Help Hackerspaces Happen in Cairo and Elsewhere in Africa
Maker Faire Africa is coming up next month, in Cairo, Egypt. It promises to be a three-day mashup of Africa’s most imaginative makers. And, at least two Americans will be joining them.
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Crowdfunding Gets Traction in DC
Paul Spinrad, MAKE’s Executive Editor, has a brief piece on O’Reilly Radar today about movement in DC on a crowdfunding exemption. Here’s an excerpt: In May, I wrote here about efforts I’ve been involved with advocating a “crowdfunding exemption.” As part of the American Jobs Act introduced by President Obama last night, the White House […]
Support the Young World Inventors web series, get a bike-powered cell phone charger
There’s a quiet revolution going on in Africa, and it’s a bright one, eclipsing the usual “dark continent” story. It’s creative business with a global attitude, and it’s inspiring, for both Africans and Americans. With your help, we can post the first ten stories on a new website about young innovators inventing change in East Africa. Will you help build a community for African/American innovation? Help us edit ten webisodes this year.
Cool Modular Earbuds Concept
This IRONBUDS kickstarter from New Hampshirite Thomas Young is already funded, but it looks like you can still jump on board if you want a set for yourself.
Kickstarter: Thumb Drive That Emulates an Optical Drive
If you have ever tried to install (or re-install) an OS from a thumb-drive on a netbook, small laptop, or other computer without a built-in optical drive, you may have learned the frustrating lesson, as I did, that they are not always hardware equivalent. Many laptops and netbooks will cheerfully boot from an optical drive attached to a USB port, but gronk at the exact same files, or ISO image, on a thumb drive attached to the same port. It’s enough to make you want to throw things. Who wants to buy and keep track of a USB optical drive just for that one purpose?
Creating a Hackable Flashlight
When I told people at the Bay Area Maker Faire that I was going to make an open source, programmable flashlight, some called me crazy. Now, seven weeks later, my project HexBright FLEX, is one of the top ten most-funded Kickstarter projects to date, raising over $170,000, with over 2000 backers who think I’m not so crazy, including MythBuster legend Grant Imahara.
Help Lifesize Mousetrap Grow
Lifesize Mousetrap provides a great opportunity to see real world applications of physics, spectacle and problem solving. Perhaps you remember endless hours of fussing with cardboard and plastic parts trying to get the mousetrap together to catch the mouse. Mostly, I recall that the build was way more interesting than the actual game. Over the years, Mark Perez has built the life size version of Moustrap along with his band of merry Rubes. They’ve taken the show on the road to Maker Faires in Austin, Detroit and San Mateo. People keep asking for more, and so they’ve set up a Kickstarter campaign to fund a traveling version of Lifesize Mousetrap to bring to schools and demonstrate their festive take on the game.
