Hobbyists in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute created 250 robots for Pittsburgh's 250th anniversary.

Here is the link to the project

And here is the video accompanying today's WSJ article:

IndyHall is what we all want to be when we grow up. And, how fast IndyHall grew up in only one year. HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY.

Click here for a video of Alex Hillman with the details of the event.

Time: Sunday, August 31st, 6pm.
Place: Triumph Brewing Company, 2nd and Chestnut, Old City Philadelphia

The Hacktory contributed $200 to the party fund. Please chip in yourself. Click here to chip in.

Build your own "GPS-A-Sketch!"
A 2-day GPS hacking class is open at the Hacktory! Participants will learn about GPS technology, build their own programmable GPS receiver, participate in a Hacktory art event at the Esther M. Klein Gallery, and never be lost again!
The cost of the class is set at barely more than the hardware cost, in hopes that new community interaction and future projects will be built around the device.
More information when logged into the Hacktory website:
http://thehacktory.org/classes/gps-a-sketch-class-2-day-class

Also in the goody-two-shoes category. On Friday Aug 22nd in Bellmawr NY is a gamer-centric and gamer run fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. This Friday they will have things rocking from 4PM to 10PM at the #33 Fire Hall in Bellmawr, NJ . Their official site is one giant 2001 style image at extinctionlevelevents.com.

What can I say? It's a good day for civic engagement. And video games.

Hey folks. Did you do your good deed for the day yet? If you didn't (or you pulled some crap, and need to get 2 good deeds today) here is your chance. Critical Path ISP provides free (and ad-free) dial up internet to around 10,000 low income people in greater Philadelphia. It's late 2008 and internet access is a must, and unfortunately for a lot of those people free dialup is their only option.

Due to city budget cuts (yea!) Critical Path has lost a good chunk of funding. To keep their funding, supporters need to make it clear that Philadelphia tax payers thing they deserve to keep their budget. They are looking for people to co-sign their letter to the mayor (warning: pdf). Email jjfink@fight.org your name and organization if you want to sign on in support.

I generally don't post this kind of petition or politics stuff, but come on?! You can't even apply for many jobs without an email account these days. Bite the bullet, sign on, and earn your goodie-two-shoes credit for the day.

One of Europe's most innovative contemporary arts groups, Oslo-based Verdensteatret will bring audiences into a highly experimental audiovisual installation that goes far beyond the boundaries of conventional performance. Last winter, Verdensteatret sailed up the Mekong Delta, the same river that plays the veins and arteries around the heart of darkness in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. Inspired by their journey, louder is a symphonic collage of music and visual art: massive video projections of the Vietnamese countryside play as Soviet-era megaphones hurl sound in all directions. Gaping puppet jaws chase flocks of small metal figures across the room. An enormous mechanical spider looms over the scene. Verdensteatret uses sculptural scenography, mesmerizing generators of sound, and technological relics of a bygone era to create a spectacular universe that unites concert, art, and theate.