Fanimeh 2012.

I really wasn't in to this today. I'm still in a funk. Don't say I never give you anything.

EN-V.

I have to admit - I kinda like these En-v's. Although I'm not sure were they fit in, on the road to electric heaven. They max out at 25 miles an hour. But even my town has changed all the speed limits in residential areas to be 30 miles an hour. I guess when they realised they didn't have money to pay the popo, they decided five miles an hour wasn't going to hurt anyone.

Having said all that - I'd never in a million years give any money to GM. They can rot in hell for all I care. I am happy to have seen one though.

Oh the drama.

"The first issue - if the "economic recovery is accelerating" why is California's revenue still decelerating on numbers that have been revised downward something like 5 times?

The second issue - It is becoming an extremely uncomfortable spot to be placing an IPO for anything right now. It doesn't matter that the entire finances of California apparently depends on you. The world doesn't care about your finances California. They have a few problems of their own.

A company that is suppose to have such a strong market position will certainly be embarrassed if the market takes a dive, and the IPO doesn't go well. It hurts your brand."

I wrote this about Facebook at the beginning of February in What if facebook withdrew its IPO.

The things is - there were many articles out last year (2011) saying that Facebooks revenues were slowing. Read: All the Cool Kids Are Quitting Facebook.

Then there was the crazy valuations. 5 times what Google commanded. Seriously? Google has done nothing but gobble up IP. Google has F-U space money. Facebook isn't going to space! And if it did - so what?

Then there is California with it's hands out. I'd read they already penciled in the 2 billion they expected to make in taxes based on a 35.00 stock price.

Look, Facebook likely waited too long to go IPO. You are suppose to do it while you are still growing. Their growth had obviously peaked.

And I want to feel bad for Mark Zuckerburg - I think this debacle mostly wasn't his fault. But he has the President on speed dial and I am just sick to death of crony capitalism. It's why no one trusts the market anymore. Instead of taking a company public to grow it - they take companies public to loot the individual investors.

Random Maker Faire 2012 Shots.

Qu-bd

I have not seen this machine work. But, it's now moved up to be the most promising candidate I've seen.

It is a combination 3D printer/CNC machine. It roughly prices at 2200.00. Depending on which motor you want.

I am not a huge fan of combo machines. In my experience they don't do anything exceedingly well. Yet, they do everything marginally well.

Still, this was the smallest CNC machine I've ever seen. I'd buy it just for that because you can cut metal.


Metal heat sync.






Here is a link to their website. Which isn't live yet.

Maker Faire 2012 - part 3.

Shapeways and Cubify continue to be my 3D printing platform of choice. They have the best finished and professional looking product. However, there were a lot more companies this year. And at least one company might move up to the top spot. But I don't have room in this post.

There were so many new players this year, that I'm starting to believe this is going to be a real technology sector.

Shapeways also prints incredibly delicate stuff that moves and is multicolor.





The Cubify van was there. Which I think appeals to your pre-teen market. And girls. It's the best looking 3D printer.

Maker Faire 2012 - part 2.

There was enough new 3D printing stuff, I'm going to have to break these up into several posts.

I believe all this stuff was printed from a makerbot. They've reached the simple toy stage.

Maker Faire 2012 - Part 1.

When I first got to Maker Faire on Sunday, I immediately started to melt down. The first two buildings I went into - I wasn't sure if I was at Maker Faire, or a County Fair. And I'd already waded through a sea of Prius's with Obama stickers telling me to Coexist.

There were booths teaching kids how to make fire survivor style.



There were booths teaching you how to raise chickens. Despite numerous city codes telling you that this isn't allowed.



They had tiny houses. Which I don't understand the appeal of. It's like no one has ever seen the inside of a camper. I guess those are city dwellers for ya. Maybe the shed exterior confused them into thinking it was something else. It's just a camper that looks like a shed!



They were popping popcorn with the sun. Which takes a lot longer than you would expect.



Oh, and then they had the lock picking booth.

Now, what I know about lock picking is really stale at this point - but I used to have a very good locksmith friend until he found a girlfriend.. And there were tons of rules about this kind of behaviour.

Not to mention, if there is anything young boys come standard with - it's knowing how to set fire and break into things. And besides, who picks locks anymore? You just run down to the hardware store and buy a lock cutter. Problem solved.

First I have to tell you about the De Lorean.

To tell you the truth - I hate these cars. They are not rare. There is one at every car show.

I don't understand what men see in this whole boat car thing. Or the flying car thing. I am not even sure I've seen that movie all the way through. They aren't even a fast car! I've never seen one on the road. I hate em.

I was trying to get some shots of a bike. Getting a clean shot at these events can be challenging - so it can take a couple of minutes. Usually Mr S. will wander.

All of a sudden he walks up to me and says - they have a hovercraft De Lorean.

Me - Nooooo! Lets go see that.

There is suppose to be a youtube video, and as soon as I track it down I will add it to this post.

Maker Faire 2012 tease.

I laughed, I cried. I wanted to punch people with double wide strollers in the neck.

It's going to take me a little while to unpack my stuff, and figure out what pictures I like enough to post. I can tell you right now though, it's going to involve a lot of 3D printing.

soft like babies

I thought this was sort of an interesting concept. Especially if The Cloud really does become widely adopted. Companies are going to have these huge server farms spitting out heat that they need to control.

This company Green Revolution takes liquid cooling to a whole nuther level. With baby oil. And I'm sure some other patented process to keep the mix pure.

Right now they are in the demo phase, and are renting out these small enclosures for roughly 300 bucks a month. This stuff isn't suppose to hurt your components at all.

No toxic chemicals. If you spill any - you can just pop out a blow up pool and rent a couple of girls in bikini's. Problem solved. (That's my add)

Yesterday, to gain visitor access at a corporation, I had to sign a non disclosure agreement. Which is standard.

BUT - I also had to sign an agreement to recycle. Two separate signatures. Seriously.

To be honest, I didn't read the whole recycle part added onto the NDA because my eyes were locked in the up position. So, I wasn't sure if I had to recycle anything I came into contact with. Or commit to a life of recycling.

I seriously had a half full coke and I was paralyzed on what I should do with it to throw it away. It's recyclable, but it's wet. Uuuuuh. Fuck!

Pictures I should have posted.

It's an awesome time to go IPO.
Never been a better time. Oh wait, thats real estate.

One of the rarest cars on earth.

Oh. I can tell you were expecting a super car. Just because it's rare, doesn't make it good!

This is a Think electric car. I believe there are only 400 of these in existence. The car is long on drama though. I am glad to have seen it. It is rare. Most of the other cars are in government fleets. Maybe in a basement in Florida.

Notice the plastic body. It looks like you could run into anything and it would pop back out trash can style.

"We've said we're out to make Indiana the electric vehicle state. It's beginning to look like the state capital will be Elkhart County," Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said in January 2010 in announcing government incentives used to lure Think to his state.

Instead, the Hoosier state's big bet has been a bust. The plant is devoid of activity; there are just two employees. A Russian investor who recently purchased Think's bankrupt parent in Norway has been silent about its future. A government-backed Indianapolis battery maker that was to supply Think wrote off a $73 million investment in the car company and on Thursday declared bankruptcy. Two unrelated electric truck makers Indiana planned to nurture have yet to get off the ground.

Indiana's foray into electric vehicles is a cautionary tale for states in hot pursuit of high tech manufacturing jobs. Think's story illustrates how politicians so badly wanted to stimulate job growth that they showered it and the battery supplier with tax breaks and incentives while at the same time failing to determine whether there was a market for the car: a plastic two-seater with a top speed of about 65 mph and a price tag approaching $42,000.


" Read the whole article here.