Executives from Cheezburger inc. and Sparkfun have both recently published talks they gave on their respective businesses. If you are at all interested in the collision of media and eCommerce they are both worth a listen

Sparkfun CEO Nate Seidle

• Revenue of 10 Million in 2009. Based on past growth that probably means somewhere in the neighborhood of $15 Million in 2010.

• 80+ employees, totally bootstrapped.

• Started out manufacturing with a hot plate – have since moved to pick and place robotics.
• They usually launch new products small e.g. they might only make 10 of a new breakout board to test demand.
• They don’t invent new technology they make new technology accessible. They leave heavy duty R&D to big companies and make their products more accessible to hobbyists.
• Their primary marketing is education. They teach their audience how to be awesome. Made smart design decisions by including lots of pictures in their tutorials and using approachable language.
• Google is a key way to acquire customers. They produce high quality tutorials which rank highly in the index, usually just behind Arduino.
• Have taken up the slack from RadioShack which used to sell electronics equipment and now is basically a cell phone store.
• Have also branched out into services, buying time/space on fab machines and reselling that to users.
• Consider themselves a gateway drug. Average user makes 3 progressively larger orders and then disappears. Working theory is that Sparkfun educates its customers so they end up buying directly from manufacturers.

Watch the video to get the rest, it is well worth the time.

Cheezbuger CTO Scott Porad

The central thesis of Porad’s talk is the “Lazy/Messy/Backwards” method of development used at Cheezburger inc. In short:

Lazy - let other people do stuff for you e.g. find/moderate content

Messy – Get stuff done fast, have a culture of refactoring. It is better to get something out and learn than optimize a bad solution.

Backwards – Focus on some of the boring stuff first. e.g. If you are in the user generated content business, make sure you have super redundant backups.

Overall it is another take on the “Lean Startup” albeit with a high volume success story. The most interesting part of the talk was where Porad talks about the difficulty of making money with advertising. Considering the Cheezburger empire accounts for ~10% of WordPress traffic which is roughly 2.3 Billion page views a month, thats saying something. As an alternative Porad talks about the Cheezburger merchandise strategy. Basically, they are trying to take over the humor book category at major booksellers. It’s a smart move and one that shows off the power of “Bits & Atoms”.

Stories about the collision of “Bits & Atoms” usually involve cool artifacts or processes like 3D printing, but the following stories about a brand managers read of CES, The 21st century’s Ron Popeil, and an obscure wireless protocol illustrate how the internet and physical products are merging in exciting ways.

A brand advertiser’s take on “Web Meets World”

Dave Knox was a Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble for a number of years before joining a marketing consultancy. P&G is one of the biggest brand advertisers in the world and probably has one of the most analytical approaches to advertising in the market so read this post about his trip to CES. This is the way Fortune 50 companies see tech influencing marketing and how they want to use it. Technologists will figure out whats possible, but product folks will figure out what is profitable.

His take on “Social TV”

For instance, I saw many manufacturers talk about “Social TV” where you could send Twitter and Facebook updates right from the TV screen.  While nice in theory, I think there is a fundamental flaw in these applications.  TV is a group experience, where many people generally sit around a single screen.  Social Media however is a personalized experience, where a single person broadcasts to multiple people.  What this means for the TV experience is that if a group of people are sitting around the TV, they probably don’t want a single person interacting with social media on the screen (ie, my wife doesn’t want to see my fantasy football smack talk on screen while we are watching a game at home).  Instead, I think the bigger opportunity for marketers is to think about the other multi-tasking screens that people have in front of them while watching TV.  You should focus on how the mobile phone, tablet or even laptop that an individual uses simultaneously while watching TV.

And digital products and Services:

Nike+ is a model that all marketers need to pay attention to for two reasons.  First, they are turning what could have been an advertising expense, into a new revenue stream by creating a Digital Service.   Instead of spending millions of dollars on media that advertises a message (ie an expense), they are instead creating a media property with tangible value (ie a potential new revenue stream).  Second, Nike is creating products that have a seamless and natural digital extension.  Digital is not just a marketing tool in these cases, but instead an extension of the product.

Mahalo 4.0

Jason Calacanis has changed the direction of his company Mahalo for the fourth time turning what was a social search/Q&A site into a repository for online videos. Business Insider reports:

The goal this year is to start creating (from scratch) 2,500 original videos per week in 4 studios at Mahalo’s L.A. headquarters. And Calacanis says the goal over the next couple of years is to reach 500,000 original videos.

While the company is being joked about for changing its course so often, the idea seems smart. With the rise of Apple TV and Google TV there is a need for HD content and this video library could fill the void. Secondarily, it could be a fantastic front end for an ecommerce business. Zappos has said that videos help increase sales from 6-30%. Matched with “How-To” content you could conceivably move a lot of expensive knives, musical instruments, and Rosetta Stone packages.

Near Field Communication

The tech world is abuzz with rumors that the iPhone 5 and iPad 2 will have “Near Field Communication” or “NFC” built in. NFC is an induction based method of communication that allows an enabled to device to communicate with other similar devices or to read data from RFID. Some example uses from Wikipedia:

NFC technology is currently aimed mainly at being used with mobile phones. There are currently three specific uses for NFC:

• Card emulation: the NFC device behaves like an existing contactless card
• Reader mode: the NFC device is active and reads a passive RFID tag, for example for interactive advertising
• P2P mode: two NFC devices are communicating together and exchanging information.

Plenty of applications are possible, such as:

• Mobile ticketing in public transport: an extension of the existing contactless infrastructure, such as Mobile Phone Boarding Pass.
• Mobile payment: the device acts as a debit/credit payment card.
• Smart poster: the mobile phone is used to read RFID tags on outdoor billboards.
• Bluetooth pairing: in the future pairing of Bluetooth 2.1 devices with NFC support will be as easy as bringing them close together and accepting the pairing. The process of activating Bluetooth on both sides, searching, waiting, pairing and authorization will be replaced by a simply bringing the mobile phones close to each other.

Other applications in the future could include:

• Electronic ticketing: airline tickets, concert/event tickets, and others
• Electronic money
• Travel cards
• Identity documents
• Mobile commerce
• Electronic keys: replacements for physical car, house, office, or hotel room keys.
• NFC can be used to configure and initiate other wireless network connections e.g. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or Ultra-wideband.

The big vision is that Apple will eliminate the need for credit cards by turning your phone into a direct conduit to your bank account, a move that is literally worth trillions of dollars per year. While this may be the grand vision, expect to see some really cool integration with Apple’s other products first as a trojan horse to seed the technology in advance of a revolution in our financial system.

Like most people I subscribe to a lot of blogs to keep up on industry news, hobbies, and other interests. Some feel like homework, but the following 11 blogs are ones that always catch my eye in Google Reader. Together they form a mosaic of where my interests lay in 2011 and heartily recommend them to anyone looking for a new perspective or fun information.

New Tee Vee

NewTeeVee is a subsite for the tech blog GigaOm that covers all things related to next generation television. Reviews of key hardware platforms like Apple TV/Google TV, stories about pioneer “Cord Cutters“, and the new realities of media production and distribution. Given how important video content is at helping sell products and spread ideas it is an area worth watching.

Materialise

Joris Peels, formerly of Shapeways, now blogs for a company called Materialise that has been in the 3D printing business for over 20 years. Joris is continually innovating and is turning coverage of 3D printing into a mainstream subject with guest posts at big blogs like TechCrunch and creating MSM staples like year in review articles.

Grathio Labs

Steve Hoefer is a craftsman I met at the SF Makerfaire last year. He stole the show with a cool device that dispensed candy to users who could master a “Secret Knock”. His blog has recently covered subjects as diverse as edge-lit art and “stuffed animal sacrifices“ (it makes sense when you read it…). A visit to this blog will leave you equal parts surprised and inspired.

Jesse Schell

Jesse Schell burst into the web’s consciousness with his amazing presentation “Beyond Facebook“. Schell explained how “game mechanics” could be used to alter behavior in a variety of non-game settings, a scenario he dubbed the “Gamepocalypse”. While there is now a growing backlash to the idea of “gamification” or at least shallow implementations of it Schell is a consistently provocative thinker. He maintains a couple blogs, but keep an eye on him at YouTube and Slideshare as well.

5By5.tv Podcasts

5By5 TV is a relatively new series of podcasts/video blogs that give design and engineering nerds something similar to sports radio. Instead of 35o pound guys named “Dog” in hockey jerseys discussing the latest baseball trade you have John Gruber and Marco Arment discussing the latest trends in technology or iOS development. The shows are all hosted by Dan Benjamin and his solid production skills make them top notch products. Basically, it is the only place you can hear top practitioners in their field just chatting about what strikes them as important unless you are a perennial FOO camper.

iFixit

iFixit is on a mission to change our culture from one that accepts “Planned Obsolescence” to one where we can repair almost anything we own. That mission has driven founder Kyle Wiens to build a nice business where he gives away “repair manuals” via his site and sells replacement parts and tools. It is a noble goal and iFixit is probably one of the few web companies that has published a political manifesto and iPad app in the same year. Whether you are looking for a philosophical lens to view the built world or a “Tear Down” of a new CE device, the iFixit blog is the place to find it.

Volpin Props

Harrison Krix is an Atlanta based graphic designer who creates the best video game/pop culture prop replicas east of the Skywalker Ranch in his spare time. He makes amazing costumes and impressive props in his home workshop and documents the entire process from blueprint to model shots. If you like making things and want to learn to make them more efficiently and have them be better looking, there are few sources better than his blog.

Daily Grommet

Jules Pieri is the founder of the DailyGrommet which is an ecommerce site that could be described as Groupon meets YouTube. They highlight a neat new product by video every day which gives the feel of a well curated shop. Jules’ blog gives a glimpse behind the curtain as she meets new entrepreneurs, visits interesting locations, and shares her thoughts on the evolving world of ecommerce.

Acorns and Apples

One of Jules great posts last year was about how there will be a shift from media personalities giving advice to “Real Experts”. Aimee Seavy is a food blogger that brings a passion for cooking and history e.g. In one post she provides a little history on the Bundt Cake Pan:

“Bundt pans are the 1950 Nordic Ware creation designed to pay homage to traditional ceramic molded baking pans of Germany, Austria, and Hungary.”

Other times she goes on the road and tells a story that crosses Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives travelogue format with Martha Stewarts WASPy winter sensibilities. I tend to agree with Jules that in the future there will be many mini-Marthas instead of one media champion and Aimee’s blog is a window into what that will look like.

Quantified Self

2011 is an interesting year. Advances in medicine and technology has made it possible for people to live longer, healthier, and richer lives, but many choose not to. 2/3 of the US population is overweight or obese. Levels of financial literacy are shockingly low. Even though institutions like MIT make their classes available online for free many people choose not to improve their skills.

There is an emerging movement described as the “Quantified Self” that aims to correct these behaviors by giving people dashboards and other tools to help make better decisions.

FastCo Design

FastCoDesign is the first design blog that feels like reading a magazine which makes sense as it is an offshoot of Fast Company. The format isn’t the typical reverse chronological list, but rather each post gets a special page with glorious large format images. The subject matter is usually fresh, the cover subjects outside the mainstream and the writers actually do original research rather than just regurgitating press releases and other blog posts.

Stack Exchange is a question & answer service that connects experts and amateurs around shared passions. Newbies ask questions and the more experienced members answer them. Points and status are awarded for good answers. Stack Exchange (SE) grew out of a site called Stack Overflow which was entirely focused on software engineering. The goal with SE was to foster the same kind of community, but around other subject matter. In order to combat spam, ghost town forums, and other blights of user generated content they developed an elaborate staging area called Area 51 where new ideas for sites are born and incubated.

3D Printers

I recently proposed a site around the idea of personal manufacturing tools like 3D printers and laser cutters. All new ideas start as proposals which need to be followed by 60 members to move onto the next stage. In addition the original 60 members are required to create lists of on-topic and off-topic questions to help guide the community e.g. an on topic for this forum might be:

What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of 3D Printers made by StrataSys, 3D Systems, Z Corp, and Objet?

Join the site now (it’s free) and follow this proposal to help move it along to the next stage, commitment.

Lego

Once a topic has sufficient casual momentum members must commit to answering questions and helping shepard the community in the early stages. A community of Lego enthusiasts has recently hit this milestone, the final stage before public beta.

Robotics & Electronics

Robotics and electronics is a wildly popular topic and has garnered enough support to move to public beta which means the site is featured prominently and has new capabilities. If the community stays active it will become a full site and a permanent addition to the Stack Exchange family.

The process is long and convoluted, but it is nice to see a company focusing so much energy and forgoing easy traffic to ensure quality. People interested in the interaction of the digital and physical world will find few better resources to have their questions answered by knowledgeable and passionate colleagues. Visit the site and help support some of these excellent topics!

Related articles

• 3D printing with LEGO (hackaday.com)
• Robot, Build Thyself: Machine Made of Lego Builds Models Made of Lego | Discoblog (blogs.discovermagazine.com)
• How Lazy Men Build Lego Creations – With a 3D Printer (Made From Lego) [Video] (gizmodo.com)

VoxelFab – A New 3D Printing Blog

Join me in welcoming Joris Peels, Shapeways former community manager, to the high stakes, cut throat world of 3D printer blogging. In all seriousness Joris can be one of the most insightful thinkers about the future of custom manufacturing as evidenced by his post “The Singer Problem“. VoxelFab will surely be a must read in the months to come.

@Golnik Disney

What took Walt Disney and his Imagineers a lot of time and money can now be replicated with common consumer electronics and household materials. My friend, Tim Golnik, was able to replicate the effect in this video with his iPhone, a seat of Maya, and a few shards of laser cut acrylic. We are continuing down a path where there will be few technical or financial limits to our creativity and is an exciting time for creators and consumers alike.

Foursquare Makes Badges, Gets Physical

Currently, Foursquare is a fun diversion at best and a pointless fad at worst. Its real potential seems to be tying the physical and digital worlds together in more meaningful ways. They are doing that in a fun form called “Nerd Merit Badges“

Foursquare is also hinting that they may develop specialized hardware or integrate with existing point-of-sale systems to reward customer loyalty or make the check in process more automated. Once they start making physical hardware or merely integrating with it, Foursquare will go from game to new marketing channel. TechCrunch cites a Foursquare blog post:

“Foursquare hints that in the future, the service will try to tie-in Foursquare with pieces of hardware to make it more seamless to use. For example, they mention barcode scanners as one possibility. A barcode scanner with Foursquare capabilities could be useful for both users and partners, as it would definitely reduce the friction for using the service, as Foursquare puts it.”

While not as futuristic as 3D printing Foursquare represents on of the best chances for bits and atoms to merge in the immediate future.

Shapeways Gets Packages

3D Printing and custom manufacturing generally suffer from a lack of consumer polish. Manufacturers and service providers aren’t used to servicing individual consumers so there is a lot of confusion around the processes and capabilities. Shapeways has done a great job working to eliminate this problem with transparent pricing, self service options, and now professional packaging for 3D printed products.

3D Printers Recreate Egypt

Egyptologists are canny marketers and know how a model can help tell a story. In an effort to add some panache to an exhibit about King Tut exhibit designers decided to model a replica of the boy king’s mummy. They were able to model him with CAD tools and of course build the replica with a 3D printer. While every 3D printer company has a story like this they are always interesting and demonstrate the capability of these machines to help preserve our past and help up build a better future.

Tim O’Reilly Talks About The “Internet of Things”

Tim O’Reilly gives a glimpse into our interconnected future in an inspiring 30+ min talk where he effortlessly switches from the micro scale of SQL databases to a macro view of government as a platform. It is an oracle like view into the true potential of “Bit and Atoms”.

Robot Chess – Building on the Shoulders of Giant (Robots)

There are a lot of interesting robot projects that you can find in Make: or other blogs and magazines. I remember a couple years ago, a Lego powered robot made the rounds on blogs because it could autonomously solve a Rubik’s Cube. This project takes the the same problem solving concept to a whole new level. More robots, interaction with the environment, and multi-robot communication. This seems like the product of ambition combined with the bedrock that has been formed by all the amateur robotocists that preceded it.

KopyKake Projector

People are going NUTS about the MakerBot and 3D printers generally. I’m a huge fan of both, but their ability to reshape the way we make things is dwarfed (in dollars and lives touched) by the development and impact of crafting technology. The CriCut personal paper cutter is a $250MM a year product. Now specialized technology is starting to move into the kitchen. In this case a projector that shines designs onto cookies which can then be traced by confectioners. Even if the designs aren’t your cup of tea it is hard to argue with the quality of craftsmanship in these cookies.

Core-Toons

Core77 is the best blog on industrial design and a recent addition to their content have been very funny cartoons (Core-Toons) lampooning design culture, products in particular.

Johnson & Johnson Donates Garbage to Make Custom Made Footballs

Johnson & Johnson is one of the largest companies in the world, they make health care/wellness products that could make a difference in the lives of millions of the world’s poor, and are bragging about giving them garbage instead. In their JNJBTW blog they use the World Cup as a way to bring up how many people in developing nations make their own footballs out of trash so they can emulate their heroes and play the beautiful game. I thought JNJ would be talking about providing real balls, maybe Band Aids to help cover up the inevitable scrapes, but not their waste materials! It is better than nothing, but I would not be bragging about it if I was a corporate citizen of their size. While JNJ’s actions aren’t classy the story of the world’s poorest using waste material to build products is inspiring. We shouldn’t forget that “personal fabrication” was a common event for people across the globe prior to the industrial revolution.

Hershey’s Customization

Mass customization holds a lot of promise, but hasn’t been an engine for a lot of high growth companies, yet. Part of this is due to the fact there is still a lot of experimentation with business models going on. Hershey’s is channeling Disney by making a customized chocolate bar creation station part of their factory tour. The economics of mass customization aren’t as good as mass production, but charging for the experience might close the gap.

The world of mass customization is expanding so quickly there is enough link worthy content for TWO consecutive Link-O-Rama posts!

Virtual Pottery Wheel

Patrick Swayze made pottery wheels sexy for the first time since the bronze age. It can’t be a coincidence that the year he passes brings us the coolest innovation in pottery since the time of Caesar. A laser scanner tracks the hand movements of a user and outputs digital data in the form of a spun pot. The digital data is then transferred to a 3D printer and the virtual data is made real.

Intro to 3D Scanning

RepRap and the State of Open Source 3D Printing

The great Erik de Bruijn provides an overview of where open source 3D printing stands now, what developments have been made recently, and more importantly where its going. 49 slides to enlightenment.

The notion of “Bits and Atoms” has recently become a hot area of discussion among mainstream journalists like Wired’s Chris Anderson and big time investors. (To be fair certain VC’s have championed the transformative power of software and plastic for a while.)

What has been missing from the discussion so far are numbers. From the relatively low cost of the enabling tools to the size of market size opportunities they create. This presentation gives some background on the history of custom manufacturing technology, the types of tools that exist and what they are capable of, and how massive markets for physical products are relative to digital goods.

One final plea, lets call this trend “Web 3.D”. I hate the idea of wasting the “3.0″ buzzword on the “Semantic” web!

I had a great opportunity to speak at Ignite Boston 7 on how custom manufacturing technology is going to change the way we build. I’ve transcribed my talks and included my slides.

House 2.0 – The Unlikely Connection Between Open Source Hardware and Silk Wall Paper.

Imagine a time where you can back up a house as easily as you would back up a file on Dropbox.  This isn’t some far-out, futuristic vision. Computer based construction was used to build the Gilded Age mansions of Newport, Rhode Island.

Photo Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_House

These mansions were built with the highest tech of the age. One interesting example is the opulent purple silk wallpapers in Alva Vanderbilt’s bedroom that were woven with punch card driven looms in the 1890′s.

Photo Credit: http://tickets.newportmansions.org/mansion.aspx?id=1004

With the introduction of income tax and trust busting these mansions or “Cottages by the Sea” fall into disrepair. These great monuments were nearly bulldozed until the Preservation Society of Newport Rhode Island took up their cause and sought to restore them to their glory. Their attention to detail was impressive.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thedepartment/

For instance years of neglect left the purple wall paper faded and yellowed. Instead of having a modern factory try to approximate the furnishings they went back to the original factory in Lyon France that was able to perfectly remanufacture the wallpaper using the exact same materials, dyes, looms, and punch cards nearly 100 years later.

We are entering a world of “Cloud Based Architecture”. Some go even further and say “Atoms are the new bits”. In some ways I think they are over hyping things a bit, but there is a growing trend of the virtual and physical worlds combining.

Many companies have tried to commercialize these technologies. Nike has been pushing custom sneakers for nearly a decade, You can buy a 3D printed version of your WarCraft character, or even order a bound book of your photos. Thanks to MakerBot you can buy a 3D printer for less than a laptop.

The concept is becoming mainstream. Wired has a cover story calling this “A New Industrial Revolution“. People are comparing 3D printing and related technology to the birth of the PC or desktop printing, but the comparison is a little unfair. The complexity of personal manufacturing machines are underestimated.

Software development requires a machine that deals in 1′s and 0′s. Desktop printing machines mix four colors of ink, but a machine producing physical products brings the complexity of the entire periodic table. It will be a while before we can print a basketball on our desks, but there are product categories/markets that are ready to be customized today.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/svenhaiges/4232167373/

One of them is construction or home building. It doesn’t add much material cost to make a building as beautiful as these San Francisco Victorians compared to a generic house of the same size. Artisan labor is the bottle neck. You need a craftsman to turn ordinary materials into beautiful structures.

Photo Credit: http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/AAAAAAChange06/Change05/Feb%203/levittown.jpg

That’s why post war construction was so plain. You needed to design houses that can be built by the least skilled workers with only the tools they have on site. This severely limits your design options. Luckily, there is a class of technology coming along that lets us have customized results at mass production prices.

Photo Credit: http://www.npltech.com

These are called Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) tools, which are basically the opposite of 3D printers. They carve shapes out of  a block or sheet of material based on CAD data. This provides the flexibility to shape material and the CAD data can be used to provide construction info to the workers.

Photo Credit: http://fearstyle.com/oldStuff/shopbot.jpg

High end systems can cost more than a quarter million dollars, but prices are dropping. This machine is called a ShopBot and can do most of what its larger cousin can, but it is cheap enough for a contractor to own and throw on the back of his truck.

Photo Credit: http://www.pdjinc.com/Steve%20CNC%2002.jpg

For $2000 and a trip to Home Depot you can build your own CNC Mill, with plans from a book called “Build Your Own CNC Machine“. For $200 you can build a mill out of Legos. The important question is what are these machines good for? What can they do?

Photo Credit: http://www.finefinishinc.com/our-projects.html

With these tools you can recreate an Antique English game room. Or a Palladian villa. Or a Baroque mansion. Elements that would have taken an artisan days or weeks can be machined in a factory and assembled on site. Styles no longer have to die with the craftsman that created them.

Photo Credit: http://plusmood.com/2009/12/digitally-fabricated-bookshelf-dbd-studio/comment-page-1/

We aren’t just limited to recreating the past. We can created a brighter future using CAD tools to design forms that would be overly complex for traditional construction methods. This super modern bookcase is a good example. The interaction of software and physical tools opens up new possibilities for creative exploration.

Photo Credit: http://www.aquagladius.com/

These tools are amazing versatile and there are few aspects of a home that can’t be improved with them. They can shape wood, metal, and even stone. This marble floor was made with a water jet cutter which sliced up slabs of marble and then the pieces were assembled like a puzzle.

Photo Credit: http://www.scantech.dk/

They can also create amazing three dimensional elements. Large Marble Lions aren’t just for banks anymore. These machines are in many ways better than 3D printers because they work in a variety of materials and scales.

Photo Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Markham-suburbs_aerial-edit2.jpg

Homes are the biggest investments most of us make and they are in a sorry state. We have lived with little style and low quality for too long. We’ve seen amazing innovations in communication technology over the last decade. Imagine if that ingenuity was applied to the places we live.

We can do better. We can revive ancient designs like the Newport conservators did with Alva Vanderbilt’s purple wall paper. We can use software to literally reshape our homes, neighborhoods, and cities. It just requires the talent of engineers and designers to make it happen.

The are many ways to get involved with this technology, Plenty of open source projects need help. Vendors need your business to grow. If you are at all interested in this technology ReplicatorInc.com is a one stop shop for news and analysis.

140 characters just doesn’t do justice to some folks so here are five folks you should follow on Twitter with a few sentences explaining why. @JosephFlaherty is also a great person to follow!

Joris Peels (@Pilz)

Joris is Shapeways Community manager helping to spread the word about the wonders of 3D printing. He is also a prolific theorist giving name to the “Singer Problem” AND “Pizza Comparison“, both of which sound funny, but are good frameworks to use when thinking about 3D Printing.

AnnMarie Thomas Ph.D. (@annmarie-thomas)

Professor of engineering, designer, and trapeze enthusiast. She teaches classes like “Squishy Circuits”, the “Science of the Circus”, and “Toy Design”. She studied oceanographic engineering and music at MIT. Seems like she would be the best dinner party guest ever.

Jeff Potter (@cookingforgeeks)

Jeff is working on a book/blog called Cooking for Geeks. Food prep is the most basic form of personal fabrication and Jeff is working on some interesting projects e.g. this is the first blog I’ve seen where a trout is hooked up to a breadboard (The electronic variety).

Will Langford (@LangfordW)

Will is an undergraduate engineering student at Tufts and the owner of not one, but TWO MakerBots (He was an intern there). He makes cool things. I’m most impressed with his use of the MakerBot to iteratively design an Arduino based robot. MakerBot has a lot of short comings, but this project is an example of where I think it will flourish, STEM education.

Angus MacLane (@AngusMacLane)

Angus is an animator at Pixar, but also the creator of the “CubeDudes” which are highly stylized homages to pop culture icons made of Lego. The sculptures are wildly inventive interpreting highy stylized object and characters with a limited palette of Lego parts. See Han Solo in Carbonite, Geordi LaForge (and his visor), Max from “Where the Wild Things Are“, Transformers, and more. The combination of Lego and other geek favorites is nothing new, but the artful use of specialty parts sets these apart.