Last weekend, I went to the Maker Faire in San Mateo with a two day gathering of hackers, builders, geeks, etc who take advantage of all the technology scattered about and try to put some of it to new uses.  It was an incredible day.

Some of the highlights included the folks at the Crucible, a well known school and artist group for all kinds of fire-based art.  There were all kinds of robots; a device that measures the moisture in plants and calls you when they need watering; electric vehicles, both practical and silly; and a host of other things.

A couple of the standouts in my mind were the robot powered chariot (and I've even got a picture of Jimmy Kimmel riding in it), the guys who made USB controllers out of everything, 3D printers and the LA 3D club.

The robot powered chariot was excellent, mostly because walking robots are really difficult, so hooking up a walker to a chariot for stability was an excellent idea.  The pic is in there somewhere.  Look for the Centurion.  I could actually see this coming to market in a tourist area, though the backup and turn features were a bit scary and a couple of times, the driver almost took out some kids.

The USB controllers were cool as well.  The demo version that was there was a model plane that had been converted into a controller for a flying/fighting game.  They used the same plane for the model that was in the game, which was a nice touch.  Think Wii but bulkier.

The 3D printers were out in force this time.  There was a company selling a "home version" for only $19,000 that printed using ABS plastic.  The models were sharp and the color was great.  The other one that caught my eye was a homemade 3D printer that prints low-res models using sugar.  Not exactly what you'd want if you were trying to impress a potential client, but the parts cost $500, and for myself, I could print a bunch of sugar models before I got bored.

Lastly was the LA 3D Club.  Lemme start by saying I'm a huge fan of 3D and am amazed that it is still such a novelty.  The people there had hooked a number of different types of 3D, including color shading and polarized versions.  The show stopper for me was making a 3D movie using two video cameras side by side, loading the film onto a PSP and mounting the PSP on a 1902 stereoscope viewer.  I am a big fan of the stereoscope and am amazed that the idea seems to have died out again after a brief revival on the View Master.  For anyone who read the MakesThingsGo page regularly, you'll know I'm as interested in the thought processes and development of everyday things as I am in the current version.  tying a PSP to a 1902 stereoscope hit me on all levels.

Anyway, go ahead and browse through the pictures and if you see something that I didn't talk about that makes you curious, I'll tell you about whatever it is.

And shoutout to my high school buddy Mike, who went with me and made the day a lot more fun.

"The future is here.  It's just not evenly distributed yet."  - William Gibson

It looks like Congress is moving on trying to get some reforms into patent law, and there is a bill currently pending that is going into markup in Congress right now.  While this is sort of tangential to building and green living, it actually has broad effects on the marketplace including what's available to consumers.

Patent law has turned into a beast in this country.  I myself have run up against patent law a time or two when starting small projects.  I've had some great ideas while working on buildings only to discover that the ideas were already patented.  In some cases, the patent actually made sense: it was a non-obvious, concrete thing and the owner had moved the product to market.  (In a particular case, it was taking the idea of an angioplasty-type balloon and using it for repairing household plumbing so that you could block up a supply line while you were working on it.  The plumber's trick of stuffing a bit of bread in the line seemed so 100 years ago.)

Other things seem non-obvious to someone not in the trades, but if you're actually building houses, they seem totally obvious, like having a light that is triggered by walking on stairs.  And given the fun of wiring in 4 way switches for stairs with a landing, it's hardly a leap to ask yourself if there is a better way to do it.

Wired news actually did a write up a few weeks ago on the pending legislation and had their readers vote on some reforms they'd like to see in the patent system.  Here are some of the highlights for me:  http://www.wired.com/politi...

Abolish Software, Business Method and Gene Patents
As in many parts of Europe, patents should only be granted on tangible inventions. Software is already protected by copyright law, innovative business ideas have the first-mover advantage, and gene information should be treated as automatically patented by the intelligent designer.

Post-Grant Opposition Procedure
In current proposed legislation
To curb runaway litigation, lawmakers are considering creating a way to challenge patents after they've been granted, without going to court. Within 12 months after a patent's issue -- called the "first window" -- a petitioner can file a complaint and initiate a review process. The proposed Patent Reform Act also provides for a controversial "second window," in which a petitioner could challenge a patent at any time if he can prove significant economic harm.

Use It or Lose It
All patents granted must have a product demonstrably in progress within 12 months of the patent being granted. Note: For the inventor, a "product" might not be commercially viable, or even have been produced or licensed, but a reasonable-faith effort must have been made to progress to a product (e.g. the inventor should be in the business, or should be shopping the invention to companies for licenses). The reasoning? No more trolls, and no locking up of sections of knowledge. If the inventor fails to act on their invention, they lose the rights to it.

Abolish Patents for Life Forms and DNA
It is unethical and immoral to grant patents on life forms such as seeds (which farmers can't even save lest they be sued by Monsanto) and the building blocks of life such as DNA (which shouldn't be monopolized by one person or company, as they exist in all of us already). What's next -- can I patent the human foot?

Independent Invention Should Be a Defense
Patent infringement should be like copyright infringement -- copying should be required for infringement. There are too many patents that are inadvertently infringed by people of ordinary skill, and it's impossible to find them all and avoid them all.

There are plenty more nuggets for people to go through, but before I let you go, let me relate another story.  In 2000, I worked for a company that did virtual tours of restaurants and real estate.  I'm sure you've seen a virtual tour when looking for something.  Some sites use them for hotel rooms and the like.  Ever wonder why the technology didn't catch on more broadly?  Turns out someone patented it.  They don't make the camera or the lens or the software.  But they own the "process patent" on taking the pictures and putting them on the web.  I currently own all the equipment needed to do virtual tours, developed by people who have nothing to do with the company that has the patent.

Even though the patents were wrongly granted and based on prior art (which makes it unclear exactly what is patented), you can still spend millions defending yourself against a suit and end up with nothing.

The season is rapidly coming upon us where we need to get our houses ready for the long slow roast of summer.  I'm planning on spending the next few weeks talking about different things you can do with different levels of difficulty and cost to make your home more pleasant this summer, cut your energy costs and hopefully make your life a bit more green.

We talked last winter about making sure your building envelope was closed.  Check for drafts near doors and windows and get them patched up.  Another thing that every house should have is a good quality attic fan.  It's a step up from the old fashioned "whirly-bird" metal spinner and if you have one of those, replacing it with a powered fan should be a breeze.  There are lots of different models available and some of them are even solar powered so you don't need to run wires for them.

What's the big deal about these things?  Even though it's "only" 105 degrees outside, your attic can get to 180 degrees or so, cooking your roof shingles and shortening their life,  Also, your swamp cooler and/or AC will have to work a lot harder if your ceiling is getting superheated by air in the attic.

Tips:

If you've got a slate roof, don't try to do this project yourself.  Just walking up there can cause damage.  Also, some slate roof construction cools the attic area as well.

Make sure you seal off the air from inside your living space to your attic.  You don't want to suck out the air your just paid to cool.

Make sure you have a gap for "make up air".  Most houses have soffet vents, but make sure you read the instructions on the box or verify with your contractor that you have gaps for enough air to come in replace the air being pulled out.


This is your construction open thread.

Few things distinguish houses of different eras better than the trim used to decorate them.  Moldings have a lexicon and a language all their own, in the same way that flowers once did.  But the use of trim and different types of molding can still be used to transform a common "blank slate" or "vanilla box" house into something quite special.  As we move away from the turn of the century industrial style, with its exposed concrete and ductwork (in many ways, our Craftsman movement), design and tastes are moving through a period of clean lines and towards ornamentation.

The Egg and Dart pattern is a classic trim and goes back thousands of years.  The alternating pattern symbolizes life and death (or birth and death) and gives a layer of meaning to any design.  It was common for this to be used around mirrors in the 1800's as a watch against vanity.

Another common decoration is fluted column design, now incorporated mainly into door casings.  These trace their roots back thousands of years as well, being originally designed to look like bundles of reeds tied together.  In ancient Egypt, they were symbols of prosperity (tied to trade and the river).

While understanding the meaning behind the molding is fun and can make for some interesting study, the key is to find something you like, scale it to match your space, and have fun.