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Rich Olson Embodies the Spirit of the Maker Movement (Video)

What kind of person builds a cloud chamber at home in his spare time -- and wants to make it easy for other people to make them, too? How about someone who uses a 3-D printer to make shifters for his bicycle? And then there's the spherical speaker enclosures and the alarm clock that shreds money if you don't wake up. The clock isn't original. Seattle resident Rich Olson (whose URL is nothinglabs.com) says someone else originally made it and he liked the idea. No 3-D printing or laser cutting required; just buy and hook up some inexpensive, easy-to-find components and off you go. Despite its lack of originality (which Rich freely admits), this little project got Rich mentioned everywhere from financial publications to the New York Daily News to Huffington Post's UK edition, which is somewhat amusing when you realize that Rich is not famous (outside of a small circle of maker-type people) and doesn't have anyone doing PR for him.

By day, Rich is a humble mobile app developer. But when he's done working he becomes Mr. 3-D and laser cut cool designer guy who does fun things in his workshop with CAD software, a 3-D printer, a laser cutter, and (of course) traditional cutting, drilling, and shaping tools. Since he's an open source devotee, Rich posts almost all of his designs online so you can make them yourself. Or modify them. Or use them to spur an entirely new idea that you can then make, and hopefully pass on to others. While it's interesting to see that Martha Stewart is now selling 3-D printer designs, Rich and his hobby are what the maker movement is really about. If you're so inclined, you can follow Rich on YouTube, where he posts a video now and then that shows what he's made recently or follow his low-volume blog to see what he's up to.

25 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. Yipppeee to Rich Olson!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Innovators and creators make America great!!!! Yippppppeeeeeeeee to you!!!!!!!!!!!!

    1. Re:Yipppeee to Rich Olson!!! by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      By pressing a button on a piece of shit made in China.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  2. What the FUCK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Autoplaying embedded videos is Gawker bullshit.

    What the FUCK is this doing on Slashdot?

    1. Re:What the FUCK by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      What the FUCK is this doing on Slashdot?

      Also, how do I block it? I have Adblock, Flashblock, etc. turned on, and this thing autoplays anyway, in both Firefox and Chrome. Even if I push the stop button, it continues to download in the background, wasting my bandwidth. Has anyone figured out how to prevent this crap from playing?

    2. Re:What the FUCK by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      NoScript or Matrix.

      NoScript works, but breaks a lot of other stuff. I don't know what you mean by "Matrix". I cannot find any add-on or extension with that name, other than a theme, which doesn't block anything.

      Why is Dice doing this? What possible advantage is there to putting this unblockable garbage on the page, rather than a normal video? Why would anyone what this?

      Is there a browser that gives users control over ALL audio/video? I can understand auto-play being the default, but it certainly should not be mandatory.

    3. Re:What the FUCK by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Iceweasel 24.6.0. Apparently it doesn't have flash player installed, even though I thought I installed it because pootube wasn't working.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    4. Re:What the FUCK by Garybaldy · · Score: 1

      I just used block element in adblock plus. Worked wonders on the last autoplay video. Am surprised it continues to work with this video.

      Granted i blocked the whole domain hosting the offending videos.

    5. Re:What the FUCK by deek · · Score: 1

      You only need to block the "ooyala.com" domain through NoScript.
      I allow scripts in general, but specifically block domains. That helps to stop breakage.

  3. Felony o' Clock? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    An alarm clock that shreds money? I'm pretty sure that destruction of legal tender is a somewhat serious crime.

    1. Re:Felony o' Clock? by Guy+Harris · · Score: 2

      An alarm clock that shreds money? I'm pretty sure that destruction of legal tender is a somewhat serious crime.

      Cutting US currency is a crime, but not all that serious a crime - a fine or imprisonment of not more than six months isn't exactly hard time.

      Your mileage will vary with other nations' currency (vary from "shred all the Canadian bills you want" to "it's OK to shred some Euro notes privately" to "we're not sure whether it's OK to shred Brazilian real notes" to "no, you may not shred {Australian dollars, New Zealand dollars}".

      Whether the Long Arm Of The Law will bother reaching out and touching you if your alarm clock shreds a few bills is another matter.

  4. The price of sleep by StikyPad · · Score: 1

    I sleep because it's a biological imperative, not because I don't want to be awake. If it was entirely up to my conscious decision-making and willpower, I would never sleep. Besides, oversleeping has its own consequences -- why add artificial ones?

  5. Maker "movement" is just that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Subsitute "Hobbyist" for "Maker" and you have the same thing. This only SEEMS like a new fangled thing because most Millenials can't fix anything. To find someone who can actually machine a part, build a shed or repair a car might be shocking news to a 25 year old hipster, but it's called being an adult.

    1. Re:Maker "movement" is just that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Subsitute "Hobbyist" for "Maker" and you have the same thing. This only SEEMS like a new fangled thing because most Millenials can't fix anything. To find someone who can actually machine a part, build a shed or repair a car might be shocking news to a 25 year old hipster, but it's called being an adult.

      You forgot the 3D Printer. Apparently I'm not a "maker" because the workbench in my basement doesn't feature a 3D Printer, 'cause that's all that really matters in these articles.

    2. Re:Maker "movement" is just that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I don't think there are many 'makers' who see the hobby as anything but. I don't really care for the term, but I consider myself to be a 'maker'. The hobby is hard to define, but easy to recognize when you see it or participate in it. I think of it more like a collection of related hobbies. Individually the hobbies aren't new (except 3D printing - as a hobby that is a pretty new development), but the know-how to get into the hobbies has either dropped or become more available than it ever was in the past.

      Woodworker - someone who creates wooden objects as a hobby but may not be a professional carpenter.

      Foodie or Food nerd - someone who cooks as a hobby but may not be a professional chef.

      Quilter - someone who makes quilts as a hobby but is may not work in the textiles industry.

      Gearhead or motorhead - someone who tunes/repairs/modifies car/motorcycle engines but is not a professional mechanic.

      Gamer - someone who plays games as a hobby (what do you call a professional gamer...a lucky bastard I suppose).

      What do you call someone who tinkers with electronics/DIY PCBs/3D printing or CNC milling/microcontrollers or single board computers/web stuff/wearable electronics/programming/robots/quadrocopters/etc/etc? For many hobbyists, all these things are wrapped up together in the term 'maker'. Each of the smaller hobbies enables the other ones. I don't know what else you'd call it. Hacker comes to mind - but that term (for better or worse) is taken, and for most people it's a pure software kind of thing. Maybe '21st Century Enthusiast'? Ha, that's terrible.

      So somehow, we ended up with 'maker' and we're stuck with it. It's good that there's some term to define this 'hobby', it's bad that there isn't a better term.

    3. Re:Maker "movement" is just that by WillAdams · · Score: 1

      Or, real life for kids who missed shop class.

      The "Maker" movement labeling really annoys me (and I'm still annoyed 'bout when when stackexchange changed the name of the Digital Fabrication beta in mid launch to some new age maker bullshit).

      I build stuff, both by hand and using tools, I share what I make and learn, including the files ( http://www.shapeoko.com/projec... ), I volunteer as best I can ( http://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/i... ), and try to improve how we document and build machines (when the Shapeoko 2 was featured in Popular Mechanics less mechanically inclined people became aware of it and found traditional assembly diagrams hard to read, so we had to update the diagrams so as to make it obvious where "hidden" parts were located: http://docs.shapeoko.com/conte... ).

      I'm not a "maker", I'm just a guy w/ a workbench at one end of the laundry room and a couple of CNC machines and 3D printers scattered around the rest of the house.

      William

      --
      Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
  6. NO to auto-playing video by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 3, Informative

    Ad or no ad, an auto-playing video is nothing less than insulting to me, and, I would think, most readers of Slashdot. We know what embedded video is and how it works.

    If you agree, rather than reply to this post, why not make a top-level reply with the same subject and your own words on the matter? Add colourful metaphors, if you like!

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:NO to auto-playing video by Roblimo · · Score: 4, Informative

      I just sent an email to a management person I *think* may be far enough up the chain to fix the video autoplay problem -- and the irritating lack of a volume control, too.

      Nobody who works directly on the site likes autoplay videos any more than you do.

      I wish I could do more, but I'm just a part-time hourly guy; not even a full-time employee.

    2. Re:NO to auto-playing video by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      Brilliant, thanks!

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    3. Re:NO to auto-playing video by rHBa · · Score: 1

      TY, and please make sure you do mention "WTF, NO VOLUME CONTROL!"

  7. BOYCOTT DICE!!! by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

    Until Dice stops their blatantly user hostile behavior, I will be boycotting their services, and I encourage you to join me. My company occasionally posts ads on Dice, but we we no longer do so. We will also try to avoid buying from any company that advertizes on a Dice Holdings website.

    If Dice wants to stop this boycott, they need to post a public message stating that the auto-play videos will stop, and that Slashdot Beta is permanently cancelled.

    If we want to see changes, we need to hit them where it hurts.

  8. Huh by konohitowa · · Score: 1

    I didn't know Roblimo was actually Rich Olsen. Weird.

    BTW Rich, sorry for all the crap you're going to get on this article. The problem isn't you. It's the drooling, ass-kissing submittal that's most likely irritating people. And, apparently, the autoplay video. Whatever.

  9. Re:Rich Olsen is everytihng that's wrong with tech by Falos · · Score: 1

    Elapsed time to Lovejoy's Law: 3 hours 14 minutes

    Not bad for a 3D-printing article, /highfive.

  10. "movement"? by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Also known as "hobby".

    1. Re:"movement"? by tuxontour · · Score: 2

      As a member of a local makerspace I usually meet three kinds of people doing similar things with similar tools. But the culture is very differnt.

      The classic hobbyists and model makers build stuff on their own and maybe present the result at the end. They have been around forever.

      The inventors and artists build stuff in secrecy to commercialize the result. They have been around forever too.

      The makers are a quite new phenomenon. They build things to share the whole process and the final result with others. This is as much a social activity as it is a technical one. I Think in the old days when sharing was hard, the makers used to be either hobbyists or inventors.

      PS: Please remove the autoplay of the video!
       

  11. Re:srsly? block flash. so easy by WillAdams · · Score: 1

    No Flash here, but it still began playing in Safari --- fortunately I always have my speakers muted.

    --
    Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.