nomination

Makey Awards 2011 Nominee 08: Tamiya, Inc., “Best Product Documentation”

Founded in Shikuoza, Japan in 1946, Kabushiki gaisha Tamiya was originally a sawmill and architectural lumber company that made wooden ship models as a sideline. Their first plastic model, released in 1960, was a 1/800 scale battleship Yamato. Today, Tamiya manufactures R/C sea, air, and land vehicles, robots, educational materials, and a line of modeling tools, paints, and accessories in addition to their traditional scale model line.

Continue Reading July 22nd, 2011 Sean Michael Ragan4

Makey Awards 2011 Nominee 07: Parallax, Inc., “Best Education/Outreach Program”

Founded in 1987 in Rocklin, California, Parallax, Inc. manufactures the famous BASIC Stamp microcontroller. The Stamp has been popular among electronics hobbyists since the early 1990s, thanks to such user-friendly features as an embedded BASIC interpreter.

Continue Reading July 19th, 2011 Sean Michael Ragan4

Makey Awards 2011 Nominee 06: Parrot USA, “Most Repair Friendly”

We were all pretty wowed back in January of last year when Parrot introduced their Parrot.AR quadrotor drone. Wowed because A) it’s a quadrotor, and we’re still kind of on our collective honeymoon with the quadrotor concept in general; B) its fancy fly-by-wire system makes it so stable and easy to fly that virtually no training or practice is required…

Continue Reading July 18th, 2011 Sean Michael Ragan8

Makey Awards 2011 Nominee 05: Google Android, “Most Hackable Gadget”

And it’s not just because the Android and Makeys mas-bots were apparently separated at birth.

And yes, we know Android is technically an operating system, and Android-compatible phones are really an entire class of gadgets. But in one sense, that’s the whole point. Gadget-lovers will debate the pros and cons of particular handsets endlessly, and there are significant other players in the smartphone market, but increasingly the most informative demographic among smartphone users these days is “Android or iPhone?”

Continue Reading July 11th, 2011 Sean Michael Ragan

Makey Awards 2011 Nominee 04: Korg Monotron, “Best Product Documentation”

Founded in Japan in 1962 by a nightclub owner and an accordionist, Korg has been designing, manufacturing, and selling electronic musical instruments since the beginning. Their products have introduced ground-breaking features into keyboards and synthesizers and many of their older models are considered “classics.”

Continue Reading June 30th, 2011 Sean Michael Ragan14

Makey Awards 2011 Nominee 03: Volkswagen’s Fun Theory, “Best Education / Outreach Program”

The idea behind Volkswagen’s The Fun Theory program is simple: reward socially useful behaviors by making them into opportunities for play. Or, to quote a great sage, “You find the fun and snap! The job’s a game.”

Continue Reading June 22nd, 2011 Sean Michael Ragan16

Makey Awards 2011 Nominee 02: PanaVise, “Most Repair-Friendly”

Back in June, 2010, we posted this photo submitted to the MAKE Flickr pool by user Lee C. (aka Triggerdog7). It shows the custom wooden crank Lee built and retrofitted to his Model 201 because he “got fed up with the super slow to turn knob on the Panavise Jr.” A neat, classic little maker story.

Continue Reading June 18th, 2011 Sean Michael Ragan14