LeafLabs Maple

So I'm a little late to the party on this one (read:  an entire year), but there's another open-source microcontroller available to the discerning DIYer that is compatible with all the Arduino add-ons (called "shields" in the 'biz).

The Maple by LeafLabs (licensed under Creative Commons) is distinct enough from the Arduino platform to deserve its own place in the microcontroller world.  Perhaps the first difference people will notice is that it's much, much, MUCH faster.  Tests by Make:Zine's staff put the update speed of the digital/analog converter, the component responsible for reading sensors and passing information to the processing unit, at 9x that of the Arduino Duemilanove.  This further opens the applications of the Maple to things like live audio editing, real-time GPS processing, and really anything that requires more bandwidth than you might want to squeeze out of your Arduino.

The Trouble With Hardware

Wowwee, this blogger has had quite a week!  Between visits by old friends, trips to Brighton Beach (yes, i'm a Brooklyn boy), and attending the Mozilla Drumbeat NYC conference, I've been busier than I thought possible.

Through all the business, (perhaps because of it?) I've had some illuminating moments regarding open hardware. One of these came during a break-out session at the Drumbeat event, the wiki of which you can find HERE.  We were nothing the small turnout for our session versus the other software-based sessions and realized that most people don't recognize open hardware as a unified and cohesive concept.

Well, this hopes to change that this September, by clearly defining the term and the goals of the movement, while hopefully drumming up interest and raising awareness.

The Motivation to be Open

Vision is the river, and we who have been changed are the flood.

-The Story of B by Daniel Quinn

Most of the world is not "open" in the way I mean when I write about it here.  That much is simply fact.  Those of us who are aware of openness are almost obsessed by it, though, it becomes our lives, our purpose, and fuels our passion for creation of new alternatives to the prescribed way in which we are taught to think about consumer culture.  It is false to say that those who don't subscribe to Open culture reject it with the same fervor, however.  This is also simply fact.  For the most part, people are unaware of the contributions openness has made to our world, or if they know of its existence, they perceive it with the framing it is generally given by corporate manufacturers as being less reliable, rooted in nonconformist or artsy fartsy culture, or simply not as glamorous as buying a shiny new gadget made with proprietary technology.