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K'nex Mechanical Adding Machine (3m:10s)

Occasionally I worry that the integrated circuit will be the undoing of childhood tinkering. Just look at how hard it is to work on your own car these days. "Infernal computers!" Then I see something like this, and I'm immediately reminded why childhood is sooo cool. It's an excellent mechanical, macroscopic, and home-made example of what our computers do everyday. Score one for the tinkerers, and well done kwilliam2.

This DIY adder is only one product of a thoroughly charming community, building mechanical analogs of what are now mostly digital devices. Here's a cool Lego adder.

  • logic gates (Wikipedia)
  • adder (Wikipedia)

    LINKS GOOD ON 2006-12-14


  • TED talk by Wikipedia founder Jim Wales

    TED Talk by Wikipedia Founder Jim Wales (2005) (20m:48s)

    If you have spent any time browsing this video collection you know that I have a fondness for linking to wikipedia. What is wikipedia you ask? If you don't know, please click on the clip, and let the founder explain.

    The short version: their goal is getting a free encyclopedia to EVERYONE on the planet. How cool is that?

    LINKS GOOD ON 2006-12-14


    TED talk by MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte

    TED Talk by MIT Media Lab Founder Nicholas Negroponte (2006) (18m:23s)

    I'm a teacher, and I have a firm belief that technologies are best utilized when ubiquitous. I know I didn't really start to use the internet in class until my computer was connected to a dedicated stay-in-my-classroom data projector. Sure, back in the day, I could have checked out a projector, but I never would have done that just to show a 15 second clip from YouTube. Just image what would happen if every student had a laptop. Well, this guy's working on that. Click on the clip to hear how.

  • One Laptop Per Child
  • Laptop Website
  • MIT Media Lab

    LINKS GOOD ON 2006-12-14

  • Google

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