open source | Fast Company

NASA Wants Your Help Finding Asteroids, Tracking Weather

BY Ariel SchwartzMon Jan 9, 2012

Faced with budget cuts but armed with the knowledge that legions of space nerds are standing by to help them out, the space agency is making many of its projects open source. READ»

FAST FEED | Comment

Ford Opening R&D Outfit In Silicon Valley, Iran Clamps Down On Internet Use, 45,000 Facebook Log-ins Stolen By Worm

BY Nidhi SubbaramanFri Jan 6, 2012

Breaking news from your editors at Fast Company, with updates all day.READ»

FACEBOOK | Comment

Open Source Apps that Make Facebook Better

BY JD RuckerTue Dec 27, 2011

Open source is a term often associated with developers, tech-geeks, and even hackers. It invokes an oddly negative response among those who don't understand what it really means. To help introduce open source to the non-tech-savvy world, is there a better way than to show how it integrates with the site that nearly everyone is using?READ»

OCCUPY WALL STREET | Comment

"The People's Skype" And Occupy Wall Street Hackathons

BY Neal UngerleiderMon Dec 12, 2011

Academics and researchers sympathetic to the #Occupy movement have created a "People's Skype" and participated in a multinational hackathon that took advantage of a massive social media archive.READ»

WANTED

Wanted: Teague's User-Friendly Kit For Young Hackers

BY Alissa WalkerTue Sep 13, 2011

From a first-grader curious about how a clock works, to a designer who needs to make a quick-and-dirty mockup of an in-development gadget, we could all use a little help when it comes to understanding and manipulating our interactive ... READ»

ROBOTS | Comment

This Week In Bots: Open-Source Learning Bots, Sensitive Robo-Skin, Robot Soccer, Chocolate Printer Bot, And More

BY Kit EatonFri Jul 8, 2011

What developments in robotics have happened this week? Too many to mention in this space, so unless you are a psychic bot, better read on to find out. READ»

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY | Comment

Cleaning Up Oil Spills With a Swarm of Autonomous Sailboats

BY Morgan ClendanielFri Apr 8, 2011

The Protei project is creating open-source, autonomous sailboats to handle the types of aquatic environmental disasters that humans either can't or won't deal with: oil spills, nuclear meltdowns, and floating garbage islands among them. READ»

Fly Above a World of Fractals, Right in Your Browser [Video]

BY John PavlusWed Mar 9, 2011

Tom Beddard's generative fractal art made quite a splash when we wrote about it in January. But that was just a prelude to Beddard's open-source application "Fractal Lab," which gives anyone the power to explore 3-D fractal-planetoids ... READ»

IFIVE | Comment

iFive: PlayBook's Music Store, Apps vs Open Source, Apple Switches Chip Maker, Microsoft Cloud Music Plan, FTC vs Patent Trolls

BY Kit EatonWed Mar 9, 2011

Wednesday's here, it's bright and early, and the world's already come up with some new tech news for you to peruse:READ»

INNOVATION | Comment

SF CIO Heads to White House as Deputy CTO for Innovation

BY E.B. BoydThu Feb 24, 2011

Chris Vein has pioneered open-source and open-data initiatives in the City by the Bay. Now he's taking his vision for a more transparent and collaborative government to Washington.READ»

OPEN SOURCE DESIGN

A "Life-Sized Lego Set" for Creating Self Sustaining Towns

BY John PavlusMon Feb 7, 2011

The farmer-engineers of Open Source Ecology are bringing high-tech savvy to the age-old pastoral dream. Their Global Village Construction Set project is an ongoing sustainable design experiment that aims to develop plans for the forty ... READ»

DECISION 2010 | Comment

2010 Internet-TV Election: Fringe Candidate Boxee Box Challenges Apple, Google

BY Dan NosowitzMon Sep 13, 2010

This fall, one election really matters: Which set-top box will connect your TV to the Internet? Apple TV and Google TV have all the money, but fringe candidate Boxee Box, with its radical open-source philosophy, deserves a closer look.READ»

MOBILE VIDEO | Comment

Will Apple Let the VLC iPad App Survive?

BY Dan NosowitzWed Sep 8, 2010

The open-source, lightweight, plays-anything video and audio program VLC is finally coming to the iPad. This could mean a revolution in video and audio--but will Apple let it happen?READ»

SOCIAL NETWORKING | Comment

Lockheed Martin's Social Networking Platform's Not Rocket Science

BY Kit EatonWed Aug 4, 2010

Lockheed Martin, the giant defense contractor, is wary of letting its staff use social networking. It's probably something to do with secrecy. But it also knows its staff are people, so it's built its own social net, and is now releasing it open-source.READ»

CLOUD STORAGE | Comment

Rackspace's Open Stack Makes Cloud Storage Personalized

BY Kit EatonMon Jul 19, 2010

The cloud is coming--and to prove it's no smoke and mirrors trick (like so many Net phenomena) Rackspace, which already plays in the server-side of the cloud game, is due to offer an open-source solution so folks can host their own ...READ»

REPRAP | Comment

Hackers Create Virtual Pottery Wheel (That Makes Real Pottery)

BY Cliff KuangWed Jun 2, 2010

Users can mold a virtual, 3-D model, and have it printed out on demand.READ»

GOOGLE | Comment

Google's Andy Rubin on Android: Full Flash Support, and Why He'd Be Fine With a Leaked Prototype

BY Dan NosowitzTue Apr 27, 2010

The New York Times posted an interview with Google's Andy Rubin about the future of Android, and there are some interesting tidbits inside, including full Adobe Flash support and the importance of openness.READ»

WHITE HOUSE | Comment

White House Swings Open Its Digital Doors to Developers

BY Addy DugdaleThu Apr 22, 2010

The government's plan to make its online presence more user- and owner-friendly has been a long-term plan of the Obama administration. Last year, the White House switched from a proprietary content management system to Drupal, and on ...READ»

MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY | Comment

Addison Berry, Documentation Team Lead for Drupal

BY Zachary WilsonWed Mar 24, 2010

Since joining the Drupal community in 2006, the open-source advocate has become a prominent presence: traveling the world to speak at events (from local high schools to international conferences); leading a group of codehead volunteers in logging all things Drupal; and, in 2009, snagging a Knight Foundation grant to improve Drupal documentation.READ»

OPEN SOURCE | Comment

Open Source Washing Machine Project Rethinks Clothes-Washing

BY Ariel SchwartzFri Mar 19, 2010

Most of us don't think about the cultural context of our washing machines--we just toss in clothes, turn on the device, and don't ponder it further. But the reality is that the majority of people on the planet wash clothes by hand, ...READ»