Category Archives: Ultimate

The Good, The Bad, and the Useless

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Good News:
Being featured in the Wall Street Journal!

Bad News:
Being featured in the Wall Street Journal! Our current supply of DIY kits is exhausted (as well as some Frivolous Engineers). We expect a parts shipment early this coming week and should be back in stock then.  EDIT:  Kits are now back in stock

Good News: If you placed an order for a DIY Kit before this announcement, it’s been shipped! All of the orders from Wednesday and most of Thursday’s have been shipped. We will be caught up on shipping by Monday.

Good News:
We still have a couple dozen fully soldered Machines in stock ready to ship out first thing Monday if ordered this weekend!

More Good News:
April Fools day was made for the Useless Machine!

More, More Good News:
If ordered this weekend, they should be delivered in time for April Fools Day. (US & Canadian Customers who order fully soldered Machines)!

We’re So Useless We’re in the Wall Street Journal

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The Wall Street Journal has just published a fantastic article about the Useless Machine.

Monster In A Box

Written by Abigail Pesta, the article covers the re-appearance of the Machine in the last few years as well as tracing the history back to Marvin Minsky and Claude Shanon’s Ultimate Machine:

Largely forgotten for a half-century, the useless machine is now finding a new purpose: entertaining a subculture of people who want to build their own.

And listed with the other recent makers of Uselessness is me and my company.

She had interviewed me over the phone a couple weeks ago so I shouldn’t be too surprised.  But I am.

So I’m sitting here, trying to compose a blog post.  Hoping to come up with something, anything, that is coherent and doesn’t come across as bragging.

The only thing to come to mind is thank you, Abigail Pesta!

Dang, I can’t resist:   I’M IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL!!!!

New Reseller: SpikenzieLabs

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The Frivolous Engineering Company Inc. is proud to announce the newest reseller of our Ultimate Useless Kit: SpikenzieLabs.

Located in Montreal, Canada, SpikenzieLabs has been in operation since September, 2008.  They offer a large variety of electronic kits including ones that they themselves make.

We first met Mark and Andy, the owners of SpikenzieLabs at Maker Faire New York City, last September.  They were right next to us in the Maker Shed demonstrating their excellent kits and we couldn’t help but pick up a few for ourselves.

We really like their Solder: Time II Kit:

Thanks Mark and Andy!

American Red Cross Charity Auction

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The American Red Cross needs our help!  So The Frivolous Engineering Company Inc. is auctioning an Ultimate Useless Machine and ALL of the proceeds will be donated directly to the American Red Cross for disaster relief.

And we will be making a matching donation equal to the winning bid (up to a maximum of $200).

You can find the auction here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Ultimate-Useless-Machine-/271095501738

The auction ends 2:05 1:05 pm EST, Monday, November 5. Shipping is free and the winning bidder has their choice of a black or clear acrylic case.

In addition to bidding on this auction we encourage folks to help out by making a $10 donation by texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 or by visiting www.redcrossblood.org.

The Red Cross also needs blood donations.  To make an appointment for a blood donation, or for more information, call 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or visit www.redcrossblood.org.

Maker Shed Now Selling The Ultimate Useless Kit

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The Frivolous Engineering Company Inc. is proud to announce that our flagship product:  The Ultimate Useless Kit is now available at Maker Shed.  This is a huge achievement for us, something we’ve been working towards for almost a year.

Maker Shed is the brick-and-mortar & on-line store for Make Magazine, one of the best sources for Do-It-Yourself information there is:

“MAKE unites, inspires, informs, and entertains a growing community of resourceful people who undertake amazing projects in their backyards, basements, and garages. MAKE celebrates your right to tweak, hack, and bend any technology to your will.”

Because Frivolous Engineering is located in Canada, orders going to the States are usually charged additional customs and duties. So if you live in the United States you’ll save time and money by ordering from the Maker Shed!

Currently, the Shed is only stocking the black version of the kit.  If you would like the clear case version, or a Parts Only Kit, or our Fully Soldered Machine you will still have to order directly from us.

Now Available in The Maker Shed

Battlebot Useless Machine MK2

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全力でスイッチをONするとOFFするロボットをいじめてみた
(Useless Machine: Fight Mode On)

回路師（Kairoshi）is back with a second installment of Awesomeness.  You might have seen his first video, a battlebot-like useless machine.  Now he’s added a LED matrix and upgraded the case.  And like his previous video, it’s epic!


More info at http://hikikomoriki.jp/