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Open Source Hardware Gift Guide
ptorrone writes "Looking to give gifts this year that are open source? Here's MAKE Magazines "Open Source Hardware" gift guide. Open source 3D printers, TV-turn-off devices, iPod chargers, music players, Wi-Fi companions, educational electronic kits and more. Each of the kits, projects and open source hardware gifts in this guide represents more than just a holiday gift, it's a change to support this nascent open hardware movement."
I can predict an era where 3D printers will be popular and inexpensive and people will be sharing definition files on the Internet for building their own 3D toys, and then at some point a Nigerian will come out seeking copyright infringement damages for the most popular 3D toys.
Look pretty good to give out as a beginning electronics kit for kids or people just getting into it. Somehow building my own phone back in the day doesn't seem quite as impressive.
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
It's open source, right? You have the source to the MP3 player, you have the source for the Ogg/Vorbis, make your own firmware that supports Ogg.
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because you give them crappy "open source" gifts
You mean a finglonger?
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I have a long history with stereolithographic devices (I used to consult with CNC companies as a teenager and young adult), and my dream was to have a SL device that made custom chocolate bars and pieces. While proper chocolate has to be poured at the right temperature into the mold, I've always wondered if there is a future to make a machine like an SL 3D printer that can print in chocolate.
I've done some basic searching, but found no one even talking about it. Yes, it's corny, but I'd love to know if anyone has played with candy/sugar/chocolate as the substrate for a 3D printer.
Leave this article where wives/girlfriends/parents can see it so that they can give them to you. Attempts to use these gift suggestions the other way round may be hazardous to the holiday spirit.
init 11 - for when you need that edge.
Oh, wow! Gee, thanks Linus! My very own copy of Linux Kernel v2.6.24! Just what I've always wanted! How did you know?
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It could be worse...
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Aww darling, you got me a powerpoint template..
Stupid people think it's cool. Smart people thinks it's a joke; also cool.
The digg button kit would be a good present for the Ron Paul fan in your life. That way they could practice their obsessive digging when they don't have access to a computer.
Mod parent up!
Already Done
AccountKiller
You're on baby.
Well, not from that list though. I'm giving way real open source hardware gifts in bulk and I'm flying from Taipei to LAX on Thursday via Malaysian airlines. I got a box filled with capacitors from 1uf to 4,000uf, resistors of all sorts of Ohmic variations, a stack of breadboards, dozens of transformers of various voltages, an entire box of assorted small motors, LEDs of all colors, 555 ICs, relays, 4040 counters, partially pre-assembled audio amp kits, speakers of various shapes and sizes all kinds of stuff. The box weighs like eighty pounds and it is filled to the brim with discreet devices and circuits. The airport is free to go through it and if they don't like any of it, I'll leave it but I see no reason why they will be concerned.
In fact, I've done this before. My nieces and nephews dread my "gifts". They're more like homework assignments. But the airport doesn't freak. They do want to go through it after the X-Ray machine shows them this bizarre collection of stuff they can't identify but what they do is take you to the side and ask you what it all is and see if you get agitated. They're mainly focusing on your attitude rather than what's really in the box. If you calmly explain what it is, even if they don't understand the details they'll still let you go ahead and pack it because the explosives machine doesn't detect explosives because there are none. It all gets checked in and none of it is, in fact, dangrous.
That kid from MIT with the breadboard on her shirt was a special case. It was wired up in a half-ass circuit with a blinking light looking like a movie version of a bomb which does freak out people who don't do tech. All freaky like that is how this stuff will end up after Christmas if all goes well, but I'm not going to take it to the airport wired up with blinky lights and hidden under my shirt.
Of course if I was flying domestically in the States, who knows. But I'm boarding here in Taiwan and people are less scared of electronics here than they are in the States. I don't think that was true just a few years ago, but I think perhaps it is now. That's partly why I'm bringing this stuff home so that some of the younger kids can get exposed to the basics and realize that technology is something they can control and even create instead of just being "the consumer". America needs to stop being the world's cow and start actually doing innovative stuff again. Thus, I go forth packed to the gills with components.