Maker Faire Austin, October 20-21

Once again Maker Faire is upon us, this time in Austin, Texas. Billed as the place to build, craft, hack, play, and featuring art, engineering, sustainable technology, music & science, the convention is put on by O’Reilly Media, publishers of MAKE and CRAFT magazines. Austin is a logical site for the convention. Home of SXSW and Keep Austin Weird, the city has long embraced an eclectic image that makes it unique in the U.S. It is rated the #2 most livable large city by Money, called America’s greenest city by MSN and its slogan is, “The Live Music Capital of the World.”

The convention will feature such attractions as the Swap-O-Rama-Rama recycled fashion show, King of the Fling catapult-building contest, electic musical performances, Food Maker (“Edible Austin”), a magnetic mini-submersible, RoboSpinArt, Bigger Better Hula Hoops, a Diet Coke & Mentos fountain show, daily rocket launches sponsored by Estes-Cox, countless circuit bending and robotics projects, and a million other things to do and see and make. While many if not most activities might appeal to the average GeekKid, one especially jumped out at me: “Engineering Activities for Kids” put on by the ASCE. Also, now-legendary GeekKid and iPhone-hacker George Hotz will be in attendance.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe GeekDad will have a booth at this Maker Faire (unlike the San Mateo faire earlier this year) but hopefully some of the attendees can get back to us with a report. Hey O’Reilly — can we have a Maker Faire in Minneapolis? We’re weird, in a Norwegian sort of way.

P.S: Check out this amusing Maker Faire Austin video from MAKE.

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