GOSHtastic - Game shows, Options, Software, & Hardware!

For a while, I have had it in mind to produce a physical map of stores and resources one might wish to go to before or during working on a project at Dallas Makerspace .  The map would consist of places one would go to procure raw materials, consumable supplies, or tools to finish a project in electronics, arts, woodworking, scientific endeavors, or you name it.  After spending a while scouring message board threads for local stores and resources previously mentioned by members, I called out for suggestions for any additional ones beyond those I scouted out.  After this, I sought out each place's address, geocoded it, and then visited each point using Web tools in order to test the accuracy of the geocoded list. Here is a diary of my trials and tribulations throughout this journey.  Not having used GIS software before, you should know that many people have spent years building in all sorts of intricacies for dealing with many situations, from different datums one c...

Well, this is big news!  LEDgoes, my modular scrolling LED matrix system, is finally being put on Kickstarter.   Check out the product here  and learn more!  (The Kickstarter isn't live yet because it's still awaiting approval; I'll post the link here when it's ready.) Why is this cool? Most LED matrices are fixed-width panels; ours is made from smaller panel modules you can push together to make your own desired size, up to 64 panels long. Because you snap the modules together, you can make a bendy LED display. This kit does 3 colors; most DIY kits can only show 1 color. It has an open, simplistic serial interface implemented in firmware, and very versatile software that can drive the firmware to scroll a message from various sources or even show animations.  The software could even help you break the 64-panel limit. The software can control a display consisting of multiple rows of panels in order to display bigger, taller letters.  In this case, ...