In NEWS

Maker Faire New York: A Visual Journal (Part I: Today's Maker Scene)

1 Min Read

The sweet smell of Asian-Infusion tacos and extruded plastics over the sound of kids screaming “I want to solder next!” or “Hey Dad, look at this 3D printer!” could only mean one thing: you’re at a Maker Faire. Held this past weekend at the NY Hall of Science, the New York Maker Faire drew record crowds and proved once again that we truly are in a Maker Revolution. With over 70,000 in attendance this year (up from 50,000 last year) and an increased focus on digital fabrication techniques (have you ever been to an event with a ‘3D Printing Stage’?), this has so far been the most informative, interactive, and culture-defining Maker Faire to date. We’ve rounded up our favorite photos from the event that have been divided into three distinctive categories that really defined what this year’s Faire was all about: Today’s Maker Scene, the new 3D Printing Village, and The (Young) Maker Revolution.

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In RADIO

SolidSmack Radio | Wakin' on a Pretty Day

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 we’re pulling out some of our favorite tunes to start the day off on the right foot to. We’ll start with First Aid Kit and move through some Beach House, Dirty Projectors, Radiohead, Kurt Vile and others before wrapping up with a Bob Dylan classic. So bundle up out there kids (it’s gettin’ chilly out!) and load this into your earbuds or desktop speakers.

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In FAB

iPhone 5C Drop Test: How Does a Plastic iPhone Hold Up?

2 Mins Read

While the iPhone 5S shares many similarities as the iPhone 5 (as expected), the iPhone 5C is an entirely different manufacturing ballgame. In the announcement keynote, Apple’s VP of Design Jony Ive confidently noted that the iPhone 5C is ‘unapologetically plastic’. Those two simple words are still burned into my brain over a week later and are perhaps the best way I’ve ever heard somebody talk about designing with plastic. Yet despite Apple’s foray into designing plastic phones, the real test happens when the phones have been dropped dozens of times by over-excited tweens and multi-taskers. How does the plastic iPhone hold up against its aluminum big brother?

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In DESIGN

Speakers with Touch-Control Fabric Gives New Meaning to 'Invisible Interfaces'

2 Mins Read

For those who have tried Phillipe Starck’s Parrot Zik headphones, you might be familiar with the up/down swiping for adjusting the volume—among other touch-sensitive controls on the headphones themselves. While some non-audiophiles may scoff at a pair of $400 headphones, the design is truly a step forward in how we interact with our audio devices. Perhaps inspired by the non-tactile controls of the Parrot Zik headphones, Korean industrial designer Eun Hee Jo has translated that same experience to a minimal desktop speaker system that replaces plodding buttons with gentle sweeps of the speaker fabric—just remember to wipe your hands after eating your Cheetos.

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In INTERVIEWS

EngineerVsDesigner Episode 80: Mebotics Microfactory

1 Min Read

This week EngineerVsDesigner sat down with one of the design engineers behind the all-in-one ‘Machine in a Box’ Microfactory, Mr. Jeremy Fryer-Biggs of Mebotics. The Microfactory is a combination 3D printer, mill, and laser etcher. We’ll talk with Jeremy about everything from how the individual components on the machine compare to other systems on the market, what an industrial designer could create on a Microfactory, and most importantly: would he bathe daily in a vat of eels and octopi if it meant having every meal for the rest of his life prepared by a five-star sushi chef?

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