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"Maker Media Inc ceased operations this week and let go of all of its employees — about 22 employees" founder and CEO Dale Dougherty told TechCrunch. "I started this 15 years ago and it's always been a struggle as a business to make this work. Print publishing is not a great business for anybody, but it works...barely. Events are hard . . . there was a drop off in corporate sponsorship." Microsoft and Autodesk failed to sponsor this year's flagship Bay Area Maker Faire.
But Dougherty is still desperately trying to resuscitate the company in some capacity, if only to keep MAKE:'s online archive running and continue allowing third-party organizers to license the Maker Faire name to throw affiliated events. Rather than bankruptcy, Maker Media is working through an alternative Assignment for Benefit of Creditors process.
"We're trying to keep the servers running" Dougherty tells me. "I hope to be able to get control of the assets of the company and restart it. We're not necessarily going to do everything we did in the past but I'm committed to keeping the print magazine going and the Maker Faire licensing program." The fate of those hopes will depend on negotiations with banks and financiers over the next few weeks. For now the sites remain online.
LINK:
https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/07/make-magazine-maker-media-layoffs/
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Monday June 10 2019, @12:38AM (5 children)
Wait till you need three different pairs of glasses there sonny. For me, a magazine is an exercise in finding just the right squint and just the right eye to page distance. Yeah, I know, I'm an anecdote. Get off my lawn anyway.
(Score: 2) by EJ on Monday June 10 2019, @02:15AM (4 children)
Nope. Won't happen. I'm nearsighted. I specifically rejected that silly eye surgery nonsense. I have a single pair of glasses just like my 70+ father.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 10 2019, @02:56AM
WOW, you're lucky! A 70+ father. He must have a lot of enchantments on him and be one hell of a dad.
Most people only get a bog-standard father, +1 or +2. Some poor buggers even get a cursed -1 or -2 one.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Monday June 10 2019, @04:08AM (2 children)
Also nearsighted and no surgery. You're lucky to need only one pair of glasses. I have pairs for 18" or less, 18" to 20', and 20' to infinity.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 10 2019, @04:44AM
Sadly, I did get the surgery. Been regretting it for a decade now. Sure, I can see 20/20, so couldn't sue. But 20/20 only means I can figure out what the letter is at 20 feet. It doesn't mean I see it clearly. I see double, in each eye by itself. It's frequency dependent. Greens are the worst. Red is clear. Look up at night and see three moons (One bright, two ghostly) The left eye sees a left shifted double, the right eye sees a down shifted double.
As for glasses, I see just fine for driving (except for the weird multiple green lights, that is.) But need one set of glasses for reading, another set for computer work. They wanted to fix one eye for reading and leave the other one for driving, but hell no.
Glasses can't fix the double vision.
I have the kindle. It's ok. I prefer to read using my laptop (Calibre, with DRM busting tools), where I have finer controls over the font, brightness and contrast. But honestly, actual paper books are best. Post-it tab placeholders, notes in the margins, dog-eared corners, then leave behind for my kids to discover. Can't do that on my electo-fancy doohickies.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by EJ on Monday June 10 2019, @07:22AM
My glasses work about 2' to infinity. My eyes work fine to about 24" though I can see reasonably well enough to identify people 10' away.
I can still see very well up close without my glasses even in my 40s. My mother is so mad because she used to be like me until she had her cataract surgery and they "fixed" her vision. Now she has perfect 20/20 or better at a distance, but needs reading glasses. Most of her day is spent reading books or using her tablet. She said she would rather they had put in "nearsighted" lenses when they fixed her cataracts.