In CULTURE

The Top 10 Toys for Young Makers and Designers from the 2014 International Toy Fair in NYC

4 Mins Read

From DIY PVC Marshmallow Shooters to LEGO Mindstorm Kits, young makers who have a passion for making things have quite the gamut of options these days. Despite the lack of wood shop and other ‘hands-on’ classes in school that their parents and grandparents might have taken back in the day, the amount of options for creating products—either as simple as a wooden car or as complex as an Arduino robot—is growing every year. This past week we stopped by the International Toy Fair in NYC (the largest toy fair ever on record as a matter of fact) to see what is trending and/or coming out on the market later this year for the next generation of industrial designers, mechanical engineers, and Makers of all kinds.

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In NEWS

On Location: The Grand Opening of the First 'Makerbot Innovation Center' at SUNY

3 Mins Read

With no signs of slowing down (and currently hiring up the wazzoo), MakerBot extended their reach further into the university system last week with the opening of the very first MakerBot Innovation Center at the SUNY campus in Upstate New York. Perhaps they couldn’t have chosen a better school either: the SUNY campus in New Paltz, NY is just a quick drive up the scenic Hudson River from the industrial Brooklyn MakerBot Factory and is one of a few schools on the East Coast that offers a program specific to Digital Design and Fabrication. We stopped by the grand opening last week to check out what exactly a ‘MakerBot Innovation Center’ is and could it possibly be a prelude to the ‘school computer lab’ of the near future?

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In RADIO

SolidSmack Radio | Coffeehouse Sketch Session Mayhem

1 Min Read

This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist brings an entirely new face-smack of great music to help propel you through those laborious, tedious design tasks for the next few days. This week our playlist is taking a more relaxed direction in the case that you need to calm some wigged-out nerves. We’ll start with some Alan Feinberg and work our way through some Maasaki Suzuki, Lara Downes, Nadia Sirota, and others before wrapping up with some Daniel Hope.

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In SMACKDOWN

Friday Smackdown: When it Got Scary

2 Mins Read

When there were two of them, that’s when it got scary. We climbed. We climbed for what seemed four or five days. Both of them, at our feet, escaping appearance beneath the fog. All of them, their growls, their fur, their tentacles we would have the opportunity to slice off when our hands were not…

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In FAB

Get Inside the 'Inside 3D Printing' Event NYC (SolidSmack Reader Exclusive)

2 Mins Read

Well, rock my 3D printed socks off. The Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo is coming back to NYC! Who woulda thought? I mean, last year it only shook the lower foundation of the Javits Convention Center. If you were there, you know it was a great conference and if you go this year, you’ll experience the biggest show yet. They’ve got a day of workshops on April 2nd, a new Maker Summit and Pavilion, more speakers, and bigger exhibitions all jam-packed into three days of 3D printing bliss. And, we’ve got a discount code especially for SolidSmack readers.

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