What struck me when I spoke with Ayah about her company littleBits is
people like Ayah are makers. To me makers are people who are making
products that will ...
Ayah Bdeir is an engineer and interactive artist who does not believe in boundaries set by disciplines or cultures. With an upbringing between Lebanon, Canada and the US, Bdeir’s work uses experimental tools to look at deliberate and subconscious representations of identity.
littleBits is a system of electronic parts for play and prototyping. Designed for children, artists, or anyone shy about soldering, littleBits make electronics easy, fun, fast and accessible. Ayah Bdeir talks about her simple and intriguing system of magnetically connected, expandable electronics.
The Open Hardware Summit will be a venue to discuss and draw attention to the vibrant open source hardware movement currently happening. The event is happening around MakerFaire NY, in partnership with Buglabs, MakerFaire, Creative Commons, littleBits, Eyebeam, Htink.
With an amazing lineup from academia, industry, DIY shop and open hardware stars, the event promises to be incredible. The lineup includes: Arduino, Sparkfun, Evil Mad Science, Adafruit, Make, NASA, MITre, Eyebeam, OHANDA, Creative Commons, Texas Instruments, DIYLILCNC, FSF and many others.
For the full schedule, please visit: www.openhardwaresummit.org/schedule. Tickets are at $40, and $25 for students, artists and non-profits. Tickets include breakfast, lunch, and cocktail, free one day pass to Maker Faire and a geeky goodiebag!
I am an Industrial Designer and Engineer who designs and develops connected technologies. While the digital and physical worlds are increasingly mediated by access to information, it is in their intersection that I see a space for thoughtful human-centered design solutions.
I am a futurist with a heavy respect for the past. I believe that struggle is satisfying and convenience is a slow death. I’ve learned that beautiful things grow out of nothing. I’ve been told that "I cannot save the world" and "I cannot be everyone’s hero." I believe bicycles, honesty, relentlessly developing a life passion, urban density and the internet are our ways out. I'm on a life mission to own nothing.
littleBits is an opensource library of discrete electronic components pre-assembled in tiny circuit boards. Just as Legos allow you to create complex structures with very little engineering knowledge, littleBits are simple, intuitive, space-sensitive blocks that make prototyping with sophisticated electronics a matter of snapping small magnets together. With a growing number of available modules, littleBits aims to move electronics from late stages of the design process to its earliest ones, and from the hands of experts, to those of artists, makers and designers.
