Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment – Buddha.
It’s that time of year, time to predict what’s going to happen. For me, prediction is just talking about stuff I’m doing now that’s too out there to be interesting to more than a few people. Five and 10 year predictions are fun, but I’m going to stick to next year. The following is a list of things I think we’ll see more of in 2012. In the list, I cover: drones, wearables, the Internet of things, Arduino, Kinect, 3D printing, hackerspaces, and crowd funding. This is all meant to be a fun conversation starter. Post up your predictions and thoughts in the comments. In one year, we’ll check back and see how we did. :) Drone journalism 
In 2011, the “person of the year” was the protester. What’s 2012 going to have? More protests and ways to cover them. Low-cost, citizen made UAVs will make appearances. The operators will be first on the scene, to protests and to the natural disasters. Drone Journalism. To watch, stream, record, report, sense and to watch the watchers. The cellphone video cameras from the street will have wings.
Wearables 
From FitBits to JawBone UPs, the next great interface frontier is away from the ubiquitous touch screen on our phones, to our bodies. From things to help us track our sleep to electronic jewelry – electronics are small and cheap, skin real estate is going on the market. There will be a dozen “smart watches” that will try to live on your wrist. The gadget makers and fashion industry will start to employ many of the innovations and interesting technologies first starting in maker communities and hackerspaces. Internet of things 
The glue for devices to talk to each other is getting pretty sticky. Everything will have an IP addresses, everything will “talk.” Net-connected thermostats and Kickstarter products will do all the little things better, easier, and on the web. Your clothes dryer will finally text you when it’s done, and it will be cause you, yes you, easily put a few devices together to do this — and it just “worked.” An open-source Pachube might make an appearance.
Arduino hits 1 million units 
The “Internet of things” requires that glue I was talking about, and that’s Arduino, the little open source hardware platform that was made for designers, will hit 1 million units shipped by the end of 2012. If you have an idea like empowering your plants to call you when they need water, you’re going to use an Arduino to get started. Turns out, everyone has a million ideas to make things better. And now they can realize those ideas. It won, it’s here to stay.
World “Kinect’ed” 
Microsoft continues to build a giant business around the Kinect (hacks) – in November of 2012 it will be two years after the open source, robotics, art, and design communities innovated and created amazing examples of what can be done with an open-style Kinect. We’ll see a higher resolution version of the Kinect that will change gaming, desktop interactions, and the hackers and makers will lead the way again with cool projects.
3D printing 
Speaking of 3D printing, MakerBot got $10m in 2011 and Shapeways is opening up a facility in NYC. This will make New York the world capital of 3D printing. We’ll also see more acquisitions of 3D printing companies as they all move towards low-cost printers for everyone. We’ll start to see more and more of them, and this, of course, will cause some good problems. I think Autodesk is going to buy or build a low-cost 3D printer company in 2012. MakerBot, Shopbot, Techshop, companies that end in a ‘bot sound.
More libraries become Hackerspaces 
In 2012 we’ll see and hear about dozens of libraries specifically moving towards “hackerspaces.” Community areas with lots of space and eager makers will come together after a few successful pilot programs work out. The cranky people who didn’t think computers belonged in the library will sound like the next round of cranky people who do not think 3D printers belong in libraries either.
Crowd funding 
The first stop on the next big idea will be sites like Kickstarter. One of the top projects this year was Printrbot, a DIY-style 3D printer – it received $830,827 in funding. As makers turn pro, VC (venture funding) will seem less attractive than getting their biggest fans to support them directly. Even the government is making it easier to raise money crowd-funding style.
“Merit badges” for modern skills 
The world is changing so fast that new skills are required faster than traditional education facilities can create and deliver curriculum. In 2012, we’ll see many efforts to reward and celebrate quickly-learned modern skills. The Girl Scouts are adding new badges such as “Money Manager, Budgeting, Financing My Future, and Good Credit” and there’s more… “For Job Hunters, Digital Merit Badges” – Digital Badges May Highlight Job Seekers’ Skills @ NYTimes.com
Now the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is putting millions of dollars into a competition to spur interest in a new type of badge — one that people can display not on their clothing but on a Web site, blog, or Facebook page while they are looking for a job.
When kids play Xbox, they strive to be on the leader boards for high scores. In 2012, we’ll see learning skills earned as a scoring system, too.
Got predictions? Are mine completely bonkers for 2012? I’d like to close out with one more quote… Everyone here has the sense that right now is one of those moments when we are influencing the future – Steve Jobs
Post up in the comments!  
2011 was an important year for hackerspaces, with many new spaces being founded and existing spaces growing in membership and in capabilities. The MAKE blog covered this important part of the maker scene throughout the year. Here were some of our best posts.
#10 
Store Front Music: The DIY Edition — Store Front Music is a great project hackerspace CRASH Space L.A. created to let passers-by interact with the space via a musical instrument triggered by ultrasonic sensors.
#9 Mitch Altman Talks About The Hackerspace Movement — The Johnny Appleseed of hackerspaces, MAKE friend Mitch Altman talks up the scene. #8 
SpeedBall Transatlantic Balloon at Maker Faire Detroit — Louisville, KY, space LVL1 is working on a transatlantic balloon project, and brought it to Maker Faire Detroit to show off.
#7 
What Does it Mean to be a Woman Hackerspace Member? — The hackerspace scene is mostly male. How can we get more women involved? We got all sorts of responses to this one, ranging from the thoughtful to the indignant.
#6 
A History of the Hackerspace Movement, Circa 2008 — Hackerspace pioneers assembled a book describing the scene in its (relative) infancy. Most of 2011′s hackerspaces weren’t even around then.
#5 The Bureaucrat – A Hackerspace Passport Date-Stamping Machine — As hackerspaces spring up in (seemingly) every city, folks are visiting spaces when they’re in town. To keep track of these visits, they’re bringing “hackerspace passports” along with to get stamped. This project, “The Bureaucrat,” takes the work out of stamping by doing it automatically! #4 
Mitch Altman's Hacker Trip to Egypt — Mitch continues his seemingly endless pilgrimage by visiting Cairo Hackerspace in Egypt.
#3 
Make: Live Hackerspace Roadshow — Make: Live visits five hackerspaces around the world, checking out the scene and the spaces’ cool projects.
#2 
Hackerspace Happenings: MAKE Interviews Tokyo's Akiba — We interview Tokyo Hackerspace cofounder Akiba and hear about what his group is doing to help earthquake victims in Japan.
#1 
Libraries Create Hackerspaces — Could this be the next wave of hackerspaces, and of libraries? Combine the two!
 
It’s tonight! Make: Live‘s Best of 2011 show looks back at our favorite episodes from the very first season. Go behind the scenes with us for some of our most memorable moments– from goofs and gaffes to last minute surprises and change ups. And don't miss the best of robots, blinky LEDs, fires & explosions, electronics and giant mobile contraptions. It’s a whole year of making condensed to 30 minutes of nonstop unbridled joy– don’t miss it! We also give away a fabulous prize from Digi-Key to one chat member who can solve our photo challenge. This week you could win: Make: Live 23: Best of Make: Live 2011
Wednesday December 28th, 9pm ET/6pm PT
Watch at makezine.com/live or on UStream
Please join us in the UStream chat or mark tweets with #makelive to interact live with the show. Want to show us your project? Upload a video or photos and send a link to live@makezine.com. 
It’s been a big year here at the Maker Shed. This has been our best year on record and we’ve shipped thousands of orders to makers all over the world! Ever wonder what our top products are? Below are the Top 10 items shipped from the Maker Shed in 2011. #10 
Make: Electronics Components Pack 2 – The second component pack from the wildly popular Make: Electronics series has all the parts you need to complete chapters 3 & 4 in Make Electronics. #9 
Make: Electronics – This wonderfully written book by author Charles Platt takes the mystery out of electronics and teaches you in a fun, experimental way. It’s the perfect way to get started in electronics, even if you have no idea what a resistor is! #8 
Minty Boost USB Charger Kit – This handy charger gives your power hungry gadgets a much needed boost. It’s simple, small, incredibly useful, and it fits into a mint tin!
#7 
Make: Electronics Components Pack 1 – The first component pack in the Make: Electronics series. It includes everything you need to complete the experiments from chapters 1 & 2 of Make: Electronics. We’ve spend countless hours sourcing these components so you don’t have to! #6 
Learn to Solder Skill Badge Kit – Thousands of people learn to solder at Maker Faires all over the country using this kit. It’s simple, fun, and teaches you the basics of soldering. Plus, it’s flashy and you get to tell everyone who sees it that you made it yourself! #5 
Mintronics Survival Pack – This handy components collection is perfect for prototyping on the go or for a quick electronics fix. It contains over 60 components all packaged in a mint tin, ready to help out at a moment’s notice. #4 
MakerShield Kit – Our #1 top selling Arduino Shield, this is what we consider to be the best prototyping shield available for both the Arduino and Netduino. It’s selectable for 5 or 3.3 volts, has 2 LEDs, a potentiometer, a user definable button, a reset button, ICSP headers, and plenty of prototyping space so you can solder your own circuits or use a mini-breadboard (sold separately.) #3 
Deluxe Breadboard Jumper Wires – Whether you use them with breadboards or plug them directly into your microcontroller, you can never have too many jumper wires! These wires are extra flexible and have smooth, round ends so they slide perfectly into breadboards or headers. #2 
Getting Started with Arduino V3.0 – The name says it all. This kit contains everything you need to learn the basics of Arduino. It contains everything you need to follow along with the examples in Massimo Banzi’s Getting Started with Arduino, 2nd Edition book (not included.) It’s the perfect way to get started with Arduino! #1 
Arduino Uno – No surprise here! The Arduino is the absolute Maker Shed best seller. This little microcontroller has taken the world by storm for good reason; it’s easy to use, has an incredible community, and can be used for everything from blinking LEDs to controlling fuel injection systems. It’s like the Little Engine that Could… if the Little Engine were a microcontroller.  
Dino Segovis has posted his plans for making an Arduino-based New Year Mini Ball Drop LED Timer. You activate it with one minute left in the year and five LEDs inside ping pong balls simulate the dropping ball. At the stroke of midnight, a 2012 sign lights up as the trusty tone library plays Auld Lang Syne. So if you want to recreate the Times Square ball drop this New Year’s Eve without standing in the freezing cold among throngs of inebriated revelers, check out Dino’s latest creation!
 
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