Forbes has a major package on the Maker/DIY movement with profiles of Tim O'Reilly and Dale Dougherty, Saul Griffith (top photo) of Squid Labs, Neil Gershenfeld (middle photo) of Fab Lab, Reshma Shetty (bottom photo) of Ginkgo BioWorks, Jim Newton of TechShop, Peter Semmelhack of Bug Labs, and others, illustrated how-tos, how-to videos with Eric Wilhelm of Instructables, coverage of Maker Faire, kit makers, and lots more.

Inventing The Future

There are a lot of first-timers to AirVenture this year, and one couple in particular is here because of a simple invite from an EAA staff member.

In early May, a day that started off ordinary turned extraordinary for Will Crane and Emily Albinski, a young couple in their twenties. They decided to attend the 3rd annual Maker Faire at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds south of San Francisco. The Maker Faire had several central California EAAers, from Chapters 20, 62, 338, and 393, displaying the things that EAA homebuilders "make." The EAA chapter members offered hands-on interaction and the opportunity to discuss "making" your own airplane with builders who did just that.

and...

Now that they both have their student certificates, Emily and Will are going to find a chapter in New York City and talk to them to see if they have a plane and can recommend an instructor. Will also wants to get his instrument rating.

"We are so glad we went to the Maker Faire. We both talked about flying off and on but didn’t really take it seriously until the Faire. We had the impression that flying was just for millionaires, and now we feel that that’s not true."

Our pal Gerard Nebesky, a.k.a. The Paella Man, will be on Throwdown with Bobby Flay on the Food Network tonight (July 30). Gerard provides the amazing paellas for Maker Days at the Bay Area Maker Faire. World-renowned Iron Chef, Bobby Flay, shows up in Gerard's back yard to challenge him to a paella throwdown. See whose Valencian cuisine reigns supreme when the smoke clears.

I've been excited about the forthcoming 1000 Journals documentary. In case you don't know about the 1000 Journals project and documentary, here's a synopsis:

1000 Journals is a film about people whose lives are touched by 1000 traveling journals. These blank journals were released into the world in the summer of 2000, by Someguy, a San Francisco based artist. Some people found a journal, or got it from a friend or stranger. Some signed up on the web and received it in the mail. Some wrote in them, others doodled, pasted in photographs, or added artworks. Some kept them. Some passed them on. There are no rules, and no one really monitors these journals and their movements. And yet, they are connecting tens of thousands of people worldwide, provoking and inspiring them.

In September 2003, one of the 1000, number 526, returned to Someguy, filled. What happened to the other 999? This film tells their stories. 1000 Journals shares the experience of their worldwide journeys, and chronicles the self-governed collaboration of thousands of random people who have added to this global "message in a bottle." Directed by Andrea Kreuzhage. USA. Running time: 88 mins.

"Someguy" was at the Bay Area Maker Faire. I never saw him, but I came back to the Maker's Notebook Modding Station in the Maker Shed after a break, opened up a notebook on the table, and like a visit from the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus, a bunch of pages had been magically altered in my absence. Here are a few:

The 1000 Journals documentary will be running at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco from Aug. 1 - 7. Check the film's website for more upcoming screenings.

The 1000 Journals Project

More:

• Maker's Notebook Home Page

Dale Dougherty writes:

Mike Weiblen showed up to the Maker Faire Austin Town Hall on Sunday night with his own handmade T-shirt mashup, Make Austin Weird. Mike and about thirty other makers got together to meet with the Maker Faire team and discuss their own plans for the event scheduled for October 18-19 at the Travis County Expo Center and Fairgrounds.

Maker Faire

Austin Children's Museum
201 Colorado Street
Austin, TX
(512) 472-2499

Calling All Dallas/Ft. Worth Area Makers - Join Us for "An Afternoon at Maker Faire" on July 19th.

Make Magazine, Craft Magazine and the Maker Faire team will be coming to Dallas to host an "Afternoon At Maker Faire" at The Museum of Nature and Science on Saturday, July 19th (from 9am - 5pm).

We will bring together Dallas/Ft. Worth area makers to exhibit their creative projects for a fun afternoon at The Museum. We are hoping to have cutting-edge DIY projects based around art, robots, electronics, alternative crafts, new music and interactive art and we are inviting all area Makers. If you are interested in being a part of this special event, please email sherry@oreilly.com for more information, and be sure to include some information about your project. And, if you know of any Dallas/Ft. Worth area Makers that we should be talking to, please be sure to send them our way.

Come by and join us for a beer. We'd love to meet you and learn more about the things you make and craft.

Flapjaws Cafe, 840 N Wabash Ave., Chicago, IL (312) 255-1122. If you have any questions, email Dale at dale@oreilly.com.

Calling All Dallas/Ft. Worth Area Makers - Join Us for "An Afternoon at Maker Faire" on July 19th.

Make Magazine, Craft Magazine and the Maker Faire team will be coming to Dallas to host an "Afternoon At Maker Faire" at The Museum of Nature and Science on Saturday, July 19th (from 9am - 5pm).

We will bring together Dallas/Ft. Worth area makers to exhibit their creative projects for a fun afternoon at The Museum. We are hoping to have cutting-edge DIY projects based around art, robots, electronics, alternative crafts, new music and interactive art and we are inviting all area Makers. If you are interested in being a part of this special event, please email sherry@oreilly.com for more information, and be sure to include some information about your project. And, if you know of any Dallas/Ft. Worth area Makers that we should be talking to, please be sure to send them our way.

Robert Bruce Thompson, author of MAKE:Books' Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments, spoke at the 2008 Bay Area Maker Faire on the demise of the chemistry set. He traces the history from the good old days when chemistry sets were full of possibilities to the present day where they are very hard to obtain. Check out the book to learn how to roll your own home chemistry lab! Video link

More:

Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments. For students, DIY hobbyists, and science buffs, who can no longer get real chemistry sets, this one-of-a-kind guide explains how to set up and use a home chemistry lab, with step-by-step instructions for conducting experiments in basic chemistry. Learn how to smelt copper, purify alcohol, synthesize rayon, test for drugs and poisons, and much more. The book includes lessons on how to equip your home chemistry lab, master laboratory skills, and work safely in your lab, along with 17 hands-on chapters that include multiple laboratory sessions.

If you've been to Maker Faire, you've likely seen Jon Sarriugarte's (Oakland, CA) SS Alpha Fox vehicle, or his awesome Boiler Bar. Now he and his cohort are building a Snail Car on top of a stripped down VW bug. You can follow the build here. [Via Boing Boing]

Today's BBtv is a little ambient profile piece on the Oakland-based electricity arts group known as "Omega Recoil." The video includes footage of their Bay Area Maker Faire '08 performance.

Omega Recoil: Electricity as art

The next scheduled Maker Faire is Austin: Oct. 18th & 19th, 2008 - Travis County Expo Center!

Special thanks to everyone who attended, the makers who brought their projects and the city of New York! (Yes, we're exploring a Maker Faire NYC by popular demand!)

Here is some coverage from around the web and some video/photos from us too!

Collin actually did this for 3 hours straight, a new record!

More:
Wiimote Wheelchair Helps Disabled People Paint.
An evening at Maker Faire - NYC event (my photos).

Update:

Marc uploaded more pictures from An Evening at Maker Faire

Eric writes (and from the MAKE Flickr pool):

Someone at the Maker Faire challenged me to turn a working nixie tube into jewelry. Here's a "glowing cross" steampunk-style pendant. It uses a CR2032 coin cell battery to run the high voltage power supply. It uses less power than an LED throwie.

I don't know what's better, this project or the fact that it was conceived at Maker Faire.

Garth of Extreme Craft had the Zen Paintball booth at Maker Faire and was pleasantly surprised by the parents.

The Zen Paintball booth was a smashing (splatting?) success. I should've seen it coming, but I didn't anticipate that 80% of my paintball artists would be kids! THAT was a great surprise. Claire and I had a blast helping young artists realize that they don't need a brush or crayons to make art. I like to go on diatribes about how overprotective parents can be. The Maker Faire parents were an entirely different breed. We had parents helping some tiiiiiiny toddlers pull the trigger on the paintball gun. My faith in parenting is restored.

He managed to get out and experience the Faire, too - his write-up is here.

To download Maker Faire 2008 Music MP4 click here or subscribe in iTunes.

Join your fellow Makers this Sunday at the 2nd Maker Faire Austin Town Hall -

Day/Time:
June 1st 6-9 pm

Location:
La Madeleine
35th and Lamar
3418 N Lamar
512-302-1486

More Information/Agenda - makerfaireaustin.pbwiki.com

RSVP on Upcoming - http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/624269/?ps=5

P.S. - If you're into crafting, please join us for our first Austin area release party of CRAFT:07 earlier in the day:
Our hosts are Rachel Hobson (Average Jane Crafter, BurdaStyle) and Leslie Bonnell (StitchLab), with special guests Jenny Hart (Sublime Stitching), plus Katie Dougherty and Sherry Huss of CRAFT. Snacks will be provided by Cookie Madness and door prizes include T-shirts and box sets from CRAFT, plus goodies from Chronicle Books, Naughty Secretary Club, Sublime Stitching, Stitch Lab and more! Rachel has been posting a ton of sneak peeks on her blog, so you may want to add it to your RSS reader!

CRAFT: 07 Release Party
Sunday, June 1, 1-4pm
@ The Work*Shop
2438 W. Anderson Lane, #C5
Austin, TX 78757

MAKE editor-in-chief Mark Frauenfelder talks with bot builder Daniel O'Connell at Maker Faire about My Dummy, a mildly disturbing robot child who rides around on a tricycle.

My Dummy

To download Maker Faire 2008 Robots MP4 click here or subscribe in iTunes.

Core77's Carl Alviani caught up with super-Maker-Faire-planner Sherry Huss and Make's managing editor Shawn Connally for an interview video at Maker Faire. It's nice to see two really special and crucial behind-the-scenes folks share their amazing ideas on camera.

To download Maker Faire 2008 Vehicles MP4 click here or subscribe in iTunes.

David Pescovitz, of MAKE and Boing Boing, talks to the "eccentric genius" hisself, Kaden Harris, in the MakerShed at Maker Faire. Kaden shows off a few of his crazed contraptions, some of which can be found in his book The Eccentric Cubicle. This episode also includes scenes from the Faire and Xeni asking people about their nerdly-hip t-shirts. Dang it: I wish I'd thought to show off my "Sacred D20" tee on camera. Oh, and Xeni gets royally tuned up by Jack Sparx.

Pesco and the "Eccentric Genius," Xeni gets zapped, ironic t-shirts: More Maker Faire 2008

The Phoenix has a nice lifestyle piece on steampunk, centered on those artisans we had at the Maker Faire, especially those that put together the Contraptors' Lounge.

Steam Dream

Every time we look at computer screen, millions of pixels of light disappear into our work, our correspondence, or our entertainment. Imagine if you could capture those dots of light and scoop them up as you would grains of sand on the beach. Puzzlemation explores this idea, by dividing the digital display into pixels you're free to pick up and re-arrange. It can be used to create things as diverse as modular animated signs, to a uniquely challenging dynamic puzzle. It is a tool that lets you create animated light displays of any size and shape for whatever applications you can dream up.

This project's display is made of a number of tiles, about 2" square with an 8 x 8 array of color LED pixels. Each tile is individually powered and animated, so your can freely pick them up and re-arrange them. To set up a display, the tiles are placed in a special tray. Animations are downloaded into the tray via Ethernet and stored locally on an SD card. The tray broadcasts the animation to each of the tiles, and then synchronizes them.

If the pieces are left in the tray, the animation can be updated continuously over the Ethernet connection. If the tiles are removed from the tray, they'll display the animation for several hours with their own re-chargeable battery power.

Once the animation is synchronized and running on the tiles, you can pick them up and place them anywhere. The display is completely reconfigurable. Need a tall thin display, a square one, or a long skinny one? No problem - re-arrange the tiles as you please.