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by spencer
2012-01-19
Update

Mark-it-ing Makes Front Page News

Mark-it-ting's power to paradoxically (and effectively) communicate via erasure was popularly demonstrated yesterday by several websites that "blacked out" their content as a means to protest SOPA/PIPA. (If you aren't already familiar with these bills currently being considered by the U.S. Congress, please familiarize yourself. Or if you're too lazy, just take our word for it: they suck. If passed, your favorite websites would disappear.)

But despite the negative connotation these sites' "self-imposed censorship[s]" imply, we're impressed by the flexibility of Mark-it-ting to work its magic in many contexts, in many ways. We're also a little flattered given our prescience ;).

Here's to the power of Mark-it-ting, the most effective way to add via subtraction!

Category: spencer

Tags: mark-it-ting pipa sopa

by spencer
2012-01-10
Update

Paint It Black: How a few squeegee swipes turns that old T from Whack to Baby Got Back

Confused what to do with all those ill-fitting t-shirts with boring logos you receive en masse at conventions and other schwag-heavy events? Please, send them to us. Since we love recycling so much and hate buying unnecessary materials, we'll détourn any free thing we can get our hands on, from airline placement mats to t-shirts.

Here's some images from a recent spate of resuscitating previously unwearable shirts into one-of-a-kind, hand screen-printed, Sharism objets d'art.

Simply blot out the previous, unwanted logo and add your own.

Bam! A new shirt.

What looks like a messy white-out job turns out to be the coolest shirt in your closet.

Seriously, send us your shirts and we'll send back a few revitalized with the Sharism and Fabricatorz logo as a thank you for giving life to otherwise dead and forgotten cotton.

Category: sharism

Tags: art sharism shirts

by jon
2011-12-28
Update

Open Hardware Manufacturing (from China)

I recently spoke at TTI Vanguard's NEXTGEN conference in Miami. Totally great experience to talk to some very high level folks about the work we are doing as Fabricatorz on the Qi Hardware and Milkymist Video Synthesizer project. Here are my slides. The first set I did on my laptop, and the second set I *performed* using the Milkymist! In 2012, I will try to use the Milkymist for any performances (no more presentations!).

I should note that the presentation title reflects popular interest in some of my topics, and not the specific words I would choose to represent what we are working on. In particular, we are staying away from using the words FREE, OPEN, COPYLEFT now in favor of Sharing, hence Sharism. Also, the word Hardware is a bit problematic because of what it conjures up for computer nerds as this an already manufactured piece of hardware, like the 400K iphones foxconn is churning out a day. We take it to mean more like the glass or metal that is part of a final product. To consider the Milkymist or our projects FROM CHINA is not completely accurate. While I spend a lot of time in China, the Milkymist in particular is manufactured mostly in Taiwan.

Oh well, words are words are words! Check out the slides below and please share. They are (shared by) me, aka: Fabricatorz.

Open Hardware Manufacturing (from China)

(Click here for the SVG presentation or the SVG with outlines)

Milkymist One Video Synthesizer

(Click here for the SVG presentation or the SVG with outlines)

Ask me about the event the next time you see me; I have some great stories to tell since this event was supposed to be mostly private during the conference.

In a more public showing, Yi from Qi Hardware is presenting about the Milkymist tonite (中文 at Xinchejian, the Shanghai-based hackerspace we held the first Sharism Presents Shanghai.

Don't forget to Buy a Milkymist One for yourself or your friendz :)

Category: qi hardware

Tags: hackerspace milkymist performance presentations projects shanghai tti-vanguard video

by pete
2011-12-21
Update

Gandi Is Supporting Us On Our Community Projects

logo Gandi
Wow Gandi.
Gandi no bullshit
What a great hosting company.

Fabricatorz has sure leveled up and we are confident that more people will benefit from Gandi's services. What really makes Gandi unique is its position of openness.

It is refreshing to be a customer since so many companies seem to wall us off from any kind of visibility into what the company is and does.

At Fabricatorz we appreciate transparency and honesty. Check Gandi's company statement out:

Gandi is a premier, affordable, and ethical domain name registrar and innovative cloud hosting company that respects customer privacy and provides transparency in all its operations.

Offering a world-class alternative to purely commercial registrars, and a low-cost, innovative, cloud hosting platform, Gandi supports a community of people working on technology that enables the Internet for business, but also for the free and unrestricted sharing of information, and for promoting the respect of individual and human rights.

So far Gandi has helped us migrate Open Clip Art Library and is also working with our friendz over at Identi.ca and many others including innovative projects such as Gnome, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and Debian.

Gandi's service is impeccable, communication is prompt, and professionalism is consistent, we're very happy to be supported by such a great host. Gandi truly lives up to their slogan, "No Bullshit".

Category: open clip art library

Tags: community projects community support domain fabricatorz gandi hosting identi.ca no bullshit ocal open clip art library url web host web hosting

by pete
2011-12-19
Update

New Year – New Gear: Milkymist Video Synthesizer Makes 2012 Awesome

Season's greetings friendz.

As you know the folks here at Fabricatorz have been collaborating with an international crew to develop and manufacture the Milkymist one. We've launching our new Milkymist website complete with a tutorial section. In addition to adding .jpeg support and more documentation, we've had users tell us how they used the Milkymist in a professional and educational atmosphere.

Recently architect Naihan Li has used the Milkymist to "perform" a presentation.

Free technology is beautiful. So get your own Milkymist today.

Category: qi hardware

Tags: creativity gift holiday Milkimist open-hardware qi technology video video synthesis