• CaseApp – a new iPhone app lets you create & order a customized hardshell case for your iPhone, on your iPhone for about $30 using your own photos (source)
• Clothes hangers that tell you how many people ‘Like’ it – a clothing retailer in Brazil is testing out a new type of hanger for their clothing racks that has a small display built in which tells you how many people ‘liked’ that shirt on their Facebook page to get an idea of how popular it is (source)

It reached 89.8mm in height (one of the taller things I’ve printed) and turned out amazingly well. It’s solid, dense and nearly a perfect print with minimal stringing.

The Prusa seems no worse for wear either:

One trick that Brad (Sublime) discovered when testing the J-Head with Slic3r is to tell Slic3r that the 0.35mm nozzle is actually 0.30 which seems to better compensate for the swell of the nozzle under heat and results in less blobbing. Since I updated my profile with that change, the prints have been much cleaner.

I’m happy to announce that I’m hosting PhotoCamp for 2012 and I have a bunch of great folks lined up to fill our afternoon slot on Friday, June 15th.

I’m keeping the agenda secret until Northern Voice but there will be lots of talks within a talk (inception?) about photography for all skill levels as well as some open Q&A time for questions about anything gear or technique related.

One thing I’m glad about (and will spill) is that I won’t be presenting during the same timeslot as Morten and Syx like last year – they both have talks we’ll all get to hear at the same time as I’ve asked them to be presenters at PhotoCamp. I am a little bummed that PhotoCamp is during the MooseCamp session though…especially since there hasn’t been a BarCamp for awhile.

Sorry for the overuse of *Camp in this post….feel free to bring your sleeping bag to the session.

As has been mentioned numerous times on this blog, I have been helping with the prototype and am about 80% complete on my build of a wood cut version of Tantillus. My hope is to have it up and running for the Vancouver Mini MakerFaire next month.

I have to say, it’s been pretty cool to witness the process that Brad has gone through. Lots of hard work and planning has gone into this project and I’ve been on the ground floor for it all (and hopefully maybe even contributed a little bit too).

I’m looking forward to seeing Brad’s project succeed and be an excellent example of open source product development.

I invite everyone reading this to check it out if you’re interested in an awesome, portable 3d printer. You can also read more about the Tantillus on the new website Brad has set up to support it.

UPDATE: I somehow missed it yesterday but Brad has released the source files for the Tantillus printed case so if you’re daring, have about a kg of filament and a lot of time, you can take a stab at printing the case yourself!

Be warned though, it will take a lot of time! I was unsuccessful printing it in ABS on my MakerBot Thing-O-Matic, despite having enclosed it with acrylic windows to keep the heat in…it still cracked once it got higher up the print. It’s very possible a better tuned bot would be able to print it. I was able to print everything else for the Tantillus with my MakerBot (extruder, internal mounts, gantry, etc.), just not the larger side panels.

• Neva – Evolution of the ski pole: New ski poles keep you informed as you hit the slopes by wirelessly connecting to your Android iOS device, giving you updates on weather conditions, elevation, temperature, incoming calls/SMSs, and has an open API to allow for even more data to be displayed on the pole’s OLED display. (source)
  

• Audi e-bike Wörthersee: Another car manufacturer joins a growing list offering an ‘e-bike’ using a carbon fibre frame, motor assisted pedals get up to 50 mph and let you tune the bike using your smartphone. Still just a concept at this time. (source)

I spent nearly the entire weekend browsing the booths, chatting with people and buying far too much electronics at the Solarbotics table.

It was also literally the first day after I had finished assembling my MakerBot 3d printer and was stoked to see some other bots in the real world (I bought my kit without actually ever seeing one in person).

This year should be even more fun as the organizers have secured the PNE grounds for this year’s event so it will be even bigger. It’s not just 3d printer stuff either…all kinds of creative arts, crafts, demos, robots, photography, seminars, workshops, etc.

I’m looking forward to being there as a ‘Maker’ this year as our 3d printing club will be setting up a ’3d printer village’ with somewhere around 15+ 3d printers (all different kinds) scheduled to be onsite during the weekend with more being added to the list all the time. We’re hoping to have them all running and printing stuff for people to take away as a sample of what the technology can do.

Can. Not. Wait!

Early bird ticket pricing ends soon so get your tickets now! Fun for all ages!

The technology in the video has gotten better and way cheaper now but the concepts are the same.

via MAKE

• Find your way inside a mall or supermarket: GPS works great for getting from a to b in your car but doesn’t work so well indoors. A new technology will help you navigate your way around inside a mall or supermarket. You scan a code upon entering the location and then a compass and pedometer knows your location based on the starting point and can help navigate you to the cereal aisle. The MST-Smartsense Sensor is a proof of concept device being tested right now that could someday become an app on your smartphone. (source)
• Pair – the app for couples: A new iPhone app will help couples stay in touch without having to overshare stuff on Facebook, Twitter, etc. The app lets you send text messages, doodles, reminders and todo lists for free between you and one other person only. I like that you can also send a map of your current location to your partner. You can even work together on a drawing if you’re both online as well as the ‘ThumbKiss’ feature that lets you see where your partner is touching. Great for people separated by work travel or a long distance relationship. (source)

We were attending my girlfriend’s father’s 65th birthday party.

While they were camping down by the river, we stayed in the awesome Mozey-On-Inn Motel in town (5 minutes away), a great little 3 room motel:

We stayed in the Barber Shop room (the largest of the 3) and we had a shotgun above our bed…you know, just in case.

As my girlfriend’s family are avid ATV’ers and members of a riding club, we were able to borrow theirs over the weekend. Coalmont seems to have a lot of ATVs thanks to the Kettle Valley Railway corridor (aka the KVR) which is a well used trail for getting between Princeton and Tulameen.

With hundreds of miles of trails, it’s a great place to go quadding. This was my first time and it was a ton of fun…the kind of fun that makes you want to get your own quad.

Quadding is some dirty business…days later and I think I finally got all the dirt and dust out of my sinuses.

The campground was just around the corner from Granite Creek (aka Granite City), one of BC’s many ghost towns.

It’s mostly just a few collapsed buildings now but is steeped with history and plenty of ghost stories.

I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen so much wildlife in one weekend. Saw two bears and well over 30 deer during the trip, plus some lamb, sheep and a bunch of chickens.

It was nice to get away for a weekend that for the most part (aside from the motel’s wifi), had no internet or even cell service.

Things got a little crazy at the birthday party…

(don’t worry, it was just the empty packaging the fireworks came in…we’re not that crazy!)

I shot a TON of GoPro footage (stills & video) over the weekend…just not sure anyone is interested in a 2 hour trail ride video of me driving over logs and eating dust.

Since then, it’s printed the Reprap Prusa Mendel printer (on the left) which I assembled and gives me a bigger build area. Both of those printers have contributed different parts (in ABS and PLA plastics) for the prototype Tantillus printer on the right which is nearly complete and will be ultra portable (possibly even battery operated).

My Thing-O-Matic has also printed dozens of Prusa parts kits which have lead to (hopefully) dozens of other printers coming online as well…and it just keeps going. That doesn’t include the hundreds of (non-printer related) objects all the printers have made as well.

That’s kind of cool when you think about it.