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Maker Faire, Newcastle, 13th-14th, March 2010 - Call for Proposals

A Call for Proposals has gone out for the 2nd UK Maker Faire, which is due to take place in Newcastle on the 13th and 14th March 2010:

Following the outstanding success of the first UK Maker Faire which was attended by over 7000 visitors, we are thrilled to announce Maker Faire 2010! Once again, Maker Faire will be heading to North East England as part of the Newcastle ScienceFest - a 10 day festival celebrating creativity and innovation.

DIY Makers, Progressive Techies, Old-Fashioned and Indie Crafters, Mad Scientists, Quirky Musicians and Myriad Innovators propose your projects here. Deadline for submitting proposals is December 11th and then we will make a selection by January 8th.

Last year was a huge triumph, as this BBC News Report shows. 2010 promises to be even grander and awe-inspiring.

Follow Maker Faire UK on Twitter: http://twitter.com/makerfaire_uk

Folksy - Fashioning Technology Competition

The mighty, mighty Folksy are running a great competition this month, based on the People's Publisher's very own book, Fashioning Technology, written by Syuzi Pakhchyan:

Anyway, the competition is simple:

• Create a MAKE that either includes some form of technology (lights, noises, wires!) or that compliments a ‘piece’ of technology, things like ipod covers, ear muffs with headphones inside, laptop bags, laptop adornments etc. etc.
• Your Make must not have been published elsewhere – it can be similar to one you may have made and published elsewhere but your entry must be original to you
• Tag your Make “fashioningtechnology” so we know you wish to enter.
• Entries need to be in by the 31st May

Prizes and Judging

• Entries are going to be judged by Suw. Suw is a internet guru and jewellery maker and has a keen interest in technology stuff, so we thought she’d be an ideal judge.
• First prize is a (new model) 2gb iPod shuffle and a copy of the O’Reilly book Fashioning Technology (also see the associated website which is choca full of ideas).
• Three runners-up will receive copies of the same O’Reilly book Fashioning Technology
• Winners will be announced on the 6th June
• The first qualifying entry will also receive a copy of the book – and we’ll get that out as soon as the entry is made!

Maker Faire Photos

The BBC article have a great article about Maker Faire which was slashdotted. Includes video:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7946971.stm

And here's a sample of photos tagged with makerfaireuk on Flickr:

www.flickr.com More photos or video tagged with makerfaireuk on Flickr

Photos from Makers and Hackers, London

Makers and Hackers was a fantastic day. The precursor to Maker Faire, which will take place on 14th and 15th March 2009 in Newcastle, Makers and Hackers simultaneously took place in London and Sheffield, run by Tinker.it and Folksy respectively.

Five projects were developed on the day, two of which won a £50 prize from Make: Magazine:

• Nigel and the Craft Girls connected an Arduino to a Yahama sound module using MIDI, (aided by the Tom Igoe's magnificent Making Things Talk and Rob Young's The MIDI Files) which played a melody when triggered by an RFID tag. The tags were attached to house keys with robot key fobs, and each fob prompted a different melody. The overall device, therefore, is intended to play a mix of ambient music reflecting whoever was in the building.
• Fragile built a bracelet with embedded LEDs which lit up to indicate the arrival of a new email or twitter.

A hearty shout-out for the other projects:

• Two People, 5 Legs were ever so close to finishing their project, which was a turn counter for an office chair. On the day, the clock defeated them (we had about 5 hours to build our projects), but they took their chair back to Nottingham to finish the job off.
• Tim Hutt created a tactile clock, the aim of which was to enable him to know the time in the dark. Tim got a working proof of concept prototype going, which offered up a different textured surface every five seconds. 

As for my group, we made an alarm clock which, after sounding, gave you five seconds to turn off the alarm before you got covered in confetti. I may have been of little practical use to my side, save for my clumsy gaffer taped box, but I had a blast. It was magnificent to watch Omer Kilik and Andrew Dent going about their geeky business with in-sight, skill, creativity and patience, the patience required because I kept bugging them to tell me what they were doing. Omer explained to Rain Ashford from BBC Backstage and myself how the Arduino was programmed, and Andrew reminded me how to tine a wire, which I hadn't done for 25 years. It was remarkable how my A Level Physics and Maths and things I picked up in my dad's workshop came, not exactly flooding, but dribbling back to me. Recently I heard a great quote from Berry Gordy's mum, Nothing you learn is ever wasted, and it struck me how true that was. While I haven't really done any electronics or made anything since I was at school, the basic principles are still there in my head, albeit covered in years of dust, and I thoroughly enjoyed remembering what I used to know. I might not have chipped in much on the day, but I understood pretty much everything that was being done, which was very satisfying indeed.

I spent a lot of my time at Makers and Hackers taking photos and interviewing the various groups using the Flip. Here are a few of the photos - there are plenty more on Flickr findable using the tag makersandhackers:

www.flickr.com

Makers and Hackers - Sheffield and London, 28th February 2009

Maker Faire, Newcastle is less than three weeks away, (14th-15th March, 2009 part of Newcastle ScienceFest) and as part of the lead up to it, the good people at Folksy and Tinker.it! are holding a one-day competition to make a 'household item of the future'. Makers and Hackers takes place in two venues - Sheffield and London - this Saturday (28th February 2009):

When & Where

On Feb 28th 2009 from 10am to 5pm
London (United House, North Road, N7 9DP, 5 minutes walk from Caledonian Road station) OR
Sheffield (Access Space near the train station)

Who is it for?

Designers, Crafters, hobbyists, sewers, knitters, woodworkers, artists, hackers or electronics tinkerers. You’ll team up with others on the day, decide what to make and then make it.

What will you make?

You decide! The brief is “Household items of the future” and you can choose to interpret that in anyway you want. You could create a cushion that make a noise when you sit on it, to a walking plush doll, or just make something cute and lovely. High tech, low tech or no tech, come along and bring your skills!

Check out what people have built in the past, it might inspire you!
http://www.flickr.com/groups/make/pool/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/craft/pool/
http://blog.craftzine.com/

What should I bring with me?

Come along on the day with your gear (whatever materials or tools you generally use).
Food and drink will be provided but you’ll have to bring the ideas and your stuff! We’ll only have some big tables and chairs. You’ll make what you want out of the space.

What do I win?

You mean apart from the total joy of making something with your hands??? Well, Make have been kind enough to sponsor the events and your projects will be judged at the end of the day for a chance to win one of four £50 prizes.

If your project kicks ass, we’ll take it with us to the MakerFaire on the 14/15th of March to display in our joint stand (you’ll get them back afterwards).

Register!!!

If you are interested in taking part, register for your free ticket now!!!

New Titles: SQL and Relational Theory, iPhone SDK Application Development, Craft: Volume 10

9780596523060:  SQL and Relational Theory by C J Date - £30.99

Understanding SQL's underlying theory is the best way to guarantee that your SQL code is correct and your database schema is robust and maintainable. In SQL and Relational Theory, author C.J. Date demonstrates how you can apply relational theory directly to your use of SQL, with numerous examples and clear explanations of the reasoning behind them. Anyone with a modest to advanced background in SQL will benefit from the many insights in this book.

9780596154059:  iPhone SDK Application Development by Jonathan Zdziarski - £26.99

This practical book offers programmers the knowledge and code they need to create cutting-edge mobile applications using Apple's iPhone SDK. You'll learn about the development environment for both the iPhone and iPod Touch, from windows and navigation bars to more advanced layers of the iPhone SDK, such as screen transitions, low-level graphics rendering using CoreSurface, the MultiTouch API, and digital sound and music rendering with Celestial and CoreAudio.

9780596523312:  Craft: Volume 10  Edited by Tina Barseghian - £6.99

Craft Vol. 10 is all about celebrating the DIY way. We'll feature how-tos and articles about planning and executing all types of parties and events, from weddings and baby showers to birthdays and anniversaries. The issue will include instructions for making delicious cakes and party foods, DIY decor and invitations, setting up food and drink stations, coming up with theme ideas, and celebrating different cultural events from around the world.

Folksy on GMT Extra

Over on GMT Extra, we have an interview with James Boardwell about Folksy. Folksy is a UK-based online marketplace for Makers and Crafters to buy and sell their wares:

We want to re-claim craft and design from both the elite art establishment and from the church tea-room. There are very skilled 'makers' out there and through Folksy we're giving them a means to share ideas, make money and do something they love. Whilst independent design and crafting is quite big at the moment and there are a raft of services that designers and crafters can choose from, we believe we have the ability to be successful. Folksy is simply architected, it's a good user experience, we've found a solution to managing poorer quality work and we are trialling working with High Street brands to run competitions to drive wider, mainstream interest. Later in the year we'll be launching with Universities to enable students and departments to create spaces for their work which they can manage and from which they can derive an income; it's a great way to trial ideas in the market at very little cost.

CRAFT: Volume 03

CRAFT: Volume 03:

CRAFT 03 is themed Japanese Style. With DIY tutorials ranging from origami earrings to Sumi paper marbling to hypertufa planters to gorgeous dorodango mud balls and knitted kimonos, get ready to have no shortage of exciting crafting projects.

Pimp That Snack

The joy of giant sweets!

Pimp Your Snack encourages its audience to make super-sized versions of their favourite sweet treats, and to let the world know how it was done. It's hard to know how delicious these confections would be but it would be lovely finding out.

For example, should you ever want or need to make a giant Jaffa Cake, then with the following ingredients:

  6 organic free range eggs £0.95
  12 oz self raising flour £0.10
  12 oz caster sugar £0.20
  12 oz unsalted butter £1.50
  1 tsp baking powder £0.01
  2 packets of jelly £1.00
  1 pint of water FREE
  Juice of 1 organic orange £0.20
  200g 70% organic plain chocolate (no sugar) (an addition when we realised our faux pas)  £2.95
  100g Dairy Milk chocolate £0.90
  PLUS extra fine organic fresh vanilla custard £2.99

which adds up to a mere £10.80, you can make this:

I love the side-by-side comparison of the shop-bought original with the gynormous replica.
Possibly my favourite on the whole site is the Cadbury's Cream Egg: A challenge to any chocoholic worth the name! They must have spent a week on the wrapper alone!

Play Pimp Trumps - where crazy over-sized foodstuffs go toe-to-toe to see who really is the baddest, as in this battle between Absolutely Massive Alphabetti Spaghetti and Jammie Wagon Wheel SXi:

All wonderfully silly and great fun. After all that effort, I can imagine its a shame to cut into these snacks. But this is cookery where eating is not quite the point - I prefer to think they are simply getting prepared for when Wonkavision becomes a reality.

Guardian Craft Supplement

The Guardian have embraced the resurgence of the craft movement, running a Craft supplement on Saturday. Articles include:
Clothes peg doormat
Cut-out Cardboard Coffee Table
Wood veneer lampshade

"Get stuck in
Don't be afraid. You can make this stuff. Really, you can. Rather than spending your weekend dragging around the shops, stick on your favourite CD, stay home and get crafty. Remember, the fun is in the making, not the finished object. Unless it's a present. In which case you had better wipe off some of that glue. What are you waiting for?"