adafruit industries blog » ald

Natural Design

adafruit — Wed, 08 May 2013 08:00:00 +0000

MIT Spectrum » Spring 2013 » Natural Design.

A native of Haifa, Israel, where “my grandmother’s garden was the world,” Neri Oxman, assistant professor of media arts and sciences, grew up fascinated by nature. She even considered becoming a doctor, but after three years of medical school, she took up architecture. “There is a productive synthesis between my love of medical science and nature, and the world of synthetic design. I definitely see design as a field where those two brains interact,” says Oxman, whose multidisciplinary background has enabled her to launch a new research area at MIT — material ecology — that merges architecture with engineering, computation, and ecology.

Blazing The Trail For Female Programmers : All Tech Considered : NPR

adafruit — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:30:00 +0000

Blazing The Trail For Female Programmers : All Tech Considered : NPR.

Sarah Allen has been the only woman on a team of computer programmers a few times over the more than two decades she’s worked in the field. Most notably, she led the team — as the lone female programmer — that created Flash video, the dominant technology for streaming video on the Web.

Since only about 20 percent of all programmers are women, her experience isn’t uncommon, and now she’s trying to bring more women into the field.

SD234 Ada lovelace (video)

adafruit — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 18:54:33 +0000

SD234 Ada lovelace (video)

Heather Knight on the cover of WIRED! @HeatherKnight & @MarilynMonrobot

adafruit — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 08:00:00 +0000

Wired 04.13: Wired magazine (UK) April 2013 issue article archive (Wired UK).

Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition – Girl saves Mario

adafruit — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 20:37:08 +0000

Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition – Girl saves Mario via Waxy -

My three year old daughter and I play a lot of old games together. Her favorite is Donkey Kong. Two days ago, she asked me if she could play as the girl and save Mario. She’s played as Princess Toadstool in Super Mario Bros. 2 and naturally just assumed she could do the same in Donkey Kong. I told her we couldn’t in that particular Mario game, she seemed really bummed out by that. So what else am I supposed to do? Now I’m up at midnight hacking the ROM, replacing Mario with Pauline. I’m using the 2010 NES Donkey Kong ROM. I’ve redrawn Mario’s frames and I swapped the palettes in the ROM. I replaced the M at the top with a P for Pauline. Thanks to Kevin Wilson for giving me the lead on the tools and advice.

Shout Out to the Women of Tech @MAKE

adafruit — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 21:57:03 +0000

Shout Out to the Women of Tech @ MAKE.

Women in tech have come a long way in the past 20 years; they are pioneers, running their own companies, starting hackerspaces, and further paving the way for the next generation. Still, there are not as many women in tech as men, but the list of exceptional women is so long, there’s no way I can include them all here. With that said, I salute the ladies who are out there making amazing things happen in the tech world.

Nature – WOMEN IN SCIENCE

adafruit — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 16:20:16 +0000

Nature cover story -

Many women are deterred from pursuing a career in science at the highest levels. Much more must be done to address the reasons behind this potential waste of human talent. Despite some progress, women scientists are still paid less, promoted less frequently, win fewer grants and are more likely to leave research than similarly qualified men. This special issue of Nature takes a hard look at the gender gap — from bench to boardroom — and at what is being done to close it.

To a Future Woman In Tech

adafruit — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 05:33:36 +0000

“To a Future Woman In Tech”.

I woke up to my niece’s phone call today. She had called to tell me that she finally had an answer to that fateful forever question of “what do you want to be when you grow up”. She wanted to make video games. This didn’t really surprise me – she always had a knack for summarizing complex game play in a few words. What did surprise me, however, was my inability to go back to sleep after that call. I lay awake, thinking about her future career choice, about how things are now, and how much I wish I could change them for her. I got up, and I wrote her this letter.

How Etsy Grew their Number of Female Engineers by 500% in One Year

adafruit — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 13:19:47 +0000

Kellan Elliott-McCrea (@kellan), a former architect at Flickr and co-author of the OAuth spec, is now the CTO at Etsy, the world’s most vibrant handmade marketplace. During his tenure, he’s played a critical role in the company’s restructuring of its engineering organization; now, Etsy hires for diversity, particularly gender diversity. After witnessing first-hand how challenging it can be to attract women engineers, Kellan shares lessons in building a process and culture to attract female engineers. All the good stuff above belongs to him.

astronauts by Philip J Bond

adafruit — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 05:00:01 +0000

astronauts – a set on Flickr by Philip J Bond via BB.

Working for months at a time just penciling a comic book I started these portraits to get a bit of inking and colouring out of my system. I shouldn’t say ‘portraits’, I’m not going for much of a likeness. Usually I’ll glance at a couple of photographs and then go off and draw a vague impression. Margaret Seddon is blonde, Judith Resnik is a bit barmy looking, that sort of thing.

I started with Valentina Tereshkova in January 2009 thinking if I drew one every week I’d finish the series around the end of the year. See how well that worked out.

More.

The Hacker School Experience

adafruit — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 08:00:12 +0000

The Hacker School Experience @ GeekMom | Wired.com.

When Hacker School made a big splash in the news last spring, it was due to their new grants for women. Sponsored by Etsy, GitHub and Palantir, the grants were aimed to help make Hacker School more affordable and inviting for women interested in attending the three-month student-led educational program. Hacker School is actually free for the accepted few, but living in their New York locale for three months can get pretty pricey.

Happy birthday Ada Lovelace

adafruit — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 02:47:02 +0000

ada lovelace – Recherche Google. From Wikipedia -

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852), born Augusta Ada Byron and now commonly known as Ada Lovelace, was an English mathematician and writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage’s early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. Her notes on the engine include what is recognized as the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine. Because of this, she is sometimes considered the world’s first computer programmer.

Ada was the only legitimate child of the poet Lord Byron (with Anne Isabella Byron). She had no relationship with her father, who died when she was eight. As a young adult, she took an interest in mathematics, and in particular Babbage’s work on the analytical engine. Between 1842 and 1843, she translated an article by Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea on the engine, which she supplemented with a set of notes of her own. These notes contain what is considered the first computer program — that is, an algorithm encoded for processing by a machine. Ada’s notes are important in the early history of computers. She also foresaw the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching while others, including Babbage himself, focused only on these capabilities.

Google has a doddle in France right now, let’s see if it hits the USA.

Ada Lovelace, large, oval black and white – Sticker! Celebrate Lady Ada Lovelace, one of the world’s first computer programmers. Adafruit offers a fun and exciting stickers to celebrate achievement for electronics, science and engineering. We believe everyone should be able to be rewarded for learning a useful skill, a badge is just one of the many ways to show and share.

This is the “Lady Ada Lovelace” sticker for use with educators, classrooms, workshops, Maker Faires, TechShops, Hackerspaces, Makerspaces and around the world to reward beginners on their skill building journey!

Get Gifts To Encourage Little Girls To Be Geeky! (Cyber Monday)

adafruit — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:00:40 +0000

Women 2.0 » Get Gifts To Encourage Little Girls To Be Geeky! (Cyber Monday).

Here are some more items for young girls, from books and electronic LEGOs to free iPad games, created by engineers who want to help change the ratio in math, science and computer classes everywhere. And hopefully soon, this ratio will change in company boardrooms, engineering departments and science laboratories everywhere.

IEEE – IEEE Women In Engineering (WIE) Newsletter is here (November)

adafruit — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 12:15:20 +0000

IEEE – IEEE Women In Engineering (WIE) Newsletter – November.

Hurricane Sandy affects our friends on the Eastern Seaboard USA.

Participate in the NAE Energy Ethics Video Challenge.

Call for WIE Webinar Presenters

New 2012 WIE Posters Are Now Available

IEEE in the News (Excerpt)

IEEE Newsroom (Excerpt)

WIE “Love” Engineering! Do “You” Love Engineering, Too? Do Tell…

Featured Group of the Month Highlights

Featured WIE Group of the Month

WIE Around the World: -IEEE WIE Outreach Event held by Hampton University WIE in Hampton, Virginia USA

WIE PC Wallpaper Is Now Available

WIE Resources

EXCITED ABOUT WIE? Do you want to have some fun…

IEEE WIE Assistance

2012 IEEE WIE Poster Series

Download here (PDF).

Dad hacks video game so girls can be the hero too!

adafruit — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 11:08:15 +0000

Dad hacks video game so girls can be the hero too! via Ars.

Why did small business owner and gamer dad Mike Hoye spend the last few weeks hand-tweaking the text in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker so that the main character was referred to as a girl instead of a boy? As he put it, “I’m not having my daughter growing up thinking girls don’t get to be the hero.”

Hoye and his three-and-a-half year old daughter Maya have recently been playing Wind Wakertogether, but Hoye was bothered by the fact that even players who change the protagonist’s name to something other than “Link”—which the game allows—always get addressed as though they are male. The main character is always referred to with words like “master,” “my lad,” and “swordsman.” Because Hoye’s daughter can’t yet read, Hoye has been reading the on-screen dialogue aloud to her and diligently transliterating the gendered language from male to female on the fly as they traverse the game’s Great Sea together.

To make this process smoother, Hoye eventually decided to hack away at the actual text of the story, producing a female-oriented version by altering the game’s data files. According to his blog post on the project, Hoye took a GameCube disk image (.GCM) of Wind Waker and dug into it with a hex editor. He changed all story text and dialogue by hand, then tested his work by playing the game file in the Dolphin GameCube emulator.

Cool Dad and cool way to show a kid hacking makes things better

Girls Who Code Inaugrual Gala #GWCGALA @girlswhocode

adafruit — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 12:53:09 +0000

The Girls Who Code Inaugrual Gala was at the New York Stock Exchange was on October 22, 2012. It was in support of young women who are New York City’s future entrepreneurs and engineers, they unveiled the apps they built during the Girls Who Code program. The evening began the Social Investor Presentation where the Girls took over the NYSE Boardroom to pitch their creative technology and ability to change the future. The pitches were then followed by a networking reception and demos on the NYSE Trading Floor. Ladyada and pt stopped in and took some photos, it was PACKED! This was the first time any of the Adafruit team has visited the NYSE Trading Floor! Congrats to all the young women who are heading in to engineering because of this program!

Photos!

WHO WE ARE
Girls Who Code is a new organization working to educate, inspire and equip 13- to 17-year-old girls with the skills and resources to pursue opportunities in technology and engineering.

WHAT WE DO
Together with leading educators, engineers, and entrepreneurs, Girls Who Code has developed a new model for computer science education, pairing intensive instruction in robotics, web design, and mobile development with high-touch mentorship led by the industry’s top female developers and entrepreneurs.

WHY WE DO IT
Today, just 3.6% of Fortune 500 companies are led by women, and less than 10% of venture capital-backed companies have female founders. Yet females use the internet 17% more than their male counterparts and represent the fastest growing demographic online and on mobile, creating more than two-thirds of content on social networking sites. Technology companies with more women on their management teams have a 34% higher return on investment, and companies with women on technical teams increases teams’ problem-solving ability and creativity.

The numbers speak for themselves. By 2018, there will be 1.4 million computer science-related job openings, yet U.S. universities are expected to produce enough computer science graduates to fill just 29% of these jobs. And while 57% of bachelor’s degrees are obtained by women, less than 14% of computer science degrees are awarded to women.

Host Committee – Master Gardeners
Jack Dorsey, Founder, Twitter, Square
Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post
Chris Hughes, Co-founder, Facebook
Beth Comstock, CMO, General Electric
Alexis Maybank, Founder, Gilt Groupe
Marisa Ricciardi, SVP Global Marketing, NYSE Euronext
Gina Bianchini, Founder, Ning, Mightybell
Craig Newmark, Founder, Craigslist
Hope Taitz, Board Member, Athene, Apollo Residential Mortgage REIT
David Hirsch, Metamorphic Ventures
Sunny Bates, Sunny Bates Associates
Evan Korth, Founder, hackNY
Andrew Rasiej, Personal Democracy Media
Kelly Hoey, Founder, Women Innovate Mobile
Greg Gunn, Founder, City Light Capital
Rachel Haot (Sterne), Chief Digital Officer, NYC
Nihal Mehta, Founder, Local Response
Steve Martocci, Founder, GroupMe
Caroline Ghosn & Amanda Pouchot, Founders, LevoLeague
Susan McPherson, SVP, Fenton
Jessica Lawrence, Managing Director, New York Tech Meetup
Kathryn Minshew & Alex Cavoulacos, Co-founders, The Daily Muse
Rachel Sklar, Founder, Change the Ratio & TheLi.st

Sponsors – Cultivators
NYSE Euronext
Twitter
Google
General Electric
AppNexus
AT&T
eBay
Goldman Sachs
D. E. Shaw
Raptor Capital
Global Grind
Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP

Women And STEM Careers: How Microsoft Is Building A Bridge To Future Innovation — One Girl At A Time

adafruit — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 11:35:50 +0000

Women And STEM Careers: How Microsoft Is Building A Bridge To Future Innovation — One Girl At A Time @ Forbes. Thanks Kevin!

An unusual job paradox has occurred in the United States. The U.S. continues to face high unemployment rates (7.8% as of September 2012) yet American companies cannot find enough workers to fill all the available STEM positions. According to the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy research organization based in Washington DC, “American companies urgently need professionals trained in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, but there are not enough workers with the necessary skills and too few Americans earn post-secondary STEM credentials.”

How can companies bridge the gap and be able to fill all those available STEM jobs? Microsoft is an example of one company not only seeking today’s answers, they are looking into the future and focusing on the group believed to be a key solution: Women.

Warning over lack of female engineers

adafruit — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:54:38 +0000

Warning over lack of female engineers.

Semta, the sector skills council for science, engineering and advanced manufacturing, has urged industrialists to close the gender gap by getting more women into industry.

“Women are a great untapped resource at a time when we need a wealth of new talent and higher level skills to improve competitiveness,” said Semta’s operations director, Lynn Tomkins.

“They comprise half of the working population yet only 21% of the workforce in UK advanced manufacturing and engineering are women and only 6% of engineers are women. That’s not good enough.”

The latest university admissions statistics show that 33.4% of successful undergraduate applicants for science subjects in 2011 were female, compared to 37% the previous year. Only 19% of engineering applicants were female.

The issue is further compounded by the fact that, of the minority of women who study engineering and technology, only 51% go on to a career in industry, compared to 70% of their male counterparts.

A report issued recently by Women into Science and Engineering (WISE), sponsored by BAE Systems, found girls were put off careers in the sector by lack of careers advice, female role models and fear of sexism in the workplace.

Women in Repair: Rosie the Repairer

adafruit — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 04:00:19 +0000

Women in Repair: Rosie the Repairer @ iFixit. Thanks Kevin!

We’ve all seen Rosie the Riveter: blue coveralls, red polka-dotted bandanna, biceps blazing. Rosie is a cultural icon, used to mobilize women into manufacturing during World War II. But sixty years after Rosie helped recruit 3 million women into war plants across the US, many women still seem reluctant to pick up the riveter.

Women make up over half of the population. So, why aren’t there more women repairing? Women are underrepresented in many fields—especially technical fields. In 1997, women earned just 33.8% of degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). By 2007, that number had dropped to 27.5%. As a woman in STEM, I’ve thought a lot about what stops women from joining our ranks. Maybe women don’t replace their hard drives for the same reason they don’t often change a tire: lack of confidence.

#ALD12 @findingada – From Ada Lovelace to Marissa Mayer: The Rise of Women in Tech

adafruit — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 02:54:14 +0000

From Ada Lovelace to Marissa Mayer: The Rise of Women in Tech [INFOGRAPHIC].

Did you know that Ada Lovelace, a computer scientist from England, is considered to be the first computer programmer? With her code-like language, she created a model for Charles Babbage’s analytical engine in the mid-1800s.

Nearly two centuries later, there are some very impressive women working in technology, such as Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. However, women still only make up just 25% of the workforce in STEM — that is, science, technology, engineering and mathematics — careers.

This infographic takes a look at some of the brilliant ladies whose contributions to the STEM fields are an inspiration to all women — and men.

Take a look at this Hall of Fame for women in tech, science, engineering and math, created by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; then, let us know how you think we can encourage more women and girls to enter STEM careers in the comments section.

We did not know about “IEEE Women in Engineering” – bookmarked!

Today is Ada Lovelace day! Celebrating the achievements of women in science, art, design, technology, engineering and math! Ada Lovelace Day is about sharing stories of women — whether engineers, scientists, technologists or mathematicians — who have inspired you to become who you are today. The aim is to create new role models for girls and women by celebrating amazing women making and doing cool things. If you’re looking for a worldwide Ada Lovelace Day event? Please visit the Finding Ada events page. Be sure to check out all our posts today and from previous years here of amazing women!

Today everything in the Adafruit store is 10% off, just use the code ALD12 on check out, use this code to pick something special person in your life that will spark her imagination for a lifelong career or hobby!

#ALD12 @findingada – Ada Lovelace: Challenging women’s status in science

adafruit — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 02:48:23 +0000

Great video @ BBC

Tuesday 16 October marks Ada Lovelace day, an annual event designed to raise the profile of female scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians.
Ada Lovelace worked with inventor Charles Babbage on plans for an “analytical engine” in the 1800s, now widely regarded as the world’s first computer model – making Ms Lovelace the first computer programmer.

In London a cabaret-style evening of talks, demonstrations and singing, all performed by women, is marking the event, with additional celebrations planned locally in Brazil, Slovenia, Sweden, Italy and America.

BBC News caught up with four of the women taking part in the London event, to find out about the experiences of modern women working in science.

#ALD12 @findingada – Ada Lovelace, Through the Centuries (animation)

adafruit — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 02:46:06 +0000

Ada Lovelace, Through the Centuries @ Tor.com.

Today is Ada Lovelace Day, and to celebrate this computeering pioneer, we thought we’d ask artist Scott Brundage to illustrate Lady Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, as she works through the centuries, inspiring, creating, and perfecting the very device that the modern first world now cannot live without.

If you’re interested in hearing more about Lovelace’s life, read Ay-leen the Peacemaker’s tribute. Happy Ada Lovelace Day!

#ALD12 @findingada – Becky Stern

adafruit — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 02:32:27 +0000

Becky is our Director of Wearable electronics here at Adafruit, she’s also a close friend. Today we’re celebrating women in tech who inspire us, so besides Ladyada who I get to work with on a daily basis, I’m also lucky enough to work with Becky. Her energy, creativity and passion for teaching and sharing is incredible. Thank you Becky for being part of this adventure with us at Adafruit – Editor’s note, this is Phil writing this post on behalf of all of us at Adafruit

Pictured above Ladyada and Becky at Maker Faire NYC 2012.

#ALD12 @findingada – OSHWA board members! Alicia Gibb, Danese Cooper, Catarina Mota, Wendy Seltzer

adafruit — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 01:51:53 +0000

OSHWA board members!

Alicia Gibb, President
Alicia is the founding president of the Open Source Hardware Association. In her spare time, Alicia is starting an open source hardware company specific to education. Previous to becoming an advocate and an entrepreneur, Alicia was a researcher and prototyper at Bug Labs where she ran the academic research program and the Test Kitchen, an open R&D Lab. She is a member of NYCResistor, co-chair of the Open Hardware Summit, and a member of the advisory board for Linux Journal. She holds a degree in art education, a M.S. in Art History and a M.L.I.S. in Information Science from Pratt Institute.

Danese Cooper
Danese has a long history of advocacy for open-source, earning her the nickname “Open Source Diva”. She is a Board Member at Drupal Association, an Open Source Strategist (consulting) at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, an Emeritus Board Member / Observer at Open Source Initiative (OSI), and a Member at The Apache Software Foundation. Previously, she was Chief Technical Officer of the Wikimedia Foundation and, for six years, an open source advocate at Sun Microsystems.

Wendy Seltzer
Wendy is a Fellow with Yale Law School’s Information Society Project, previously a fellow with Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy; the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado; and with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. She was a Visiting Fellow with the Oxford Internet Institute, teaching a joint course with the Said Business School, Media Strategies for a Networked World. She has previously taught at American University’s Washington College of Law, Brooklyn Law School, and Northeastern University School of Law, and served as staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Before joining EFF, she taught Internet Law as an adjunct professor at St. John’s University School of Law, and practiced intellectual property and technology litigation at Kramer Levin in New York.

Catarina Mota is also on the board, but we posted about her earlier today

#ALD12 @findingada Annelise Jeske

Matt — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 01:30:00 +0000

Over the course of a single, high-intensity, passionate year, filmmaker Annelise Jeske has been hard at work tirelessly scripting, shooting, producing, and editing an impressive collection of video pieces for MakerBotTV and beyond.

For each new project, she spends endless hours on into the night refining scripts and edits not only to communicate clearly and effectively the science and techniques behind 3D printing, but also to celebrate the diverse community of those discovering science, engineering, and design through this emerging field.

#ALD12 @findingada Nina Tandon

Matt — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 01:00:00 +0000

I had the pleasure of running into the impressive scientist and educator Nina Tandon at the launch party for GE Garages’ “Making Things” series at STORY last week, along with a few other talented women scientists and artists. She shared with us, among other things, her deep excitement about current projects in progress, her passion for making use of open hardware microcontrollers for doing science, and the importance of Becky and Limor’s fingernail polish in all of the product videos at Adafruit — what a great message that is for young women engineers.

I shared above the video of her TED talk from last year on the topic of “Caring for Engineered Tissues” – well worth your time if you haven’t caught it yet.

A snapshot bio from her site:

She is an electrical and biomedical engineer at Columbia University’s Laboratory for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering, and adjunct professor of Electrical Engineering at the Cooper Union, teaching a “Bioelectricity” class.

She spent her early career in telecom (Avaya Labs), and transitioned into biomedical engineering via her Fulbright in Italy (working on an electronic odor detector). She completed her PhD under Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic at MIT and Columbia, researching electrical stimulation for cardiac tissue engineering. After consulting at McKinsey from 2008-10, she has resumed her research on electrical stimulation for broader tissue engineering applications.

#ALD12 Shippensburg University Women in CS Group

johngineer — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 23:59:39 +0000

Our next Ada Lovelace Day post is Shippensburg University’s Women in Computer Science group. Advised by Professor Alice Armstrong, the Shippensburg WiCS group:

is dedicated to bringing women in the sciences together to work on awesome computer science projects. We also go cool places to learn new things! We provide is a unique learning and growing opportunity for women pursuing careers in traditionally male-dominated fields.

Last year, they had a cool Arduino-powered water light-painting exhibit at MakerFaire:

#ALD12 @findingada Kacie Hultgren

Matt — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 23:03:38 +0000

Designer and miniaturist Kacie Hultgren, who goes by the design name Pretty Small Things, has played a crucial role this past year introducing a architects and scenic designers to DIY 3D printing, as well as teaching 3D printing enthusiasts about fundamental techniques for architecture and design. She shared a bunch of her recent research results and technical methods on a series of posts at MakerBot.com, and continues to innovate and explore new territory including printed wearables, new furniture effects, and jewelry.

She tells the story at her new miniatures store for how she got started experimenting with DIY 3D printing:

I’m a scenic designer in the theatre industry. Building model furniture has always been one of my least favorite activities and I’ve always been frustrated by the cost, shipping time and lack of variety in commercially available products. In the fall of 2011, I started playing with desktop 3D printing as a model building tool. I wanted to develop a line of furniture that encompassed all the typical shapes I need on a recurring basis: armchairs, sofas, side chairs, a variety of tables, etc. I started with my Queen Anne collection, and continue to build on my designs to include more historical periods and styles through a combination of 3D scanning and CAD modeling.

#ALD12 @findingada – Liz Upton

adafruit — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 22:36:25 +0000

Liz Upton is the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s only full-time worker. She runs the community, does the Foundation’s PR and corporate comms, is the person you talk to when you’re tweeting Raspberry Pi, stuffs envelopes with the stickers you buy, works with the press, takes some of the photos and videos you see here, and also wields a soldering iron in emergencies. She shares a surname, two cats and a house with Eben Upton, the Foundation’s Executive Director. Liz is an award-winning freelance writer and a freelance editor. She has a background in educational publishing. She is responsible for all the They Might Be Giants lyrics which mysteriously found their way into Learning and Teaching Scotland’s online material, and bakes a mean flapjack – you can read more about her at her blog (currently dormant, and likely to remain that way until the Foundation can afford to employ some people to take some work off her hands) http://www.gastronomydomine.com.

#ALD12 @findingada – Lindsay Levkoff

adafruit — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 22:00:18 +0000

Lindsay Levkoff, Ph.D. — Director of Education @ Sparkfun.

Growing up I was equally interested in biological sciences and technology, dissecting both backyard lizards and living room electronics. However, in my K-12 experience the biological sciences won my favor due to tangibility and excitement. Math and physics classes consisted of routine memorization and regurgitation of formulae, and a few tangible experiments often based on seemingly irrelevant and archaic technology. My biggest drive is to understand how things work. Following my curiosity about human physiology I attained my doctorate degree in Biomedical Sciences, but a flicker of wonderment about technology always lingered. Combining my passion for kinesthetic learning and the concept of play, I dreamt up a Department of Education at SparkFun Electronics, a company dedicated to the open source movement and sharing ingenuity. I am inspired to promote a system that encourages both educators and students to engage in the learning experience. By exciting students and creating materials that cross grade levels and fields of study our hope is that a greater and more diverse population of people will be interested in playing, hacking, tinkering, and creating.

#ALD12 @findingada Helen Greiner

adafruit — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 21:56:57 +0000

Helen Greiner.

Helen Greiner’s forward-looking instincts have helped transform iRobot from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology spin-off into a global leader of practical robots. A robot industry pioneer with more than two decades of experience, Greiner has helped to enhance public acceptance of robots as one of today’s most important emerging technologies. Greiner’s visionary contributions in technology innovation and business leadership have been recognized with numerous professional awards. She has been named one of America’s Best Leaders by the Kennedy School at Harvard University in conjunction with U.S. News & World Report and has been honored with the Pioneer Award from the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). Greiner has also been named New England Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young with iRobot co-founder Colin Angle. She is chair of the national Robotic Technology Consortium and sits on the board of trustees at MIT, the robotics advisory board of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the board of trustees of the Boston Museum of Science and the board of directors of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA)…

Article from Reader’s Digest here… Helen is now part of some secret start up, we can’t wait to see what she is up to next.

#ALD12 @findingada Anney Fresh

Matt — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 21:54:55 +0000

A master puppet builder, artist, and fabricator (among other things!), Anney Fresh, brings an incredibly rich set of tools and techniques to every project she attempts, whether it is restoring a Muppet, creating tremendous inflatable artworks, or creating new characters such as the SpeciMouse she created for an artshow for Buddy’s Den at Toy Tokyo.

Lately, she has explored incorporating DIY 3D printing and electronics components into her work — including her work creating the Adabot for Adafruit Industries!

From her blog:

Anney Ozar, AKA Anney Fresh, is a creator and performer of costumes and puppets in New York City. She was nominated for seven Daytime Emmy Awards for Costume Design/ Styling with wins in 2007, 2009, and 2010 for Sesame Street. Anney sings with The Loser’s Lounge at Joe’s Pub and was a cast member of Gallery HD’s art reality show Artstar. Creative services offered include Puppet Design and Building, Puppet Wrangling or Handling, Puppetry, Art Direction, Directing, Props, Costumes, Event Coordination. Member of AFTRA and AEA.

#ALD12 @findingada Amy Hurst

Matt — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 21:32:17 +0000

Maker, educator, and researcher Amy Hurst brings an energetic DIY spirit to bear on addressing accessibility challenges through her work with her prototyping and design lab “the pad” at UMBC.

From her blog:

Most of my research focuses on solving accessibility problems through developing new assistive technologies. I am especially interested in how I can build tools that will empower others to “DIY” and build their own assistive technologies.

#ALD12 @findingada Liz Arum

Matt — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:57:21 +0000

Physical computing and digital design educator Liz Arum has been at the forefront of efforts to bring the Maker movement into the classroom for the past decade. She was the first to build curriculum around the MakerBot CupCake CNC, and has inspired a tremendous number of students and educators to roll-up their sleeves and start making things.

She develops curriculum for MakerBot Industries in addition to teaching at Saint Ann’s School. You can enjoy her most recent contributions, in this case to the field of 3D printing, at the curriculum site that she develops and maintains at MakerBot.com.

From her blog:

Over the years I have spent time refining what I teach and how I teach it. I want to keep my students engaged. I want them to want to know more and to push themselves further than they believe they can go. Some of the topics we cover in class, like iPhone programming, might seem a little advanced, but I think if there is an interest, there are no limitations. Sometimes my plans don’t work as intended and what works with one group of students does not always work for another. But, tomorrow is another day and I think of it as a fresh start.

#ALD12 @findingada Catarina Mota

adafruit — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:50:47 +0000

phd fellow, co-founder of @openmaterials and @altlab, member of @nycresistor and OSHWA.org, co-chair of the Open Hardware Summit, TED fellow

Catarina also listed out some great women on her Facebook page too!

Happy Ada Lovelace day. Thank you to the talented and strong women in the open source community who inspire me everyday: Alicia Gibb, Dustyn Roberts, Limor Fried, Leah Buchley, Ayah Bdeir, Sylvia Todd, Erin Kennedy, Amanda Wozniak, Hannah Perner-Wilson, Lenore Edman, Becky Stern, Lynne Bruning, Alison Powell, Alison Leonard, Kate Hartman, Kat Braybrooke, Gabriella Levine, Shannon Dosemagen, Liz Barry, Katherine Moriwaki, Louisa Campbell, Liza Stark, Margarita Benitez, Addie Wagenknecht, Myriam Ayass, Lizabeth Arum, Paola Guimerans, Jie Qi, Meg Pirrung, Benedetta Piantella, Ellen Jorgensen, Max Whitney, Ari Lacenski, Kelly McGuire, Diana Eng, Astrida Valigorski, Mimi Hui, Dia Campbell, Nina Tandon, Juliana Rotich – and so many others!

#ALD12 @findingada – Electronic’s coloring book with Ladyada

adafruit — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:24:58 +0000

Ladyada’s “E is for Electronics” is a coloring book adventure with electronic components and their inventors.

Makers of all ages can learn, color, and share common parts and historical figures throughout history. Explore the world of electronics with Ladyada as your guide!

Here’s an excerpt:

“A diode lets electrons flow in only one direction. It works like a switch: when current is flowing one way, the switch is on, but when current tries to flow the other way, the switch turns off. Sir John Ambrose Fleming is best known for inventing the diode, originally called the kenotron.”

Coloring book dimensions: 8.5in x 5.5in

MADE IN THE USA!

This is the first ever open-source electronics coloring book! Adafruit’s coloring books are manufactured in the USA by a family owned and operated business, we use non-toxic soy based, water soluble and environmentally friendly printing supplies. The equipment used is solar powered! Adafruit knows you have a lot of choices as to where you spend your money and time, we hope our open-source values, commitment to green technologies and partners in the USA helps make the decision easier and fun! Crayons not included.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

#ALD12 Ayah Bdeir’s Advice to Entrepreneurs – Don’t Give Up! @findingada

adafruit — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 11:35:11 +0000

Ayah (from littleBits) gives an inspiring interview with Entrepreneur Levant at the SHARE Beirut Conference, encouraging entrepreneurs to follow their passion and never give up.

Ayah bdeir is an engineer and an interactive artist, and the founder of littleBits.cc, an open source kit of electronic modules that snap together with magnets. Only 6 months after its creation, litteBits has been acquired by MoMA for the museum’s permanent collection, won best of ToyFair, been featured on TED, BBC, Forbes and Popular Science, and called by Bloomberg TV LEGO’s for the iPad generation Bdeir graduated with a Masters from the MIT Media Lab where she was a student in the Computing Culture Group. Prior to that, Bdeir studied Computer Engineering and Sociology in the American University of Beirut.

After the Media Lab (and a brief stint in Finance), Ayah got a fellowship and senior fellowship at Eyebeam Art+Technology center. She taught graduate classes at NYU and Parsons and taught numerous workshops to get non-engineers, and particularly young girls, interested in science and technology. Bdeir was a mentor in the regional reality tv-show Stars of Science (initiated by Qatar Foundation) promoting science and technology innovation in the Middle East.

In 2010, Bdeir was granted a fellowship with Creative Commons in recognition of her work, including spearheading the first Open Hardware definition and co-chairing the Open Hardware Summit at the New York Hall of Science in September of 2010 and 2011. Just recently, Bdeir was awarded the highly prestigious TED fellowship, as one of 25 innovators in 2012 from around the world.

Bdeir is also the founder of Karaj, Beirut’s lab for experimental art, architecture and technology. Ayah lives and works in New York.

#ALD12 @findingada Quinn Dunki

Becky Stern — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Quinn Dunki hacks hardware on her BlondiHacks site and inspires young women to do the same. She created Veronica, a retro computer project, and documents it very thoroughly on her site, which is full of all sorts great electronics hardware explorations and photos, even some car projects.

#ALD12 @findingada Joanne Wilson

Becky Stern — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Joanne Wilson is one of the angel investors responsible for the first round of seed funding for littleBits. From Women 2.0:

Joanne started her career as a buyer at Macy’s and ran a company in the rag trade. She dabbled in a friends’ businesses, spearheaded sales at a magazine/e-zine/events startup in Silicon Alley, chaired a non-profit focused on technology in inner city schools (that she is still involved with), sat on her kids’ school board/exec board for years, sat on a few other profit and non-profit boards -and continues to be involved with startups by investing money and time.

#ALD12 @findingada Angela Sheehan

Becky Stern — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Angela Sheehan runs the site Soft Circuit Saturdays and always brings great work to Maker Faire. From Wired.com:

Crafter Angela Sheehan creates and shares wearable projects that combine crafts and electronics. For her current project, “Soft Circuit Hula Hoop Experiments,” Sheehan wondered what would happen if you took the hooping community’s current fascination with LED-lit hoops and made it fully interactive.

The result? Prototype hoops that are lined with conductive material that activates the conductive-fabric circuits on her specially made shirts. Depending on the location of the hoop, certain lights will flash, or various musical notes will sound from an embedded speaker.

As for Sheehan’s favorite project, that came for a show in college, where she rewired stepper motors from a printer to act as small generators, and connected them to roller skates in order to light up the LEDs embedded in the skates, skirt and shirt of the skater.

#ALD12 @findingada Debbie Sterling

Becky Stern — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Debbie Sterling is the CEO of GoldieBlox, a construction toy for girls. On Core77:

Debbie Sterling was discouraged by the stereotypes that suggested that boys should play with Bob the Builder while girls were left to dress up Barbie. With 89% of male engineers in her program at Stanford, it was obvious that there was a gender gap in the field. But more notably, Sterling was aware that there was a significant gap in the formative space of play. Because of this, she was motivated to spend a year of research with over 100 children in order to develop GoldieBlox: a construction toy for girls.

“My goal in starting GoldieBlox is to give girls a positive female engineer role model to show them that they too, belong in the field of engineering. After all, engineers are building the technologies and devices that make our world a better place. The sad reality is that only 11% of engineers in the US are women. It’s about time we inspire our girls to help build the future too.”

GoldieBlox has just launched its interactive book and construction toy series that combines storytelling and building in a novel approach to encourage girls to play with construction toys.

The book and toy series stars “Goldie Blox,” the girl engineer character who builds simple machines to solve problems and help her friends. It introduces new engineering principles with each story, including lessons around wheels and axles, pulleys, force and friction.

The first book and toy in the series, “Goldie Blox and the Spinning Machine”, is perfect for ages 5-9 and retails for $30. The expected delivery date is February 2013.

#ALD12 @findingada Ada Lovelace

adafruit — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 06:01:32 +0000

Ada Lovelace @ Science Museum UK.

Ada Lovelace (1815 – 1852) is often referred to as the world’s first computer programmer. The daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron, and the admired intellect, Annabella Milbanke, Ada Lovelace represented the meeting of two alternative worlds: the romanticism and art of her father versus the rationality and science of her mother. In her attempt to draw together these polar opposites and create a ‘poetical science’ during the Victorian age, Ada collaborated with the renowned mathematician and inventor, Charles Babbage.

In Victorian Britain printed mathematical tables were used by navigators, architects, engineers, mathematicians and bankers, but these tables were calculated by human clerks (literally called ‘calculators’) and they were riddled with errors. Charles Babbage became interested in mechanising the production of these tables and he developed a series of diagrams and prototypes which enabled him to explore his ideas.

Finding Ada — Bringing women in technology to the fore 10/16/2012

adafruit — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:00:55 +0000

Finding Ada — Bringing women in technology to the fore.

Share your stories of inspirational women

This year, Ada Lovelace Day will be held on Tuesday 16 October.

Ada Lovelace Day is about sharing stories of women — whether engineers, scientists, technologists or mathematicians — who have inspired you to become who you are today. The aim is to create new role models for girls and women in these male-dominated fields by raising the profile of other women in STEM.

So give your heroine the credit she deserves!

Science is a girl thing

adafruit — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:00:45 +0000

Science is a girl thing @ StarTribune.

As a kid, I always wanted to know how things worked. I was fortunate to grow up in a household where inquisitive thinking was encouraged and where projects that resulted in a big mess were considered just part of the learning process. My childhood helped me understand that the messes we make can lead to great things and gave me confidence to become an engineer and find work in a technical field.

I work at Flint Hills Resources, the region’s leading producer of transportation fuels such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other products. Science is at the core of what we do every day. We use it to develop cleaner-burning fuels and to meet growing energy needs while reducing emissions.

My company, like many others around the nation, is always looking for skilled engineers and other technical experts who have a background in science. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to find qualified individuals and harder yet to find qualified women applicants for many areas. This is unfortunate, because America needs innovative women and men to be able to solve the complex problems of modern society.

Nationally, women represent about half of the workforce, but only 24 percent of the workers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields are women. There are also fewer women than men seeking undergraduate STEM degrees.

Women make up just 21 percent of the students enrolled in the college of science and engineering at the University of Minnesota. If women don’t become interested in STEM fields, they are left unqualified for a growing segment of the job market.

Ada Countess of Lovelace paintings

adafruit — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 11:59:40 +0000

Ada Countess of Lovelace paintings @ BBC. October 16th, 2012 celebrate the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics – http://findingada.com/

Finding Ada — Bringing women in technology to the fore 10/16/2012

adafruit — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 06:00:46 +0000

Finding Ada — Bringing women in technology to the fore.

Share your stories of inspirational women

This year, Ada Lovelace Day will be held on Tuesday 16 October.

Ada Lovelace Day is about sharing stories of women — whether engineers, scientists, technologists or mathematicians — who have inspired you to become who you are today. The aim is to create new role models for girls and women in these male-dominated fields by raising the profile of other women in STEM.

So give your heroine the credit she deserves!

Adafruit 10% discount for donors: Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Ada Lovelace badges, and more

adafruit — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 09:24:53 +0000

Adafruit 10% discount for donors: Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Ada Lovelace badges, and more.

AdaFruit, the woman-founded open hardware company, is partnering with the Ada Initiative to offer Ada Initiative donors a 10% discount on your entire order from AdaFruit.

Just a few of the many kits and badges you can get from AdaFruit:

Raspberry Pi kits and accessories
Arduino kits and accessories
Ada Lovelace skill badge

If you’ve been wanting to get into open hardware, this is a great way to start. AdaFruit’s goal is to help people learn electronics and hardware, not just sell toys. With Limor “LadyAda” Fried at the helm, AdaFruit recognizes that women and girls love building DIY electronic projects and understanding how hardware works.

Donate at least $32 to the Ada Initiative in the next 24 hours (until October 2, 2012, 19:00 UTC/noon Pacific US time) and we’ll send you the discount code via email.

More!

LinuxCon Europe Keynoter Catarina Mota Talks Open Source Hardware

adafruit — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 17:18:48 +0000

LinuxCon Europe Keynoter Catarina Mota Talks Open Source Hardware @ Linux.com.

We kick off our LinuxCon Europe Q&A series today with keynote speaker and openMaterials Co-founderCatarina Mota. Mota shares some really interesting insights with us on open hardware, her favorite projects and how open hardware compares to open source software. I’m really looking forward to hearing her speak at LinuxCon Europe in Barclenoa November 5-7, 2012.

Meet the Founder of Ada Lovelace Day Suw Charman-Anderson

adafruit — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 13:13:36 +0000

Meet the Founder of Ada Lovelace Day Suw Charman-Anderson.

Ada Lovelace is widely held to be the world’s first computer programmer. That she was Lord Byron’s daughter and a wow at parties trails in the dust in comparison. She is the face of Ada Lovelace Day, set up by Suw Charman-Anderson to promote women in tech (and, increasingly, all the other sciences). Anyone can celebrate 16 October 2012 by blogging about a notable woman in science, attending spectacular events set up by the ALA organisation and supporting the fundraiser. After talking to the wonderful Suw Charman-Anderson, who in seeking to inspire others has inspired so many, we kind of want to blog about her.

The Trouble with Barbie Science

adafruit — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 11:05:32 +0000

The Trouble with Barbie Science @ Scientific American by Diana Betz…

However, when Dr. Denise Sekaquaptewa and I put “glamorous” STEM role models to the test, the results were not promising. In our study, middle school girls received one of four packets containing interviews and photos of three college women. One quarter of the girls saw feminine STEM role models: women wearing pastel-colored clothes and make-up, described as successful in math or science and fond of fashion magazines. The rest of the girls saw role models with some combination of these features: women who were good at STEM, but not particularly feminine (wearing plainer clothes, simply enjoying reading); feminine women who were smart, but not explicitly in STEM; or not-so-girly women succeeding in non-STEM fields.