Microsoft at Maker Faire 2007!
Event Recap
2 days + 45,000 Attendees + 5,000 ft2 of Microsoft Makers = 100% Goodness
We had an amazing time at Maker Faire this year. It's always so much fun to interact with folks - show all the cool stuff you can build with our tools/technologies, and also get a better understanding of what types of projects people are making.
As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so check it out if you weren't able to attend:
Maker Faire 2007 Official Poster
Quick Facts
- Dates: Saturday and Sunday May 19th – 20th, 2007
- Location: San Mateo Fairgrounds, San Mateo, CA
- Admission: $15 adults
- Website: http://www.makerfaire.com
- Video of Phil Torrone & Bre Pettis talking about Maker Faire 2007
What is Maker Faire?
- Maker Faire is a two-day family-friendly event celebrating science and technology projects and the Do-It-Yourself mindset.
- Maker Faire is being produced by our partners at Make Magazine, an O'Reilly publication and this is the 2nd year that Microsoft has been a sponsor.
What is Microsoft doing there?
The "Microsoft Makers" and our partners will be showcasing innovative applications of our products and technologies specifically geared toward hobbyists, technology enthusiasts, and tinkerers. The projects include things like:
- Programmable hardware projects using the Visual Studio Express Editions:
- Games developed with XNA Game Studio Express:
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Head Banger – A rhythm-based 3D music game hooked up to a webcam to allow the player’s face to be projected onto the main character. Created by Ganksoft Entertainment. |
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Garage Games Torque X engine which greatly simplifies XNA game development by allowing users to drag and drop game components. |
- Trossen Robotics creations including an automated Nerf Pellet Gun shooting gallery and airtube art displays.
- Microsoft Academic Relations Team - Student representatives from Stanford, Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, San Jose State and San Francisco State will be showing how they to apply theoretical concepts they learned in the class room to make real-world systems. Among the many student demos, will be a electromagnetic levitation feedback system, Project Tara and Marble Madness 3D games, and Break'n News a video camera and large screen display project to enable distributed corporate team collaboration via their break rooms.
- Beginner Developer Learning Center Hands-on Lab area to teach people how to write their first Windows application or Web site
- Windows Home Server helps families with multiple PCs easily centralize, share and protect their digital pictures, music, documents and videos. As a software platform Home Server presents great opportunity to software developers and system builders to deliver new solutions for the digital home. The Windows Home Server Code2Fame Challenge was introduced this week, offering cash prizes and recognition for developers of Windows Home Server hardware and software add-ins.
- Windows Live solutions:
- Windows Live Spaces allows hobbyists to share their treasure and adventures with people in their network that matter through a customized website. Check out the Maker Faire Spaces site!
- The Microsoft Virtual Earth platform is an integrated set of services that combines unique bird's eye, aerial, and 3D imagery with best-of-breed mapping, location and search functionality. Quickly and easily integrate your data into our mapping platform to create visually stunning, customized applications.
And much, much more!
Your favorite Coding4Fun authors (Brian Peek, Clint Rutkas) will be in attendance, and we'll also be running a Raffle with some great prizes like an Xbox 360, Home Theater System and Plasma TV!
