The “Maker Economy” tales us back to this perspective – not only will we make things that we need at home but also we will make our energy.

It’s only a matter of time when much of our demand for electricity will be met locally and even at home – an entirely different approach to the high capital and centralized system we think is normal now.

Sites like this can help us now.

I am the PEI blogger for this. I was asked to do a video about why I am involved and how I see things on PEI. Here it is.

Those who are “naturals” in the use of computers now are in a favoured place in our economy.

This process is repeating itself with 3D Printers. Here is Tom Haan and Mauren Kerr who are working in our schools now to help your kids. I hope that we can get behind them and this so that most kids on PEI can learn how to use this exciting technology – where we can make things the make way that we can design 2D today.

So here is Tom and Mo – see how excited the kids are!!!!

My daughter in law is part of a new movement of self employed sewers – she makes children’s toys. This in turn is part of an even larger movement where people look to buy things and food that are “Real”. After all what are you saying when you give your new niece or grand daughter a plastic toy from China?

But making things on your own by yourself is not how we in the past have made things. For all of time, crafts people have made things in the company of  others. Co-Working is moving out of the Nerd World and Tech to the full range of artisanal work. Here is a story on Sewing _:

Coworking spaces can benefit just about any kind of work, allowing for increased productivity, inspiration, and a sense of community. Unsurprisingly, we are beginning to see more spaces that apply the principles of coworking to a number of different fields that reach beyond traditional office work.

Since September 2011, a former apartment in Neukölln’s trendy Reuterkiez has housed a co-sewing space – Nadelwald. This new space offers sewing equipment, patterns, workshops, and other facilities for designers and hobbyists alike to be inspired, create projects, and share their ideas and creations with others. We asked founder Swantje Wendt a few questions about her charming new space.

How did you come up with the concept of co-sewing – the idea of applying the principles of co-working to sewing?

I originally wanted to start a fashion label, specializing in scarves and accessories, and had been searching for a place where I could work on that. Since I couldn’t find a space where I could leave my patterns and materials, I simply created my own space, and began offering it to others.

What kinds of people normally use this space – professional designers, or simply hobbyists?

At the moment, the space is used mostly by people who sew as a hobby and who like to do their own alterations. Only one of our customers is a professional designer who comes here whenever she needs equipment she does not already own.

There seems to be a growing interest in sewing these days, particularly among younger people. Why do you think that is?

I think that, in the case of younger people, sewing and other forms of handiwork can be seen as an alternative to daily work, as many people these days spend most of their time at their computers. They enjoy being able to create something with their hands, something they can be proud of in the end.

You hold a lot of workshops. Do your workshops mainly focus on sewing, or do you branch out into other forms of visual art and handicrafts as well?

Our workshops focus on any skills related to fashion. We offer workshops on different sewing techniques, and even knitting, which is taught by a guest instructor, as knitting is not my area of expertise. I plan to offer a workshop on pattern-making, as that is my specialty.

More here

How Amazon’s KDP Select Saved My Book

In the very early days of your company, it might make sense to call your garage (or basement or kitchen table) headquarters. But at a certain point, it doesn’t suffice. There are only so many times you can bring clients to the same Starbucks for a meeting. And even the most passionate entrepreneur is bound to see productivity wane when spouses, kids, dogs, or all of the above inevitably hover near your workspace.

This is precisely why coworking spaces were invented—and why they’re increasingly popping up in more cities.

While coworking spaces aren’t new, what they offer to bootstrapped tech start-ups for the price keeps getting better. CoCo, for example, is a 16,000-square-foot, sunlit space that makes use of the architecturally-interesting and historic trading floor once used by the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. Membership starts around $50 a month.

Now instead of traders yelling bids and waving arms around, the place is serene—khaki or jeans-clad entrepreneurs working quietly at their laptops while Pandora plays softly in the background. There’s a concierge who makes sure coffee and pastries are well-stocked and will order you lunch and introduce new members to others.

And the people working there look weirdly content. Some are wearing headphones, which, I learned, is code for “I’m head-down at the moment.” Others are chatting quietly with a neighbor. No one has that glazed-over I’m-bored-to-death look you sometimes see in regular workplaces. If you’re starting to think you might need a change of scenery, consider the advantages of coworking:

The rest follows here

Today any band can do a good job with a mac and Garage Band and you can shoot and edit a feature film on $10,000 of kit.

This transformation will apply to all sectors of the economy – we will not need the Big Studio, Big Factory or large amounts of capital and so need huge sales.

Less is more will beat Bigger is Better. Here Richard Gayle offers more information in support.

Two years ago, Joss Whedon produced Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog for about $200,000 and made over twice that back. It could be more today.

And as shown in this example, it is a nice business model. And it is a business model totally disruptive to the sorts of business models used by Hollywood, whose bloated budgets support an ecosystem which permits them to use arcane accounting schemes resulting in movies that never make a ‘profit.’

The same technologies that can produce this disruptive system also happen to be pretty much the same ones that are also used by the ‘pirate’ they claim to hunt. It is very possible that the regulations they get in place to save their own business model will also be used to prevent market entry to the very same disruptors that threaten them.

A win-win for them and a huge loss for us. And for the creative talent that creates the material for the studios to begin with.

This is how money corrupts so much of our system.The only way to stop this is to make it a crime to do what Whedon and Burns are doing. And a first step along this path is to hamper the use of digital technologies and restrict the innovations they drive from bearing fruit.

Industrial Age approaches created business models that need billion dollar movies in order to sustain them. Or billion dollar drugs. Or 10 million albums sold. Or a million books sold.

Information Age approaches create business models needing 1000-fold lower revenues to sustain them. Instead of fighting this disruption, a healthy system would be working with them, co-pting their disruption to further their own business lives.

Not likely to happen as we watch Kodak – who collaborating with Apple sold one of the first personal digital cameras – file for bankruptcy, completely missing the digital revolution it was actually first poised to take advantage of.

Now the studios stand at the same spot Kodak did 15 years ago. WIll they make the same mistake?

But as with all disruptive technologies, the studios can just not see how making a movie for $100,000 and getting back say $300,000 is sustainable. I expect there are huge numbers of creative talent who would disagree.

The old model was to make things scarce – the new will make them abundant - what side do you want to bet on? More here:

A recent blog post on The Pirate Bay predicts that the next form of piracy will be piracy via 3D printer. They predict piracy will move from tangible to digital, as it is now, to digital to tangible. The blog post says that in the modern world in which we live, data begins digitally, but relents that humans also require tangible objects as well — something anyone with a bookshelf full of alphabetized books or drawer full of neatly organized video games would agree with. Making a bold prediction, The Pirate Bay predicts that within twenty years, humans will be downloading sneakers or spare car parts and manifesting them in physical form with the help of the 3D printer. They even coined a term for this kind of object, the “Physible.”

 

The Pirate Bay cites Physibles as providing “huge” benefits to society: No more shipping huge amounts of products, no more having to shipping broken products back, no more child labor (somewhat amusingly listed after the shipping benefits), and being able to print food for hungry people.

Though their theory may seem a little, hopeful, we’ll say, they do have a point. 3D printers have been on the rise, and just about every piece of science fiction these days includes a makerbot in one form or another. That isn’t to say that science fiction predicts the future, but it is to say that the objects and themes in science fiction are indeed in the forefront of society’s mind. Granted, having makerbots that can make food and download sneakers within the next twenty years doesn’t seem likely, but at some point down the road of human existence, makerbots certainly seem like the tech we’ll aspire to create, whether or not pirating sneakers and food is something society is likely to do with them.

This is a picture of the big trends in employment.  Not pretty. Now ask will there be more or less jobs in Finance in the next 20 years? How about Government?

So where is the opportunity?

It is in the areas that have been hardest hit.

What is the fasted growing sector in food? It is in local food and famers markets. What sector do we worry about the most? Food – many are now seeing that factory food is at the heart of the health epidemic. More and more families are looking for safer and more nutritious food. This can only come from small operations.

10 years ago you needed a million dollars to have a full on recording or film editing studio. Now you can get the same power for free.

Today 3d Printing is where PC’s were 20 years ago. About $2,000 will get you a neat toy. But in 10 years $2,000 will get you what Toyota use for prototyping. You will be able to make almost anything.

When I say almost anything – they are working on food and even body parts right now.

Only a game changer will help us – Become a Maker