Earlier this month, the DIY electronics kit site Adafruit launched a digital version of its “skill badges.” The idea is to create a model of a system for educators and youth leaders to recognize the new generation of Scouts — the Makers!

We believe everyone should be able to be rewarded for learning a useful skill, a badge is just one of the many ways to show and share. Our physical badges and stickers are for use with educators, classrooms, workshops, Maker Faires, TechShops, Hackerspaces,Makerspaces and around the world to reward beginners on their skill building journey! Our digital skill badges are the start of whatLadyada (Limor Fried) and the Adafruit team think might be “Scouts 2.0″.

(Incidentally, the 3D printing site Fabbaloo posted on Friday that they had received a box of the original embroidered badges and gave their public verdict that they are “very attractive.”) But look! It seems that the online badge hasn’t been awardedto anyone yet! To get a feel for how a badge is awarded, the page indicates the following:

This skill badge is awarded for those who have done amazing things with 3D printing. Whether they’ve built a kit, designed a system from scratch, or explored a new method,  they’re bringing the future home!

That said, it seems it’s oriented toward kids, as the Beta program details read,

We hope you enjoy the first round of students and young persons who we’ve awarded badges to. If you know a young person who has done something amazing and shared their projects let us know! To see the “leaderboard” click here!

Do you know of any kids that deserve the 3D Printing badge? Or better yet, are you a teacher who wants to find a way to award this badge or others to your students? Here is one teacher’s example of the requirements he uses for students to earn the badge. And for the kids in the 18-and-older crowd, don’t be deterred from building up your own badge collection! Pete at RasterWeb says it was just time for him to recognize his own accomplishments. Couldn’t agree more!

While 10 million people were downloading Angry Birds Space over the weekend, Thingiverse user xpekted was designing an Angry Birds chess set for the MakerBot/Tinkercad chess set design competition!

Angry Birds Chess Set by xpekted

Who else is tempted to print these little guys and use them with this Thingiverse classic, the slingshot by Batist?

Slingshot by Batist

Untitled by xpekted

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TacoCopter to the rescue!

Update:  Okay, so this was apparently a hoax.  I don’t care.  I’m still hoping someone will complete the 3D printable taco delivery system challenge! (Details below)

I’m not sure if this is a real thing or not, but dangnabit, tacos delivered by ‘copters is something I can really believe in. ¹²  I keep day dreaming about kicking back at an outdoor patio, grabbing some hot sauce with my right hand, extending my open left palm, and having a fresh hot taco dropped in my hand by a little quadrocopter with a friendly Roadrunner-esque beep-beep! ³

Setting aside the realities of ‘copter delivered delicacies… ⁴  How ELSE can we deliver tacos?  This has been consuming my thoughts since I learned of this site nearly a week ago.

Zip-line delivered tacos?  Submarine delivered tacos?  Hexapod delivered tacos?  Robot monkey delivered tacos?!

Mmmm….  tacos.   9000 internet points and everlasting internet fame to the first person to design a 3D printable taco delivery system!

Thanks to Steve Hoefer for the link!

1. It’s been a rough month for this gullible blogger. [↩]
2. If  tacocopter seems iffy to you, there’s a reference to “LobsterCopter” on the page [↩]
3. I also envision the transaction happening via copter – placing the order by punching a menu ticket, putting money in a hopper, taco delivery, the bill, the tip… [↩]
4. Guys, if you’re reading, I’d love to see this thing in action!  I’m in San Francisco tomorrow morning if you feel like doing a taco run!  Do you fly out to Civic Center? [↩]

Check out @schmarty‘s photo of his three generations of MakerBot. Left to right: Cupcake CNC #131, Thing-O-Matic #5564, and Replicator #7516. What a handsome family!

You can check out the evolution of Schmarty’s Things on Thingiverse, too.

For millions of Mad Men fans, last night brought long-awaited relief to many months of wondering. Will Don Draper really marry his secretary? Can Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce keep the lights on? What will Joan Harris do about the baby?

No spoilers or reviews here, but one area we can say for certain the show delivered in was its consistently gorgeous set design. The two-hour premiere of Season 5 took place primarily in the office of the firm; however, we got a great look at the palatial apartment shared by Don and his new wife, Megan. With a sunken living room and miles of what Don called impractical white carpeting, the apartment is a perfectly executed 60’s dream home.

The new pad creates the perfect context for the Madiverse play set TeamTeamUSA has been cooking up for a week. This weekend saw a few remarkable additions to the set, complimented by a lamp from BenitoSanduchi. Feast your eyes on these awesome pieces, then follow the links and print your own. It sure would be nice to see them all together, too!

For those of you just joining us, the designs and instructions for making all of these pieces are available absolutely free on Thingiverse!

Eames LCW by TeamTeamUSA

Eames FSW by TeamTeamUSA

Nelson Marshmallow Sofa by TeamTeamUSA

1960's Lamp by BenitoSanduchi

Untitled by TeamTeamUSA

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Untitled by BenitoSanduchi

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MakerBot’s own Tony Buser has put together this helpful video tutorial showing how he uses a variety of programs to fix 3D objects and scans to make them more printable.  There are a lot of ways for things to go wrong with a 3D object.  You could have a flipped triangle, internal structures,  or there could be a hole in the mesh.  Tony’s video provides a great overview and takes you step-by-step through the most popular 3D mesh fixing programs.  Even though this video depicts a 3D scan being fixed, the programs and methods shown could be used to fix any problematic 3D object.  Give it a shot!