Issues

How Open Source Hardware is Kick-Starting Kickstarter!

How Open Source Hardware is Kick-Starting Kickstarter!

Imagine waking up and seeing your design for a circuit being used in a product by someone who never contacted you to ask if it was okay. You will not get any payment for their usage of your design, they’ve raised over $31,000 dollars, and they’re selling something you worked really hard on. You have no control over what someone does with something you made. Is this a nightmare? Perhaps for some, but this is actually a dream come true for others. And it’s what this week’s Soapbox is about: Open-source hardware kick-starting Kickstarters!

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MAKE’s Exclusive Interview with Bre Pettis of MakerBot: Life, M in Funding, and Beyond

MAKE’s Exclusive Interview with Bre Pettis of MakerBot: Life, $10M in Funding, and Beyond

MakerBot Industries is a company founded in January 2009 by Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, and Zach Smith, producing an open source 3D printer to democratize manufacturing. You order it, build it, and you have a machine that can make almost anything. I met Bre years ago when he lived in Seattle and was a public school teacher, and I helped get him a job working with MAKE. Since then, he’s worked with Etsy, had his own TV show, founded MakerBot, got $10 million in funding, and just became a dad. After I saw the funding announcement, I asked Bre if I could ask him some really tough questions about what this means for makers and other companies. As usual, Bre answered them with style and grace as only Bre can. The questions I ask range from his time at MAKE to the future of MakerBot. Enjoy!

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Autodesk Acquires Instructables: What It Means for Makers

Autodesk Acquires Instructables: What It Means for Makers

The big news this week was “Autodesk Acquires Instructables”. It’s taken me a few days of really thinking about this for my column. Autodesk is jumping in to the biggest DIY community online, it’s a huge risk – with likely even bigger reward. I think Autodesk knows how to make a thriving business for professionals, but what about the “makers”? That’s what this week’s column is about – Autodesk Acquires Instructables: What It Means For Makers.

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Why Every Maker Should Learn Chinese

Why Every Maker Should Learn Chinese

If you’re a maker you might want to consider learning a new language! In this week’s article I’ll talk about why I think it’s a good idea for any maker to consider picking up some new language skills and specifically what I’m doing. A lot of my articles tend to be about the future (I can’t wait to look back on these 5 years from now). So, yes, I think a lot of us are going to find speaking, reading, and writing the language of the soon-to-be biggest economy in the world and, who makes almost everything, is a good idea. It’s something to consider learning, starting now, particularly for makers, especially the ones who run maker businesses.

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