Mower Gang Kicks Grass

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The do-gooders of the Mower Gang http://www.mowergang.com are at it again! Last time it was reclaiming a bike racing track from nature, this time it’s about cleaning and mowing a Detroit public park and saving the whales… well, one whale… made of cement. Member Matt Switlik will be heading out for the 1pm event from i3Detroit around 12pm on Saturday with a self-propelled push mower and electric trimmer. Come by to grab a ride or bring your own equipment and help out! City budgets and red tape be damned! Let’s cut some grass!

Inter-Hackerspace showing of GET LAMP: The Text Adventure Documentary, Sep. 11th

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Join i3Detroit for an evening of computer history, interactive storytelling, and more! On September 11th, in conjunction with other hackerspaces, we will beĀ screening GET LAMP: The Text Adventure Documentary. After the show, we’ll have a video chat with filmmaker Jason Scott, and a brief workshop on how you can get started creating your own interactive fiction game. (Reserve your seat now!)

Long before 3D-accelerated video cards, or even graphics of any sort, there was text. Letters on a screen, a blinking cursor, and you. Imagine the mother of all “choose your own adventure” books — the text adventure game (neologized as “interactive fiction“) takes place as much in your imagination as in the computer.

With thirty-plus years of history, the stories about the games are sometimes as interesting as the games themselves. Independent documentarian Jason Scott (also of Textfiles.com and BBS: The Documentary) has interviewed dozens of people behind this fascinating scene, distilled their stories into an engaging film with its own interactive section, and released the whole package underĀ a Creative Commons (“copyleft”)Ā license.

Come visit i3Detroit (or your own local hackerspace, if you’re not in Michigan) to explore the past, present, and future of interactive storytelling. Bring a laptop, and we’ll get you started writing your very own game.Ā  Seating is limited, so reserve your spot!

Solder of Fortune

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Tuesday saw the first step in our plan to revive our class schedule now that our space and sleep schedules have recovered from Maker Faire, and what better way to get started than to have two illustrious makers as our guest lecturers? These two giants were none other than Mitch Altman of Noisebridge and TV-B-Gone fame and Jimmie P. Rodgers of LOLshield fame both of whom are currently on a road trip to promote their clever kits and educate young and old about how easy and fun soldering can be.

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Power Wheels Racing Is a Crowd Pleaser

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Most of us have memories of seeing Power Wheels advertisements on TV, dreaming of far off adventures over rocky terrain in our own power wheels jeep or zooming around the Indianapolis Speedway trying to claim first place. Then we see the real things that barely have enough power to hit 2 MPH. Downhill. Most of us gave up on our grand fantasies in these tiny toys and bought real cars that ran on gas instead of dinky batteries, but a few bold men and women would not let reality crush their imagination. Collectively these people are known as crazy, but these crazy people have taken old Power Wheels vehicles and souped them up to herculean proportions in an attempt to show the world that they are not in fact crazy. This act in and of itself may too be crazy, but the results can only be described as awesome.

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Learn to Solder Workshop: Mitch and Jimmie at i3Detroit, Tuesday August 10th.

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You can solder! Yes, you. It’s easy, and you can learn how this Tuesday at i3Detroit. Mitch Altman and Jimmie P. Rodgers will be here to give one of their renowned kit-building workshops. You buy a kit, assemble it with expert guidance, and end up with a cool toy to show for it.

If you already own a soldering iron, stand, tip cleaner, or wire cutters, please bring them — we’ll provide as many as we can muster, but more are always helpful. Regardless, you should reserve your seat right away!

Mitch Altman likes to bring newbies into electronics. He’s best known for inventing the TV-B-Gone, a one-button remote control that turns off TVs wherever you may encounter them. He’s also a big fan of hackerspaces, having co-founded one, and is currently touring as many as possible, selling kits and helping get people into electronics.

Jimmie P. Rodgers is a microcontroller geek who enjoys circuit-bending, teaching, and putting entirely too many LEDs on things. His projects include the OpenHeart, various Arduino shields, and lots of noisemakers. He and Mitch are traveling the midwest, holding workshops and generally being awesome.

i3Detroit is metro Detroit’s first hackerspace, an open workshop where members and guests share tools and ideas. i3 stands for “imagine, innovate, and inspire”. Located in Ferndale, the 53-member group builds things, holds classes, and launches high-velocity snack food.