At the conclusion of yesterday’s Hardware Innovation Workshop, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg once again declared the entire week “Maker Week.” A representative of the mayor’s office presented Dale Dougherty, Maker Media CEO; and Sherry Huss, Maker Media vice president, with a proclamation in recognition of Maker Faire and its impact on New York City’s maker movement. The Mayor presented a similar proclamation last year.
World Maker Faire New York is this weekend and I will be doing band saw demos. I looked on line for a cheap, portable bandsaw to bring to the fair and in this video you see the 10-inch saw I purchased for the occasion. It’s a ” bench top” saw small enough for mounting on—a bench top. But since I will using this one at the fair I’ll need a stand with a shelf for the small vacuum. Here’s what I made.
Innovation happens anywhere, anytime, with anything. Sometimes, you don’t need a bunch of expensive tools or multi-syllable equipment to engineer the ultimate mixture of art and science. Sometimes, you only need imagination and a few Legos … Well, those and one highly accomplished Lego builder. After a year, he produced an amazing blue cat named Geo. It’s a testament to how far imagination can take you.
“Hardware is hard” is a frequent refrain at the Hardware Innovation Workshop. That’s one reason why the audience is here — to identify the land mines on the way from idea to product.
But it’s also helpful, and encouraging, to focus on successful initiatives, and ask their founders to reflect on why they’ve succeeded.
A torrent of tweets continued throughout today’s Hardware Innovation Workshop.
It’s amazing how hundreds of people can come together from all over the world for a single day — and common themes emerge. One of those themes, at today’s Hardware Innovation Workshop, was iteration — how products benefit from the ability to make new versions quickly.
MAKE’s editors are offering six different “Getting Started” presentations this weekend at World Maker Faire New York. Beginner sessions on 3D Printing, Arduino, Raspbserry Pi, BeagleBone, Breadboarding, and Choosing a Board are taught by MAKE editors and will run multiple times a day.
