Cheap Make : Technology on Your Time - 15 Month Subscription (Magazine) Price

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Customer Reviews of Make : Technology on Your Time - 15 Month Subscription

3.5 stars
This magazine is interesting, but check it out in the store before you subscribe. Many of the projects are costly and of little use. If you happen to have the tools and supplies on hand, it's worthwhile to check out. If you do not already make things and have access to lots of equipment to help you make things, there are other sources on the web that provide kits that will get you started with much less fuss. Most of the stuff in the issues dealing with various types of 'hacks' are interesting, but again expensive, and you can find most of those sources on the web.

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This quarterly magazine really hits the spot, if you're in its crosshairs. It's a clean miss for others. <
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>It's pretty easy to tell whether you're in the target audience. Do you have a closet full of decommisioned PCs, cell phones, and other 21st-century rubble that you just know you could do "something" with? Do you have a Dremel tool, fine-tipped soldering iron, and more than one kind of epoxy in the house? Do the phrases "It works" and "It's beautiful" mean roughly the same thing to you? Does the idea of a home CNC milling machine stir you to jealousy or a quick look at your checkbook? Two or more yes answers probably qualify you as the intended reader. <
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>This is about hacking your PC mouse or the cage for your pet mouse, about resurrecting last year's laptop as an electronic photo frame, and about how simple a robot control can be (you'd be surprised). It's like Popular Mechanics, but for the people who consider software, resistors, and pieces from antique clocks to be interchangeable. Although a few of the ideas in each issue have low-tech appeal, most are aimed at skill sets from "geeky highschooler" to "electronics professional". <
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>This magazine comes from O'Reilly, the publisher who fills the bookshelves of dilbertian cube farms everywhere. In some ways, this looks like a self-concious attempt at community-building, creating a forum for home robot-builders and artisans of the silicon age. Well, maybe that's not a bad thing - the communities are out there, but not easy for a beginner to find or to break into. It also helps that the the minimal advertising (part of the reason for the hefty cover price) is well targeted to the electronic and gadgeteering hobbyist. The title is only up to issue number 6 at this writing, so I'm not sure that it's wholly found itself yet. For example, I would have preferred a schematic for some of the circuits in addition to the assembly instructions. Still, with a scriptwriter from MacGyver, there's a lot to like here - for the right reader. <
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>//wiredweird

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No true geek should be without a subscription
This fine magazine is a cross between WIRED, American Woodworker, Popular Mechanics and Scientific American. Each issue features four very detailed DIY projects, along with short descriptions and general guides to a few others. Combined with the DIY info, there is the usual mix of opinion articles, political commentary, news summaries, letters, articles about crazy DIY-folk, etc. <
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>The four "core" DIY projects in each issue include step-by-step instructions, full parts lists and extensive photos (or screenshots). All parts lists also include sources, which is important in an age where the parts department of Radio Shack just isn't what it used to be. <
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>The projects featured in each issue are usually funky, weird, stuff that only a tiny fraction of the readers will actually build. As another reviewer said, most of the projects are simply not that useful. However, just because the projects aren't exactly useful doesn't mean they aren't cool. Will I ever build a timed cat feeder powered by a castoff VCR and a recycled hand-crank meat grinder? No. Do I think that the idea of recycling the motors and control circuits to do such a thing is neat? Of course, and any "real" geek would agree. <
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>Most electronic projects assume basic soldering skills (an introduction to soldering is available in Vol 1), and most computer projects natrually involve more skill than just booting the machine. <
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>Outside of the "core" projects in each issue, the "DIY" section features a bunch of abbreviated project summaries, with the expectation you will have to scrounge some of your own parts, and be able to read a schematic diagram. A geeky friend could probably help you out with those if you are in over your head. <
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>Yes, this magazine is expensive. $34.95/yr for four issues sounds like a lot. However, the ads are far less intrusive than they would be in a cheaper magazine, the articles better written, and to make it suitable for use in an actual workshop, it is printed on sturdy bond paper and bound with a cardstock cover. <
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>As with any magazine, some issues and some articles are better than others, but on the whole, the quality of the magazine is quite high. <
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>Many have said that most of the tutorials in the magazine can be found on the web in various forms, scattered about. That is completely true. Nevertheless, it is convenient to have the information in a fairly well-tested magazine that has the added advantage of being on paper. <
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>In summary, if the sort of topics covered in MAKE interest you, I know of no other magazine on the market that is better.