be inventive!

Geeking out: Playing with all the tech toys at the GE Garages in the RiceUniversity pop-up stop

At the GE Garages, you get to play with the high-tech tools.
Photo by Karen Labuca
Cool stuff you've never seen before? Check.
Photo by Karen Labuca
Rice University unveiled its art car as well.
Photo by Karen Labuca
Photo by Karen Labuca
Photo by Karen Labuca
Photo by Karen Labuca
Photo by Karen Labuca
Photo by Karen Labuca
Photo by Karen Labuca
Photo by Karen Labuca
Photo by Karen Labuca

Now here's the type of event that deserved more hype: GE Garages. Who would've thought a tech pop-up shop would be so fun?

Located right on the edge of Rice University, by the school's football stadium, GE setup shop with three main attractions. The main event? Shipping containers transformed into a manufacturing site with everything from a laser cutter to a 3D printer to a molding machine.

Originally introduced in Austin at SXSW, these garages hit the road to educate.

But before you could even reach the entrance, Rice had its centennial art car on display during its last stage of development in order to gear up for next Saturday's parade. The car has been welded with repurposed pans and includes a Rice owl on the front.

You could also check out a welding worskhop, enclosed for anyone who wanted to help make additional campus bike racks.

Originally introduced in Austin at SXSW, these garages hit the road to educate and have teamed up with major companies — Quirky, TechShop, Skillshare and Autodesk. The two-week pit-stop in Houston just ended. Up next: San Francisco.

GE's aim is to bring technology enthusiasts together and excite the local community to learn about the latest, cutting-edge equipment that's shaping the future of manufacturing and design. The company also wants to promote and celebrate inventors, entrepreneurs or any aspiring builder who wants to dive into innovation.

You could take a guided tour and make your way to the machines, setup all around the tent, to get to work.

Up first, The Makerbot 3D printer. Primarily used for rapid prototyping and the creation of plastic objects from CAD (computer-aided design) files.

"You just insert an SD card on the side of the printer and the downloaded file will blow up from the ground up with ABS plastic," tour guide Cassandra Castaneda told me. Just for kicks, a Pokemon Pikachu was in the process of coming to life. I frequently walked back and forth to check out the finished product.

All this tech talk may seem like a foreign language to some, but each station had an expert on-hand just in case you became overwhelmed.

Now on to the Epilog Helix 24 Laser Cutter. The device outputs files from CAD and is able to cut or engrave a wide range of materials from wood to sheet metal.

"This cutter basically focuses on the amount of light and heat to etch. It lays down dots to form the image," Conor Landenberger of TechShop demonstrated. "It's accessible because you can take any image you want and in no time your project is done. It's great for small businessmen.

"To adjust any preferences you can easily play with the power, BPI, speed and bed size."

All you need is a customized image on Adobe Illustrator and the cutter automatically links to your computer.

You could also sit in the mini-classroom just a few steps away. Each day brought a different schedule. My session consisted of a lesson and Q&A from John Barton of Autodesk. Autodesk is a software used to easily design, visualize and manipulate tangible objects or ideas waiting to come to life.

"It's a creative way for structures to have a nice finish," Barton added.

Just another day in the tech garage.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”