Open Source Knitting

Some people work with electronics, some people are proficient with numbers and money, others paint or play musical instruments.  And some people...  knit...

For those who don't know, working with textiles might seem like a pretty simple thing to do, but most of us buy our clothes from the store and throw them out when they are worn out or old.

I can't even begin to claim any significant knowledge of textiles, aside from the most basic knowledge of the process from raw material to the clothing we wear.  But there are people who know this industry in and out, and for them, a knitting machine is the cat's meow.

In this article, we will look at how knitting is entering the Open Source community.

Arduino project: Sous-vide cooker

OK, I do a lot of cooking, but I don't "get" sous-vide.  For some reason, boiling food for up to 72 hours just doesn't sound very appealing.  Yet, not only is sous-vide quite a rage, the food can be very tasty and tender.

So for this arduino project installment, we are going to take a look at creating a sous-vide cooker.

This project comes from instructable user Etienne Giust.  According to the information, "You'll be set for approx 40$, maybe even less. That's not counting the rice cooker.", when a quality, consumer grade sous-vide cooker can cost 10 to 20 times that amount.

Urban Farming (dot org)

Where does gardening stop and farming begin?

Well, Google defines gardening as, "the activity of tending and cultivating a garden, esp. as a pastime." and farming as, "the activity or business of growing crops and raising livestock".  I think that technically, most people would define gardening as strictly plants and effectively less than an acre of land used for the purpose.

Does it really matter?  Probably not, except that, in most urban centres, raising animals for meat is prohibited, and many urban, community gardens are not a business and are in spaces less than an acre.

But the name is certainly catchy, and definitely points to something that is much bigger than a single garden, on a small plot of land in an urban centre.

Open Source "socially connected machines"

There is certainly something to be said about social technology.

While there are certainly valid concerns about the world we live in and its "technology zombies", at the very least, this behaviour is driven by our deep, human need to be socially relevant.

While many people experience their world with their heads down, working with their technology such as laptops, tablets, and phones, some people are working on technologies that are helping us be more social, without actually suspending our relevant and direct contact with others.

In some sectors, this is called augmented reality.  We'll be discussing a different framework than the visual aspects that many are focused on, in this article.

Raspberry Pi Project: Media Panel

So, this Raspberry Pi Project article description should be easy enough to do for an intermediate maker with computer knowledge.  A beginner could do it with some effort to learn some electronics, or can make it easier if the hardware is changed up a bit.

I think its important to offer a reminder that, while a Raspberry Pi is not as powerful as a new computer, nevertheless it IS a fully capable computer.  With that in mind, what this project requires is easy enough for a Pi to handle.  If you compare what a Pi can do, based on age of a computer, it would be as capable a computer as something you would have used in the early 2000s, while being the size of a cell phone.

So with that knowledge, it really is easy enough to understand the scope of what can be done with a Raspberry Pi.  As this Raspberry Pi Project shows, a very versatile media panel can be made with a Raspberry Pi for well under $200.

Open Source Smart Thermostat

This is actually going to be a fairly short and sweet article.

On January 17, 2014, due to the announcement that Google had bought Nest (a company that was making eco friendly and net connected home controllers like thermostats), a blog entry was made at spark.io, describing how to make your own, Open Source Thermostat.

So we are going to take a closer look at it.  It isn't an easy project, and even might border on advanced, but never the less, it is something that a person can create themselves, with a little effort.

Local Motors: Rally Fighter

OK, a lot of people are calling the Rally Fighter an Open Source car.  That's an interesting claim, although by some measure, perhaps it is.

The company that builds it is called Local Motors, and the car design has been crowd sourced, so certainly, there is a measure of Open Source colaboration going on.

Yes, you can get the parts for the car and put one together for yourself, so the DIY aspect of Open Source is there.

And yes, you can make modifications to it, so the derivatives portion of Open Source is there.

But is it Open Source?  Let's take a closer look and see.