controller for anyone who wish to participate but is not so skilled or equipped. A Toy wired with Keys from a USB keyboard sending keystrokes to a utility (MouseTrap) which translates them into MIDI messages, mapped by MIDI-OX into Ableton Live.
* Toy
* USB Keyboard to take apart (also a mouse can be used).
* Laptop
* Ableton Live Demo http://www.ableton.com
* MIDI utilities:
** Keyboard/Mouse to MIDI: MouseTrap http://www.humatic.de/htools/MouseTrap.htm
** MIDI virtual device: MIDI-OX http://www.midiox.com/?http://www.midiox.com/moxdown.htm
* switches, knobs, sliders to hook on the Toy
* wires, solder, glue gun.
* anything else you wish to do with your lovely musical Toy.

Examples of participation (there can be more variations):

1. Toy+MIDI board->central station.
2. Toy+USB Keyboard->laptop->MIDI device or Audio->central station.
3. Toy+phidgets->laptop->Audio->central station.
4. Toy->laptop->MAX/MSP with MIDI module->MIDI device->central station.
5. Toy+ Arduino with MIDI module->laptop or central station.

Recommended boards:

1. MIDISense (MIDI) http://www.ladyada.net/make/midisense
2. MIDITron (MIDI) http://eroktronix.com
3. Arduino (Multi Purpose board USB) http://www.arduino.cc
4. Phidgets (Sensors to USB) http://www.phidgets.com/index.php?module=pncommerce&func=itemview&IID=85
5. Pocket Electronic (MIDI) http://www.doepfer.de/pe.htm
6. Make Controller Kit (USB and OSC) http://www.makingthings.com/products/KIT-MAKE-CTRL

notes: Don’t buy a board without understanding what you are buying and how to operate it.
The board kits are pretty easy to build, but prepare them at home because it takes several hours to assemble a 50$ kit.

Home Preparations:

1. Get a Toy, disassemble it at home and look for ways to attach the sensors or potentiometers onto it.
2. Decide how the toy will function? (MIDI, USB, Phidget, OSC, etc’)
3. Prepare your board and test it with the sensors or potentiometers.
4. A handful of parts (knobs, slides, etc’) that you can hook on the toy, bring extra, maybe others can use them.
   tour some electronic shops for such parts, or just take them from electronic junk you still didn’t throw away.

Links

1. List of electronic shops which also sell sensors http://www.garagegeeks.org/blog/?p=78
2. List of music shops that sell music instruments http://www.act.co.il/index.php?action=shops

Reading material

MIDI
Essential MIDI toolbox
Use to monitor midi messages, send midi from your keyboard, map midi devices and more.
MIDI-OX
http://www.midiox.com/?http://www.midiox.com/moxdown.htm
MIDI-Yoke
http://www.midiox.com/index.htm?http://www.midiox.com/myoke.htm

OSC – Open Sound Control
OSC is meant to supersede the MIDI While MIDI requires a MIDI USB device, OSC communicate via a standard home or studio network (TCP/IP, Ethernet) or via the internet.

http://opensoundcontrol.org
http://www.cnmat.berkeley.edu/OpenSoundControl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSound_Control

OSC to MIDI utilities
OCCAM (MAC OS) http://www.mat.ucsb.edu/~c.ramakr/illposed/occam.html
OSCulator (MAC OS) http://www.osculator.net/wiki

USB keyboard or Mouse to MIDI or OSC

MouseTrap - MouseTrap lets mouse and keyboard act as general purpose Midi / OSC control hardware.
http://www.humatic.de/htools/MouseTrap.htm

More Links for Muse

http://www.act.co.il
http://createdigitalmusic.com
http://createdigitalmotion.com

Cathy Brooks from Six Apart and Loic Le Meur invited the GuitarHeroNoid to perform at LeWeb3 conference France.

Our man Tal Chalozin, the heronoid Puppeteer, went there and presented the garageGeeks activities.

Here is a video of the show