--Hey gang I spent most of Saturday at the Maker Fair, which is
being held at the San Mateo Fairgrounds in California. If any of you are
withing striking distance of this event you have *got* to go; it was
awesome! I was expecting a bunch of geeks huddled around card tables
covered with laptop computers and tiny robots, but instead there were huge
crowds, bigger than one sees at a "normal" county fair and the exhibits
took up every bit of inside and outside space of the entire complex: 7
buildings filled with neat stuff! There was just too much for me to digest
into a few paragraphs here;, but a few hilights were the all-Meccano
Difference Engine, Stereolith renderings of complex geometric forms using
sintered stainless-bronze alloy, CNC router doing 3-d stuff from photo
input; the "electric giraffe", etc. There are spaces set aside to solder up
kits of various forms, for kids and grownups alike to try their hands, etc.
--I'll post photos and put up a page in a few days. For more info
here's the link to the event's homepage:
http://makezine.com/faire/

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : I'll have the roast duck
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : with the mango salsa...
www.nmpproducts.com
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

I thought is was very cool as well. I've had a subscription to the
Magazine since it started. The Magazine is bit too cute (looks kinda
like WIRED), and short on details, but it is still a lot of fun to read
to see what other lunatics are doing. My son also had a great time, so
it was nice to get him "infected" with the making bug. I spent a lot of
time at the Fair talking to the guys converting a Prius so that you can
plug it in. That seems like so much of an improvement that Toyota HAS
to start doing it.