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I’m guessing the folks at O’reilly media didn’t know about the video below when they offered me a review issue of Make Magazine. We’ve been fans of Make since my friend Beth Blecherman of TechMamas turned me on to it a few years ago. Make’s tagline is “technology on your time” but I think of it as geek-tech p*rn. Though I learn something from every issue, many of the featured projects are definitely beyond my comfort level.
But perhaps I speak too soon. We’re going to have a fabulous workshop space in our house. Whereas the default in our current living situation is, “I’m bored; let’s watch TV. I hope in our new home it will be more like, “I’m bored; let’s go make stuff.”
It could happen.
The current issue focuses on toys and games. The colorful, eye-catching cover features an 8-bit graphic with mentions of tantalizing projects, like “BUILD A REAL GRAVITY CATAPULT.” There is a serious magnetic pull between my teen and this magazine. Case in point, I actually hid it from him, knowing that once he saw the magazine, it would be a battle to get him to complete his homework. And yet, within ten minutes of his arrival home from school, Make was in his hands.
Other tempting topics in Issue 28 include a piece about Arvind Gupta (a teacher from school had already turned my younger son on to Gupta’s Toys from Trash site), how to create a giant bubble generator and a DIY hi-tech Build a Bear with an embedded RFID. One of the big challenges in this issue is to build a classic video game console using a coffee table. Maybe that’s something for us to take one?
I dunno. I haven’t even gotten to the vermicomposter yet.
Make is a quarterly magazine that’s the size and shape of a small book. The cover price is $14.99, but a one-year subscription is only $34.95. It could be a wonderful holiday gift (note to self) and for those who are tech-curious, but not inclined, check out some of the kits at the Maker Shed Store.
Here are some projects from Make that caught my eye back when we were house hunting last year.
