Hackers at Play at Maker Faire 2007 - A House on Wheels
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To judge from the attendees who reported on the event, it certainly did live up to the hype. What can you say about a faire that features a “self-propelled, steam-powered three-story Victorian house on wheels”? This self-same house, incidentally, highlights the overlap between Maker Faire and Burning Man, as the piece was one of the more popular ones at that over-the-edge art fest in the desert last year.
Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine, was on hand to show off his GPS-enabled model airplane, made with Lego Mindstorms as the starting point. The plane can carry a small video camera, enabling an enterprising do-it-yourselfer to spy on his or her neighbors – or just get some great views.
For the nostalgic, the “Lil Juju” Mobile Pinball Museum, housed in an Airstream trailer, carried history with its old (and playable) pinball machines. Michael Shiess, creator of the museum, is using it to help promote a proposed more stationary pinball museum to be opened in Alameda.
Those with a sweet tooth would have been interested in the 3D sugar printer. The printer fuses layers of granulated sugar. While the objects that come out of it are strictly low-resolution, they’re certainly sweet. Even sweeter is the estimate on the Maker Faire site that “Resourceful people could build a similar machine for about $500.” Is it a little crazy? Perhaps; still, there is something about this kind of nuttiness that is undeniably cool.
Naturally there were some pieces on display that were both techie and crafty. How else would you classify a life-sized crocheted Atari 2600, complete with two crocheted joystick controllers and a crocheted TV displaying a game in progress? Craft demonstrations were held both days. Participants could make their own Yoda dolls, felted computer totes, light-up purses (if that’s not a great geeky gift for your girlfriend, I don’t know what is!), and much more.
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