Category Archives: wisdom of crowds

From the mouth of Babes…Arduino


Wow, this is a whole new thing! While usually, this blog is reserved for online media and marketing subjects and sometimes interesting economics ideas…teenage daughter formerly known as the post-modern toddler has done it again.

🙂

Here’s what happened: teenage daughter is building a project in class (2-for-1 re-purposed for another class mind you). Involved controlling LEDs in an array for a ornamental appliance…she had some ideas.

We visited Fry’s to see what they had as far as microcontrollers with basic documentation…kind of pricey for science experimentation. Then she mentioned that at her school, kids suggested Arduino to her. Saw it in a book on robot-making. After alot of research on Arduino’s site we picked up the Duemillenove model and a book by one of the main collaborators Massimo Banzi. We’ve both been reading this very good introductory book (published by O’Reilly). It spans, electronics, programming, crowdsourcing and hacking ethos in a very encouraging way.


Great article in Wired, Build It. Share It. Profit. talking about the team, concept of open hardware and fascinating implications for the manufacturing business models. Not clear if it will work(long-term), but definitely some food for thought as to how it is working(short-term). Interesting how many haters miss the point in the comments…

Bravissimo…stay tuned for updates on the forthcoming gadget.