SchoolTool connects schools
Tom Hoffman and I spoke about SchoolTool at the Rhode Island Mini Maker Faire. This system helps remotely-located schools share data with national governmental ministries of education, through Ubuntu and SMS.
cellphone
Open-source, software-based GSM cellphone network
In plain language, we are working on a new kind of cellular network that can be installed and operated at about 1/10 the cost of current technologies, but that will still be compatible with most of the handsets that are already in the market. This technology can also be used in private network applications (wireless PBX, rapid deployment, etc.) at much lower cost and complexity than conventional cellular.
Earth Day 2010: Caring for things
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios. — John Prine For Earth Day 2010, iFixit.com has announced an ambitious goal: To teach every person on Earth how to fix each thing they own. To that end, iFixit has expanded their wiki-like platform for online repair manuals beyond the Apple product line. In this […]
Dirt-cheap robotics prototyping environment with Android
Tim Heath and Ryan Hickman’s Truckbot could be built for under $20 (excluding mobile). That’s pretty impressive for such an open and accessible robotics prototyping environment. Using a laser-cut cardboard chassis, $3 micro servos, and a bare bones Arduino, the duo have assembled one of the cheapest platforms to come along in some time.
Compact cellphone microscope
This novel approach to cellphone microscopy from Dr. Aydogan Ozcan from the University of California, Los Angeles, foregoes bulky lenses and magnifies electronically.
Recumbent mobile media stand hack
If you’ve ever tried to watch a movie on your phone in bed then you’ll definitely appreciate this free-standing phone stand hack. There’s never been an easier way to get your lazy on. Enjoy.
Root an HTC Hero running Android
In this video David from theunlockr.com shows us how to root the Hero, HTC’s latest Android phone. With a rooted Hero you can do all kinds of fun stuff like run apps and swap space from an SD card in addition to running apps as a privileged user.
