I'm torn. I loved the aspirations and idea of Make/Maker faire, but it always seemed like an endless supply of "shove a bulky Andruino demo board and some breadboard wires into a box to control LED + motor".
But I guess that's the point. Just because I've moved on in my expectations doesn't mean they have to. If their goal is to democratize tech and inspire newcomers, then their content will probably stay fixed around the "tech adjacent wanting to tinker" crowd. I get that. In that sense, I want to keep it alive.
Nowadays however, I get most my cool DIY electronics projects from HN or hackaday.com, where I find the subjects just cooler and more interesting.
It’s unclear what an investment gets you… shares I assume? If so I wonder if it’d be better to form a trust that would fund production of the magazine and events. (I’m no expert on this just wondering what’s best for longevity.)
There was some cool stuff there back when but i think that brand has been milked as dry as it could be hasn't it? I was kinda watching and I still didn't catch what exactly happened there. Some Boom to Bust tonker stomp that was wrapped up with RatShack going away i thought.
Still got a couple of the "Make" branded radio shack robot kits i grabbed from the sellout. they were too expensive even then but i couldn't resist. Most of the plastics turned out to be excellent growth media for mold, alas.
I do love make and the maker ethos, but in the past 100% of the times I've seen companies decided "let's make our customers our investors" it ended up something between a scam and a failed depressing nostalgia fan club.
I'm torn. I loved the aspirations and idea of Make/Maker faire, but it always seemed like an endless supply of "shove a bulky Andruino demo board and some breadboard wires into a box to control LED + motor".
But I guess that's the point. Just because I've moved on in my expectations doesn't mean they have to. If their goal is to democratize tech and inspire newcomers, then their content will probably stay fixed around the "tech adjacent wanting to tinker" crowd. I get that. In that sense, I want to keep it alive.
Nowadays however, I get most my cool DIY electronics projects from HN or hackaday.com, where I find the subjects just cooler and more interesting.
Here’s the funding page:
https://makethings.make.co/p/a-community-round
It’s unclear what an investment gets you… shares I assume? If so I wonder if it’d be better to form a trust that would fund production of the magazine and events. (I’m no expert on this just wondering what’s best for longevity.)
There was some cool stuff there back when but i think that brand has been milked as dry as it could be hasn't it? I was kinda watching and I still didn't catch what exactly happened there. Some Boom to Bust tonker stomp that was wrapped up with RatShack going away i thought.
Still got a couple of the "Make" branded radio shack robot kits i grabbed from the sellout. they were too expensive even then but i couldn't resist. Most of the plastics turned out to be excellent growth media for mold, alas.
I do love make and the maker ethos, but in the past 100% of the times I've seen companies decided "let's make our customers our investors" it ended up something between a scam and a failed depressing nostalgia fan club.