Tinker it now!

We’re really so looking forward to this, I had to blog about this again. If you’re in the area, come and see us!

We’ve built some lovely interactive pieces for this, based on RFID technologies, Arduino + Flash stuff and even balloons!!!

Come round tomorrow from 6pm to 11pm at the fabulous Village Underground! All details on the YCN website.

++ Architecture Association work blog.

++ Arduino bot that speaks your Twitter messages back to you.

++ Step forward for open source software on the US court of appeals.

++ How balanced is the UK national grid at the moment?

If you’re in Brighton tomorrow evening, we’re running an introduction to Arduino + RFID , similar to the workshop we ran last spring as part of the 3rd edition of the Takeaway Festival at the Dana Centre. If you’re in the area, come and say hi, Nick Weldin will be running this one.

I found this deeply troubling definition on a really daft site advertising for security software. Really misleading and just plain wrong!

Hacker
The term hacker has a spectrum of meanings:
Hacker (computer security), someone who breaks computer and network security
Hacker (free and open source software), a programmer in the free and open source movement
Hacker (hobbyist), an enthusiastic home computer hobbyist.

For all 3 definitions, a hacker is a person engaged in circumvention of computer security.

via Hugs for Hackers.

At Tinker, we get involved in lots of really interesting client work, most of which sometimes stays under wraps, but this is definitely not the case.

We’re happy to have been invited to collaborate with Young Creative Network on their YCN Live launch event taking place on August 27th at the Village Underground.

This launch event is focused on allowing guests to explore the commended work of young creative people from the areas of graphic design, illustration, product design, packaging and more.

We’ve built 3 different interactive elements for this event, and we hope you’ll be able to come and see us there, we’ll report back with videos and images right after!

If you’re wanting to practice your italian, Tinker has decided to open an italian blog at tinker.it/it/now. My written italian sucks, so Massimo and the rest of our italian team will be adding content there more than the London office.

Enjoy!

I was very honored to be asked to speak at the upcoming Web2.0 Expo in Berlin this October. I’ll be talking about some of the lessons that open source software and web2.0 communities have learnt that could benefit open source hardware projects in the future. See you there I hope!

Nick Weldin and myself will be leading the Toy Hybrid hacking workshop at Mediamatic in Amsterdam this October. Previously taught by Tinker’s friends Dana Gordon and Jean-Baptiste Labrune, this workshop is like an extended toy hacking workshop but with a conceptual twist.

Not to worry though we’ll be organising a Toy Hacking workshop in London again, the last one was too much fun.

This has now been canceled but I will be giving a talk there on Thursday the 23rd. If you’re in town, come say hi!

Tinker are looking for a sales and office manager to join their team on a permanent basis in their London office. You will ideally have an interest in electronics or design. Your role will be to manage, curate and support the online store and all activities related to it as well as the day to day activities that relate to running the office. You will assist with client relationships and support, administrative duties related to sales and generally get involved in a young and exciting environment.

The ideal candidate will have experience of working in online sales management and marketing, a quick learner and independent and autonomous. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are a must, as is confidence and the ability to respond to tight deadlines.

Email me at alex c/o tinker.it with your cv if you’re interested!

BBC report on how a doctor made a scaled down dialysis machine in his shed.

Millie Kelly was too small for conventional NHS machines, so Dr Malcolm Coulthard and a colleague constructed a scaled-down version.[...]
Rebecca, from Middlesbrough, said: “It was a green metal box with a few paint marks on it with quite a few wires coming out of it into my daughter – it didn’t look like a normal NHS one.