Wired’s Top Tech Stories of 2008

by Joseph Flaherty on January 1, 2009

In the midst of all the 2008 roundups Wired magazine ’s “GeekDad” blog released their own top 18 list. An impressive 4 out of 18 had do do with mass customization or personal fabrication:

1. Spore Launch

Possibly most hyped game launch of the year, Spore’s premise is tantalizingly novel: create your own galactic civilization from the atoms up, develop its culture in a MMO setting, and take over the universe. Unfortunately, many players found the actual game-play to be uninspiring.

I agree that the “Creature Creator” is an amazing CAD package, but the game was lackluster. The biggest impact of this game may be most felt in the way it could change the toy industry.

2. 50th Anniversary of the LEGO Brick

“Quite possibly the most successful toy in history, LEGO allows you to build everything from knitting machines to floating castles. With 2008 marking the 50th anniversary of the orginal patent, LEGO had an opportunity to remind us why their bricks rock.

In the book Changing the Game the authors say ~10-15% of Legos are bought by adults for adults. This number seemed extraordinarily low given the amount of amazing projects that are executed by grownups.

3. RepRap Self-Duplication

“Remember when Jean-Luc first ordered an Earl Grey from a cubby in his quarters and we were like, WOAH DUDE. Now imagine if he had ordered another replicator from his replicator. While less science fictiony, the RepRap 3D printer’s revolutionary breakthrough — printing its own “child” RepRap — made a huge splash in the geek community. Still can’t print any kind of tea, though.”

I’m not sure if 3D printing and the RepRap project is the second coming of the Homebrew Computer Club or just something more akin to the evolution of supply chain management which changed business, but never made it to the hands of the consumer. Either way the RepRap project is exciting.

4. Arduino Rerelease

“Further cementing its nerd cred, the Arduino Duemilanove represents the latest edition of this rapidly evolving and expanding prototyping platform, so simple that artists and tinkerers can jump in with minimal study.”

If you love the Lego NXT platform, this lets you get another level deeper and hack hardware like you might a web app.