The mainstream news media is awash with speculation that 3D printing is bringing about a second industrial revolution. Whether this is true or not, nowhere is the comparison more apt than with The Flexiscale Company, a small UK startup making 3D models of the great steam engines of the first industrial revolution. Read more »
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In episode 4, I caught up with Chris Thorpe from Flexiscale, a small UK startup making 3D models of the great steam engines of the first industrial revolution. He filled me in on how they’re testing new ways of manufacturing, how they laser scan an entire locomotive, and what we can learn from the Victorians about making, modifying and improving the stuff around us. Read more »
As part of the broader activity around Brighton Mini Maker Faire, we are producing a magazine for visitors to take home with project guides and inspiration to help them along the maker path.
I’ve written about the project on the Brighton Mini Maker Faire blog, but here, I wanted to share more about where the idea came from, and some creative inspiration. Read more »
This week, I interviewed the designer and maker Brendan Dawes for my podcast, Looking Sideways. I wrote up some of the interview here.
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For Episode 3, I interviewed the designer and maker Brendan Dawes. Brendan’s known for early interactive web projects like Psycho Studio, that allows users to remix Hitchcock’s famous shower scene themselves. He’s also known for his physical projects, such as the Moviepeg and Popa phone accessories, and devices that cross the digital/physical divide, such as the Happiness machine, an internet-connected printer that prints random happy thoughts from people across the web.
We talk about making digital stuff tangible, design, art and simplicity, remixes and supercuts, and how makers can get their work out into the world for people to see. Read more »
Last night I spoke at Create Brighton, an event about social innovation and workplace culture (but no relation to Create, Brighton Mini Maker Faire sponsors). I talked about maker culture, and some of the things that makers do that we can apply more broadly in our lives, particularly in enterprise and in business culture.
I’m sharing my slides up here, along with an audio track I recorded this morning. Read more »
Thought-provoking analysis of the possible implications of always-on personal recording technology such as Google Glass. Read more »
Fascinating discussion on the New York Times and GigaOM about the changing work landscape, the kind of skills people need to have to thrive, and the capacity of education systems to give young people those skills. Read more »
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And so we come to episode 2 of the podcast. Two episodes. That makes it officially a thing.
On this episode, I talk with Jude Pullen, a product design engineer, and also the creator of the Design Modelling website, a series of tutorials, techniques and project ideas for working with low cost prototyping materials, mostly cardboard. Jude also runs live workshops where he shows people how to make models to express and share ideas. Read more »
On a recent visit to Manchester to attend the Future Everything summit, I couldn’t pass up the chance to visit the UK’s first fab lab, housed in a striking, slab-like building in the waterside district of one of Britain’s great industrial cities.
I spoke to Eddie Kirkby (of the Manufacturing Institute) and Haydn Insley (fab lab manager) to find out how the fab lab movement is spreading into the UK. Read more »