{"id":4556,"date":"2012-06-26T18:13:08","date_gmt":"2012-06-26T10:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seeedstudio.com\/blog\/?p=4556"},"modified":"2014-07-16T15:34:01","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T07:34:01","slug":"meet-the-maker-al-linke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seeedstudio.com\/blog\/2012\/06\/26\/meet-the-maker-al-linke\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Maker : Al Linke"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who is the designer of these fabulous electronic products that I\u2019m using?\u00a0 How did he\/she become a cooperated designer<\/a> of Seeed?\u00a0 Where does his\/her aspiration come from?\u00a0 Do you know the designer of the product that you\u2019re using?\u00a0 Want to know more about the designers?\u00a0 No problem.\u00a0 We will carry out an interview with our cooperated designers.\u00a0 And the interview will be posted as \u201cFace to Face with Designers\u201d in Seeed Blog.<\/p>\n

This time, we interviewed Al Linke whose\u00a0<\/a>designs<\/a> include DIY Magic Mirror and Droidalyzer.\u00a0 Here is the interview:<\/p>\n

Q: Your design, the DIY Magic Mirror,won the Tech Grand Prize in the 2008 DIY Halloween Contest<\/a>, how did you feel when you first got the news? What was your first reaction?<\/p>\n

Al: \u00a0That was really exciting. It was the first time posting one of my projects. The community feedback was so positive, that was the inspiration to turn the project into a kit.\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Q\u3001Why did you design the\u00a0\u00a0Magic Mirror<\/a>? Where did your inspiration come from?<\/p>\n

Al:\u00a0 I was building a playhouse for my two girls in my backyard. I wanted to do something high tech as part of the build that the girls could interact with.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Q\u3001Did you have any anticipation that the design would win such a prize?<\/p>\n

Al:\u00a0 No, not at all<\/span><\/p>\n

Q\u3001What was your favorite game when you were a little boy? Did it have any influence on you being a \u201ctinkerer\u201d today?<\/p>\n

Al:\u00a0 Nothing comes to mind as a favorite but I do remember taking apart everything I could get my hands on. I guess that\u2019s where it all started.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q\u3001In your opinion, what are the differences and similarities between being an IT director and a tinkerer?<\/p>\n

Al:\u00a0 They\u2019re both high tech which I love. Tinkering is definitely more creative, it\u2019s a nice outlet for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Q\u3001What do you think is the most difficult thing to handle in the process of designing something?<\/p>\n

Al:\u00a0 Since I have a day job, I can only work on the designs in my spare time and weekends. Juggling the passion and the amount of time spent on the projects with family is the toughest part. If you\u2019re not careful, it can really consume you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since I really don\u2019t have a lot of time, this is one of the great things about working with Seeed Studio. Seeed takes care of manufacturing, web store, shipping and even design in some cases for me. That\u2019s a tremendous help.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Q\u3001What do you expect from your designs? Do you have any solid goals for the near future?<\/p>\n

Al:\u00a0 They are labors of love. As long as people like them and perhaps learn a little in the process, I\u2019m happy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q\u3001What do you do when you\u2019re frustrated?<\/p>\n

Al:\u00a0 As part of every design, they\u2019re always a low point. There\u2019s no secret sauce, you just have to bunker down and work your way through it. The great thing about open source though is chances are someone else has already solved your problem or something similar. Leveraging the open source community really helps during these times.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: You have a new design coming out called the\u00a0\u00a0Droidalyzer<\/a>, tell us a little about that one.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Al:\u00a0 I\u2019d been playing around with alcohol sensors and liked the idea of combining an alcohol detector with a smart phone. The Droidalyzer is a Bluetooth enabled alcohol detector and includes an associated Android phone app.<\/span><\/p>\n

What I think is unique about the Droidalyzer though is that it doubles as a full blown IOIO development board so you can use it to make other things. IOIO (pronounced \u201cyo-yo\u201d) is similar to Arduino and is very good for interfacing Android with external sensors. The creator of IOIO, Ytai Ben-Tsvi, was kind enough to let me use IOIO in this design.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, that’s all for this interview with Al^^ If you have other questions to ask Al Linke, welcome to post your questions here:)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who is the designer of these fabulous electronic products that I\u2019m using?\u00a0 How did he\/she<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":4588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nMeet the Maker : Al Linke - 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