maker

How to make a lot more margaritas

The season has changed, and with the rising temperature comes the rising need for icy-cool drinks. In some places, like here in Brooklyn, the transition from a bitter winter to a cool and rainy spring to a hot and muggy summer can be very abrupt. So abrupt, in fact, that I find myself being shocked at how easily I had forgotten what it feels like to be hot. The other day I filled my ice tray for the first time since last summer, and in true Boy Scout spirit, prepared myself for the next time I needed a frozen margarita … Read more

Food on a stick is on a roll.

This device is billed as a Waffle Dogger/Crepe On A Stick Maker, but I think that might be a little shortsighted. All food tastes better when it's served on a stick; it's a well-known fact.

How an appliance like this doesn't have a name such as the "Stick-o-Later," or even the "Tastee-Stick" is beyond me. Instead, the manufacturer, Cecilware, includes this model in its waffle-maker line as the rather vague sounding WD-120. One thing for certain, though, is that whatever the name, this high-class iron would be put through the paces in … Read more

Crave: Maker Faire 2008

Electric giraffes? Got it! Playing with hot metal? Got that, too! Brian Tong checks out the Maker Faire in San Mateo, California for everything do-it-yourself.

Maker Faire more popular than ever

SAN MATEO, Calif.--If the hour-long traffic jam leading into Maker Faire wasn't proof that the do-it-yourself festival being held here all weekend is bigger than ever, then maybe the huge crowds gathered around attraction after attraction was.

This is the third year that Maker Faire has packed the San Mateo Fairgrounds with the best and brightest of the burgeoning DIY community--mobile barcalougers, dueling Tesla coils, huge Burning Man art pieces, felt masterpieces, and on and on--and there can be little doubt the success of the previous two years' iterations led to a bigger crowd this time around.

In … Read more

Now on News.com: The making of Maker Faire

SAN MATEO, Calif.--The best thing about going to Maker Faire a couple of days before the gates officially open is watching it grow.

Walk a couple of times around the fairgrounds here, where the do-it-yourself bacchanalia will welcome tens of thousands of people starting Saturday, and you'll see new projects appear each time you go around: A stream of trucks keeps coming through the gates, each one hauling a new group of people and whatever fantastical art, heavy machine, oddball musical instrument or other insane contents it might be carrying.

This was Maker Day, a day for the … Read more

Do-it-Yourselfers prep for Maker Faire

SAN MATEO, Calif.--The best thing about going to Maker Faire a couple of days before the gates officially open is watching it grow.

Over on one side of the fairgrounds, a … Read more

Intel Mash Maker: Mash-ups for the masses

Intel wants to make the whole Web editable, just like a single Wikipedia page.

The chip giant on Tuesday will make a beta available of Intel Mash Maker, a free browser extension that allows users to modify Web pages and combine information from different sources. Its first beta works with Firefox 3 and Internet Explorer 7, though at this point the features are far more mature in Firefox, Intel said.

The product, which originated in Intel's research labs, is similar to existing mash-up tools like Yahoo Pipes and Microsoft Popfly in that it has a graphical design tool.

What's different is that the actual mashing up of information on Intel Mash Maker happens on the client, rather than the server. So instead of making a different Web application to, say, plot real estate listings on Google Maps, Intel Mash Maker lets people add a widget that adds visualization to the real estate listing site.

'Make' editor tempts fate with handgun-embossed carry-on bag

One of my favorite people in the world of tech culture has always been Make magazine senior editor Phil Torrone.

Over the years, I've done a number of stories about his various exploits, including Roomba Frogger at South by Southwest 2006, his laser-etching business, his jamming of TVs at a hotel in Austin, Texas, and his work in helping organize Maker Faires. Beyond that, I've always enjoyed talking with him, as he's a world traveler, a top-notch intellect, and a world-class culture jammer. He's just my kind of guy.

And there's certainly one thing about … Read more

Whip up a hot sandwich behind the wheel

If you ever visit a nutritionist or personal trainer, eventually the conversation will turn to "portion control"--a euphemism for "don't eat so much, you pig." And that concept is especially important to one of the most insidious diet busters of all, the car snack.

Here's one way to find out if you fit this category: Do you keep a portable microwave on the passenger seat? For those who do, there's a new way to downsize those mobile meals.

Gadgetizer says the "Road Pro 12 Volt Sandwich Maker" will whip up … Read more