You can follow along with Indigo’s adventures on her blog here

you can also find her on twitter @indigoindigo

Indigo’s next local show will be “Paint Your Faith Vancouver” April 21- 28.
Follow @paintyourfatih on twitter or check the facebook event

Hardware Hacking : Interactive Devices

There’s a growing grass-roots movement of people who are taking part in the hitherto hermetically sealed world of interactive device design. No longer are you limited to products available at your local dealer; from circuit bending to microcontrollers the open source hardware movement brings you more™.

MAKE Magazine exemplifies the spirit of this movement with its open approach to sharing knowledge. Along with providing great information resources, MAKE has an online store where they provide hardware and supplies for people ready to get into hardware hacking. We recently bought a couple Arduino kits from MAKE magazine:
Getting Started with Arduino Kit
Arduino Projects Pack

The Arduino is basically a tiny little computer which can be easily programmed and used to build the interactive device of your dreams. You write programs for it on your computer and then load them to the Arduino via USB. Once the Arduino is programmed, it becomes a stand-alone device which does whatever you program it to as soon as you turn it on.

Making Sound with the Arduino

I had some ideas about how to make sound with an Arduino, but in the end I didn’t have to go through too much trial and error thanks to an article called Arduino Sound Part 2: Hello World, Created by David Fowler of uCHobby.com

In David’s article he shows how to make a very simple program and circuit that will turn an Arduino into a sound generator.

I copied David’s code into the Arduino IDE, with just one change; I wanted to use output pin 13 whereas David had written his code to work with output number 9.

Here’s the original code:

//Arduino Sound Hello World
//Created by David Fowler of uCHobby.com
//Define the I/O pin we will use for our sound output
#define SOUNDOUT_PIN 9

void setup(void){
//Set the sound out pin to output mode
pinMode(SOUNDOUT_PIN,OUTPUT);
}

void loop(void){
//Generate sound by toggling the I/O pin High and Low
//Generate a 1KHz tone. set the pin high for 500uS then
//low for 500uS to make the period 1ms or 1KHz.

//Set the pin high and delay for 1/2 a cycle of 1KHz, 500uS.
digitalWrite(SOUNDOUT_PIN,HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(500);

//Set the pin low and delay for 1/2 a cycle of 1KHz, 500uS.
digitalWrite(SOUNDOUT_PIN,LOW);
delayMicroseconds(500);
}

This much worked perfectly for the generation of a simple tone, but I wanted to add some user interaction, so I found this article about using a potentiometer on the Arduino website and made some changes to my code.

Here’s the finalized code modified to support an input from a potentiometer:

// Arduino Sound Hello World
// thanks to David Fowler of uCHobby.com for his informative article and
// the majority of this code
// see the original at :
// http://www.uchobby.com/index.php/2007/11/14/arduino-sound-part-2-hello-world/

// Define the I/O pin we will use for our sound output
#define SOUNDOUT_PIN 13

int sensorPin = 0; // the number of the input we're using for the potentiometer
int sensorValue = 0; // initializing the sensorValue, the value itself is arbitrary.
int pulseLength = 500; // this is the default pulseLength giving us a 1KHz tone

void setup(void){
pinMode(SOUNDOUT_PIN,OUTPUT);
}

void loop(void){
//Generate sound by toggling the I/O pin High and Low
//Generate a 1KHz tone. set the pin high for 500uS then
//low for 500uS to make the period 1ms or 1KHz.

//Set the pin high and delay for 1/2 a cycle of 1KHz, 500uS.
digitalWrite(SOUNDOUT_PIN,HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(pulseLength);

//Set the pin low and delay for 1/2 a cycle of 1KHz, 500uS.
digitalWrite(SOUNDOUT_PIN,LOW);
delayMicroseconds(pulseLength);

//Read the value of the potentiometer and reset the pulseLength
sensorValue = analogRead(sensorPin);
pulseLength = sensorValue*8; // multiplying input to get a lower tone.
}

That’s it!

This is my first crack at putting together a tutorial, and also my first hack at building with an Arduino, so I’m sure I’ve left stuff out, done stuff wrong, or deserve a general grilling. Please leave a comment and school me!

Some of the notable features that Clive demos are the newest drawing functions, and the ability to save “Prop sets” – packaged objects. Additionally we touch on the new features for Pixton Pro and Pixton for Business.

Technically Speaking
The second half of the conversation concentrates on the technical implementation of the Pixton site. Clive talks a bit about the Flash to database communication via AMFPHP and Flash to Javascript using External.interface.

I’d like to thank Clive for coming in and wish him luck on his move from Vancouver.

Follow these links for more info on Wayne.

Swarm, “the heaviest live percussion section you will ever see”:
http://vimeo.com/7582963

EightPrime
http://eightprime.net

We will be working to create a simple visualization that will emulate pixel snow on a tv. Cam will take you through the process of writing a simple bit of code to create this visualization. Please feel free to take this code and modify it to make your own visualizations. We would love to see what you are able to create using this simple bit of code.

You can leave us questions or comments using the comment form below

Or by email L S B at LiFT Studios dot ca

Or on twitter

You can download processing here

You can download the tutorial files here

The processing language reference can also be found here

Twitter
twitter.com/liftthis

Email
lsb@liftstudios.ca

Phone
604.568.5438

Or by using the comment form below

Thanks again from the entire LiFT team for helping make LSB such a success.

To see more of Vincent’s art and hear more of his music visit:
http://www.vincentparker.ca/

We begin our conversation with a brief background on Monique’s journey through education, internship, working for Raincoast Books and then finally to establishing Boxcar Marketing.

After mentioning some of the common challenges that most publishers seem to be facing these days the conversation turns toward the topic of Citizen Journalism. Both Monique and I seem to agree that there is still a huge difference between traditional journalism and the new blogging movement, both are important and both can learn from each other. Unfortunately both sides seem to be taking a defensive stance and tend to throw stones more than listening.

Monique mentions two journalists that understand the online space: David Beers of The Tyee and Kirk LaPointe of the Vancouver Sun
and then goes on to talk about an interesting iPhone app called ScanLife that lets newspaper readers take a photo of a barcode and get access to auxiliary information to an article.

Our talk moves onto the subject of books, how will we use them in the future, will the printed book live on and what are the possibilities to come.

Bonus topics:
Author Blogs: Monique gives authors tips on writing blogs Download MP4 here
Bookriff: a few thoughts about the Bookriff projectDownload MP4 here

I really enjoyed my talk with Monique and would like to thank her for taking the time to come chat. We look forward to working with you again on future projects.

You can find all sorts of interesting details about Kerry and the fabulous work he does, on his website reasonid.com

You can find this post at Kerry’s blog www.kmore.net

Kerry was kind enough to share his thoughts with us on this edition of LSB.

We are very much interested in hearing your side of the story! Tell us what you think of this podcast and Kerry’s thoughts on social media using the comment form below.

During our talk Alex delves deep into the subject of IxD, covering everything from the convergence of products and services to the post-Orwellian commoditization of public space and private experience. If that’s not enough to fill your plate, Alex goes on to suggest how IxD could bring about a future "Garden of Heavenly Delights" where human creativity is harnessed through games.

Like it? Hate it? Want to chime in?
Continue the conversation by leaving a comment below.

Losing My Religion
To me the chat gets interesting when Kris talks about the life-changing events at Trinity Western and his view of religion after that point. We all have moments in our lives that we can look back on and see how our decisions have been informed.

Thoughts on Outsourcing
Another surprising topic that comes up is Kris’ opinion about outsourcing. I’ve had many people suggest that we try outsourcing the development work overseas but like Kris, I don’t yet believe that it’s a viable option. I’ve only heard nightmares about iteration after iteration of complex web projects that end up costing more and taking three times as long to complete.

Kris suggests that building quality software requires quick iterative cycles, clear communication and agile design and development. We’re definitely with Kris on this one.

If you want to learn more about Kris Krug, I suggest Google, he’s everywhere. In fact, that’s maybe what we should talk to Kris about next.

Thanks to Kris for a great talk, we’re looking forward to having you in again to chat about the future instead of the past.

This process of documenting talks about Interaction Design has another purpose other than our LiFT Studios Broadcast. We are submitting many of the best ones to the IxDA 10 conference.

If you feel you have a strong opinion about what Interaction Design is, drop me an email haig(at)liftstudios.ca. Maybe we can have a skype call to put you on the next broadcast in this series. I’m serious!

On LSB024 this week we sit down and have a few drinks with three Vancouver designers about their thoughts on defining Interaction Design and a explaining a typical day in the life of an Interaction Designer. I’d like to thank Dave Shea, Todd Sieling and Kathleen Moynahan for being candid and speaking with me, Haig Armen and sharing their point of view.

This process of documenting talks about Interaction Design has another purpose other than our LiFT Studios Broadcast. We are submitting many of the best ones to the IxDA 10 conference in.

If you feel you have a strong opinion about what Interaction Design is, drop me an email haig(at)liftstudios.ca. Maybe we can have a skype call to put you on the next broadcast in this series. I’m serious!

Although Dasz currently works on a wide variety of interaction design projects, it’s no secret about where his real passion lies. Dasz has a serious long term obsession for synthesizers and creating electronic music on the fly. This ‘live PA’ style of improvised music requires a high level of proficiency on a synthesizer and sequencer and relies on more than just preset sounds and loops.

Dasz and I talk about what lessons can be carried over from synth design to application and web design and visa versa.

We finish our conversation with a few ideas about where synthesis may be heading in the future and some thoughts about networking software.

What do you think the future of synthesis is? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

For this broadcast, recorded over Skype with special audio hijinks courtesy of SoundFlower and LineIn, I ask Josh about what makes a good product, ways for teams and clients to communicate, how to manage client expectations, and what it takes to get into product development. Sit back and enjoy the show!

If you didn’t get enough of Josh in the podcast, you can find him tweeting on Twitter in his more natural state of inversion.

In this episode we explore the high level strategy which has fed into the design and development of the new generation of interactive kiosks, as well as the process of working with all parties involved. We will also take some time to examine the creative process which has led to the design and development of these kiosks.

Jeff Heywood is the Manager of Content Production for the Vancouver Aquarium
Chris Stone is the Senior UX Designer for Nitobi Software
Cameron Lee is a designer and developer for LiFT Studios

Jason has been making music with 8-bit and hand built gear for the last 10 years.
He has produced a number of albums under the moniker “6955″.
Currently he co-owns the video game company Polytron Corporation where he acts as production manager and sound designer.

For more information on Polytron and Fez see: polytroncorporation.com
For more information on 6955 see: 6955.org

Walter Murch

To say that Walter Murch is well-known in the film industry is a bit of an understatement. He has been recognized for many achievements over his 40 year career including Oscars for both Apocalypse Now and The English Patient. Anthony recommended I read Murch’s In the Blink of an Eye (2001), which I ended up reading after really enjoying Michael Ondaatje’s The Conversations (2002). Both books inspired me a great deal.

Check out his page on wikipedia and find out more about the films he’s help make at his IMDB page.

Errol Morris

If you’ve watched any of our other Lift Studios Broadcasts, you’ll know that we are big fans of Errol Morris. But we thought we’d dig into some of the reasons why he is such an innovator in the field of documentary film making. We spend a bit of time explaining how the Interrotron works and why it’s so effective.

Have a look at Errol Morris’ website, there’s some interesting things there and don’t forgot to look at the trailers to some of the videos we spoke about. href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPu0chBQeUk">First Person – Hell of a Flight
Fast, Cheap and Out of Control.

Here are some of the other podcasts that Anthony mentions:

• Film Riot: a great primer for people getting into film making.
• Totally Rad Show:

Thanks Anthony for the great talk. We’re looking forward to having you be a guest editor for an episode of LSB