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A TV Show Based On MAKE Magazine
ptorrone writes "Make: television debuted online and on public television (broadcast / cable tv). The series encourages everyone to invent, reinvent, recycle, upcycle, and act up. Based on the popular Make magazine, each half-hour episode hopes to inspire viewers to think, create, and, well, make. Each episode can be viewed or downloaded DRM-free, in HD on makezine.tv — the show is also available on Vimeo, YouTube, blip.tv and iTunes."
The whole Make: phenomenon had greater promise than I have seen yielded. Being someone brought up in the era of Popular Electronics, I thought that it would herald a continuation of the hobbyist tradition. However, I have been somewhat disappointed in what I found. Fad gadgets and flashy toys are fine, but remain just an extension of the consumer culture. Where are the schematics? Where is the technical background? Too many Make: articles detail trivial novelty projects.
The spirit of Popular Electronics lives on in Bob Pease, Jim Williams, and yes in wonderful offbeat Don Lancaster.
O'Reilly, I had far greater hopes of thee. Still the best row on my bookcase, of course.
I strongly doubt that America's Next Top Model need fear for its slot; but as a niche program, MAKE is quite promising. Their magazine isn't on track to replace People on the newstands of America; but it has a solid niche, I suspect the show will be about the same.
Also, you might be underestimating the willingness of people to try stuff like that. Look at scrapbooking: Most of the people doing it would be better off buying kitchy "rustic" art somewhere, given their skill and taste levels; but there are swarms of them doing it anyway.
My main criticism of Make: is it's heavy reliance on kitch. There's some robotics in there, sometimes, but mostly it's kitch.
Also worth noting is that if you subscribe via iTunes they include a PDF version of the actual magazine article. Too many of you are confusing the intent of MAKE. If you are an electrical engineer, this may not be the magazine for you (try Nuts and Volts). If you only want robotics articles, go for SERVO instead. This magazine does a good job of showing you how to build a certain project without turning into a textbook. In many instances I have used MAKE to get me interested in something, and then I branch out from there. The magazine is almost cover to cover content as well, as they have very little ad space. There is a growing market for the DIY, especially in electronics. Just look at the success of the Arduino, and Sparkfun.com.
I also am turned off by the hipster attitude and kitsch. How many more TV-begone posts do they need? I mean, is being a jackass that shuts off the TV at a sports bar really that important?
Or how many more lame PoV projects do we need to see? How many more random LEDs attached to random electronics? How many more times do I need to hear how cool "Steampunk" is? How many more pacman scarves do we need to see?
There's a lot of potential at Make, but it stems directly from the boingboing tradition of urban American hipsterism thats very off-putting. Its just so provincial. Its really unwelcoming of anyone who isnt under 25 and lives in a big city and self-identifies with the indie rock movement. Heck, half the blog posts are needle and thread craft projects or just art projects, not tech projects.
Id love to see Make grow up. Perhaps add a section for DIY automobile repairs/hacks/projects and home repairs/hacks/projects. I guess most Makers only ride tricked out bikes and rent.
...the unfortunate consequence is that the move to greater energy efficiency will likely be greatly hampered by the precise trend you've identified.
I disagree.
In the long run old tech will eventually degrade beyond repair and will have to be replaced by whatever is available. Since the old equipment was kept running longer, more advances will have been made by the time the new equipment is purchased. I propose that it is more likely that by leapfrogging from the very old to the very new the energy savings and environmental impact from not manufacturing, transporting, and discarding all the interim equipment will outweigh the inefficiencies of maintaining the old equipment for that duration.
-- The reader anything less than completely failing to not misunderstand this sig is cursed.