11

SPARK

Letters

REGULAR

Letters

ATTENTION

ALL MAKERS!

If you have something you’d

like to get off your chest (or

even throw a word of praise

in our direction) let us know at

hsmag.cc/hello

SPARK

INTERNET OF BUBBLES

For your next IoT project, I’d like to see

a device that lights up when I’ve got a

message. I find beeps and notification

noises extremely distracting, so I

usually have the volume turned down

on all my devices. It

would be great if my

devices could let me

know when I’ve got a

message using some

less intrusive method

FLY ME TO THE MOON

The article from Jenny List about

quadcopters reminded me of my

childhood summers making rubber

band-powered planes from balsa

wood. I wondered if these could now

be made using a laser cutter and

controlled via a tiny microcontroller?

Andy Clark

London

Ben says: I bet they could you know.

And now that we’ve done quadcopters

and rockets (turn to page 32 if you

haven’t already seen this issue’s cover

feature), we’re thinking about putting

a microcontroller into a Zeppelin.

Gravity will not defeat us!

TIME AT THE BAR

I take my hat off to your interview

subject (Al of Al’s Hack Shack YouTube

fame) in issue 11. A workbench with

a built-in fridge, with a built-in beer

ejector... it’s genius. As it only holds

one, I’m not sure how much use it

would be in my house, but still –

there’s your next iteration!

James Atherton

Oldham

Ben says: The only problem with voice

activation, that I can see, is that it’s

so damn creepy. I really don’t want

Google, Amazon, or whoever, listening

in all the time (even if it is only in the

shed). That’s why the Mycroft server

project is so appealing

(hsmag.cc/fRMAKW). Rather than

send your queries to a company whose

raison d’être is spying on you, the

Mycroft software can run on a server

in the home, so it’s completely private.

And it’s open-source – double win.

• a diffused light maybe, that could fade
  in without breaking my concentration?

George McKenzie

Oakland, California

Ben says: I might be wrong, but DoES

Liverpool makerspace showed off a device

at Maker Faire UK that did something

similar – when a particular account was

tweeting, it would blow bubbles. That’s

what the Internet of Things was made for.