Alex Hornstein and the Pocket Factory

January 14, 2012

Having gone to art school I’m used to eccentricity. Working alongside amazing scientists and engineers I’m also used to the mix of intelligence and quirkiness. Alex Hornstein is eccentric and seems like a really smart guy, but also possesses a dash of maniacal boldness I’ve never quite seen before. When I first chatted with him [...]

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MTV Idents Video and Craftsmanship – YouTube Treasure Trove

January 3, 2012

Any child of the 80′s will remember this “Idents” from MTV, the creative animations that would pop on between videos to reinforce the burgeoning brand. At the time they were the most avant garde design work most Americans could see on a regular basis. Looking at this collection, one thing that pops out is the [...]

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“I thought about making stuff, but it’s easier to buy” Posts to Ponder

January 2, 2012

Maker and educator extraordinaire Chris Connors shared this tweet which was presumably about making vs. buying gifts for Christmas. It is an interesting insight into the psychology of someone who is interested in making stuff, but see’s more barriers than opportunities. + Tools – This is a major barrier for many people and few are [...]

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Heidi Klum and Competitive Creativity

January 1, 2012

BattleBots, Food Network Challenge, Iron Chef America, Chopped, Project Runway, Cupcake Wars. These are justsome of the TV shows that combine DIY projects with a competitive format. The conventional wisdom is that competition and artistic expression don’t mix. There isn’t one right solution in art the way there is in math. A landscape painting by [...]

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Metal Working Post-Apocalype or Eternal Damnation

December 31, 2011

This has been a great week for metal working enthusiasts who also like nightmarish subject matter whether your taste is 13th century Italian poetry, or 21st century zombie pop culture. This amazing suit of armor would fit perfectly into the Walking Dead or other Zombie fare. Via Makezine And this stunning knife does a great [...]

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Stores are Stages, Point of Purchase is the Play, and the Reviews are Bad

December 30, 2011

This holiday season there has been a torrent of articles about how bricks and mortar retailers are facing increased competition from ecommerce and mobile apps. Amazon was widely criticized for offering app users a coupon not to buy something at a bricks and mortar store. Slate provided a blue print for how physical retailers could [...]

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“A diversified media company that focuses on emerging technology communities and what we can do for them”

December 29, 2011

@JennWebb, a blogger at O’Reilly media has posted a couple interesting posts to the “O’Reilly Radar” the publishers all purpose blog. Both are worth a read, the first covers the tumultuous world of publishing in 2011 and what it portends for 2012. The second is a shorter piece about “$0.99” pricing in the book world. What struck [...]

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Cub Scouts of America Pinewood Derby – Available Wherever DIY Supplies are Sold

December 28, 2011

As a Cub Scout I was fascinated with the “Pine Wood Derby” the annual competition where wood working and engineering skills were put to the test in the basement of a VFW hall. I dropped out of the scouts before I had a chance to compete and hadn’t thought much about it until this week [...]

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Arc Welding Intro – YouTube Treasure Trove

December 24, 2011

This video is a great time capsule from a period in America’s history where steel was a major industry and a vast middle class was sustained on high paying manufacturing jobs. It was also an era when fantastic animation was produced even for something as mundane as welding instruction. Along with an excellent voice over, [...]

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DIY, Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom

December 23, 2011

There is an old saying that you collect data, parse it into useful information, which becomes the basis of knowledge, which is the foundation for wisdom. At every point along that continuum you are getting additional value and perspective in exchange for effort and analysis. I came across a company that made me think about [...]

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