Seems Maker Faire has gotten the attention of the electronics guys

[slburris]

Came up here to San Mateo for Maker Faire again this year.

Surprised to see FTDI, the USB chip maker from the UK here as
well as a huge Element 14 booth.  I think Digikey is around here
too.

I don't recall companies like these here last year, did someone decide
the maker movement was worth chasing after?

I've only dealt with Seeedstudio as a distant China seller of electronic
doodads, but they are here in person as well.

Have to talk my older daughter over to the Sparkfun booth and see if they
are still doing the learn to solder stuff.

Scott

[EEVblog]

Element 14 want to own and/or sponsor everything, not surprised they have a massive booth.
Doesn't stop their community site still sucking though 

Dave.

[Bored@Work]

Element 14

Element 14? Thats funny. Because those fluffers refuse to sell to hobbyists/individuals/amateurs/"makers"/whatever-the-name-of-the-day-is in some countries. Strictly business only.

It is fun when I meet representatives in my day job, when they are keen to sell to us. And I have a chance to ask them why my money isn't good enough for them when I want to buy as an individual.

[slburris]

Well here in the US, I've purchased from Newark, their US brand/ subsidiary/ whatever and on some items I've found them to be quite a bit cheaper than Digikey and Mouser.  That was shocking because I normally avoid the classic distributors either because they are expensive or have ridiculous minimum line item requirements.

But that seems to have changed a bit.  Newark seems to have no problems selling to hobbyists like me now.  I've even occasionally ordered from the big guys, Arrow, Avnet, Future, NuHorizons

I'll have to go over to Element 14's booth and see what their story is.  They did seem to have some poster up about a vibrant online community.  I've tried it and it's a joke.  Maybe I can give them that feedback....

Scott

[Rufus]

They did seem to have some poster up about a vibrant online community.

I think they though "If we build it, they will come" and they built it and put full page adverts in the magazines and promote it on every bit of Farnell paperwork (had a call from a rep the other day who also told me about it), and, so far they didn't come.

I just checked, 10 posts there in the last 17 hours (is Sunday though).

The web2.0rhea site doesn't help but I suspect the main reason is the quality of user contribution being so dire. Half the posts are for Eagle support, half the rest look like news/marketing spam from a handful of posters, the remainder come from a handful of people who look like they are being paid to try to stimulate discussion and a few morons.

If you don't use Eagle I doubt more than 1% of posts are worth reading.

One good thing is they have commitment from various suppliers to provide support but it is painful to read some of it like the Agilent rep being asked where to buy a TRIAC and the polite response he is obliged to give.

[Bored@Work]

Element "we don't sell to you" 14 currently promotes this video in the left sidebar on their frontpage What a pointless idea, using a webcam to snap images of an oscilloscope's screen.

That particular DSO has a build-in web server you can use to get screen snapshots - accurate snapshots that is. It has an IVI compliant interface for connecting to a PC, which you can use to get accurate data. You can even run MatLab programs on it. There is hardly a need to use a webcam to get screen snapshots from that DSO.

If you don't use that particular DSO, then it should still be no problem. It is hard to find any modern DSO that can't have a PC interface, even the cheap stuff already comes with one.

Everything is better than placing a cheap webcam in front of the oscilloscope.

[Mechatrommer]

Everything is better than placing a cheap webcam in front of the oscilloscope.

well, the idea is to get the "useless old stock" webcam sold.

[Sal Ammoniac]

I've been to all of the San Mateo Maker Faires since their inception a few years ago, and it seems to me like things have been getting more commercialized. At first, the majority of the people at the faire were one man outfits or small groups showing off their cool stuff, now the big names like Farnell and FTDI are starting to move in, and it's just not the same anymore.

Many of the cool demos from previous years weren't there this year, such as the hotdog roasting Tesla coils or the fire sculptures. There's even far fewer people dressed steam punk style than there were in past years.

Regarding the electronics aspect of the faire, my son summed it up well when he said "Dad, this isn't the Maker Faire, it's the Arduino Faire." Aurduino's everywhere with almost nothing else in sight. That, plus the sheer number of people showing off MakerBots of one form or another and the Maker Faire is quickly becoming focused around only these two areas.

[Bored@Work]

Isn't that the way all these things go?

From a certain size and popularity a "movement" will split into fractions, and commercialization will take over, typically in the larger fractions. And the pioneers will either start to move out, distance themselves from the movement, hide in a niche, or ride the commercial wave as long as possible.

Many me-too folks join the bandwagon until something more interesting comes up, the bubble bursts, and the movement is over.

Maybe the difference here is that the movement was early on infected by commercial interests (Make magazine). Which could mean the movement is going faster through the typical cycles.

[slburris]

This was only my second Maker Faire.  The commercial elements seem
different to me this year than last, i.e. there were more commercial
"craft" companies last year, now more "electronics" companies.

I distinctly remember ProvoCraft being there last year, because my wife flocked
to their booth, but not this year.

Attached is a pic of the Element 14 booth.

Scott

[slburris]

Found one other photo that might be of interest, the Seeed Studio
booth.  These guys don't have a US office, do they?  If not, they sure
put some effort into popping over here from China.

Scott