What if you could use anything, for anything? Jay Silver decided he wanted to open up the world of innovation, so he created a device called the Makey Makey, funded through a kickstarter campaign, which allows just about anyone to hack everyday objects (literally anything that conducts any amount of electricity), essentially altering the functions of everyday objects. More incredibly, the Makey Makey costs only $50.
He created a whole movement of designs for some crazy things (list below), and he talks about that in the TED talk below. If Steve Jobs could see this, he would smile, knowing that his “Think Different” plea was heard.
These are all working inventions, made with the Makey Makey
- Mouse made out of two slices of pizza
- Keyboard Made out of a banana
- Plants that sound like bongos, and pianos
- Slideshows Controlled by a trampoline
His mission wasn’t just to create a $50 toy though. It was more fundamental. Silver wanted to inspire a spirit of hacking, and of not accepting everything at face value. Why can’t a hammer be used for anything but hammering? Take a look at an everyday object as if you’ve never seen it before, and you can think of a whole host of uses for it, beyond what we’ve accepted it does. Kudos to Mr. Silver. Watch his talk below, and check out the Makey Makey here.
