Maker’s Mark

I bought my first copy of Make magazine this weekend after first checking it out at Linuxworld a few weeks back. Let me tell you, if there was ever a magazine produced just for me, this is it! It’s a fat quarterly magazine filled with do-it-yourself (DIY) projects, some of which push the boundaries of what you thought was possible. I used to read Nuts and Volts for this kind of thing, but Make blows it away.

A sample of this issue’s highlights: an interview with Woody Norris, the wizard of untrasonic sound and inventer extraordinaire; a profile of DIY electric cars and the tinkerers who built them; a primer on Free to Air (FTA) digital satellite television; engines you can make out of Coke cans; and much, MUCH more! If the TV genius crimefighter MacGyver ever subscribed to a magazine, it is Make.

This weekend the magazine is sponsoring the Maker’s Faire at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds in California. The two-day family event will feature exhibits on DIY antenna building, electronic recycling, hardware hacking and tinkering. Television’s most famous makers (well after MacGyver, of course) the Mythbusters will also be at the Faire. If you’re in the area, the Faire is a must-see. It reminds me of Bob Young’s Lulu Tech Circus, only better focused on the DIY crowd. Perhaps Bob’s idea wasn’t so crazy after all.

I’m already sorting through my cool project ideas to see if any are Make-worthy. I might get an article published yet!