Here's a delightful video of each of the presenters at the Kansas City Mini Maker Faire, by Roger Dodger Aviation . They write: This was a first for Kansas City. Dozens of exhibitors displayed a wide variety of science, art, craft, DIY, and maker projects. We had stuff for kids like the paper rocket launch, mini-building blocks, soldering lessons, hacking happy meal toys, beginner robots and more. For big kids we had CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machines, an electricity-spitting Tesla coil, a replica working submarine, 3D printers, big rockets, big robots, a cable-climbing space elevator, 3D scanners, a thermal electricity generator and more.The event was held on August 22, 2010 and we're hoping for an even bigger event next year.Thanks to all the sponsors, exhibitors, businesses and volunteers that made the KC Mini-Maker Faire a success! In addition to producing the above video, they also assembled a list of each of the presenters at the Faire. If you're interested in any of the above projects, you can check them out here: Make Magazine Make:KC Cowtown Computer Congress Main Street Parkville Association HMS Beagle Science Store Clayco Electric Kauffman Foundation Greater KC Chamber of Commerce KC Space Pirates Argonaut Jr. Metro Homeschool Robotics Hack Art Lab Kansas City Robotics Society Roger Dodger Aviation I, Bioloid Drink Bot STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) Society Wii Labyrinth Robotic Golf Table Habitat for Humanity ReStore KC KC Association of Rocketry Orange Grapes Glow Doodle Github SCOPE Versonova SprayPaintArt DIY Security Screwdrivers Hallmark Christmas Ornaments Remote Control Nerf Turret More: Scenes from the Kansas City Mini Maker Faire Announcing: Kansas City Mini Maker Faire 2010 Playable Mini Drumset rocks out in cars, on roofs Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Maker Faire | Digg this!

Fjr of Mobile, AL, wanted to build a trebuchet. He soon discovered that it was a huge hassle because the parts he could find weren't compatible with each other. I was talking to my brother and as I talked I was frustrated at how hard it was to build things. The biggest problem in my opinion is, everytime I want to build something, it pretty much always involves some kind of shafts. Shafts have several functions: 1. They hold components where they need to be. But they also need to be held in place on the shaft. 2. Shafts give various components a common rotational axis. 3. Shafts transmit motion from one component to another. If you want to place a component on a shaft and have it perform reliably, it needs to be held in place on the shaft. If you want a component to spin smoothly, then you need a bearing placed on your shaft. The bearing needs to have the same inner diameter as the shaft's outer diameter, within a few thousandths, if not things will vibrate and wobble and all kinds of problems. Most shafts get stacked on with a different diameter for each component. Thats alot of custom machining. I don't have the resources to machine custom shafts each time I have an idea, and I'm not alone in not having them. What's needed is a standard, a system. Fjr created a number of possible parts to his " Simplified Mechanical System ," including the two above. What do you think, readers? Do we need a series of standard components for maker projects? Leave a comment. Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Modern Mechanix | Digg this!

We tweeted a link to these on our Make_Tips channel, but I thought they were worth reposting here. Strung here are most of the pearls of wisdom needed to be successful in ye ol' art of soldering: I. Thou shall not remove tip from soldering iron when power is "On." Causes heating element to rise in temperature to approximately 1300 F resulting in thermal shock and reduced heater life. II. Thou shall maintain a damp (NOT drenched) iron sponge (preferably with de-ionized water). A drenched sponge will bring the temperature of the tip down too drastically, causing thermal shock and reduced tip life. III. Thou shall not disconnect soldering iron from base unit when power is turned "On." Disconnecting or reconnecting the soldering tool from the base unit with power applied may cause a short between non-compatible pins resulting in damage to the base unit or pencil. IV. Thou shall maintain a coating of solder on working area of soldering iron tip. Protects the tip from oxidation. V. Thou shall never drop soldering iron while heated. Dropping the soldering tool while heated may cause thermal/mechanical shock to the heater, sensor, or tip (fractured plating). Ten Commandments of soldering More: All of our soldering coverage on MAKE Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Electronics | Digg this!

Microsoft has been getting a lot of download love for its Bing app for the iPhone. On August 30, the company announced delivery of a new Bing app — this time for Android.

Microsoft has released a beta refresh of its Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack (SP) 1 to selected PC and Technology Adoption Program (TAP) partners, company officials confirmed on August 30.

Microsoft announced on Monday morning that it was increasing the price of an Xbox Live Gold membership by $10, from $49.99 to $59.99 a year, including for existing members in the U.S. starting November 1st. Members in the U.K., Canada and Mexico will also see price increases. The new price, the first time the company has ever raised its rates, represents a 20% increase, which will likely have a significant impact on the revenues of the moneymaking service.

Microsoft Monday took the wraps off Cloud Champions Club, a new cloud-computing-oriented channel program that's designed to help partners follow Microsoft as it stampedes into cloud computing. With the new three-tier program, unveiled at Xchange Americas 2010 in Dallas, Microsoft is essentially chipping away at the psychological barrier of up-front costs that has kept many VARs on the sidelines of the cloud revolution.

Hotmail is making it easier for you to stay up-to-date and be productive on your phone. Starting today, you can get your email, calendar, and contacts pushed automatically to your phone using Exchange ActiveSync (EAS). EAS keeps everything in sync between your phone and Hotmail, so whatever you do on your phone, like delete an email, add an appointment, or update one of your contacts with a new number, will also be reflected on the web, and vice-versa. If you use an email client on your PC that already syncs with Hotmail, like Outlook with the Outlook Connector or Windows Live Mail, what you do on your phone will show up there as well, delivering a seamless experience for managing your stuff between your PC email client, your browser, and your phone.

Windows Server sales rode high as the worldwide midrange server market showed an 11 percent revenue increase in the second quarter, compared with last year's numbers, according to IDC. "The uptick in the midrange server market shows there was pent-up demand for more scalable servers, through replacement for aging servers and workload consolidation," said Jean S. Bozman, research vice president for enterprise servers at IDC.

Novell has a new best friend when it comes to Suse Linux distribution: VMware. If you recall, Novell's former best friend for Suse Linux was Microsoft. Microsoft and Novell have a partnership where the two parties had certificates that indemnified Suse users from any intellectual-property liability. In addition, Microsoft officially recommended Suse Linux Enterprise for hybrid Windows/Linux shops.