Software Freedom Day (SFD) is a worldwide celebration of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). The principles behind FOSS are underpinned by the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. You can read more about the four freedoms here.

The goal in this celebration is to educate the worldwide public about the benefits of using high quality FOSS in education, in government, at home, and in business - in short, everywhere!

Chief Ninja Tim from MindKits will be there with bells on so you can all have a play around with an Arduino and get hands on.

We look forward to seeing you there and please make sure you come up and say hi - we're always keen to chat to other tinkerers.

Auckland Software Freedom Day Poster

I was sent this link to the 'SWAT Bot' (Thanks John) which I thought was pretty interesting.
Now, I'm usually interested in these links from the 'WOW, that's insanely complex' perspective but for this bot I found myself thinking 'WOW, what a simple solution to a complex problem. I may even be able hack one of these together from off the shelf parts'.

I thought I would share it with you and perhaps one day the New Zealand Police or swat will get these. At least they'd be able to throw them at criminals if they don't get their stun guns.

Hello all you busy tinkerers out there!

With the growth of Arduino over the last year we've decided to start the Arduino Users Group in Auckland in conjunction with CoLab and we'd love it if you came along to say hello and tell us about your projects over a beer.

Tim Carr (that's me, the MindKits Chief Ninja) and Kim Newall along with CoLab will be hosting and we are looking forward to seeing many of you at the Arduino Users group which will start again on Thursday 3rd of September and runs on the first and third Thursday of the month from there.

We've got some fun plans to bring you a mix of community, entertainment and education so we'd love to see you come along and say hello over a beer and a bit of a chat. It's all rather relaxed so just turn up, say hello and grab a seat.

The Arduino Users Group will include:

Guest speakers - delivering information on current areas of interest or requested info. An opportunity to ask experts for advice and help with problems A show and tell so you can share what you've been working on with others A chance to meet people interested in the same stuff as you A fun way to quench your thirst over a beer Bit or byte swap - exchange your goodies for others stuff

Details:

Where:
Playhouse Bar (next to Aotea Square at the side of the IMax building) - We'll have a sign on the table so you know it's us.

When:
6pm.  Thursday 3rd September (First and third Thursday of every month)

Who:
Anyone who is interested in learning about Arduino, is working with it or wants to meet others who are interested in it.

Please feel free to bring along anyone you think would enjoy it too.

As time goes on we'll get some sponsorship sorted and perhaps some prizes too. Also there will be a 'parts swap' so you can trade bits and bobs.

If you'd like to know more, have questions you can contact me (Tim at Mindkits.co.nz or @Mindkits on Twitter)

We're both looking forward to having you at our meet ups and would love it if you could help us spread the word to others who may be interested via Twitter, Facebook or even the old email (hell, we'd be fine with IP over Carrier Pigeon if it works for you)

Regards and see you there,
Tim
MindKits Chief Ninja

Woohoo...Freebies! Lots of goodies for free when you buy an Arduino Duemilanove

We're feeling generous after running the Auckland MindKits Arduino Beginners Workshop on the 22nd/23rd August so we feel it's time to offer something a little special for you. For a very limited time we're going to make buying an Arduino from MindKits fantastic value!

Not only will you get your Arduino Duemilanove but we'll give you the freebees listed below at a value of $17

 1) 'Arduino Handbook'
Add a note into your order for the 'Arduino Handbook' we'll send you a hard copy of the Arduino Reference Handbook with sample circuits and common programming examples to make learning and using the Arduino even easier.
This is an openly downloadable handbook but we've done all the hard stuff by getting it printed and made into a lovely looking booklet for you which you'll receive free when you purchase an Arduino Duemilanove from MindKits (don't forget to request it in the notes and despite the picture below being of an Arduino NG it's still perfectly applicable).


2) Free Shipping
Yep, thats right, buy an Arduino USB/Duemilanove from MindKits and we'll ship it to you for free. This also means that anything else you buy in the same order ships for free too.

3) Free goodies bag of components
When we started tinkering we found a set of 13 resistors and components that were used in nearly every project but when they weren't close at hand it was a real pain in the a**. Solved! You get a little pack-of-win with every Arduino you buy from us.



4) Jumper Wires - Free!
The Swiss Army Knife of electronics; these little puppies are so useful that we feel everyone should have a set ready to go.
You'll receive a set of 15 jumpers which is enough to get you started and on your way. There's even a mix of the essential black and red ones :)


5) Our heartfelt gratification
The team at MindKits would like to thank you very much for your support and for helping us grow with such a frenetic pace over the last 8 months.
Your purchases so far have enabled us to run outreach programs to build community around Arduino and robotics. We're here to make it easy for people such as yourselves to learn and gain support so we put money back into the community and offer our time free. We're not simply a webshop that aims to drop product and run.

Here's what your support enables us to work toward:
-Working with NZ schools to bring Arduino into the classroom for keen learners
-APC Magazine published how-to and tutorial for beginners
-Arduino Users Group - Auckland
-MakerSpace in Auckland (work in progress) - Space for Tinkerers to tinker and learn
-CoLab partners to build community by growing technology awareness and events
-MindKits Arudino Workshops (funded also by participants)
-More to come including competitions and guest speakers....keep an eye out.

Your support is greatly appreciated by all of us here at MindKits.

Regards,
Tim
MindKits Chief Ninja

Arduino Duemilanove USB Board Price: NZ$ $65.00 In stock: 14  Qty:

I do have to laugh when I think about this last weekends (8/9th August) tinkering at the Mindkits Beginners Arduino Workshop in Wellington. It wasn't just that we had a bunch of guys from Weta (makers of Lord of the Rings for those who've lived in a cave all their lives) who ate up information and digested it effortlessly like Jo Seagar after the 40 hour famine or the moment that I looked up to see Matt Mueller throwing his SLR camera up in the air connected to a triple-axis accelerometer so it would take a picture at the top of the arc.


Matt Mueller from Weta with his SLR/Tri-Ax photography contraption. It worked too...!


Although all of those moments did make me laugh it was the echo of the promise our supervising Massey representative (Tanya) made to the head of department that "There's nothing that can go wrong loaning the room to Tim at MindKits for the weekend. We're just tinkering, no soldering irons, no fire and no problems. What could go wrong with that?". Shortly after I was reminded of that promise I turn around to see Matt Sloan with a lighter under a thermistor connected to an Arduino and in turn connected to a servo. There's a puff of smoke that wafts without hurry across his vision and he exclaims - "Wow, shit, smoke" and rips the wires from the board in one spasmodic motion.

Shortly after he plucked his courage up again as if investigating just how much magic smoke really is in all this electronics kit and does it again -  "that really makes it move" he exclaimed as the servo sounded it's chattering death throws and Matt steadfastly held the flame to the thermistor like a branding iron to an animal.


"If you haven't broken it, you haven't tinkered hard enough" - no idea who said it but I repeat it often as a MindKits mantra. Matt certainly put this into play.


It was a successful day with a strong focus on getting hands on and learning by experimentation and from what I've heard from the team so far everyone had fun and learned a lot. They all went home with a great set of kit to get them started and lots more fun to be had. Now that's the way to learn.


Frank and Kara playing with a home made pressure sensor and a servo


Small Plug for August Auckland Workshop if you're interested:
http://www.mindkits.co.nz/arduino_course-AK.html




All work and no play..pffft...it was the weekend so time for a pint at the Southern Cross



Tim
MindKits Chief Ninja

At the beginning of July MindKits ran it's first ever Arduino Course in Wellington and it sold out within 8 hours. So, for all those people who we couldn't fit into the last course or for those wanting to spend two days learning how to master the Arduino and build your own projects we'd love to see you join us for this one.

You'll receive over $85 work of kit, learn stacks about robotics, arduino, electronics and sensors and at the end of it you'll walk out with your very own project. It's a lot of fun too and we will probably end up at a nearby pub after the first day for a beer and to regale the efforts of the day.

The last course ended with students making a morse code trainer, a level sensing Arduino that controlled a servo and a furry animatronic arduino that responded to light....all from two days of learning.

This course brings together all the needed skills to enable you to build your own project from the ground up.

More information can be found below (please don't delay as classes are filling fast):

Auckland
http://www.mindkits.co.nz/arduino_course-AK.html

Wellington
http://www.mindkits.co.nz/arduino_course.html

I was lucky enough to meet Matt Kenyon through CoLab in Auckland - Matt's part of a group called SWAMP (Studies of Work, Atmospheres and Mass Production) and has 10 years of experience in bringing technology and art together in interesting ways. I was blown away by the creativity of SWAMP's project and in particular the 'Coke is It' bot which seeks out Coca Cola and proceeds to spray it over itself until it eventually erodes and self destructs.
 
So, the great news is that CoLab have set up three events where Matt will show off some of his teams goodies at an exhibition, be part of an artists talk and  lastly take a workshop combining GPS, cameras and HP IPaq's and you're invited to all of them!

Seats are limited so if you're interested you'll need to act very quickly.

But in the mean time, here's a pic of one of their projects...bonus points if you can guess what happens.

Tim
MindKits Chief Ninja

CoLab is pleased to present AGAINST FREEDOM - A Discussion Panel

Tuesday, July 28th, 6pm-9pm at Galatos
Student Fee: $ 5.00
Regular Fee: $ 10.00
(Includes a complimentary wine or beer)
For more info see attached flyer and click here to register for this event.

Technologies have emerged that radically enhance contemporary governments/corporations ability to collect and manage individual citizen/consumer's images and data. These developments have taken place in a landscape of increasing anxiety regarding corporate profits and national security. In conjunction with the residency of Matt Kenyon with AUT's Co-Lab and the concurrent exhibition of his collaborative work with the SWAMP collective at MIC Tio Rerehiko, we are staging a panel discussion aimed at extending a critical engagement with some of the key concerns exhibited by SWAMP and keenly articulated by Matt. This discussion invites scholars and artists from widely different disciplines to explore this theme and its continued implications for our lives today.

SWAMP (an acronym for Studies of Work Atmospheres and Mass Production) attempts to redirect the configuration of contemporary culture, and in the process reveal flaws and contradictions prevalent in its systems. A recurring concern for the collective is the corruption of popular culture at the hands of sensationalism, mass media and corporate entities like fast-food chains and big box retail; things which themselves construct the very foundations of everyday culture.

For the panel discussion, Swamp artist's Matt Kenyon and Doug Easterly will explore notions of 'consumer freedom' by presenting a series of the collective's guerrilla new media artworks.

AgainstFreedom.pdf

CoLab is pleased to present an artist talk by the digital media collective SWAMP.

Thursday, 23 July, 4pm at MIC Toi Rerehiko,
1st Floor, 321 Karangahape (K) Road.

Currently in Auckland as a resident at AUT University's CoLab creative technology centre, Kenyon is a mixed media artist who as half of the collective known as SWAMP (Studies of Work, Atmospheres and Mass Production) stages witty and satirical interventions to critique global corporations, consumerism, mass production and political domination.

As part of his residency he will be giving an artist's talk in conjunction with an exhibition of SWAMP work running at MIC Toi Rerehiko until August 22.

MKArtistTalk.pdf

So, I've been told by the MindKits elf that I went a little crazy in ordering this last shipment from our friends at SparkFun and I tend to agree with her. We've got 12 new pieces of bot building fun for you to tinker with including RFID readers and cards, ball casters for your bot building needs, 5v programmers for the awesome Arduino Pro's and Pro mini's, a new basic breadboard with power inputs, small servos and vibration motors.

Chek out the MindKits 'New Stuff' cateogory for all the details. We accept no liability for laptop damage due to druel on keyboards :)
Enjoy and thanks for visiting us at MindKits

http://www.mindkits.co.nz/_catalog_50845/New_Stuff?Page=2&Items=12

What could be better than spending a weekend learning about Arduino, the favorite open source physical computing platform for designers, artists and hobbyists. Get started in a friendly learning environment designed especially for beginners.

Don't have any experience with software, electronics or physical computing?

Excellent! No experience necessary.

Interested? Check out www.MindKits.co.nz/Arduino_Course.html

  for more info

 

So the MindKits Elves reminded me that its about time for a winter sale! What a fantastic idea I thought and here we are announcing our first winter sale where we've drastically reduced the prices on a bunch of great winder bits and pieces that make for a comfy weekend of tinkering, all wrapped up warm.

Now go check out the plethora (yes, I did just use that word) of goodies to add to your projects

 Check out the items on sale here for more info

Tim
MindKits Chief Ninja