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Our friendly journalist Gareth Halfacree recently attended the first Liverpool MakeFest event on our behalf, talking to the thronging crowds find out what's hot in the maker world at the minute. This series of Focus On features takes a look at some of the event's exhibitors, finding out what they're up to and what makes them tick.Located opposite Edge Hill's interactive art workshop on the top floor of the Liverpool Central Library, the Dark Water Foundation is drawing a crowd. Partly, that's thanks to the presence of vast quantities of Lego - "every time you see Lego, people are attracted,"...

Our friendly journalist Gareth Halfacree recently attended the first Liverpool MakeFest event on our behalf, talking to the thronging crowds find out what's hot in the maker world at the minute. This series of Focus On features takes a look at some of the event's exhibitors, finding out what they're up to and what makes them tick.Dressed in the blue uniform of the self-titled Edge Hill Geek Squad, a smiling Carl Simmons leads his team in the set-up of a table filled with what at first glance appears to be nothing more than laptops next to unfinished children's colouring sheets....

We're always eager to see what others in the maker community are up to, and although we didn't have our own stand at the inaugural Liverpool MakeFest this weekend we didn't want the event to go by unmarked: we sent tame journalist Gareth Halfacree along to document the launch of what we're hoping is going to prove an annual institution for makers around the Merseyside area.The MakeFest, held at Liverpool's stunning Central Library a short walk from Lime Street Station, is the brainchild of a two-person team: couple Mark Feltham and Caroline Keep. "It's a fun, free, family festival of...

The Arduino project has inspired uncountable makers throughout the world, powering everything from robots to games machines. To highlight some of the projects that have been born of Arduino technology we've asked roving reporter Gareth Halfacree to seek out some of these creations and talk to the people behind the build to get their stories. If you have a story to tell, contact Gareth and he'd be thrilled to chat to you too.Dan Hett's job with the Research & Development division of the BBC suggests a lifetime of learning, but like many makers there's little by way of a formal...

We've mentioned before our love of small-scale manufacturing techniques, from homebrew creations like Brian Dorey's hand-soldering robot and our own resistor-cutting robot to workflows like that used by Sandy Noble to create the PolargraphSD. There's still this belief in much of the maker community, though, that commercially purchased manufacturing equipment is big, bulky, and entirely unsuitable for anything but the largest of industrial uses - something the technology markets of China are happy to prove wrong. Phang Moh of Malaysian open-hardware concern Rocket Scream recently demonstrated that with a visit to Neoden Technology, creators of a desktop pick-and-place machine designed...