Open Hardware and Shareable Design News
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-02-28 08:22:07 UTC
- Modified: 2014-02-28 08:22:48 UTC
Summary: Recent news about hardware that can be modified and it permissive in that regard
SkyNet
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At the former Wired editor’s start-up, 3D Robotics, open-source robots take to the skies
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In the meantime, he’s hard at work on a new project called SkyNet Firmware, which will run on the open source Arduino circuit boards, devices you can use to build all sorts of computerized gadgets. “The idea is that you can load SkyNet Firmware on any Arduino compatible device or board,” he says. “The Arduino connects to SkyNet and just waits for commands.” This would let you attach almost anything to SkyNet.
3D Printers
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At the forefront of the 3D printing boom for consumers is MakerBot, whose Linux-based Replicator printers sell for between $1,300 and $3,000 and are small enough to sit on your desktop. Their MakerWare design software runs on any platform and the Thingiverse online community allows more than 13,000 users to download or upload designs in an open source, collaborative model for do-it-yourself manufacturing, according to a sponsored post in The Atlantic.
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So far, in short, I can describe 3D printing as: Building an object, by depositing layers, and creating every layer by drawing it with melted plastic. The key to understanding 3D printing, and thus learning how to do it better, is to think about the objects as a stack of layers. Then, consider how the layers will look like as they are being stacked.
Charles Babcock's Series of Articles
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References to Linux come up naturally because it is one of the most successful, sustained, and adopted open-source software projects. New releases of the Linux kernel now appear every 70 days. Each contains up to 10,000 updates and patches, a rate of change that equals 7.14 an hour. Linux's fame rests not on the fact that it's frequently modified. Rather, it's frequently modified and also respected as having a long-term future in the enterprise datacenter. The way things are shaping up, it also very likely has a permanent place in cloud architectures.
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Facebook, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, and other leading IT users think the open-source movement is ready to shake up the hardware industry the way Linux did in software.
Misc.
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Intel announced a Developer Program for IoT, which will offer 5,000 Arduino-compatible Galileo SBC-based IoT development kits, plus hackathons with prizes.
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AS you may know, just few weeks ago OSHWA published the results from 2013 Open Hardware Community survey. You can find original datasheets and everything here. Despite raw data is good, I thought it was good to spend some time looking at the data trying to gather more insights, when possible, still keeping in mind that the survey samples a very limited and polarized (OSHWA centric) chunk of the community. But we need to start from something in a way.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Evri (HermesUK) is Now Run by Bots and Hallucinating Scammers
- Years ago they virtually removed support and tried chatbots instead
- Clown Storage Without Backups
- Setting up several reliable copies of the data, plus several off-site backups (this data is nowhere as sensitive as medical data), should only cost a few grand
- FreeCAD is Becoming Slop-ware, Use LibreCAD Instead
- It has regular releases and "Qt5 is mandatory" now [...] they at least audit what they add
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- GNU/Linux in Ecuador and Colombia: Growing, Still Below International Average
- locals turn away from Windows and try GNU/Linux instead
- IBM is Dead or Dying. Now It Asks Workers to 'Resign' Voluntarily.
- To save face, to pretend no layoffs are happening (as it might alarm shareholders) [...] We keep hearing more and more stories like that
- Links 18/08/2026: Sergey Brin Controlling State Policies, "Dario Amodei's (Anthropic) Wife Is Closely Linked to Jeffrey Epstein"
- Links for the day
- SBS News Interviews Daniel Pocock
- The locals say this PR stunt (by the bigot, Farage) was a waste of money
- Clownflare Sees One in 7 Web Requests in Libya Originating From GNU/Linux
- GNU/Linux has taken a (foot)hold there
- Openwashing and Manifestos Composed in Private by Dictators With Deliberately Addictive (and Subsidised, Bundled) 'Tech'
- It's long, so make a cuppa first
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 153 Out of 200: Decades of Debt, Weaponising Borrowed Money to Try to Put Their Critics in Debt
- they've always had a financial report by now
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 17, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, August 17, 2026
- Gemini Links 18/08/2026: Solar Power, Kipple and Impermanence, Catastrophe Ethics
- Links for the day
- Less Technology, More Life
- Technology is being associated (sometimes rightly) with physical and mental problems
- Google Search Has Gotten Worse (a Lot Worse)
- getting worse
- Birthday in 80 Days
- we'll start decorating and party online with our community
- Loans and Massive Debt at Microsoft, This Won't End Well.
- Microsoft running out of money to pay salaries (to the point of paying people for 'voluntary' layoffs) is a positive sign?
- Gemini Links 17/08/2026: Life in Plain Text, Mimicking KARL, Release of Jugulans, Avoiding Slop
- Links for the day
- Cuba and Venezuela High in Adoption of GNU/Linux
- some of the "communist" nations
- Links 17/08/2026: Myanmar’s Cholera Outbreak, China Sends Commercial Vessels Through Arctic
- Links for the day
- GAFAM Loyalty Has Come to an End, Morale Low, People Whose Future is Uncertain Choose to Become "Lifers"
- morale is low and there's no loyalty anymore
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 152 Out of 200: Injunctions Do Not Cover Criticism, They Have Scope
- self-incriminating communications
- Clownflare Sees About Quarter of Web Requests in Ireland Coming From GNU/Linux
- Well, in Ireland it seems like many people adopted GNU/Linux
- Clownflare: In Australia and New Zealand GNU/Linux Peaks at Over 10% During Working Hours
- That right there is interesting in its own right
- Slowing Down by Intention
- At the moment we have 6 or 7 ongoing series
- Gemini Links 17/08/2026: Chamboree, Partial Solar Eclipse, Lady Macbeth
- Links for the day
- Links 17/08/2026: "Bluesky Is Down Again!" and "Anti-Social Media"
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 16, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, August 16, 2026
- A Vortex of Beacons (or "Bluetooth Everywhere" Vision)
- If someone (or someones) calls you paranoid for taking about "beacon"-like functionality, there will be no lack of authoritative citations (e.g. Web links) they can be provided to prove them wrong
- Falkland Islands: GNU/Linux Elevated to 6%
- GNU/Linux usage seems to have increased a lot there
- Links 16/08/2026: Reading Outside, Going Offline More, and Art of Computer Programming
- Links for the day
- The Question of Patience
- Is there a lesson here somewhere?
- IBM May be Sued for Mass Layoffs Via PIPs
- Some whole threads (with all the long comments in them) recently got nuked by thelayoff.com
- Links 16/08/2026: Ceuta Reports Social Control Media Used as a Weapon
- Links for the day
- Links 16/08/2026: Europe in Crisis of Droughts While Energy- and Water-Consuming, Pollution-Emitting Chatbots Are Spread by GAFAM (US) to Keep a Ponzi Scheme Going
- Links for the day
- GNU/Linux is a Platform for Work (Usage Surges in Daytime)
- GNU/Linux 15% in daytime
- We Need Rain, Not Chatbots
- There's no "anti-AI" (it's not even AI), there's opposition to fraud, to plagiarism, and to companies that profit more when there's global warning (caused in part by their business activities)
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 151 Out of 200: Dealing With Sleazy People and Companies That Steal (While Employing These Sleazy People)
- we offer a quick summary and we're reflecting
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 15, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, August 15, 2026
- Gemini Links 16/08/2026: Sterrenkijker Releases, Solar Gemini Server
- Links for the day