There aren’t many great blogs on mass customization and personal fabrication, but Twitter is a trasure trove for people interested in custom manufacturing, hardware hacking, and the combination of bits and atoms. I’ve compiled a list of people I follow who write frequently about the convergence of software with the physical world. If you know of others please let me know.
@Bre – Creator of the sub $1000 3D Printer (MakerBot) and general custom manufacturing impresario. Watch his business being built layer by layer @MakerBot. @Thingiverse – Chronicles the creation of new 3D models that you can fabricate on a 3D printer or laser cutter.
@ShopBot – Has carved out a niche for itself as manufacturers of a CNC router that helps people create amazing things. 3D printing gets all the glory, but subtractive fabrication is read for prime time now.
@Antrod – Antonio Rodriguez founded the print on demand company Tabblo and writes a great deal on the “Internet of Things”
@TechShopJim @MarkHatch are both affiliated with TechShop, a club for personal fabrication enthusiasts where you can have access to 3D printers, plasma cutters, and other fun equipment for a monthly fee.
@MattLauzon – Founder of Paragon Lake a company combining web services and custom manufacturing processes in the fine jewelry market.
@DalePD – Dale Dougherty is the creator of Make: and Craft: magazines and one of the most influential and thoughtful people in this market. @TimOReilly is a another must follow, check out his talk on “Web Meets World” to hear his thoughts on the convergence of software and the real world. @Ptorrone – Phillip Torrone is the senior editor at Make: and Creative Director of AdaFruit Industries, a company that produces physical computing kits. @Make, @Craft, @Instructables are all also part of the O’Reilly family.
@EMSL – Evil Mad Scientist Labs is the creator of the CandyFab project which is a low cost 3D printer that uses sugar as a build material. If you would like insight into the mind of a mad scientist follow @1lenore.
@ScottKirsner – Scott Kirsner is a reporter in New England who covers emerging technology like 3D printers that create action figures and 2D printers that can decorate a pint of Guiness.
@Jeggers – Jana Eggers is the CEO of SpreadShirt a Tshirt customization company and a vocal advocate for her company in social media.
@Bruces – Bruce Sterling coined of the term “Spime” refering to objects infused with connectivity and is an all around futurist guru with an eye for products. @ReBang – also falls into the wildly prolific futurist category, but writes about very practical aspects of mass customization.
@Fabbaloo – Reports on all the major happenings in the world of 3D printing and related technology.
@Jeffrey – Jeffrey Kalmikoff is a founder and chief creative officer at Threadless, the world’s leading purveyor of crowdsourced goods. More timely info about Threadless can be found @Threadless
@Cstcyr is a Boston based hardware hacker who is building himself a MakerBot. @BJepson – Is a Providence RI tech guy who has been working on setting up a FabLab near my alma mater.
@3d_printers – Objet 3D printers manufactures a stupendous product and frequently share info on their development. @ShapeWays – is building a community of 3D modelers who are bringing their creations to life via ShapeWays convenient 3D printing service. @RepRap – Is an open source 3D printer project helping democratize an amazing technology.
And if you find this blog to be a valuable resource, feel free to follow me: @JosephFlaherty.
