Sometimes I shy away from writing about instances of MakerBot being honored for this or that. There are a lot of those things, and I figure readers of this blog probably understand that our products are cool. On Friday we participated in something that I do want you to know about, though, since you are, by virtue of the act of just reading this blog, part of it.

MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis accepted a Disruptive Innovation Award from the Tribeca Film Festival, specifically for “creating an entire ecosystem for desktop 3D printing.” What is an ecosystem without all the flora and fauna? The people who own our 3D printers, or interact with the world of personal fabrication in other ways – by spending weekends in hackerspaces or uploading design ideas to Thingiverse or commenting on others’ ideas and creations – are the people who breathe life into this ecosystem. So our hat’s off to you.

MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis accepting the Maslow Silver Hammer at the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards April 30, 2012

Now let me tell you about Justin Bieber. Read the rest of this entry »

On Tuesday we had the great pleasure of hosting Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer here at MakerBot. We knew he was a fan already, but the video from The L Magazine gives a nice review of how Mr. Stringer sees MakerBot fitting into the exciting tech landscape here in New York City.

What I love about MakerBot and 3D printing is that this is an industry that’s on the move. And New York has to continue to be on the cutting edge. … I get energized about what the city could be like when you come and take a tour like this. … This is the energy; this is the new light manufacturing that can create a lot, a lot of jobs, put money into our economy, and continue to make New York edgy, and the place that everyone around the world wants to come and be in.

The video also has a great timeline from our CEO, Bre Pettis, who explains some of the history of our products and how we grew out of the hackerspace Bre co-founded, NYC Resistor.

By the way, we tried to give Scott a MakerBotted replica of his borough’s most famous icon, but Politicker writes that he was mindful of the rules!

“We can put it in the office, not home,” Mr. Stringer said. “That’s the law.”

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer has been a vocal fan of MakerBot , even shouting out the company in his state of the borough address.

Today, Stringer visited MakerBot HQ for the first time and got the grand tour.

Bre shows the BP around the BotFarm

Bre explaining how The Replicator works

Stringer left MakerBot with his very own 3D printed Empire State Building!

 
Hit the play button on the video above for a behind the scenes look inside MakerBot Indstries courtesy of Business Insider. The crew got some great footage of Bre in the BotFarm before heading to the Botcave to see where MakerBots are built, tested, and shipped. You may even recognize some familiar faces from previous blog posts!

MakerBot TV is back in action and better than ever!

Bre talks to BoingBoing about the community-created clock he demoed at TED 2012. 

Earlier this week, Bre and 24 of his fellow-TED-Fellows inspired and delighted attendees of the TED Conference 2012, where the world’s boldest and brightest gathered in Long Beach, California. “This year–there’s a spirit of solutions in the air,” wrote Forbes’ Steven Rosenbaum, who listed Bre’s talk on the power of collaborative innovation as one of four ‘earthshaking’ moments from this year’s event.

“We may really be printing out everything we need in the future,” gushed Mariella Moon of Tecca. Moon’s list of 11 Radical Ideas Worth Spreading From Ted 2012 also includes autonomous flying robots, electronic toy kits, a brain recording kit, and a ‘clip from TED2023′  imagined by Ridley Scott in the much-anticipated Prometheus.

Finally, GOOD: education asks, If Schools Kill Creativity, Can Toys Bring it Back to Life? Heck yeah! Here at MakerBot, we’re firm believers in the learning power of play-time. Give a kid a Replicator, and she can make the stuff of her imagination come to life. She can learn science, mechanics, and problem-solving while creating awesome toys of her own invention. Most importantly, she can discover  that nothing is impossible – all she needs is her mind, her MakerBot, and a little help from her friends.

It’s time for TED2012!  MakerBot’s CEO and co-founder, Bre Pettis, is among the TEDFellows speaking at the conference in Long Beach, California this week.

Bre’s talk today focused on the importance of  community and co-creation in making something that seems impossible, possible. Case in point:  the open-source collaborative design phenomenon where 3D printed clocks were developed collectively  by MakerBot’s Thingiverse users. Remember the Clock-a-Thons? Well kids, we successfully made a clock!

Thingiverse users from around the world began uploading their designs for the pieces of a clock, and the final stages of construction happened here in MakerBot’s Brooklyn workshop, with clock mastermind, Syvwlch himself in attendance, over a meeting of minds and some shared food.

Want to make a clock of your own? Download the files from Thingiverse, get your bot warmed up, and start printing! The clock does have a few necessary non-printable parts, but fear not – MakerBot is selling these parts in our online store! In the kit, you’ll even get a laser cut wooden shelf stand signed by Bre Pettis himself!

For the inside scoop from TED2012 follow Bre on Twitter – @bre!

Join SolidSmack‘s Josh Mings and cadjunkie‘s Adam O’Hern in the latest installment of ‘the dankest product design podcast on the block,’ Engineer vs. Designer. The fellas ask Bre why he thinks open-source is so darn important, wonder what kind of living object he would 3D print if he could, and discover what inspires him most about his community of fellow hackers, tinkerers, and geeks.

Each week the folks at Engineer vs. Designer serve up all the latest in digital design, with useful tips & tricks, designer Q&As, and one very special guest. Find more episodes of Engineer vs. Designer here, and don’t forget to follow Adam and Josh on Twitter @EvD1 or Facebook.

Download this podcast for free.

Roger Yu explains the explosive growth of 3D printing among entrepreneurs and hobbyists in USA TODAY Tech.

Bonus: This awesome video interview with Bre Pettis from inside the Botcave!

Tomorrow night, New Yorkers will have the chance to see The Replicator in action at The Apple Store Fifth Avenue! Explore the emerging world of 3D printing with MakerBot Industries and see a live product demonstration by CEO and co-founder Bre Pettis.

Space is limited to get there early!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

8:00 p.m.

767 Fifth Ave.

New York, NY 10153

(212) 336-1440