MAKE: Magazine lecture
Today I went over to the conference center and watched a presentation put on by Dale Dougherty, Editor and Publisher of Make, and Phillip Torrone, Associate Editor of Make Magazine.
It was a pretty interesting show. They had shirts and free magazines (gone by the time I got there), and a lot of sample made stuff. The presentation itself went into the reasons why they thought there was a maker resurgence, and the thinking behind what they did. Tidbits like: The trim size of Make was based off the 1959 Popular Science magazine, and the prescience of the Craft Manifesto.
He also brought his portable rotary phone. The first caller to ring his number (206-355-1XXX) received a gift. It was pretty odd hearing the old-school phone ring wirelessly. Over and over again as different callers made it through.
At the end, Microsofties had the opportunity to tell what they were making. Personal projects ranged from robots, to 30' working pirate ships with the kids for the back yard (complete with 50-calliber canons), to a compass that always shows the direction to the nearest starbucks.
Finally, a few links I picked up:
- Phidgets USA, providers of lots of project parts.
- Spark Fun Electronics, "Where most of my disposable income goes." -- Torrone
- Instructables, step-by-step project recipes and collaboration
"The best way to predict the future is to build it."
When I got back, I was telling Lance about the presentation. In the course of the dialog, he mentioned that he wanted to pick up C#. I pulled out one of the better C# books, Inside C#... and he said, "Doesn't that name look familiar? You sit next to him." Sure enough, Tom Archer joined our team a few weeks ago, and sits in the office next to mine. I just hadn't made the connection yet. Small world!