Want to see how the earth looks like from way way up in the skies? send a balloon equipped with some smart electronics and let it do some sightseeing for you. That’s what this group of hardware hackers did. Their balloon reached 70000 feet, aprox. 21 Kilometers of altitude and was discovered after landing thanks to it’s google android phone hacked with an app that send an SMS with it’s position whenever it got a cell phone signal. NASA, prepare for some competition in the skies!

via Wired

via Bornactivist

Monareta Rebaixada

Monareta Boom Box

Ceci Loucamente Tuned

Call it disruptive innovation or user innovation, bike tuning is one of the seeds of the DIY movement. Here in Brazil, specially away from the big cities, a whole lot is happening. Check the blog Ceci Brisa Tuning for example, and you will find numerous stories of custom bikes made by passionate users. They exchange tutorials and tips around their creations and are proud to show of their skills. We love it!

photos source: Ceci Brisa Tuning

Following Local Motors tweet, commenting next month’s Wired magazine cover story, the New Industrial Revolution Issue:

On the cover, Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson puts: “The factory, the investors, the workers – obsolete. In the age of DIY manufacturing, all you need is a garage and a great idea.”

Even dough I also (and sometimes naively) think so, I have heard the opposite many times.

All I know is that this new industrial revolution has in deed already started. New forms of value creation have already been proven to spark new kind of enterprises and products, just look at Linux, Arduino and Threadless. And Letsevo is on this wave, trying to figure out how product design innovation will thrive in this new wiki-reality.

Among the open questions are:

• Is the world going to get any better with DIY manufacturing and garage entrepreneurs building up their ideas?
• And what are the skills needed to put these ideas in practice?
• How are Universities going to adapt to this new industrial scenario?
• who is joining in with us?

I would love to get some thoughts on this and can not wait to grab this issue.

I love DIY so I made these web badges. Download them and Spread the love!!

I love DIY badges

Several sizes along with a Black version with white Type are available. If one of the sizes doesn’t suit your website perfectly, open the photoshop master file and DIY it! Enjoy.

*I used the free King font which comes very close to the original ITC American Typewriter font.

Download DIY Badges

Derek from Lahr Cycles posted the development photos on his homemade bike frame at the ride monkey forums. It’s really interesting to see that you don’t need much to create a working model, from here, it can only get better. Way to go Derek. Check the finished model at the forum thread.

I just finished the drawings of the DIYstrict Light for Letsevo. Super simple and easy to build, you can leave on the floor to give your house a mine field look or hang from the ceiling.

Step by Step:

DIYstrict light – Build, Plug and Play!

It is time to get environmental again, and I want to do that pointing out to a new video send to me by a fellow designer Bernardo van de Schepop (Valeu!!).

The video, part of the website The story of Stuff,aims to expose the inner workings of consumer culture and clarify the dangers of not seeing the bigger picture when it comes to ecology. Story of stuff is a short but powerful video on what I like to call the ecology of products. Unlike many of the videos and manifestations “pro” environment, Story of stuff puts consumer culture as part of the problem, bringing interesting insights to the Eco-Dilemma. The video is 20 minutes long and it is a definitely “must see” for everyone on board of our planet.

After watching the video and thinking about my role as a designer, I do fear of my work feeding up this system of consumption even more. But as a romantic idealistic dude, I dream of the time where create, hack and modify will be the words on the streets, a time when people remix more than buy. When this day comes you will know we have moved from the “you are what you buy society” to the “you are what you make or modify society”.

Do you think I am going too far on this? well take 3 minutes to read this great post at the ponoko blog about the GENERATION C ( “C” standing for digitaly created content) and you will maybe start to believe that this dream isn`t as far as we think.

Lets Evo.

Source:

A great blog post about Story of Stuff explains the motivations of the project.
The Story of Stuff video can also be seen in chapters on a youtube channel.

…William Kamkwamba. That’s right, if the DIY community had to pick a role model for this year, it has to be William Kamkwamba from Malawi, Africa. William built his family a electricity-producing windmill. And He was 14 when he did that. Using plans he found on a library book called “Using Energy” and modifying them to his needs, he managed to light up 4 light bulbs and to power 2 radios. Now with 19 he has plans to build a bigger one to pump water to a irrigation system for the whole village. How awesome is that?

His presentation at TED is worth getting inspired from.

Nice to mention is that William’s act was first published in a Malawian Blog which was read by TEDGlobal Conference Director Emeka Okafor who decided to invite him for this year’s conference. We see user innovation resolving local problems being spread in grassroots media (blogs) and inspiring global changes. Now William is also writing Blog.

People like him represent the new breed of entrepreneurs that are going to change things around here.

Is this the future or what?

Photos from: www.ted.com

I just finished out my latest project. A contribution for the DIY (Do it yorself) community. Since I love skateboards I just couldn’t start anywhere else. Inspired by the amount of waste produced by the growth of consumerism in Europe, specially here in Frankfurt, seen through the weekly dispose of old stuff in the middle of the streets. I wanted to show one way of rethinking the use of old materials in the example of a DIY skateboard.

The idea is simple: Download the DIY Skateboard Design PDF, Print it out, stick them together over any rest of wood to be recycled, cut, put on some wheels and enjoy the ride.

If you want make your own design, Download this DIY Skateboard Blank PDF (90cm long) and make it happen.

I would love to see some of your creations, so send a picture if you are proud of what you made.

a step by step of the building process can be found here.