LEDs are soldered and testing is underway. There are a few minor bugs to tweak out with the lighting and then it's on to full assembly and programming. The color balance is a bit askew, but that's an issue for another day. 48 hours to go...

The initial mockup. Time for bed.

Moving forward — a quick spin with one of the two boards. Now on to connect the brushes to power up the other half. More later...

The presentation of the ultraORB at ITP Thesis week is now online and can be streamed here or downloaded here. I'm working now to improve the programming, moving toward displaying controlled geometric objects Tuesday and Wednesday at the ITP Spring Show.

Come to the edge, he said.
They said: We are afraid.
Come to the edge, he said.
They came.
He pushed them and they flew.
-Guillaume Apollinaire

Tisch School of the Arts Dean Mary Schmidt Campbell closes the ITP class of 2007 along with the rest of the TSOA graduates at Madison Square Garden with the same words used by Red to open our ITP class two years earlier. Thanks to everyone for an amazing experience. This is only the beginning, now it's on to "invent the future". See you all tomorrow at the show.

Just for old times' sake...

This comes to you from a quiet hotel lounge on the east side of Denver on our way to the MAKE Magazine Maker Faire, where we will join some 400 makers (including a handful of ITP'ers such as Andrew Schneider, Team Botanicalls, Giana Gonzalez, Tom Igoe, and last but not least, FabInfo instructors Toru Hasegawa and Mark Collins) with ORB and ultraORB in hand and ready to exhibit. A few tens of thousands of attendees are expected of all ages and all walks of life and I'm expecting a fantastic time sharing our work with the curious as well as exploring the rest of the exhibits. I'm also slated to give a talk/demo on Thursday's Maker Day, a day of events held specifically for the exhibitors and other presenters and organizers.

Maker Faire is held at the San Mateo Fairgrounds in San Mateo California and is open to the public on May 19-20. Advance tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students 21 and under, and $5 for children 12 and under ($20/$15/$5 respectively on-site). Hope to see you there.

...on the ORB!

Jimmy and his team were great. We shot a short interview which should air on Jimmy Kimmel Live! within the next couple of weeks. Jimmy said he "felt like the Mona Lisa" and that his mug on the ORB was "the most beautiful thing I've ever seen". MAKE!

Brent Green (nervousfilms.com) in the midst of an urgent and inspired performance with his group from Pennsylvania, accompanying his beautiful short film, Hadacol Christmas, at Maker Faire 2007. Watch the films here.

So I'm back in NYC after an exciting and productive time at Maker Faire San Mateo and an all-too-short stopover with family in Jerseyville. It's great to be back in the city though and I'm excited to hit the ground running on Tuesday, with tons of post-ITP opportunity. Welcome back to the real world.

Incidentally, this is my first mobile post through Flickr. I hadn't exactly found a great motivation to join the Flickr devotees prior to this, but we'll see if it draws me in.