Rwanda launches first ‘Made in Africa' smartphones
“We are actually the first who are doing manufacturing. We are making the motherboards, we are making the sub-boards during the entire process,” he said. “There are over 1,000 pieces per phone.”
Could Rwanda become the world's first open source everything superpower?
A Bellcycle is a new kind of bicycle that is built from a DIY kit and lets you ride with a straight back and hands kept in a natural position. It’s modular and can even be set up to carry cargo.
The Bellcycle is a concept from Labs Bell and has been designed by Alex Bell, an engineer who was born and raised in NYC, US.
In 2018, several hybrid closed-loop systems will begin to appear on the market. These will measure a user's blood-sugar levels every five minutes or so and supply insulin subcutaneously as appropriate. A large part of the R&D behind them was done in the open-source community. One such group, the Open Artificial Pancreas System project (OpenAPS), has for the past three years been encouraging diabetic biohackers to explore and improve their existing monitoring and insulin-delivery systems.
“Engineered wood is the material of the future for urban building. The Open Source Wood Initiative is a great way to promote sustainable building,” says Philippe Blanchard, lecturer from Ecole Superieure du Bois.
The aim was to enable anyone in the community (from professors and pharmaceutical professionals, to undergraduates and school classes) to help solve our most pressing health concerns. […]
Anyone could take part, all the data and ideas had to be public domain, and there were to be no patents. Our lab notebooks were no longer sitting on the bench of a locked lab, but were updated in real time on the internet.
In two key areas (computing and transportation) the comprehensive level of technical and engineering expertise required is far beyond the majority of individuals to cope. Most people are not even aware of the environmental damage being done by computers and vehicles. Silicon ICs require vast amounts of pure water, as well as large quantities of heavy and rare earth metals. Electric vehicles – touted as “the future” – require large quantities of neodymium (for the magnets), copper (for the motors) and lithium (for the batteries). Neodymium is found only in deposits that are surrounded by radioactive isotopes, and requires a THOUSAND litres of boiling sulphuric acid to purify just one kilogram of neodymium.