Ben Light, whom we have blogged about previously, has been making some Christmas ornaments over at NYC Resistor’s laser cutter. He is quoted over at Make’s blog:

“The laser cutter is such a cool tool. To be able to design something and have the final piece in your hands 10 minutes later, it’s like living in the future.”

Ben was taking advantage of NYC Resistor’s classes - every time I look at that site I get an inexplicable urge to live in NYC!
More cool happenings via Bre and NYC Resistor’s laser cutter: Jennifer Whalen’s animated horse and buffalo.

via Bre’s excellent Things videos
and via Make

Just had to post this great bit of laser engraving from Danny at Boston Fablabs:

Dr. Egon Spangler famously stated in Ghostbusters, “Print is dead”. Extinct or not, one cannot deny the appeal of a good hardback and with Danny’s enhancements, even more so. Perhaps in the future Ponoko might offer blank books for engraving, or Cafepress might offer engraving on its journals?

If you’re not familiar with Fablabs, Make’s post on Danny’s book includes a good synopsis.
via Make

Here’s a greatly conceived bit of visualisation from Neil Fraser, one of the many brainy software engineers at Google (hoho):

Infosthetics, the information aesthetics blog says:

“Using touch as well as the third dimension to explore 3D data is an interesting avenue, as alternative interfaces need to be explored as much as representation.”

We say, let’s laser cut this puzzle!

via Make via infosthetics

Chris Connors over at Make has posted a great piece that those of us without a formal design education may well appreciate, and even those with. Chris was writing in response to PBS’ Design Squad program, from which the image opposite comes, and references the Android G1 phone and iPod iterations as examples of contemporary designs that blur the traditional deadline of ‘product shipping’ into simply another phase of testing and development:

“When your product is sufficiently complete, and you have resolved the most pressing problems determined in the process, it is time to deliver. This does not mean that the project is done forever, instead, it means that it is ready for more testing in a real world environment. As you (and your team, as may be the case) see the product in the world, you will hopefully be looking at it for examples of where it can be changed and improved. As you find aspects of the project that need refinement, you make a plan for revision and implement it. Hopefully these flaws you find at this point are not tragic enough to seriously stall or ruin the project.”

Chris also recently posted a hugely inspiring 10 minute chat with Mitch Altman, recorded at the Austin Maker Faire. I’ve gushed about Altman before, and this clip does nothing but reinforce my view of him as an inspiration amongst open designers!

via Make

Tomas Carrillo has published a .pdf source for his cardboard laptop stand along with some great discussion of the pros and cons and comparison with a couple of other designs, both open and proprietary.

Although he missed out Dan’s Ponoko offering:

As every self-respecting maker should, Tomas has put up an Instructable on the design too. It would be great to see this up for sale through Ponoko, given that cardboard cutting has arrived on the scene!

I must say that the desire for a laptop stand is one that has passed me by, but there seems to be a tremendous demand for them. But then I am typing this with my chilled hands reaching awkwardly up to my laptop keyboard…
via Make

Spoonflower is a web-based digital textile printing service run out of an old sock mill in downtown Mebane, North Carolina. Indigo has mentioned them previously in relation to the very apt Wordle.

At the moment the site is in Beta and as such does not offer any facility as an online marketplace or shared repository, but they will do in the next phase. This from their FAQs:

“When we come out of beta, … you will be able to choose to make your designs available for purchase by others. This feature — which will make Spoonflower into a marketplace for independent fabric designers — will probably take some time to evolve and grow in complexity. But displaying your designs, as well as selling them, will ALWAYS be under your control.”

Looks like another good opportunity for makers, keep up with their progress on their blog, where the Spoonflower folk also post pictures of their beta users’ creations.
via Make

Back in September we launched our gift vouchers.

So we thought it was a good time for a reminder about them.

And to show you what you get - just choose any combo of:

Just contact us to get a hold of them.

Adelaide Thinkers in Residence brings world-leading thinkers to live and work in Adelaide to assist in the strategic development and promotion of South Australia.
Last night was the inaugural presentation by Adelaide’s 15th Thinker in Residence Dr. Genevieve Bell. Dr Genevieve Bell is an anthropologist and ethnographer with both an academic and industry background. Her research has provided considerable insight to the importance of culture in the adoption and adaptation of technology. She is currently the Director of User Experience in Intel Corporation’s Digital Home Group in the United States.

Her presentation looked at the ways technology effects culture and some of more unexpected observations of trends of technology use and misuse around the world, especially in regard to mobile, and social networks. In future posts I will try and delve in to get a little more detail and maybe even get Genevieve’s take on the Ponoko network.

Keep an eye on sastories for more.

Giles Revell uses scanning electron microscopes and digital technology to produce stunning, monochromatic eight-foot-high photographs of insects with an incredible level of detail, depth of field and sculptural feel. This is achieved by making up to five hundred high-resolution scans of sections of the insect, merging and enhancing them to create works that infuse the photographic elements of the images with a “hand-finished” touch.

Sponsored by NESTA to produce a body of work drawing inspiration from the collections of the Natural History Museum, Giles created a series of images highlighting the myriad wonders of the insect world. An exhibition, ‘Insect Techtonics’, featured twelve huge prints and debuted at the NHM to widespread acclaim before touring venues across the world.

Now if Giles had access to a 3d printer it would be interesting to see how his work would translate into a 3D object, whether art or functional, a dragonfly necklace or a curled bug ring? Nasty but nice

Via Trendhunter

Intellectual capital is a term with various definitions in different theories of management and economics. most often used in a debate over economic “intangibles”.
Perhaps due to their industry focus, the term “intellectual capital” is employed mostly by theorists in information technology, innovation research, technology transfer and other fields concerned primarily with technology, standards, and venture capital.

Social Innovation Capital (SIC), is the communal capacity of a firm/group/collective to innovate, and according to Mark W. McElroy is the most valuable form of Intellectual capital (IC) because it underlies a firm/group/collective’s fundamental capacity to learn, innovate, and adapt.

Social Intellectual Capital focuses upon, and strengthens the value of relationships between people in a firm/group/collective, and between other social networks. Trust, reciprocity, shared values, networking, and shared ideas are all things that, according to social capital theory, add value to a firm/group/collective, by speeding the transfer of information and the development of new knowledge.

There are a couple of theories regarding the incentive of social capital, the first being the “egocentric'’ perspective, in which social capital is seen as the value of an individual’s relationships with other individuals, The second is the “sociocentric'’ model in which social capital is still held by individuals, but has more to do with the added value of their position in the structure of a network.

Either way, as JFK said in the face of a downturning economy, “a rising tide lifts all boats”