'TIS THE SEASON // New Museum And MakerBot Team Up And Get In The Holiday Spirit

Photo from Bowery Boogie

A new window display recently popped up at the New Museum, and though it's definitely got a holiday theme, this isn't your typical nativity scene or artificial snow winter wonderland. Surrounding a pile of presents stacked in the shape of the museum are fluorescent aliens wearing Star Trek suits and Santa hats, riding atop a toy train and pulling Santa's sleigh in X-Wings.

The display comes from the folks at MakerBot, who teamed up with the New Museum last month to present the New Museum MakerBot Challenge, which invited designers to submit 3D designs that improve on existing design conventions. You can peruse some of the best entries on Thingiverse, and this Friday the winning design will be celebrated at the New Museum MakerBot Challenge launch party.

Usually we'd side with Nordstrom in waiting until after Thanksgiving to get in the holiday spirit, but we'll make an exception for something this awesome.

Check out more photos of the display on Bowery Boogie.

-- John Ruscher

MAKERBOT SPACE PROGRAM // 3rd Ward's Luke Schantz Helps Launch Colbert's Head Into Space

Luke Shantz (right) preparing to send Stephen Colbert's head into space.

As if the folks at MakerBot haven't already proven that they are on the bleeding edge of technological innovation, the Brooklyn-based 3D printer company has now extended its presence to the final frontier.

Yep, outer space.

Not suprisingly, they turned to 3rd Ward member, instructor and all-around media/technology expert Luke Schantz (read our interview with him) to help them get there.

After MakerBot founder Bre Pettis appeared on The Colbert Report and presented the host with a 3D-printed bust of his own head, he decided to launch Stephen Colbert's head into space. Armed with a weather balloon, Flipcam and GPS-enabled cell phone, they did just that.

Naturally, such an amazing feat has been attracting attention far and wide, from BoingBoing, Mashable and TechCrunch to MAKE Magazine, Huffington Post and CBS News.

Watch Colbert's ascent below. (Honestly, the footage post-launch is sublime.) Or, if you want to full experience, check out the unedited 84-minute video.

GETTING 3D // MakerBot Wants to Arm You With Your Own 3D Printer

 

A couple weeks ago, people flocked to 3rd Ward to check out the MakerBot Make-A-Thon--which featured demos of MakerBot's Thing-O-Matic 3D printers as well as a 3D scanner that our own Kyle McDonald made using an Xbox Kinect.

We caught up with the folks at MakerBot Industries to get the lowdown on their burgeoning company which has been getting tons of well-deserved buzz lately, including major features in outlets like the New York Times and CNN Money.

MakerBot, founded by Bre Pettis, Zach Smith and Adam Mayer, emerged from the trio's desire to have their own 3D printer even though they couldn't afford one. Before MakerBot, most 3D printers cost around $100,000 or more. Their current Thing-O-Matic kit will only set you back $1,299. "They figured out how to get one together inexpensively and then started MakerBot so everyone could have one," says MakerBot's Keith Ozar. "They used the tools at hand, a laser cutter, and as many off-the-shelf parts as possible."

Aside from the mind-blowing possibilities of being able to print a 3D model of literally anything you want, one of the most exciting things about MakerBot is that it is open source, meaning that you can find and use thousands of designs that users have posted on Thingiverse, MakerBot's constantly growing library of digital designs.

Ozar also tells us that one of the recent trends in the MakerBot community has been physical mashups, like "Lepus Draconis (The Drabbit)," a combination of a dragon and a rabbit.

MakerBot is moving fast, shipping around 300 units a month out of their Brooklyn headquarters, and they don't plan to let up anytime soon. "We're committed to supporting creative people to make whatever they want and we won't stop until every creative person has one!" says Ozar.

Terrific! We look forward to creating our own army of drabbits!

Hit the jump to watch a great video about MakerBot from their Blip.tv channel.

-- John Ruscher

MakerBot Make-A-Thon // Photos are Up!

Thanks to everyone who came out to Makerbot Make-A-Thon. We had a great crowd of industrial designers, hackers, kids, teachers, and the technologically curious. See below for a couple of our favorite pics and check out the 3rd Ward Facebook Page or Flickr to see the whole album. 

Plus, learn more about MakerBot and its far-reaching applications in this New York Times article.

© Liz Clayman

© Liz Clayman

© Liz Clayman

© Liz Clayman

© Liz Clayman