The Maker Faire 2011 Bay Area was held this weekend in San Mateo California just South of San Francisco. I woke up early (which was not difficult as I had been up all night due to all-night long construction outside my San Francisco hotel including jackhammers until 4am) and took public transportation BART, then Caltrain to get to the event and it was well worth it. I would not have even dreamed or could have prepared for what the event was going to be like even from reading all the past event write ups and seeing photos, it was a mind expanding experience. Think of the event like a social and science experiment with people of all ages and abilities making their own creations and many with their own style and flair. Perhaps it was the result of a recipe with part Burning Man, two heaping cups of a science fair combined with a dash of SXSW and a large crowd of smart creative people with time on their hands. I loved it, I saw everything from bicycles made from wood, make your own gummies kits, tesla coils shooting lightning bolts at people in a faraday cage to generate music, and many steampunk enthusiasts.
Autodesk was a sponsor this year and had a booth showing the new free Autodesk 123D and other apps like Autodesk Sketchbook. Located in the same Tech Barn building was Autodesk’s Maker movement BFFs TechShop, 3D Systems, and Pokono,
Me with Tatjana Dzambazova the Autodesk 123D Product Manager.
I only wish I had more time to spend at the event as there was so much going on and things to see that it might have taken a week to really see I tall. It would be awesome to get a year around Maker themed theme park with all this education, experimentation, and projects. Where else could you watch a live game a Battleship in a pool where small remote controlled ships really battle each other.
What happens when you have two brothers in Austin Texas that build a huge Tesla coil discharging up to 1 million volts of electricity, and hook it up to generate music with a element of danger? You get You get Arc Attack. I am surprised people just let them take their little kids into a Faraday box/cage while the deadly volts danced and lapped at the cage within inches of them.
You get Arc Attack Bay Area Maker Faire 2011
http://bit.ly/mbHZ7D
http://bit.ly/mjKf0m
Here are some of my photos I just uploaded and am still editing and annotating.
A Bicycle Powered Band
Coke Zero and Mentos make for fun science and entertainment you can try at home. 
More photos:
Amazing time, amazing people, amazing food for thought on what can be done by people Making their own creations.
Cheers,
Shaan
