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
- The Media Talks a Lot About XBox Layoffs, a Closer Look at the Data Shows Microsoft 'Bloodbath'
- 'Bloodbath' is the term insiders use
- Obscene Contradiction in Microsoft's Layoffs Tally ("Official" Numbers Do Not Add Up)
- Notice how they treat "LinkedIn" as separate
- Confirmed: Microsoft Layoffs Come in Two Waves, Just Like Last Summer
- To us, what stands out is the admission from Microsoft that there are two (or more) waves
- Links 06/07/2026: Artists Reject Slop (or Even de Facto Bribes to Market/Endorse Slop)
- Links for the day
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- Extremism in the Free Software World is Mostly a Myth
- Only the firm belief that justice applies to all will produce a just society
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 06, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, July 06, 2026
- Links 07/07/2026: Kernelized Secure Operating System (KSOS) and "Exploiting Thoughtcrime in LLMs"
- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 130 Out of 200: Jealousy, Envy, Hubris
- This site is primarily about Free software
- Gemini Links 06/07/2026: Still Mostly Dry, GoToSocial, and More
- Links for the day
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Effective Dispute Resolution… But Not For EPO Staff
- Slovenia fielded one of the few Administrative Council delegations which managed to maintain its own independent line against the tyrannical EPOnian "Sun King"
- Community Sites Need Genuine Collaboration and True Autonomy
- People who want to communicate, federate and organise for effective change need to evolve
- Free Software Foundation (FSF) Covers Quibble, Free Software for Secure Communications, in the FSF Summer Bulletin
- The Georgia Tech folks are bringing Free software education and contributions to one of the better known Computer Science hubs in the US
- Microsoft Layoffs Include Windows, Bing, Slop (CoPilot etc.) and There Will More More Rounds (or Waves) to Come
- "43% of Xbox laid off"
- Preserving Comments About the Real IBM Before They Get Deleted
- IBM in the 1980s is not what it is right now
- Cybershow on "Escaping Prisons For Your Mind"
- "THE CYBER SHOW: Stealing technofascism's boots, and stomping on its own face with them."
- Links 06/07/2026: At Least 20% Staff Reduction in XBox (Microsoft), Taiwan Sees Uptick in Chinese Aggression/Provocation, Senator Rodante Marcoleta Arrested
- Links for the day
- In Praise of the UK's Stance on Free Speech (but Some Reservations)
- At the moment there is a healthy discussion going on with the objective of disrupting attacks on British press
- Exposing Corruption at the European Patent Office (EPO), a Call for More Whistleblowers
- We predict that, provided enough whistleblowers speak out, António "the unready" won't even finish his current term
- Leaving Our Pets for Several Days
- This week our pets will be worried that "mommy and daddy" are away
- Dating Trees and Dating 'Apps'
- several high-profile stories in the news about scandals in "dating apps"
- DW Documentary About Julian Assange Turns 2
- It was released just days after Assange had turned 53 and about two weeks after he had left the UK
- Independent Media is the Only Form of Legitimate Media
- Independent media is, indeed, what we need to demand more of
- The Story of the European Patent Office (EPO) Wagging the Dog (EU)
- The aim of the series is to properly inform the world - not just Europeans - how Europe's second-largest institution is run [...] How did a corporate hub of monopolies become so detached from the Rule of Law?
- GNU/Linux Up to New High in Libya, Windows Down to All-Time Low
- GNU/Linux touches 5% there, based on statCounter
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 129 Out of 200: Iranian Tactics
- Hunger for revenge compels people to do overzealous, irrational things
- Quiet Week
- Many in the US are still enjoying an extended weekend
- The Media Needs to Speak of Slop as a Climate Issue Like It Did With Bitcoin
- But the slop industry keeps paying the media to play along with the hype
- IBM's Fall
- IBM's fate is closely connected to that of the Free software movement because of the salaries
- Social Dialogue at the European Patent Office (EPO) is Dead, the Strikes and Work Stoppage-Like Actions Carry on
- What next for the EPO?
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 05, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, July 05, 2026
- Links 05/07/2026: Shadows of the Upper Peninsula and 2026 Old Computer Challenge
- Links for the day
- Not Everything Should be Electric
- technology has become detrimental to society
- Gemini Links 05/07/2026: Eye of the Beholder and Baldur’s Gate 3 and Alhena 5.6.5
- Links for the day
- GNU/Linux Market Share is Already High
- GNU/Linux has fast become and is still becoming mainstream in recent years
- The 9-Step IBM Algorithm: Gaming Wall Street While Shedding Off Staff and Bribing the Mainstream Media to Play Along
- Any time IBM preaches manners (e.g. CoC) to the community remember that IBM works closely with and flatters the dictator
- XBox is Practically 'Dead Man Walking' at This Point
- writings on the wall
- They Could Never Kill the Ideas of Richard Stallman (RMS), But They Are Still Trying
- Killing an idea is harder than killing a person and killing a person is illegal
- Only Germany Objected to Salary Adjustment (Reduction) Procedure of "Team Campinos"
- "flash report on the Administrative Council of 30 June and 1 July 2026"
- A "Never Slop" Policy in Quibble
- "every change in the repository must be made by a human"
- Series on GNU/Linux in Japan
- This series can last a week or longer
- 75% of All the Patents Last Year Were Software
- The corporate media has more or less ceased to discuss this matter
- At Microsoft "the Morale of Developers is at an All-time Low"
- Numerous reports today say that after at least 5 studios got marked for shutdown (mothballing) by Microsoft there are rumours about Obsidian as well
- Links 05/07/2026: Data Breaches, Heat Waves, and Weinstein Rape Conviction Upheld
- Links for the day
- Confidentiality at Risk With Slop 'Coding'
- People who continue to cheer for slop aren't just misguided fanbis and fangurls
- False Narratives of Slop "Efficiency" as Debt Climbs
- false stories about slop
- July 8 as "D-Day" for Microsoft, Mass Layoffs Planned
- Microsoft's grip on the market has slipped for a long time
- GNU/Linux Leaps to 6% in Thailand
- Can we expect 10% by year's end?
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 128 Out of 200: Making Laws Work for Britain, Not Oversensitive Americans Looking for 'Revenge' by Lawfare
- The SLAPPs are intended to protect corporations (employers like Microsoft)
- EC Looking for Input on Digital Networks Act Until Next Month
- New initiative
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 04, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, July 04, 2026
- Gemini Links 05/07/2026: Ragebaited and Removing Lines in Emacs
- Links for the day
- Links 05/07/2026: "Tesla Slams Into Crowded Cafe" and "ChatGPT [Turned] Into a Sociopath"
- Links for the day