Ladyada To Be Featured In WIRED Magazine

ladyada_wired_cover

If you haven’t seen the news already, prolific maker [Limor Fried/Ladyada] is set to grace the cover of WIRED magazine in the upcoming April edition.

Not only is it a great day for the hacking/maker community as it puts a bright spotlight on the things we do every day, it’s a big day for female engineers as well. While WIRED has been around for 18 years as of this past January, this is the first time a female engineer has been featured on the cover. [Phillip Torrone] put it pretty well when he said, “She’s one of the most talented people in the world, she works harder than anyone else I know, she puts more value in the world than she takes.” – We couldn’t agree more, nor can we think of a better spokesperson to represent the community and inspire budding hackers around the world.

We would like to congratulate [Limor] on her accomplishment, and we encourage everyone to pick up a copy (or at least leaf through it at the bookstore) when it comes out.

If you’re still unconvinced as to how awesome she is, take a gander at some of her work we have featured in the past:

Kinect Open Source driver bounty

Non-lethal weaponry

The Wave Bubble

Minty Boost

51 thoughts on “Ladyada To Be Featured In WIRED Magazine

  1. i would like to be one of the first to say that i’m very proud of ms. ladyada of her accomplishments.

    now that the gender gap in science and engineering has been addressed, now the question of minorities in science and engineering not to mention the lack thereof in the underserved, impoverished communities, i.e. the inner city or ‘ghetto’ that do not have access to facilities, knowledge and equipment to do hacking/DIY.

    Sorry for that very long sentence, but while the Wired magazine and Hackaday usually focuses on those of European descent and Asians whether female or male.

    In short, where are the Black folks? There are many African-American scientists and engineers out there. And many of their inventions have contributed to society.

    The man that created the ‘super soaker’ water gun, Lonnie G. Johnson is Black. The man made chemicals out of peanut butter is Black, George Washington Carver. The man who invented the first video-game system, Jerry Lawson, is Black.

    Black Hackers where are they? No, I’m not saying that Hackaday and Wired are biased.

    But, the elephant is in the room, and it’s about time we mentioned he was there.

    I wish Ladyada all the blessings in the world.

  2. WAIT A MINUTE? Is that really her in the picture?

    No offense to her, of course, but how much makeup and photoshopping did this picture get? I have seen her in videos, she looks nothing like that picture!

  3. Wow, as someone who has seen her in person: that photo is absurdly airbrushed. Way to send a great message, Wired; I bet you tried to get her into a bikini first?

    Also: am I the only one not impressed with her work? It’s like her sole mission in life is to find out new and exciting ways to use electronics to piss off the general populace.

    Cell phone jammers that almost got her kicked out of MIT ( http://www.ladyada.net/pub/research.html ), then she progressed to TV-Be-Gone. And then she made one of those nausea-inducing lights.

    Lady Ada: enabling Aspergers patients since 2004…

  4. Wow, where did her lip ring and earrings go?
    She deserves more than being on the cover of WIRED. She is an inspiration and a great supporter of the maker/hacker community.

  5. @Kyle, Robert, et al.

    Apparently, not much airbrush. Here’s PHillip Torrone’s response to the photoshop critics.

    “hi reece, that’s not accurate. i was at the photo shoot with limor and jill greenberg the photographer uses light and camera unlike anyone i’ve ever seen, her images are amazing and almost glisten – the wired photo is very very close the original, the background was changed to red and the tool in limor’s hand was added (it was a wrench). but other than that – when you have lighting, makeup and really dramatic lighting, this is how photos (can) look – i love it, i think it looks great and captured the moment perfectly.”

  6. >> thats not exactly what she looks like

    And now you should be thinking “maybe those models on the cover of the SI swimsuit issue don’t really look like that either.”

  7. Kinda wish the discussion was not revolving around how she looks on the magazine cover…

    I guess I missed the Bedazzler that she made! I wonder how hard it would be to make it more into a disco ball and fire the lights randomly? Wrong topic for that I guess ;)

  8. To me, the airbrushing/camera&light tricks/makeup/etc is a big deal, I want to see what a girl REALLY looks like, not what she could look like all painted up and altered in every way. Reality is much better IMO. I’m assuming this how everyone else feels too, which is why its such a big topic of discussion.

  9. “the wired photo is very very close the original”

    Im sorry, but lighting can never make an uneven complexion look like that. I don’t want to be rude to ladyada, but its simply not possible.

  10. “it’s a big day for female engineers as well.”

    Why? Did a female engineer other than Limor Fried do something exceptional today to justify this comment?

    Limor Fried not only made the cover of WIRED(a prestigious honor IMHO), but she’s one of very few women engineers to have done so.

    Is this somehow supposed to mark the end of an era of female engineer oppression or some bullshit of that nature?

    @captain

    Do you have a coherent suggestion on how to solve this “problem” that isn’t blatantly racist?

    Throwing money at the problem has not, and will not fix it.

    Affirmative action has not, and will not address the issue.

    If you can make a color and gender blind proposal for how to solve issues of opportunity and self efficacy I will support it whole heartedly.

    “Leveling the playing field” by handicapping the game is bullshit to the nth degree.

    The demographic information is deceptive. I grew up in a logging town with 20% unemployment. The statistics on this demographic are equally depressing as inner city schools.

    Here’s the bonus: since the “minority” demographic(which is based on a genetic fallacy) makes up a disproportionate percentage of people lacking in opportunities, if you target poor people in general, the result will be largely the same without fanning the flames of bigotry.

    Two wrongs don’t make a right. This animal farm indoctrinated bullshit is double think and I want no part in it. It’s one of the more minor reasons on a long list of why I want to GTFO of this country ASAP.

    I’m color blind. That’s my only obligation as a human. Every time my taxes start being used against me in the form of protected classes, I become more and more callous about the plight of said classes.

    Idiots like the OP make unnecessary little quips about equality and then wonder why trolls like Captain come out of the woodwork and stir up shit with their racial/gender politics pet project wedge issues.

    Meanwhile, the villains who caused this global recession are sailing off in to the sunset sitting on a pile of money with American retirement savings/global investors written all over it.

    Congressional investigation? Fat chance! Clearly they estimated correctly when they calculated the attention span of the electorate and their ability to get sidetracked by wedge issues.

  11. Very cool
    My multimeter and solder wick just came in the mail today, bought off of her recommended list. Since I’m just getting started, her tutorials and hack a day convinced me, yeah I can do that too. Thanks.

  12. @captain – who cares what ethnicity or sex you are? I’ve had things featured on HAD and I’m sure they have no idea what “color” I am.

    Maybe we shouldn’t be judged by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character… Wait, I think somebody said that before.

    1. @all,
      Lets stay on track here please. Congrats to Ladyada (yes, publications adjust images). All the other stuff about politics and bias are starting to stray a little. The subject of class/race/sex in modern culture is a very complicated issue and deserves to be discussed in detail… elsewhere. Lets just hack some stuff and celebrate fellow hackers.

  13. Why not discuss it here? Sure there will be some negative and I could make a couple of comments about Golden Girl, but for the moment am just glad that unbelievable piece of human dna dumpster, Xeni Jardin isn’t the cover girl :) Ha ha “Jenny”.

  14. @captain Who cares? Really I don’t care what ethnic group or gender anybody that posts a hack is. Heck most of the time I have no idea who posts the hack. If Ladyada had used a handle like my wife does of scribbler I would have no clue that she was a she or a he.
    Frankly I think it shows bias that we make a big deal out Ladyada being a women. I just think it is cool that someone that I have read so much about on Hackaday is on the cover of a mainstream publication even if it is one as bad as Wired.
    So stop the gender and race war crap.
    Good show Ladyada you are a good representative of the hacking/making community.

  15. Congrats to Limor!

    I’m a customer of hers, I’ve heard her talk in person, and she’s inspired me to start my own DIY electronics business. Her continued involvement in the DIY and Open Source community should be highlighted and praised.

    Regardless of gender, regardless of pictures, she is an inspiration and her accomplishments are outstanding on their own.

  16. @lwatcdr: just because I mention the ‘digital divide’ between the haves and have-nots (most of the have-nots being minorities) in science and engineering, you accuse me of:

    “gender and race war crap”?

    Your wife has a really mature spouse.

    Nuff said.

  17. I’ve known Limor for years, and credit her for introducing me to a intelligent group of people who I learned many things from. I grew in many positive ways thanks to her friendship. Though we don’t talk often these days its great to see her educating and creating.

    Its fantastic that she made the Wired cover as we need more positive female role models in the Engineering and IT communities.

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