Maker movement

Will Makerspaces Jumpstart a New Industrial Revolution?

After I first visited TechShop in 2006, I hypothesized that if makers could be given access to the tools of the industrial revolution at a cost they could afford, they could change the world. Nine...

How the People Are Taking Over the World

The tool that we most use is data itself. We start to think of ourselves as data vessels. We are data. A new philosophy (dataism) is emerging that says people become the data they use...

Making Dumb Things Smart

Our physical world is now technology-enabled by the digitization of everything from books to movies to tools—such as the flashlights, cameras, calculators, day planners, music players, and bus schedules that now reside on our smartphones....

Programming Trees to Self-Destruct Could Save Energy

Mother Earth could benefit from the degradation of, oddly enough, one of her own, as scientists search for ways to deteriorate trees in order to improve industrial processes. New research shows that by weakening the...

A Technoskeptic’s Take: Makers Are Suckers

Do-it-yourselfers with access to advanced tools and technologies are poised to democratize manufacturing, enable a bottom-up industrial revolution, reinvent retail, even remake America—at least that’s been the optimistic take. Evgeny Morozov offers a contrasting negative...

Techonomy’s Kirkpatrick Moderates CFR’s 3D-Printing Panel

It's hard to believe you can manufacture your own toys and tchotchkes—not in a factory, but in your home. But companies including MakerBot and Solidoodle are already making it possible, selling low-end 3D printers to...

Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson on Maker Culture

Etsy represents a new way of connecting handcraft makers to buyers, but it's rooted in an age-old tradition. As Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson put it, "We represent something really fundamental about humanity: the making of...

Now the Maker Movement Has Intel Inside

Intel's new CEO Brian Krzanich says he's been a "maker" for years, and he's leading the chipmaker into new friendships in the DIY world. Last week Krzanich unveiled the Intel Galileo board, an Arduino-compatible development...

Policy Should Support Micro-Entrepreneurs, Says Etsy’s Dickerson

At our Techonomy Detroit conference, Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson talked to us about the need for policymakers to treat micro-entrepreneurs as small businesses. "The idea that you can start a business literally on Etsy by...

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