Red Bull Creation Challenge 2012 is Here!

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Redbull is one of the few companies that really do an excellent job engaging the maker/hacker community. Their 72-hour build-a-thon challenges always generate really creative results. This year’s should be no different. Your favorite hackerspace (hint: that’s us!) is a finalist again this year. However, things will be a bit different this year and hopefully for the better. This time, RedBull is coming to the finalists and will be livestreaming the event online. You’ll be able to watch us build, hack, create, laugh, smile and hopefully win.

The nation-wide synchronized creation challenge starts Thursday, the 19th at 9PM EST, and goes for 72 hours straight through the weekend. Point your browser to http://creation.redbullusa.com/ creation to watch the chaos ensue at i3 Detroit and the 11 other hackerspaces, shops, and homes around the US. Press release follows:

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TechShop Grand Opening & People Mover Design Challenge

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Hans, Micho, Kristine, and Belvedere next to the Puppy Powered, Steampunk Chariot!

TechShop Detroit held their Grand Opening Celebration this weekend on May 5–6, 2012.

For their People Mover Design Challenge, they generously offered use of their makerspace, classes, and the help of their very knowledgeable staff to a joint i3 Detroit / District VII team composed of Kristine Diven, Micho Detronik, and Hans Chen.

Working out of all three spaces—i3 Detroit, District VII, and TechShop Detroit—they created a puppy-powered, steampunk chariot that wowed the judges and won first place!

President Matt Oehrlein was also invited to speak at the panel “Putting the D in DIY”.

A big thank you to TechShop and all its Detroit and out-of-state staff for their amazing hospitality, generosity, and making us such an important part of their opening!

i3 Detroit Power Racing Series 2012 Teaser

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We’ve been putting blood sweat and tears into our most advanced power wheels racer yet. Here’s a little video we took during our latest benchmarking test. We’ve reduced our drag coefficient by over 40%! We can verify this because we have fancy expensive equipment which measure this!

Taking the Red Bull by the Horns — Achievement Unlocked!

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Red Bull ChipFour days, a dozen Easter eggs, and one fun challenge completed! On Friday, after the first package was lost and the second one delayed, i3Detroit’s Red Bull Creation puzzle box arrived. An impromptu team assembled itself, and over the next few evenings, revealed all the secrets contained within.

The contents of the package, a circuit board with many strange functions and features, kept us guessing and laughing. From the Konami Code to a hidden image of Rick Astley, many of the puzzles made reference to internet memes, and two gave credits to the board’s creators. Exploring the circuitry and decoding the clues tested our creativity and took a wide variety of skills and equipment, not to mention bravery!  More than once, we decided to pursue avenues that could’ve smoked the board — and our chances of success — if we botched them. Ultimately, that approach paid off, and it was in the clutches of an SOIC-8 ZIF socket (pictured) that the SPI Flash chip finally divulged its last secret.

Kudos to Red Bull (and the folks behind the scenes) for coming up with such a fun challenge, and it’s just the beginning! It appears that the ballsy bovines have developed a fascination with hackerspaces, in addition to their wiiiiiings. Next up is an online challenge, after which contestants will be chosen to make their way to New York City for the final competition in July. Will i3Detroit members be among them? Stay tuned…

(And of course, stop by Saturday’s party! We’ll be celebrating our first year in Ferndale, giving tours and demos, and serving a certain energy drink…)

Woodworking & DIY Show Ticket – WINNER

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Congrats to Miguwl who was selected by Random.org to win a pair of tickets to the Woodworking & DIY Show this weekend. 

Thanks to everyone who entered.  We have a new high for entrants into a contest (Did I mention this was the first one?) 

I’ll shoot you an email to arrange pick-up.

This was fun.  I’ll work on getting more prizes and try to do this monthly.  Stay tuned.