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WordCamp Milwaukee 2013

WordCamp Milwaukee 2013

Hey kids, it’s almost time for WordCamp Milwaukee again, and I’ve been invited back to speak on the topic of my choosing. Mwuhahaha! But seriously, I’ll be covering the importance of blogging to the Maker & DIY communities, and why you should… wait, I don’t want to give it all away. Come to my session… I’ll probably have lots of photos and some bulleted lists, and maybe a robot or a laser or something.

I’m amazed at the lineup of speakers this year. There’s over 35 people covering a wide variety of topics, not just WordPress, but design, web development, business, blogging, and, way more than I feel like typing right now.

You Twitter nerds can get your hashtag fix with #wcmke, and @WordCampMKE will also be droppin’ the WP knowledge.

And just for you, dear RasterWeb! readers, is a special discount code that features my difficult to spell last name.

WordCamp Milwaukee 2013
Coupon Code: Prodoehl
Date: June 8th-9th, 2013
Location: Bucketworks
Tickets: $25 for the weekend pass

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No San Mateo

Road to Maker Faire

The Road to Maker Faire Challenge is over, and I’m here to report that I will not be headed to San Mateo for the Bay Area Maker Faire.

Congrats to Greathouse Labs for winning the challenge! I was a little disappointed to see that Greathouse Labs has already been to a number of Maker Faires before and this was my one chance to make it to the Bay Area Maker Faire (the prize money would have made it possible) but hey, I was runner up! I get a sweet Maker’s Notebook and a one-year subscription to Make Magazine, so that’s pretty cool!

Maker's Notebook

I do want to thank everyone for the votes, because it meant a lot and it really did help!

Since I won’t be going to Maker Faire on May 18th, 2013 I was planning on going to Chicago Northside Mini Maker Faire, but that may not happen due to some deadlines. (But you should still attend!) I am still planning on Maker Faire Detroit in July. I mean, we’ve got some racing to do.

(And as for those deadlines, they’re some pretty cool deadlines, but more on those later!)

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Minne-Faire ReCap


Minne-Faire

It’s been a busy past few weeks, and I never got to recap my visit to Minne-Faire and The Hack Factory in Minneapolis.

Red Lotus

Our original plan involved Vishal and Matt W. from Milwaukee Makerspace taking Red Lotus to the faire for a demo race of the Power Racing Series. We certainly did bring the car, but with only one other car there, which was non-functional due to a bad charger, we ended up just doing a few demo runs and show it off. I also managed to get it up on two wheels, though without any video proof, which means I’ll have to do it again at some point.

Laser Kaleidoscope

The other thing we brought was my Laser Kaleidoscope, which people seemed to enjoy. (I was also shamelessly asking for votes to get me to Maker Faire.) We had a table but really didn’t fill it with too much due to lack of space to bring anything big. We did give away stickers and buttons and showed some Power Wheels videos. It’s always fun talking to people about the maker movement, so that was cool.

I also got to meet John Baitchal, Adam Wolf, and lots of other awesome TC Maker folks including David and Laura and other members, but I’m not great at remember names. Oh, and just as we were going to leave on Sunday, Steve Hoefer from Grathio Labs. (He was in Iowa so drove up for the faire.)

The Hack Factory was a great space, with great people, and it was awesome checking out all the exhibitors and meeting many of the members. Hopefully some of them can make it down to Milwaukee Makerspace in the future.

Oh, you can find some photos over on Flickr, and yeah, I still have more to edit and upload.

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Lasers to San Mateo

Road to Maker Faire

Remember my Laser Kaleidoscope project? Well, I entered into into the Road to Maker Faire contest, and now I need your vote!

Help send me (and my laser!) to the Bay Area Maker Faire. Use the big bold button below to vote for my project. (You’ll need a Facebook account, but 98.483% of people who use the Internet seem to have one.)

But why should you vote for me? I’d like to explore making this thing into a kit that would teach people about things like basic electronics, lasers, engineering, and fun. I’m hoping a visit to Maker Faire will give me the opportunity to talk to knowledgeable people and learn more about building it into an actual kit you could purchase and build yourself. That’s the plan!

So yeah, vote… vote now, not later. And then ask your friends to vote. Did you vote yet? Thanks! I appreciate it!

Vote Now!

Note: Voting is over! Thanks to everyone who voted for me… now we wait!

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It’s a Minne-Faire!

Minne-Faire

If you’re looking for me this coming weekend, don’t look in Wisconsin, because I’ll be in Minnesota at the Minneapolis Mini Maker Faire commonly known as Minne-Faire!

Since we’ve finally got Red Lotus working, we’ll bring that along for some Power Wheels fun. We’ll try to find some interesting projects from other Milwaukee Makerspace members to show off, and of course I’ve got a bunch or robots and lasers and weird things in my basement I can bring.

You should also look for Joshua of Brown Dog Gadgets, and while you’re at it, check out the Kickstarter campaign he’s running for a Folding USB Solar Cell. (I’m not sure, but it may be the most successful Milwaukee-area Kickstarter campaign yet.)

And hey, if you see me there, be sure to ask for a special prize.