Alfred's musings

I'm developing a passion for helping kids discover and develop their skill (and first, love) for technology, and as I can't find excellent resources online about this (I'm sure these exist, but I can't find it yet! Let me know if you do know of some...), I decided to start to capture some of my thinking around this. Caveats: I'm a Google employee, and biased towards our technology. I truly think it's great, and will shamelessly promote it. (But, other than being a shareholder and employee, I'm not compensated on any of the things I'm talking about here.) Also - I have no First up: What should be taught? Programming. I think the most critical thing to teach kids, is how to use technology creatively (rather than just consuming via technology). More music making, than music listening. More poetry writing than just reading. And for the science/maths orientated kids, how to *create* computers, how to code. One key and interesting hurdle is that tec...

It can't be any surprise to any of my friends that I love the point where electronics and the physical world collide. And robotics is part of this. Hence my Arduino controlled heating at home , my banana clicker , my HTTP light bulbs ,  CAT6 Christmas lights  and cyborg stories . So, you can't imagine how excited I am to see some public rumours (I don't have more Google Internal information *yet*) on what Andy Rubin is up to now. Automation. So - as a tribute to Andy and an early "Merry CHRISTmas" to you all, here's another Biehler invention... just for fun, inspired by a singing dog in a shop window nearby. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVVr-anPES0 For those interested (really?) in the tech behind it... it's deadly simple. Now I can formally claimed that I've shared some of my (not so) dirty laundry on YouTube :) If only I can get that robot to sort out the socks, find the missing ones and put them away...

I've recently made my son a lego camera. It's just an OLD camera lens, and a lego caddy that could be adjusted to carry the lens backwards and forwards (focus), and a piece of paper as a "display" or target. And then some more lego to enclose it so that we don't have too much stray light. What struck me with this thing, was again the importance of light. More light, better photos. And the same goes for Hangouts. When you do a Hangout (and I'm sure the same will apply to Skype or Facetime or whatever you choose...), make sure there is light pointing *to* you. The standard mistake is to simply sit with your back to the window. Don't. That means your face is in the shadow, the camera get fooled by a lot of light (from around your face), and it's just dark.. Like this... The picture above was taken while sitting on the red sofa in Google CSG, London. Instead, I moved to the blue seat, and now the light comes in from the window to light up ...

And then, of course, there are other ways to get Google Glass, if you wanted some, but did not yet manage to get yours... and you are not happy with the #Lego version ... Just print your own. A Googler colleague just asked me: "Do they work?"  And the answer, I guess, depends on what you want to achieve, what you hoped they would deliver... (Now that I've done both, I think the Lego version is much more flexible, agile, smooth and colourful... now #ifonlyihadglass for real...)

Continuing on from the theme on things I did when entertaining an audience at #GoogleATU on Friday... (also see banana and homopolar motor ) #ifIhadglass I would not have had to do this, but since I don't have glass, I had a problem. On numerous occasions I wanted to show off and talk about Google Glass in the broader context of new form factors, innovation, wearable computers, internet of things or #whenamapisnotamap. What do you do if you want glass, and don't have it? (BTW - Working at Google has not yet solved that problem for me either... but I'm not giving up hope!) Until then, the solution for me has been to build my own with lego. OK Google? Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: Step 4: Step 5: Stick this to your glasses with blue tac. I've done this at a few events, and people just assume it's the real thing. On one occasion, the customer even asked me to try it on. I detached the lego & blue tac, and handed this to the customer.....

Next up, following from the Homopolar motor , is the banana clicker. This is a great way to impress your audience at any presentation, so I'll now need to find another trick... but I'll share this with you for your pleasure... just don't tell anyone until you've used this to impress your next audience. Instead of using a fancy clicker to advance your slides, use your banana. How? In short: buy this  (or one of these ), plug it in, connect banana and impress. In a bit more detail (and cheaper set-up): An Arduino has a USB plug, and can pretend to be a computer USB keyboard if it is running this program . (You could buy or build your own Arduino, and just download the open source code...) The code effectively looks for conductivity between connectors, and when it measures conductivity, it sends the "key press". A banana conducts (providing you hold on to the other (ground) wire... or you can hook it up to ideally a steel lectern). Other fruit wor...

I've recently presented some fun bits at a Google Event (#GoogleATU), and I had so many requests for more info, that I decided I'll write up my tricks for all to enjoy. if (( technology == magic ) && (magician's code))   return (void);           // nah, ignore First up: Homopolar motor . It's not my idea, I have to confess. It was Farraday's idea and he first did this demo in 1821. What do you need: 1) A battery. Round ones work best. Just take a normal AA battery, one that you won't mind throwing away, as you'll pull a lot of current through it. Expert tip: For best results, find one where one of the poles on the battery is not perfectly flat. You ideally want it to be a bit rounded or with a slight tip on it to reduce the friction with the screw 2) A screw. Expert tip: This could be a nail or anything else really, but it needs to a) conduct electricity and b) magnetic field. You want one that is as heavy as your magnet can hold. To...