Open-Source Hardware for Interactive-Textiles (OSHIT)

Aside from being a great acronym, I think its an idea that should be considered. Over the next few days I hope to explore this idea in detail. What exactly does "open-source hardware" entail? It is the idea that a design for a technology component is not proprietary and is open for anyone to use -- HOWEVER, any resulting product made from the open-source component is considered open itself. A handful of groups around the world have dabbled in open-source hardware, probably the most popular lately is the Italian group Arduino.

Lest we forget that there are both open-source for electronics, but ALSO for sewing.

The first question that comes to mind is "how will companies make money?" Well, they're going to have to sell products...good products.

The idea is that commoditization of technology will expedite its incorporation into products hitting the marketplace and lower development costs in the meantime. This notion does not decrease the value of quality to the consumer -- so it will reward the companies who make the best products in the eyes of the consumer (not the ones with the biggest legal team).

I know that this discussion can't be completed in one post -- so hopefully some interesting counterpoints will be raised to challenge the OSHIT notion...

Plastic Electronics recap

The conference was not bad (although my mobile-blogging ability was somewhat hampered as you can tell from the half-hearted post below) -- and from an "interactive-textiles" viewpoint it was good to see some new faces that may not have been exposed to Smart-Textiles otherwise. It was good to see these two communities together (I even thought so last year) -- but it felt like the Smart Textiles section was the read-headed step-child of the conference. It would have been nice to have had at least one talk from that section in the plenary, but hey -- it's a start and there'll always be room for improvement (plus, what has really been done in "smart-textiles" to warrant that much attention?).

What was my favorite talk? Probably the one I thought was going to be the worst (just by its title) -- Dermot Diamond's "New Ways to Sense the Molecular World Using Switchable Sensors." He covered a wide range of potentially disruptive technologies that few people are pursuing. If you have the chance, check out what he's working on.

Looks like the next SmartFabrics will be in Rome in March -- stay tuned...