A Day In The Life of an Open Hardware Engineer

Inspired by Benjamin Franklin‘s dedication to productivity I sat out to detail what an ideal productive day is for me.  I rarely achieve the ideal day, but it does give me a target to try for rather than wandering aimlessly.  It also gave me a chance to review the tools I actually use in a…

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Twitch’in The Night Away

S.T.E.A.M. Power Podcast #52 2 November 2014 http://greenshoegarage.com/podcast/2014/STEAM_0052_2NOV14.mp3 Phidgets  |  Mike’s Initial Review of Phidgets Infant Heart Surgery via the Liver Skunk Works Fusion Breakthrough? Colonizing The Solar System on a Budget Twitch.tv: Say Hello To eSports Telling The American Story Through YouTube Android TV Dev Kit XMOS Multicore Microcontroller [Download] For more tech news and…

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Fidgeting With Phidgets

I have been playing with, what is for me, a new electronics ecosystem call Phidgets.  After doing some research I found out they have actually been around for over a decade.  In my short time playing with them, they appear to offer a very interesting twist on the open source hardware model.  A twist that…

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Sometimes Innovation Comes Down To Timing

There is great anticipation that the forthcoming Apple Pay will finally herald the death of magnetic stripe credit cards in favor of a more secure smartphone based technology.  But before we praise Apple for singular genius, let’s realize there are a few fundamental truth about technology and it’s adoption by the masses.  A lesson that…

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Mike And His Massive Melon

S.T.E.A.M. Power Podcast #51 12 October 2014 http://greenshoegarage.com/podcast/2014/STEAM_0051_12OCT14.mp3 A Home Fit For A Dozen American Girl Dolls | Kreg Mini Jig Rolling Batteries and Photovoltaics Into One US Marine Corps Hearts Microsoft Kinect Curiosity And The Brain Arduino + Raspberry Pi = Home Automation World’s Old Artwork Discovered [Download] For more tech news and how-to’s visit…

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Let’s Talk About Feelings (And Tech)

S.T.E.A.M. Power Podcast #50 28 September 2014 http://greenshoegarage.com/podcast/2014/STEAM_0050_28SEP14.mp3 Super Chic Dollies on Etsy Enter Our 50th Episode $20 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway (enter by 11:59PM ET on Saturday, October 11, 2014) The Engineering Commons Podcast:  Episode 50 – The Art of Engineering Technology, Kids, and Human Sympathy The Future of Public Art Software Patents Crumbling How Big…

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On The Wings Of Droids

S.T.E.A.M. Power Podcast #49 14 September 2014 http://greenshoegarage.com/podcast/2014/STEAM_0049_14SEP14.mp3 Finger Nail Polish That Can Detect Date Rape Drugs Jaundice Detecting Smartphone App Boy Gets 3D Printed Vertebrae Energy Harvesters Google Project Ara Update | More Project Ara Project Wing, A Drone Project From Google X Can You Run Faster Than A T-Rex? Stories that didn’t make the cut:…

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Don’t Let Process Smother Your Innovation

We have something of a cognitive dissonance happening in the business world. I am running into quite a few organizations that seem to be talking out both sides of their mouth in that they want to be both innovative but also process oriented. Many want to be innovative and outpace our competitors. However they also…

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SpongeBob In Space

S.T.E.A.M. Power Podcast #48 31 August 2014 http://greenshoegarage.com/podcast/2014/STEAM_0048_31AUG14.mp3 MIT Magnetic Micro Hairs 3D Printed Personal Turbine to Power Your Gadgets NASA Uses Origami To Fold Solar Collectors Plankton Claimed to be on International Space Station Windows Smart Skin for Aircraft Intel’s New Broadwell Chips Promise Thin, Fanless, Power Laptops [Download] For more tech news and how-to’s visit…

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Creative Personalities: Tool-igans and Product Jocks

In my nearly 20 years of engineering, I have found there are two types of creative people you must have in your groups if you want to be innovative while making awesome things. I call them “the Tool-igans” and the “Product Jocks.” Both are passionate about technology and both love to build, but there are…

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