The Hackerspace Movement: Mitch Altman at TEDxBrussels

Mitch Altman has been putting together electronic hardware in his own unique style for nearly thirty years. He was an early virtual reality pioneer at VPL with Jaron Lanier and one of the very first Silicon Valley start-up founders, establishing RAID controller company 3Ware in 1997. Altman's latest role has been as a founder of the San Francisco hackerspace Noisebridge, where he helps people learn how to solder and program microcontrollers. Altman was a leading light of Maker Faire and Make magazine, designing their most popular kit, Trip Glasses, parting ways with them earlier this year in protest at their acceptance of a DARPA grant. (He also left VPL when the company started winning military contracts). His coolest invention is the TV-B-Gone, a one button remote control for shutting off TVs in public places.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)