A little suggested Sunday morning reading…
We use this space, in part, to discern early signals of oncoming trends, and we’re especially gratified when those trends show up in the mainstream. In today’s New York Times you can read What This Gadget Does is Up to You (registration required), which covers the Neuros OSD, an intriguing open source media recorder. Not only does it run an open source operating system (it’s Linux-based), but all the circuit diagrams for the product are available online. You can change pretty much everything about it — and it’s still useful to self-identified “duffers” such as the Times‘s Anne Eisenberg, who writes, “Thank you, hackers!”
The Neuros device was also the lead example in the December issue of Release 2.0. In that issue, we consider some of the key questions about open source hardware and look at some of the most important companies in the space, among them Chumby and Instructables, that are harnessing the DIY ethic to create innovative products, services, and activities. (Disclosure: both Chumby and Instructables are also O’Reilly AlphaTech investments.)
You can find out more about Release 2.0, download a sample excerpt from the new issue, and either subscribe (we publish six times a year) or purchase the new issue at /r2/.