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Design Education Innovation Maker Reading

Latest Read: Room to Dream

Room to Dream by David Lynch. David is one of cinema’s most creative and avaunt-guard film directors today. In other words a “regular” autobiography of his life and art does not fit. This is more of a memoir with journalist Kristine McKenna, a writer for the Los Angeles Times until 1998.

Room to Dream

Room to Dream easily addresses his biographical story. His creative life as an artist flourished in art school. The challenges for David over many years in creating The Elephant Man is insightful. His story of making Eraserhead, during his time with AFI takes center stage in his life. As David’s first recognized film, the story is enjoyable to discover his experiences how the movie came together over a long period.

At the same time the book reveals small, yet fun stories of his life that contributed to elements in both Twin Peaks and later in the movie Mulholland Drive. Fans of his hit television show would relish how ‘the bag that smiles’ came into the show’s script. On the other hand ABC Television purchased the rights to develop Mulholland Drive as a television series. With David’s surreal style, how did anyone at ABC think they could deliver this work as a normal TV show?

After that, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Island Empire and Wild at Heart are notable movies addressed by David. But they have passing paragraphs of insight.

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Education Innovation IoT Maker OpenSource Technology

Raspberry Pi Imager

Recently the Raspberry Pi group has released a new installer for all Pi devices called The Raspberry Pi Imager. This is a step in the right direction for the platform. Yes, believe it or not the Raspberry Pi is a platform.

raspberry pi installer
raspberry pi installer

When downloading new versions of Raspbian or Noobs the process for many users was cumbersome at best. This removes the need for new users to learn Etcher. By itself Etcher is a fine utility. I do not plan on deleting Etcher from my machine.

Imager is just a more polished version that pulls all latest releases in the background. I believe this utility helps enhance the Pi platform. Just look at how we pull Windows updates and deploy across organizations.

The new Imager makes life simple when crossing multiple computers: Windows, Mac, or Linux. Presto!

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3D Printing Design Education Innovation Maker OpenSource Technology

Cetus Extended 3D printer

The Cetus Extended 3D printer, a Rails-based printing technology has been occupying a great deal of my time as of late. This 3D Printer has a build volume of 180x180x280mm and supports 1.75mm PLA filament.
Cetus Extended
A very important consideration for children is a printer’s power source. Many 3D printer kits from GearBest, eBay or AliExpress contain open, live wiring that may prove extremely dangerous to children. This printer is a safe choice for children and schools. Cetus ships a kid-friendly power supply that will put to rest any parental concerns. Remember kids are curious. IMHO the Cetus minimalist design provides a better introduction to real hands-on 3D Printing for my children.

Cetus printers have an active Facebook group providing great feedback from a growing community of owners. I am also pleased to see an active Reddit community.

Popular 3D applications Simplify3DUltimaker Cura, Slic3r, and Craftware all connect to the Cetus Extended and run very well on an iMac. USB and WiFi are built in and Cetus has an iPad client. The Cetus app will also convert G-code to native machine code before sending objects to the printer.

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Design Education Flat World Globalization Innovation IoT Maker Milwaukee OpenSource Reading Technology

FarmBot: Open­source precision farming

FarmBot is an open­source and scalable automated precision farming machine and software package designed from the ground up with today’s technologies. The world’s population is growing and is projected to surpass 9 billion inhabitants by 2050. As a result farms must increase production by about 60 percent to meet demand which is stunning since many believe we have reached the limits of traditional farming.
FarmBot

In comparison to desktop digital 3D printers and CNC machines FarmBot extends the idea of X, Y, and Z directions and applies it to plows, seed injectors, water and sensors in order to accurately and efficiently grow plants and soil. I think that I would like to try this out in my own backyard.

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Design Education Innovation IoT Maker Milwaukee Reading Technology

Latest Read: Makers: The New Industrial Revolution

Makers: The New Industrial Revolution is the best book hi-lighting the impact Makers have established over the last five years. The Maker movement is growing due to the collision of powerful digital tools, the internet of things and cost effective manufacturing. As a child I always wished for these advanced tools to bring to life my ideas, inventions and the toys my childhood friends would talk about and dream about making.

Makers The New Industrial RevolutionMy ideas for creating art was always apart of my Saturday art classes at the Toledo Museum of Art. The drawings I kept of my inventions have all but disappeared.

This is where Makers: The New Industrial Revolution comes into focus for parents and educators today a generation later. What is making this possible? The industrial global supply chain has driven the cost of affordable powerful IoT including the new $5 Raspberry Pi Zero that will drive new innovations at incredibly efficient price points.

We should be careful at home because the world is embracing these technologies. Remember Anderson shares his belief that inventors and creative types are actually makers. Now this is happening on a truly global scale.

If the buzz of 3D printers and filament reels make your eyes glaze please remember that YouTube is the best example of Makers sharing their passion. Look at any dedicated YouTube channel – say woodworking- and you will find Makers creating and uploading passionate lessons regarding their craft. Look no further than Esty for a commercial success as a reseller of Maker’s crafts now listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Simply unheard of just 5 years ago.