Forward-lang-blog - The Forward Programming Language

The Open Book Project

As a society, we need an open source device for reading. Books are among the most important documents of our culture, yet the most popular and widespread devices we have for reading — the Kobo, the Nook, the Kindle and even the iPad — are closed devices, operating as small moving parts in a set of giant closed platforms whose owners’ interests are not always aligned with readers’.

The Open Book aims to be a simple device that anyone with a soldering iron can build for themselves. The Open Book should be comprehensible: the reader should be able to look at it and understand, at least in broad strokes, how it works. It should be extensible, so that a reader with different needs can write code and add accessories that make the book work for them. It should be global, supporting readers of books in all the languages of the world. Most of all, it should be open, so that anyone can take this design as a starting point and use it to build a better book.

The most important thing I can reiterate in this README is that This Is A Work In Progress! The Open Book board is probably 90% of the way there, but the software required to actually be an eBook is in its infancy; I can put a few Arduino sketches up here, but the long-term goal involves building open source eBook software, and that’s still a ways out.

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Scan Select Attack Packet Monitor Clock

Amazing! :)

Amino: Desktop Bioengineering for Everyone

The countdown begins - there are just over 24 hours left to get your hands on the first do-it-yourself bioengineering kit! The Amino, which originally began as a school project by Julie Legault out of the MIT Media Lab, is a kit made to encourage people to experiment with synthetic biology. So much of our life is created through bioengineering, and the Amino lets everyone from artists to hackers experience the fun of the lab at home. Better yet, it lets you do so without the expensive equipment.  

When you first think of bioengineering something Frankenstein might come to mind, but there won’t be any dangerous monsters growing in this package. The Amino uses friendly strains of bacteria that are safe for home use. In total, the Amino lets you grow living cells while also getting data on what is going on, and is sophisticated enough for professional labs too! The kit comes with DNA programs (“Apps”), and in the first order you can choose from making a glow in the dark living light or experimenting with several DNA programs. 

The kit looks like loads of fun and I’m excited to see where this goes!

1. Read up on the backstory of the project on the MIT blog. 

2. Check out the Amino Indiegogo campaign

Never interrupt a programmer

I don't think other coworkers understand how complicated and stressful it is to explain what's going on in your head when you don't even understand specific problems when coding. Hence, I don't want anyone to disrupt me. Same thought in comic format:

Do you agree? Let me know in the comments below.

Credit

fractals!! :D or at least patterns :P

Johann Eduard Jacobsthal, “Süd-italienische Fliesen-Ornamente”, South italian tile ornaments, 1886. Chromolithography. Published by Ernst Wasmuth, Tübingen, Germany. Source: archive.org. Via frizzifrizzi

At the lab this week I made some printed circuit boards with my new collaborator Jonathan Bobrow. I also learned to solder some super small components to a board.

The best pull request (PR) in 2017???

My head at times reading about software features https://www.instagram.com/p/CRUBthJLZi6/?utm_medium=tumblr

This guys raspberry pi laptop is goals via Cyberpunk

MNT Reform DIY Laptop

Modern laptops have secret schematics, glued-in batteries, and mystery components all over. But Reform is the opposite – it invites both curious makers and privacy aware users to take a look under the hood, customize the documented electronics, and 3D-print their own parts.

A free and open source modular laptop that respects your rights

Customize and repair it yourself with 3D printed and standard parts

Reclaim your privacy and security: No microphone, camera or management engine

Interchangeable and customizable motherboard, slim mechanical keyboard and trackball, each with open firmware

We are currently finishing the limited beta shipment of Reforms to collect feedback from early adopters that will feed into the final design for the campaign model.

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