Grand Idea Studio » News

Joe Grand Joins MakerBot Advisory Board

Admin — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:00:41 +0000

Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio has joined the Advisory Board for MakerBot Industries. MakerBot is a provider of open-source, consumer-grade 3D printers that allow users to print nearly anything they can imagine. Since November 2010, Joe has been assisting in the review of MakerBot’s electrical engineering designs and providing general guidance and recommendations for the product’s development and manufacturing processes. [ continue ]

Laser Range Finder Licensed to Parallax

Admin — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 03:56:41 +0000

Parallax, Inc. has become the exclusive licensee of Grand Idea Studio’s Laser Range Finder module, a distance measuring instrument that uses laser technology to calculate the distance to a targeted object up to 8 feet away. Parallax provides technically innovative, unique, and economical products to the electronics industry and will handle all manufacturing, distribution, sales, and support of the Laser Range Finder. [ continue ]

Joe Grand to Host Freescale’s Make It Challenge

Admin — Mon, 02 May 2011 18:08:00 +0000

Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio will be hosting the Make It Challenge at the Freescale Technology Forum Americas 2011. This 36-hour design contest challenges participants to create a unique project based on Freescale’s Mechatronics Robot platform or Tower System modules. [ continue ]

Partnership with tool.

Admin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:44:33 +0000

Grand Idea Studio has joined into a partnership with product design and development firm, tool., Inc. Grand Idea Studio will enhance tool.’s offering of industrial design and mechanical engineering services by providing electronics design expertise on selected projects. [ continue ]

RFID Read/Write Module Licensed to Parallax

Admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:16:09 +0000

The RFID Read/Write Module is the third in a family of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) products designed by Grand Idea Studio and exclusively licensed to Parallax, Inc. The module provides a low-cost solution to read and write passive RFID transponder tags, which can be password protected to allow only authorized access, using a simple communications interface. The RFID Read/Write Module can be used in a wide variety of hobbyist and commercial applications, including access control, user identification, inventory tracking, payment systems, and manufacturing automation. [ continue ]

Joe Grand to Host Freescale’s Tower Throwdown Design Challenge

Admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:56:25 +0000

Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio will be hosting the Tower Throwdown Design Challenge at the Freescale Technology Forum Americas 2010. The 36-hour event challenges participants to create unique, interesting, or otherwise curious projects using Freescale’s Tower System modules and MQX Software solutions. [ continue ]

Joe Grand Receives Honorary Doctorate from University of Advancing Technology

Admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:57:41 +0000

Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio has been selected to receive a degree of Doctor of Technology (Hon) from the University of Advancing Technology. Each year, the University seeks to award an honorary doctorate to an individual whose life work emulates the kind of technology innovations found in their institutional mission. Joe has served as an adjunct professor and has spoken multiple times at the University and fully supports their progressive learning environment. Joe will accept his degree at the 2010 Commencement held on Thursday, April 29. [ continue ]

Joe Grand Becomes Columnist for Nuts & Volts Magazine

Admin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:22:30 +0000

Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio has signed on as a columnist with Nuts & Volts magazine for 2010. Joe will be writing a series of technical articles on topics including hobbyist projects, creating the DEFCON badges, and his experiences as a co-host of Discovery Channel’s Prototype This. [ continue ]

Galvanized Steel Candelabra Included in Jewish Contemporary Art Exhibition

Admin — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 05:00:45 +0000

Joe Grand’s Galvanized Steel Candelabra will be included in an exhibition entitled Reinventing Ritual: Contemporary Art and Design for Jewish Life appearing at The Jewish Museum in New York City from September 13, 2009 to February 7, 2010 and the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco from April 22 to September 28, 2010. The exhibition maps the 21st century avant-garde expressions of design in Jewish ritual objects. [ continue ]

Design Patent Granted for chumby

Admin — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio along with Steve Adler, Andrew “bunnie” Huang, Duane Maxwell, Ken Steele, Steve Tomlin, and Thomas Meyerhoffer have been granted patent #D592,678 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patent describes an ornamental design for chumby, an Internet media player. [ continue ]

Joe Grand’s Discovery Channel Debut on Prototype This

Admin — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:30:14 +0000

Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio is a co-host of Prototype This, a new engineering entertainment program for Discovery Channel. The show is centered around the conception, design, and testing of gadgets, machines, and robots, and aims to follow the real-life engineering process of a unique prototype every episode. Joe is the team’s electrical engineer and hardware hacker and is flanked by a software designer, materials scientist, and special effects builder. Filming will soon conclude for the first season of 13 episodes and the show will premiere on October 15, 2008. [ continue ]

RFID Reader Module with USB Interface Released

AdminII — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:09:42 +0000

Grand Idea Studio’s RFID Reader Module, exclusively manufactured and distributed by Parallax, Inc., is available in a new version with a USB interface. Previously only available in a simple 4-wire serial interface, the RFID Reader Module is a low-cost solution to read passive RFID transponder tags from up to four inches away and can be used in a wide variety of hobbyist and commercial applications, including access control, automatic identification, robotics, navigation, and inventory tracking. [ continue ]

Patent Granted for Virtual Camera Control Technology

AdminII — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:37:44 +0000

Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio along with David Morelock and David MacIntosh have been granted patent #7,403,220 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patent, entitled Apparatus, Methods, and Systems for Viewing and Manipulating a Virtual Environment, describes a camera control technology for controlling virtual cameras within virtual environments. The technology is owned by Gamecaster and is implemented in its Cybercam/GCS3 product line. [ continue ]

Patent Granted for Low-Cost Heads-Up Display Technology

AdminII — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:38:41 +0000

Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio along with David Morelock, Gil Manalo, and Ricardo Cruz, have been granted patent #7,249,846 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patent, entitled Eyewear with an Image Projected off of an Unassisted Eyewear Lens to the User, describes a low-cost method of displaying information optically on an existing eyewear lens. This method and design is in stark contrast to the more complicated and expensive heads-up displays currently available. Grand Idea Studio is looking for licensing opportunities for this patent and its associated technology. [ continue ]

Grand Idea Studio Donates to Tour of California Charity Event

AdminII — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:39:35 +0000

Grand Idea Studio has proudly donated over $2,500 to the 2008 Amgen Tour of California Time Trial Charity Challenge. Proceeds benefit the Palo Alto Recreation Foundation, a non-profit, publicly-supported group that promotes the social, cultural, and recreational needs of local youths and residents of Palo Alto and neighboring communities. In exchange for this donation, on Sunday, February 17, Joe Grand will be competing next to the world’s top professional cyclists in the Prologue Time Trial stage of the Amgen 2008 Tour of California, the largest professional cycling event in the United States. [ continue ]

RadioShack Now Carrying RFID Reader Module

AdminII — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:40:22 +0000

Grand Idea Studio’s RFID Reader Module, manufactured by Parallax, Inc., is now available at most RadioShack locations throughout the United States. Because 95 percent of the country lives within 5 miles of a RadioShack, instant gratification is just around the corner. Look for them under the RadioShack brand in the “Sensor” drawer. [ continue ]

Top Ten Finalist in Freescale’s Black Widow Design Challenge

AdminII — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:41:41 +0000

Freescale Semiconductor has announced the top ten finalists in the company’s Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge. Grand Idea Studio’s DEFCON 15 Badge has been selected among the top ten from a field of more than 775. Each submission was judged on creativity, design efficiency, technical complexity, and overall application innovation and usefulness. [ continue ]

Patent Granted for Memory Acquisition Tool and Procedure

AdminII — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:42:22 +0000

Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio and Brian Carrier of digital-evidence.org have been granted patent #7,181,560 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patent, entitled Method and Apparatus for Preserving Computer Memory Using Expansion Card, is based on Joe and Brian’s Tribble, a hardware expansion card that can reliably acquire the volatile memory of a live system to removable storage. [ continue ]

Awesome Electronics Workshop Video Podcasts

AdminII — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 11:43:08 +0000

In conjunction with MAKE, Grand Idea Studio introduces the Awesome Electronics Workshop, a series of skill-building video podcasts. Primarily focusing on electronics and engineering tutorials for hobbyists, the videos cover any component or technology interesting or compelling enough for us to experiment with. [ continue ]

Small Scale Digital Device Forensic Journal Editorial Board

AdminII — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 11:43:47 +0000

Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio has been appointed to the Editorial Board of the Small Scale Digital Device Forensic Journal, an online journal focused on the theory, research, and practice of forensic acquisition and analysis techniques for mobile phones, personal digital assistants, audio and visual devices, gaming platforms, and other embedded technologies. Joe will provide guidance on the Journal’s technical direction and will review submitted works for inclusion into the Journal. [ continue ]

GPS Receiver Module Licensed to Parallax

AdminII — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 11:44:27 +0000

Parallax, Inc. has become the exclusive manufacturer and distributor of Grand Idea Studio’s Global Positioning System (GPS) Receiver Module, a fully integrated, low-cost unit that provides standard NMEA0183 (National Marine Electronics Association) information or specific data, such as current time, date, latitude, longitude, altitude, speed, and travel direction/heading, via a serial interface. The module can be used in a wide variety of hobbyist and commercial applications, including navigation, tracking systems, mapping, fleet management, auto-pilot, and robotics. [ continue ]

Book Release: Best Of Hardware Hacking

AdminII — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 11:45:59 +0000

Grand Idea Studio and Syngress Publishing announce the release of Joe Grand’s Best of Hardware Wireless Game Console Hacking. This combination book and DVD contains a selection of the most popular hacks from our Hardware Hacking: Have Fun While Voiding Your Warranty and Game Console Hacking books. Joe Grand was the primary author of this hands-on guide that features over 16 genres of step-by-step product modification and personalization projects. [ continue ]

Workshops at the Maker Faire

AdminII — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 11:46:34 +0000

Grand Idea Studio will be presenting workshops at the premiere Maker Faire, a creative weekend celebrating science and technology and sponsored by O’Reilly Media. The workshops, entitled Hands-On Hardware Hacking and Grand Idea Studio Open Lab, are intended to foster interest in electronics and do-it-yourself product development. [ continue ]

Lik-Sang.com Distributes Stelladaptor

AdminII — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 11:47:14 +0000

Lik-Sang.com, the largest online video game and accessory importer in the world, has become a distributor of Grand Idea Studio’s Stelladaptor Atari 2600 Controller-to-USB Interface. The Stelladaptor allows the use of standard Atari 2600-compatible controllers, including joysticks, paddles, and driving controllers, with modern computers running Windows, Macintosh, or Linux operating systems. Please visit Lik-Sang.com’s SmartJoy Section for more details. [ continue ]

Best Academic Paper of 2004

AdminII — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 11:47:53 +0000

Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio and Brian Carrier of Purdue University’s work entitled “A Hardware-Based Memory Acquisition Procedure for Digital Investigations” was selected as the Best Academic Paper of the Year for 2004 by the Digital Investigation Journal Editorial Board. The work is based on Joe and Brian’s ‘Tribble‘ product concept and presents the general requirements and procedure for the acquisition of volatile memory from a compromised computer. [ continue ]

RFID Reader Module Licensed to Parallax

AdminII — Sun, 01 May 2005 11:48:56 +0000

Parallax, Inc., creators of the BASIC Stamp microcontroller family, has become the exclusive manufacturer and distributor of Grand Idea Studio’s Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Reader Module. The module is the first low-cost, integrable solution to read passive RFID transponder tags from up to four inches away and can be used in a wide variety of hobbyist and commercial applications, including access control, automatic identification, robotics, navigation, inventory tracking, payment systems, and car immobilization. [ continue ]

Announcing Involvement with MAKE Magazine

AdminII — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 11:49:33 +0000

Grand Idea Studio is pleased to announce our involvement in O’Reilly Media’s new MAKE: Magazine, a do-it-yourself technology magazine that celebrates your right to tweak, hack, and bend any technology to your own will. Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio is a Contributor and sits on MAKE’s Technical Advisory Board. Joe provides guidance on the technical direction of the magazine and is writing a number of articles for upcoming issues. [ continue ]

Circuit Cellar and GIS Provide Series on Embedded Security

AdminII — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 11:50:12 +0000

Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio brings practical computer security experience to the electrical engineering industry with a two-part article entitled Embedded Security Design, published in the March 2005 and April 2005 issues of Circuit Cellar magazine. The articles provide real world solutions to the design of secure embedded systems. [ continue ]

Hacking Training Courses Announced

AdminII — Thu, 03 Feb 2005 11:50:46 +0000

Grand Idea Studio announces a new training course entitled Hands-On Hardware Hacking and Reverse Engineering Techniques. The first of its kind focusing entirely on consumer electronic product analysis and modification, this two-day course is taught by Joe Grand and is currently available at Black Hat, Inc. events. Please visit the Black Hat web site for scheduled sessions. [ continue ]

Joe Grand to Appear on G4techTV’s The Screen Savers

AdminII — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 11:51:21 +0000

Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio is scheduled to appear on G4techTV‘s popular The Screen Savers television show on Wednesday, February 2, 2005 live at 4pm PST. Joe will be demonstrating some of his inventions and will be discussing the societal importance and educational benefit of product modification and reverse engineering. [ continue ]