Best of 2012: Make: Projects
2012 was a great year for Make: Projects, our living library of projects. Here are some of our favorites from the past 12 months.
bestofmake
Best of 2012: The MAKE Flickr Pool
Today’s post marks the 170th MAKE Flickr pool weekly roundup. They’ve been running each weekend under that title, with very few interruptions, since February 2008, and have settled into a more-or-less regular format. Each Sunday we present seven pictures, in reverse-Letterman order, starting with the image that, for whatever reasons, is our favorite of those submitted during the preceding week. Generally, for the roundup, we choose pictures based on their aesthetics. And we’ve seen some stunners this year. Settling on only seven proved to be impossible, for me, so I’ve doubled the weekly count, for this annual best-of, to fourteen.
Best of 2012: 3D Printed Objects
While 3D printers don’t yet compete with toasters and DVD players in the home, the dam on the consumer market has been breached as the number of lower priced, easy-to-use models–and those who use them–grows. Part of this trend surely comes from the ever-expanding catalog of 3D printed objects, from the useful to the fanciful. Printing chess pieces and busts of Stephen Colbert is nice, but the range of what people create with their printers grows by the day and in turn inspires others to model and print ever more striking/utilitarian/beautiful/ridiculous/amazing objects.
Best of 2012: Raspberry Pi Projects
It’s been a big first year for Raspberry Pi, the $35 mini Linux computer. As soon as they started shipping, makers were eager to get their hands on the board so that they could use it in their projects. In just a few months, we’ve seen a ton of great Raspberry Pi projects come our […]
Best of 2012: Google+ Hangouts on Air
We dived into the world of Google+ hang outs on air this part summer with Maker Camp, six weeks of daily hangouts, live and online. If the web democraticized publishing, G+ hangouts have democratized the video broadcast. They can be as low or high production as you like. All that’s required is a good ethernet connect and interesting conversation and guests and you’re good to go. Since then, MAKE has explore use of the technology. What we do with hangout will continue to evolve. For now, here is our highlight reel from the year that was.
Best of 2012: Toolsday
We started doing tool-review-Tuesdays—inevitably compounded to “Toolsdays” in short order—in early 2011, and 2012 has been the column’s first full calendar year. The reviews are written on a volunteer basis by MAKE staff and friends. Sometimes a manufacturer or retailer provides a review unit, but as often as not, the reviewer simply opens his or her toolbox, picks out a personal favorite, and serenades it. Usually the tool is of modern manufacture and is available for retail sale, but sometimes we write about old tools, eBay finds, and family heirlooms. These “tool stories” usually add a human interest element to the sometimes dry approach common in product reviews, and have been some of my personal favorite Toolsday columns from 2012.
Best of 2012: Projects from the Pages of MAKE Magazine
Looking back on 2012, it’s hard to believe we’ve been producing MAKE magazine for eight years now! I remember working on Volume 01 back in 2005 and the excitement of launching something so new and renegade. DIY is thankfully a part of mainstream culture now, and we’re thrilled to see so many people choosing to […]
