MindKits News and Blog

Hello all, just a quick email from the team at MindKits to wish you a very Merry Xmas and have fun tinkering over the break.

Woohoo ! WE ARE OPEN THROUGH THE XMAS PERIOD AND ACCEPTING ORDERS!!


We do great gift vouchers. They get emailed to you instead of a box as above but showing a pile of 1's and 0's just didn't seem to do the gift vouchers justice.


Last Minute Shopping and Vouchers:
If you order today (Tuesday 22nd) we're told that orders will still make it Auckland wide tomorrow and NZ wide on Thursday.
We also have vouchers which will be automagically emailed to you if you're looking for that last minute pressie for the techo friend or partner.
 http://www.mindkits.co.nz/_product_47975/Gift-100
 http://www.mindkits.co.nz/_product_47975/Gift-50
 http://www.mindkits.co.nz/_product_47975/Gift-20



Xmas Hours:
We figure that if you're like us you'll be wanting to do a spot of tinkering over the break so we're bringing the entire MindKits stock with us to the Coromandel where our awesome shipping company has a depot and will be picking up deliveries daily. So, it will be business as usual and we'd be happy to ship your orders.



New Stuff and Last Minute Gifts and Kit For Holiday Tinkering: 

We just brought in a plethora (yeah, gotta love that word) of new goodies which we think you are going to love!
So far we're counting 13 new items ranging from serial driven LED displays, XBee breakouts, a new Arduino book, the Arduino Screw Shield, Flex sensor, humidity and temp sensor, SparkFun Sensor kit and the trusty old 9v battery snap.

Best thing to do is to Check out the goodies here and if you have any questions just drop us an email/contact form and we'll get right back to  you.

Regards,
Tim
MindKits Chief Ninja

Just a note: This has been postponed until next year when Massey have more time to organise the course. If you're interested email me (Tim at mindkits dot com) and I'll get in touch when they are running the course.

28th - 29th November 2009
Massey University's College of Creative Arts
$598 Two Day Short Course



Tim Carr from MindKits and Massey University are offering 20 participants a fantastic opportunity to sign up to a two day short course that introduces you to the world of micro-controllers and electronics through Arduino. On the first day, you will be shown how to get up and running with the Arduino environment and the principles of electronics along with loads of hands on tinkering to put the principles into practise. You will learn how to leverage the vast pool of community resources to allow you to interface with just about any piece of hardware and find code to make it do what you need without having to be a hardware hacking genius yourself. You will be encouraged to experiment hands on with electronics and Arduino and have knowledgeable resource there to make learning easy, fun and fast.

You will also receive $85 worth of Arduino equipment and components to walk away with at the end of the workshop which gives you everything you need to start learning while being guided and having fun.

The second day will be focused around putting your new found skills to good use and adding new skills to those from the first day. You are encouraged to ask as many questions as you like and your tutor will help you all the way. After gaining a foothold on what Arduino is and what it can do for you, you will be given a chance to extend your knowledge by working on a real life project of your choice or one of our pre-tinkered project ideas while your tutor helps you when you have questions and will advise on best practices. You will not only gain the hands on experience and confidence to continue tinkering after the course but you will work through many of the fundamental issues that lead to quality design and implementation.

If you're new to electronics and micro-processors, think they are a mystery but have an inquiring mind and would like to learn more then this is the course for you. We take the concepts of electronics, combine them with the fun of micro-controllers and programming and give you an opportunity to learn new skills and have good fun building a project at the same time.

The course costs $598 for the two days which includes $85 worth of kit from MindKits, tea, coffee and refreshments and we'll provide lunch for you each day too. The workshop will take place at Massey University and we'll provide WI-FI access for internet on the day. You are encouraged to bring your own laptop which you will set up on the day but if you haven't a laptop we'll provide you with a computer in the lab on the day to use.



Please feel free to contact Tim Carr (Tim@MindKits.co.nz) if you have questions and register your interest with Massey University by emailing Megan Nash: m.e.nash@massey.ac.nz

This is a well structured course and you will walk away with a head full of usefull information that would have taken months to gather if you had of tinkered away in your own time.

Making things. It’s a bastion of New Zealand culture. We call it the “Number 8 Wire” mentality. Some would argue that the future of our economy relies on our ability to keep on with the makery. Both Ben (from Ben.geek.nz) and I love making stuff, and Ben loves local kiwi company Mindkits (that's us), because we supply all sorts of electronic goodies to help you make anything you might put your minds to.

So it is my pleasure to announce that Mindkits and Ben.geek.nz are teaming up to give you a little bit of inspiration. I'm giving away a SparkFun Arduino Starter Kit, and Ben's going to throw in a dual motor gearbox, motor controller, and couple of tiny servos from his collection of RC bits. All you have to do is tell us what you would make if you had free reign of the Mindkits store room. Let your imagination run wild and yes, you get points for being entertaining. We won’t make you prove you can build it (but we would love it if you did). If we get enough entries, we’ll put the top three (selected by Ben and Tim) up for a vote.

Step 1: Browse Mindkits

Take a look at everything in the MindKits store for inspiration and add anything else you feel you'd like to use (disassembled VCR's, cats and anything electronic you feel would help). Come up with a plan of what you'd love to build if money, equipment, skill or knowledge weren't a concern.

Step 2: Write up what you’d build on Ben.geek.nz (click here to link to Ben.geek.nz)

Have a look around at the items available. Arduino boards, Lilypads (for the laydees!), gearboxes and proximity sensors, LCD screens, carbon monoxide sensors, wifi transceivers … heck we’ll even let you branch out a bit and consider using Xbees.

Step 4: Win!

Ben and I (Tim - MindKits Chief Ninja) will choose the most creative and/or amusing entry. That person will win:

• 1 SparkFun Arduino Starter Kit
• 1 dual motor gearbox
• 1 motor controller
• 2 tiny servos from Bens collection of RC bits - everything else is brand new.

The ‘Crossing Wires’ installation in the Gallery at Tuatara House provides a window into the seldom seen world of the science laboratory blended with performance exhibition art.

The installation will offer the public the opportunity to experience  science experimentation and participate in active  dialogues on the cultural, social and temporal constructions of our sensed reality.

If you're a fan of technology and would like to see how it can be used in art then it could be worth you popping in for a look.

You'll find a more readable copy of the flier here

Over the last week a couple of tech articles stood out and gave me that come under the banner of 'Awesomology'.
One is RFID - the researchers visualised the surrounding radio waves using an RFID card and an LED. Pretty cool really.

You can grab some RFID kit from MindKits here

Immaterials: the ghost in the field from timo on Vimeo.

The next one comes from MIT where they have built an autonomous indoor craft that can avoid obstacles, map out a room and fly around. Pretty damn cool seeing the results of its laser scanner in real time appearing on the computer screen.

Friday the 9th of October saw a great turnout for the  Arduino Users Group meet-up for Auckland and below are a few pics so you too can share vicariously in our random banter and a few cold lagers too.

We had a good turn out for what could arguably be called the first 'proper' AUG meet up and there was certainly no shortage of ideas being thrown around, ideas shared or a few chuckles at the 'Arduino Beer Glass' which measures the temperature of the beer and can alert the drinker to any potential temperature problems by transmitting its data back to base to be graphed and an alert threshold set for 'Defcon One' aka 'Warm Beer'.

For the next meeting we're twisting Vik Ollivers rubber arm to get him to bring the RepRap along and show us how it works. If you've not heard of the RepRap yet its a DIY Arduino powered 3D printer which can even print copies of the majority of parts for itself.

Maori TV:
We'll also have the folks from Maori TV along to do some filming and to check out what all this fuss about Arduino is about. They promise not to be invasive or film anyone who doesn't want their mug to be shown on TV while trying to enjoy a cold beer.
I would be absolutely stoked to hear from some of you who have Arduino based projects that you could bring along on the day though as it would be awesome to be able to show them just what these tinkers get up to. Don't be shy if it's not in the best condition; it's the tinkering that they're interested in not the look of the project. Contact me if you'd like to bring something along.

Pictures:
Anyway, that's enough from me. Check out the pics below and we hope to see you for the next Arduino Users Group in Auckland which meets on the second Thursday of every month at 6pm at the Playhouse Pub by Aotea Square. Novembers meeting will be on the 12th.



People came and went but in general we had a great turn out. Hope to see you join us next time. No one really knew each other at the start but by the end we had a chance to hear about some awesome projects and have fun doing it.







  Borisinvestigating the use of Arduino for tracking people playing sports in real time.



Sebastian Hamilton came along and we were able to check out the [currently] finished version of his Arduino based project which tracks a user and then projects a sensory experience around them and on them using vibration and light. It has to be seen to be believed. Check out the YouTube video here.



The Arduino Beer Mug which is keeping me safe from drinking a warm beer. Phew!

Hello all you busy tinkerers out there!

Next Meetup:
October 8th at 6PM

Note: Sorry for any confusion over the last meetups - we had some hiccups - and we were either present but weren't spotted or the days had changed. We're on track now and looking forward to seeing you all.

With the growth of Arduino over the last year we've decided to start the Arduino Users Group in Auckland 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 will be hosting and we are looking forward to seeing many of you at the Arduino Users group which started again on Thursday 3rd of September and runs on the second 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.

http://www.mindkits.co.nz/Arduino_Users_Group_Auckland.html

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.  Second Thursday of the 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.

Astime 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'reboth 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)

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.