Maker Faire Storms Newcastle

krou writes "The BBC is reporting on the first Maker Faire in the UK, in Newcastle. The event saw an incredible gathering of tech DIY enthusiasts showing off their robotic wares. Maker Faire is firmly established in the US; the 4th annual running in the Bay Area begins on May 30. The BBC video shows the fire-breathing horse, Rusty, and Titan, an eight-foot tall fully-animated robot that likes scaring kids. Elsewhere, the Faire also had Ian Sharp's physical realization of the Lunar Lander computer game, low-cost multi-touch displays, and one of the oldest-ever case mods, made by veteran computer enthusiast John Honnibal, who also showed off his old over-clocked kit computer. Pictures from the Faire are also on Flickr, and videos on YouTube."

Comments

Fantastic

[SteveAstro]

T'was a very good day. Loads of interesting ideas, and enthusiastic visitors. Hope they do it all again, in Newcastle or elsewhere in the UK.

Much easier to get to than San Fran.

Steve

What about New England?

[bitrex]

I've never understood why there now seems to be so little interest in DIY in the New England area. It used to be at one time we were the "Silicon Valley of the East" - nowadays, unless one is enrolled at MIT and you tell someone you're into DIY electronics around here and you get looked at strangely and comments are made such as "DIY? Hmm. That sounds like something poor people do. Why don't you get a well paid job?" For all of Boston's talk of being a cosmopolitan, hip, trendy cutting-edge city, it's really not unless your definition of being cutting edge is having lots of overpriced bars and nightclubs. Once the college kids are out of town one realizes that this area has very little going for it anymore in regards to technology industries - even cities such as Salt Lake City and Albuquerque are way ahead. I'd love to see a Make event in the Boston area, but I won't hold my breath.

Try to work to change that culture...

[Upaut]

I brew, LARP, enjoy my model rocketry, tan leather, have taken up shoemaking, knit, dabble with my electronics, blow glass, and am working on a forge to take up blacksmithing, and quite a few others...

Now, I use it as a gauge. For every ten people that mock that, I find one that find one of the things above interesting and want to find out more. If more people were willing to take a few ribs, then we would slowly be more mainstream. Hell, I refer to LARPing as "my silly little game in the woods", and my co-workers have not only stopped looking at me with blank stairs, but because of my self assured nature over it being a good time, and light-hearted joviality over the subject, I've actually been able to rope quite a few into the hobby.

Don't be defensive about your hobbies; flaunt them. There are plenty of people like you, but in the closet on the issue. Help bring them out. If you brew, hand out a few bottles. If you like rockets, always offer with a smile to come out to a launch.

Embrace your hobbies, embrace yourself, and be tired of fitting in the crowd. Its not high-school any more. You are not going to be beaten to a pulp in the hallway. You might be laughed at, but if someone is so bent on laughing on you for being, well, you, are they even worth knowing?