October 2013- Makers and TEDx
October has been filled with sharing of ideas and experiences.
We started the month with the second annual Orlando Mini Maker Faire on Saturday, October 5. This year, Orlando Mini Maker Faire partnered with the Orlando Science Center to produce an event where local makers could show off what they were making and share what they were learning. We interacted with over 3,000 attendees and saw some incredible projects and inventions!
On October 12 TEDxOrlando invited us to participate in their third annual event. The crowd of 300 included some of the most brilliant minds of our community and the talks were equally engaging.
Some of the ideas that were shared included a new concept for standardized testing, the power of a name, and a mother’s battle to change the world of pediatric cancer treatments.
We've got two incredible exhibition opportunities lined up for November! Check back soon for photos and a recap!
Read more…Creating an Interactive Experience
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out MakieLab. They recently launched an iPad app to let you design your own toy (a doll), have it 3D printed, then delivered to you. This brought me back to a theme that I think will be significant in 3D printing moving forward -- building interactive experiences.
MakieLab is a great example of additive manufacturing as an enabling technology. The end consumer doesn’t care how the dolls get made, 3D printing just happens to be the process that can turn a one-off custom design around quickly. This isn’t an example of consumers adopting 3D printing, it’s an example of smart people finding a way to use 3D printing to provide a service not otherwise possible. The user is interacting with the process (creating the design), but how the object is made is abstracted from the user.
I think 3D printing will start to augment interactive entertainment, but in a more direct way than hitting the “buy now” button to have your meticulously curated video game avatar shipped to your house in 3 days. Personal 3D printing will... Read more…