Come see what happens when we imagine the world differently!
The first Maker Faire on the east coast takes place this weekend on the grounds of the New York Hall of Science in Queens, the site of the 1964 World’s Fair. The NY Hall of Science is a beautiful location and even if you know it, you might be surprised to see it decked out as the center of Maker Faire exhibits and activities.
A celebration of the DIY mindset and creativity, Maker Faire brings together engineers, artists, crafters, tinkerers and scientists. If you’re in the New York area, please join us and bring your family for a great day. Help us spread the word to your friend.
Here are some highlights for the weekend:
- Chris Anderson of “Wired” kicks off our talks at Noon about “The Next Industrial Revolution” on Center Stage, which is the auditorium inside the Hall of Science.
- ArcAttack! will perform on the hour and half-hour in the amazing Great Hall, a cathedral to science built for the 1964 World’s Fair. Joe DiPrima and his musical Tesla coils are fresh from a run to the semi-finals on “America’s Got Talent.”
- “Scientific American” Presents: Scientist-Makers in Action, a panel of five leading researchers will talk about how the maker mindset applies to what they do. Moderated by George Musser, the space sciences editor at “Scientific American” magazine. From 3-4:30 pm on Center Stage
- “Cooking for Geeks” author Jeff Potter at 11 am on Maker Square Stage, Saturday and Sunday.
- Stephen Wolfram will speak Saturday on “Do-It-Yourself Computation” at 5 pm on Center Stage.
- “Tinkering School” founder and author Gever Tulley will talk about “Thirty Minutes of Dangerous Ideas and Dangerous Activities” at 12:30 pm Saturday and 1 pm Sunday in the Maker Square stage.
- “Microscope from a Cell Phone” by Eric Rosenthal will take place Saturday 2:30 pm in the ITP Cafe inside NYSCI on the lower level. The ITP Cafe, organized by Tom Igoe, highlights the work of students and professors, past and present, of the ITP program at NYU.
- “Thinking as a Scientist” on the joys of scientific discovery by Steve Jacobs as “Wizard IV” three times a day on the Rocket Stage in Zone A.
- “Hands-on Makerbot” demo by Bre Pettis at 5:30 pm Saturday on the Make Demo Stage in Maker Shed.
- Mark Frauenfelder, Editor-in-Chief of “Make Magazine” and co-editor of Boing-Boing, talks about his book, “Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World” at 6pm Saturday on the Center Stage.
- A panel on “Hackerspaces and Makerspaces” begins Sunday at 11 am on Center Stage, which is the auditorium inside the Hall of Science. It will be followed at noon by author Steven Levy talking about his book “Hackers.”
- Jules Pieri of The Daily Grommet will talk Sunday at 12:30 pm about “Citizen Commerce” on the Maker Square Stage in Zone C.
- Battle-of-the-Science Bands in the Rock-It Science Caberet, organized by “Science Friday” runs on the Rocket Stage from Noon to 1:30pm and 4pm to 5pm Saturday
- Meet editors from “Martha Stewart Living” and see projects from their October issue, located in Zone B.
- Can you build your own car? Jay Rogers of Local Motors explains in “Make C.O.O.L. Cars” at 2 pm on Center Stage.
- “State of the Arduino” by Massimo Banzi at 3 pm on Center Stage
A full schedule of events can be found on the Maker Faire site. Tickets and information on transportation and other logistics can also be found at makerfaire.com.
For updates, tips and reviews of Maker Faire, follow us at: daily.makerfaire.com or on Twitter at @makerfaire and the hashtag #makerfaire.
Open Hardware Summit
Yesterday, the Open Source Hardware Summit took place at the NY Hall of Science. More than 300 attendees came together for the event, many of them meeting face-to-face for the first time. It is one sign of the growth and health of this core community that is a major re-thinking and re-working of the design and development of hardware. (Congratulations to organizers Alicia Gibb, Ayah Bedir and Peter Semmelhack.)
What I think we’re seeing is the emergence of independent hardware developers. Increasingly, engineers have the opportunity to work for themselves — developing products and processes by themselves or in small teams. They can get access to good facilities and expertise without being part of a large company. They get to do what they love doing, and take on the risk of succeeding or failing. Most importantly, they’re able to keep fueling the fire that made them decide to become an engineer in the first place.
Come meet them at Maker Faire — as President Obama called them “the doers, the risk-takers, the makers of things.”