Friday, October 13, 2006
MAKE NEWS No. 46 -- Friday the 13th! MAKE & CRAFT Halloween Contests!
MAKE NEWS No. 46 -- Friday the 13th! MAKE & CRAFT Halloween Contests!
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October 13, 2006
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It's Friday the 13th. It's October. Get your scare on.
OK folks, a little MAKE newsletter housekeeping before we start off. We're
switching to a HTML-based newsletter, so starting in 2 weeks (the next
newsletter) you'll get a better version of the MAKE newsletter, just like
the CRAFT and Tools-N-Tips newsletters.
You can manage subscriptions to your newsletters here at any time:
<http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/nl/home>
Makers and Crafters, it's time to enter our ghoulishly fun Halloween contests!
Anyone, anywhere can enter, and depending on what type of maker or crafter you
are, you can enter all or just some of the contests. We'll have lots of updates
and posts regarding all these, but this is to get you started and planning.
THE CONTESTS!
Hack-o-Lantern contest: Decorate a pumpkin in any way you see fit, or unfit. It's
that easy. Then upload your photos to the MAKE or CRAFT Flickr photo pools and
tag them "MAKECRAFTHALLOWEEN". Or you can email them to us, but just be aware
that we're going to upload them to the MAKE and CRAFT Flickr photo pools. We'll
also have a roundup of ways to decorate a pumpkin as it gets closer to Halloween.
Costume Contest: Dressing up? Making your own costume? As long as you "make"
something, you can enter. Any costume with homemade elements on it, in it, or
used is OK. Take a photo of your costume(s), then upload your photos to the MAKE
or CRAFT Flickr photo pool, and tag them "MAKECRAFTHALLOWEEN". Or you can email
them to us and we'll upload them to the MAKE and CRAFT Flickr photo pools. We'll
continue to post fun costumes and how-tos all this month as well.
Decorations, Gadgets and More Contest: Decorations at home, work, wherever, a
haunted house, lawn gadgets, anything Halloweeny. If you're one of those makers
or crafters who goes all out and makes their surroundings spooky in some way,
take a photo! Then upload your photos to the MAKE or CRAFT Flickr photo pool and
tag them "MAKECRAFTHALLOWEEN" Or you can email them to us, but just be aware that
we're going to upload them to the MAKE and CRAFT Flickr photo pools. We will
spotlight some of our favorite Halloween-related projects all this month to
inspire folks.
Treat-or-Treat Contest: This is the easiest one. If you have a blog, a website,
MySpace, or anything online, just post a link to MAKE or CRAFT. We will pick 10
people we see linking to us. It works best if you have a blog-like site; we'll
be using the Technorati service to track who is linking to us. You can post a
link to us in your sidebar, a link about this contest, anything really. Do a
post about MAKE or CRAFT, it doesn't matter to us, but we can see it best if
it's on a blog, and making it fun always helps (extra credit if it's a SPOOKY
STORY).
Prizes!
Besides the glory and fame of being a winner of the MAKE & CRAFT Halloween
Contest, we're going to give away some stuff.
* Hack-O-Lantern: We'll pick 3 pumpkins and the winner gets a MAKE limited
edition Pocket Ref and a copy of the Makers book.
* Costumes: We'll pick 3 costumes and each winner gets MAKE year one (4 volumes
of MAKE in a collector's box) and the first issue of CRAFT.
* Decorate/Gadgets: We'll pick 3 winners and each will receive a MAKE controller
kit and a POV kit.
* Treat-or-Treat: We'll pick 10 people who linked to MAKE & CRAFT and send the
latest issue of MAKE or CRAFT (your choice).
* Grand prize: We'll pick one of our winners as the grand prize, and they'll
receive: a MAKE controller kit, MAKE year one (4-volume collector's set), CRAFT,
a POV kit, AND a box of MAKE magazines donated to a classroom or school of their
choice! You want to win this--do it for the children!
Deadline
Have your entries in before Saturday, Nov. 4, 2006, at 1:59 p.m. EST. We're giving
you a little time to take photos and get them up post-Halloween, but you can enter
any time starting now. Contest is open to anyone on planet Earth or surrounding
orbit.
Remember you can enter at any time just by tagging your photos on Flickr with
"MAKECRAFTHALLOWEEN" and adding them to the MAKE and/or CRAFT photo pools or just
email them to us. To enter the trick-or-treat portion, just post about MAKE/CRAFT
or the contest on your blog. And lastly, if you want to use MAKE and/or CRAFT
logos in your projects or posts, get'em here:
<http://makezine.com/logos/>
<http://craftzine.com/logos/>
SO! What are you waiting for? Scare us! Inspire us! Humor us!
<http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/10/make_craft_halloween_contests.html>
=Swap-O-Rama-Rama (photos!)=
The MAKE & CRAFT team would like to thank the organizers of Swap-O-Rama-Rama and
everyone who stopped by at our CRAFT table in New York. We had a lot of fun at
this fantastic event!
Check out some of our photos here:
<http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/10/swaporamarama_p.html>
MAKE: Video!
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=Weekend Project Podcast: Shadow Puppet Monsters=
In this video, you'll learn how to use paper and polycarbonate (lexan) to make
shadow puppets. Then you'll learn how to make a shadow theater. If you make a
puppet show, make sure to take pictures and upload them to the MAKE Flickr pool.
Also, download the PDF instructions so that you can print out while you work on
your puppets!
<http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/make_podcast/>
MAKE: Blog
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Can't get enough MAKE? Visit the MAKE blog for a daily dose of all things you
*should* try at home. Each day we post dozens of stories, projects, hacks, and
mods sent by you, makers!
<http://www.makezine.com/blog/>
This week on the MAKE: Blog-
=Strange Love: George Dyson on Nuclear Weapon Scientists=
With North Korea in the news, we thought this would be an interesting article to
post online. In the current issue of MAKE, we have an article by George Dyson
called "Strange Love: Or, How They Learned to Start Worrying and Love to Hate the
Bomb." Here's a link to the article on MAKE and the full PDF:
<http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/10/strange_love_ge.html>
=Free Halloween Project: Scary Pumpkins from Electronics Projects for Dummies=
Earl Boysen was kind enough to arrange for our MAKE blog readers to get this
special Halloween how-to called "Scary Pumpkins" from the book he co-authored,
"Electronics Projects For Dummies." The Scary Pumpkins sense visitors when they
walk between them using an infrared beam. The pumpkins then greet the vistors
with a spooky message you record on a voice chip integrated circuit. Here are
the electronics bits stuffed inside one of the pumpkins.
<http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/10/free_halloween.html>
MAKE: Flickr Photo Pool
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There are over 5,156 photos with 1,722 Makers from around the world posting
projects, hacks, mods, and more in the MAKE photo pool.
Kid robot, no really:
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/petesweb/265100057/in/pool-make/>
Blinking skulls for your stereo:
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/84596092@N00/266646161/in/pool-make/>
Metal pinhole camera:
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/judithhoffman/266574137/in/pool-make/>
Headless horseman LEGO LED:
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/oskay/265878996/in/pool-make/>
Make a MAKE maker burrito:
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmtorrone/sets/72157594324378316/>
MAKE Volume 07!
==============
Volume 07: Backyard Biology
Hack your plants, extract your DNA, 70's soapbox saga, build a videocam rocket,
and head-mounted water cannon.
<http://www.makezine.com/07/>
If you're a MAKE subscriber, don't forget that you can log in right now and see
all of MAKE 07 with MAKE's digital edition.
<http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol07/>
If you're not a subscriber yet, subscribe today and never have to worry about
finding your favorite mag again--it'll come straight to your door!
<http://www.makezine.com/subscribe>
=Renegade crafters! MAKEs new Zine, CRAFT, On Newsstands October 17!=
From the team that brought you MAKE, CRAFT is a quarterly, project-based magazine
dedicated to the renaissance occurring within the world of crafts. Our vision with
CRAFT is to unite, inspire, inform and entertain a growing community of highly
imaginative and resourceful people who are transforming traditional art and crafts
with unconventional, unexpected and sometimes renegade techniques, materials and
tools.
CRAFT is written for and by creative, free-spirited DIY enthusiasts; tech-savvy
makers & crafters; students (of all ages), teachers; the intellectually curious,
artistically inclined and environmentally aware. People who derive an innate
sense of pleasure in finding unexpected ways to repurpose, re-make and re-use
materials, art, technology, devices in their daily lives.
Learn How to:
· Embroider a skateboard
· Make and program a light-up tank top
· Convert an old pair of shoes into chic knitted boots
· Create an iPod cozy through the ancient art of felt-making
CRAFT goes on sale October 17, 2006 and we anticipate a very quick sellout (as
was the case with the inaugural issue of MAKE). Avoid the crushing disappointment
of an empty newsstand, and reserve a copy today by subscribing.
As a special offer to MAKE readers, visit craftzine.com/subscribe and claim an
inaugural subscription for yourself or as a gift for the crafter in your life
before October 17th, enter promotion code MAKE4CRAFT, and receive the cool new
CRAFT T-shirt.
Just visit <http://craftzine.com/subscribe>
And be sure to check out our new blog:
<http://craftzine.com/blog>
=MAKE: Limited Edition Pocket Ref=
We love us some Pocket Ref. It's a great little book with concise all-purpose
reference featuring hundreds of tables, maps, formulas, constants, and conversions
AND it still fits in your shirt pocket! Get one, heck two, at the MAKE store for
only $12.95!
<http://makezine.com/store/>
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Don't buy what you can make, don't make what you can find!
*The MAKE Team*
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