Addie and Stefan demonstrate Lasersaur at Maker Faire Bay Area 2011. Lasersaur is an open source laser cutter the team made after learning a laser cutter would be cost prohibitive for them personally. Using easily reproducible parts, the Lasersaur is intended to be built by other users and subsequently improved upon.
Join us Friday for the next episode of Make: Live, our streaming show and tell! Makers from all over the world are converging on New York City for World Maker Faire New York this weekend at The New York Hall of Science in Queens. We’ll be announcing the winners of the first annual MAKE Magazine Industry Maker Awards and meet makers who’ll show at the Faire on a special Friday episode of Make: Live.
Leading off our Flickr pool round-up this week is a hot little red-headed astromech from Atlanta Mini Maker Faire, photographed by Chris Palmer. Other highlights include wooden gears, a homemade high-polish “dishing hammer,” and some more workshop pr0n. Check it out!
Michael S. Hart, the founder of the Project Gutenberg, passed away this week at age 64 in Urbana, Illinois. He single-handedly created the first free e-books and then organized a worldwide effort to give books their first digital form — as ASCII text. His chief goal was to make sure e-books were accessible to anyone for free on any device. His work in creating a truly public library is a lasting legacy, and Hart should be considered among the founders of the Free and Open Source movement.
When we started thinking about fundamental disruptions in the realm of technology, especially maker-related technology, things like open source, and Linux, and Arduino, and heck, the maker movement itself, immediately came up. In thinking about disruptive individuals, one person leapt to mind for me, someone who’s had a huge, sea-changing impact on the science of robotics, Rodney Brooks.
Bethany Shorb of Cyberoptix TieLab recently acquired a stash of old used silkscreens to be reclaimed and reused to print her tie designs. But a closer inspection revealed something too interesting to wash out, and these industrial cast-offs generate some truly unique ties. Check out Bethany’s ties at Maker Faire New York September 17th and 18th.
