OStatic

We've written a few times about offbeat hardware ideas that take advantage of collaboration principles from the open source arena. In the links just provided, you'll find open source robots, Linux-based gadgets targeted for outer space, and more. The latest spin on this idea is GizmoForYou. As LinuxDevices notes, the site functions like Santa's workshop, building devices to order, based on wish list requests from registered members. The gadgets that get built by developers based on community input go up for sale, but there are some core open source principles at work beneath the hood. Here's how it works.

The talk Nicholas Negroponte gave at the TED Conference this weekend ignited discussion on several fronts. Liz Gannes at GigaOM reports that Negroponte credits the OLPC for the rise of the netbook market, and CNET has additional information about OLPC's plans to open source the XO laptop's hardware schematics.

Would netbooks exist now if the OLPC hadn't announced its plans for a $100 laptop a few years back? Probably, but it's not unreasonable to imagine that the interest shown by the general public in the $100 laptop concept drove commercial manufacturers to develop and produce powerful-yet-inexpensive laptops faster, and in greater numbers, to a larger target market than they would have initially considered.

The other area Negroponte discussed -- opening the XO hardware -- doesn't initially, perhaps, seem as entertaining to debate as the netbook claim. The implications of open sourcing the XO hardware design are well worth consideration.