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Adafruit unveils Lego Ladyada's Workshop, vote for it to become a reality May 24th 2012, 11:14 If 10,000 of you go and vote at Lego Cuusoo, we could soon have a Ladyada Lego Workshop. The concept, whipped up by Limor Fried and Phillip Torrone, was a direct response to the borderline offensive Lego Friends set that was marketed to young girls last year. The seemingly unnecessary line of pastel-hued bricks inspired Fried to hire renowned Lego artist Bruce Lowell to help create a set of blocks that told girls it was ok to aspire to more than good hair and gossipy friends. Ladyada's Workshop is an ABS celebration of hacking, tinkering, strong women and all things DIY. Now all that needs to happen is that enough of you head on over to the Cuusoo site when the set goes up for vote. Hit up the source link for more images of what could wind up being the very first Lego product based on a company that sells DIY electronics kits. Adafruit unveils Lego Ladyada's Workshop, vote for it to become a reality originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 07:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink CNET  |  Adafruit, Lego Cuusoo  | Email this | Comments Microsoft announces Robotics @Home contest winner: a SmartTripod that can follow you May 24th 2012, 10:49 It's had quite a run, but Microsoft's months-long Robotics @Home Competition finally came to close this past weekend at the Bay Area Maker Faire. Taking home the title (and a $10,000 prize) was Arthur Wait for his SmartTripod, a robotic assistant that relies on Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 4, the Eddie development platform and, of course, a Kinect to follow a person around and handle camera duties in a natural manner -- or "almost as though a human was holding the camera," as Wait puts it. Just how well does it work? You can get a look at the robot itself and the results it's able to provide in the videos after the break. Continue reading Microsoft announces Robotics @Home contest winner: a SmartTripod that can follow you Microsoft announces Robotics @Home contest winner: a SmartTripod that can follow you originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 06:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |  Microsoft Robotics Blog  | Email this | Comments Gigabit Squared strikes deal to bring ultra high-speed broadband to six communities May 24th 2012, 10:13 It's still way too early for anyone to start ditching their existing broadband connections, but it looks like a few more communities in the US will be getting some ultra high-speed broadband networks to call their own. Ohio-based Gigabit Squared announced today that it's secured $200 million in funding to bring gigabit-speed networks to up to six different communities -- communities that have unfortunately not yet been named. What we do know is that the communities will all be ones centered around research universities, which themselves will be partners in the Gig.U initiative (an effort that has already enlisted more than 30 institutions). As The New York Times reports, Gigabit Squared is currently in talks with the first university in line for the rollout, and it apparently plans to make more announcements about timing and participation "later this year." Continue reading Gigabit Squared strikes deal to bring ultra high-speed broadband to six communities Gigabit Squared strikes deal to bring ultra high-speed broadband to six communities originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 06:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink The New York Times  |  Gigabit Squared  | Email this | Comments Google pumps cash into UK classrooms, will buy Arduino, Raspberry Pi sets for kids May 24th 2012, 09:46 Eric Schmidt has said that Google will make cash available through its investment into Teach First to buy Raspberry Pi and Arduino units for British schoolchildren. He was at the UK's Science Museum to talk about Mountain View's partnership with the charity, which puts top university graduates into schools to teach disadvantaged kids. The Android-maker wrote a cheque to fund over 100 places on the scheme, aiming to get bright computer scientists to reintroduce engineering principles to pupils. Mr. Schmidt hoped that with the right support, kits like the Raspberry Pi would do for this generation what the BBC Micro did three decades ago. Google pumps cash into UK classrooms, will buy Arduino, Raspberry Pi sets for kids originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 05:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |  BBC News  | Email this | Comments Julius Genachowski voices support for capped, tiered broadband May 24th 2012, 09:21 FCC honcho Julius Genachowski has come out in favor of usage-based pricing for your broadband. At this year's Cable Show, he said that he supported the sort of usage caps that Comcast adopted last week and hoped that such plans would reduce costs for those who use less internet. Comcast's new pricing structure offers a 300GB monthly cap, after which point it'll charge users $10 for every extra 50GB used. We're not sure how this'll play out, but we suspect anyone with a Netflix or Hulu addiction might feel less than pleased this morning. Julius Genachowski voices support for capped, tiered broadband originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 05:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Electronista  |  LA Times  | Email this | Comments

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