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DailyDirt: Open Source Hardware For Fun... And For The Preservation Of Civilization?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Mon, Jun 20th 2011 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Hacking (or even just repairing) proprietary hardware can be a frustrating experience. Fortunately, there are more than a few folks developing open source hardware projects of all kinds -- from mobile phone kits to various kinds of heavy machinery for farming. If you know of any other cool open source hardware projects, feel free to discuss them in the comments.

The HexBright is an open source flashlight that lets users recharge and reprogram this flashlight over USB. It ain't cheap to pre-order one from Kickstarter, but you could always build your own.... [url]
TED Fellow Marcin Jakubowski has been working to create 50 open source blueprints for farm machinery -- aiming to help build self-sustaining villages for about $10,000. Pretty soon, they'll probably need to open source the seeds they'll plant, too. [url]
The 2nd Annual Open Hardware Summit is accepting submissions for its gathering on September 15th, 2011 in New York City. The deadline for submissions is coming up soon -- June 24th. [url]
To discover more interesting tech-related content, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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Filed Under: farming, flashlight, open source hardware
Companies: kickstarter, ted

7 Comments

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Rekrul, 20 Jun 2011 @ 8:31pm

Pretty soon, they'll probably need to open source the seeds they'll plant, too.

I'm sure Monsanto won't allow that...
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Ben (profile), 20 Jun 2011 @ 9:15pm

Open source hardware
Openmoko was a (now somewhat defunct) open hardware cell-phone, but an open-source 3D printer at reprap.org is alive and doing well.
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Michael Ho (profile), 20 Jun 2011 @ 10:37pm

Re: Open source hardware
Open source cell phones seem doomed, though, since users still need a wireless service provider for the phone to run on.

More open source home appliances would be nice -- there's really no good reason for every refrigerator/dishwasher/microwave manufacturer to create their own proprietary hardware...
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JoGnet.nl, 20 Jun 2011 @ 11:49pm

Overview open / copyleft hardware
See Qi hardware:
-> http://projects.qi-hardware.com/
-> http://en.qi-hardware.com/
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JoGnet.nl, 20 Jun 2011 @ 11:52pm

More open-source hardware
Wikipedia -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_hardware
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ANdy, 16 Aug 2011 @ 2:34am

Open Source comes with a nasty backside
I think OpenSource comes with a nasty backside to it. It reveals it's code to potential hackers that could use it for their own advantage to take over systems. Although I love that so many people can contribute to a project. I'm looking at Android and.. just wow! Amazing OS for mobile phones!
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William, 9 Oct 2013 @ 10:32pm

Blue Prints for Farm Machinery
I like the idea of the blue prints for farm machinery to help build self sustaining villages. That really sounds like a worth while project to continue with. Unless the huge petrochemical companies find out and buy it out. http://tinyurl.com/civilconstructionmachinery Handy if it works for the machinery industry all round I think.
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