Year: 2018

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#28: SuperHouse or SuperHuman?

Is home automation just about toys for lazy rich people? I don’t think so! It’s about using technology to extend our own capabilities and become just a little bit superhuman.

As humans we all have physical limitations. Some of us are healthy and strong, and some of us aren’t, but ultimately we all get older and find that it’s harder to do things that we used to do easily. I see technology as an enabler that can extend our abilities or help us overcome limitations in our bodies or our environment.

Way back in 2011 I did a conference presentation titled “Use The Force, Linus!” which was about using Open Source technology to give ourselves Jedi powers. Many of the examples I covered in that presentation  were drawn from my home automation projects.

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The factory tours of Shenzhen: Jiafuh Metal & Plastics

Karl has been busy! The next episode of his video series “State of Electronics” is up already, and it covers a fascinating topic: how plastic parts are made for electronic products. For electronics hobbyists, most of the focus is on circuit boards and parts and all the bits that go inside a device. The idea of going to the next level and designing a custom-fabricated case or other part seems totally out of reach unless you use a low-volume, low-accuracy method like 3D printing.

In this episode Karl shows how the Jiafuh factory turns out millions of plastic parts for all sorts of products, including mobile phone chargers, product cases, and even car parts.

Maybe some time soon I’ll be able to do a custom injection-moulded case for a SuperHouse project 🙂

Don’t forget to subscribe to Karl’s YouTube channel for more cool technical videos.

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The electronics markets of Shenzhen, China

If you can’t get enough of the Huaqiangbei electronics markets in Shenzhen, China, then check out this new video! My friend Karl has been very busy editing the footage he recorded on our recent trip to China, and he’s just released his latest video.

Please subscribe to his channel (State of Electronics) on YouTube if you want to see more of these types of videos.

Near the end of the video there’s discussion of some custom switches that I had manufactured while we were over there. They’ll be a major feature of an upcoming SuperHouse video about more advanced home automation light switches.

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Intermittent shipping next week: January 22 to 26

Next week I’ll be in Sydney for linux.conf.au, the big annual Linux and Open Source conference run by Linux Australia. While I’m away some orders may ship out, but it’s best to assume that any orders placed after today won’t ship until Monday, January 29.

If you’re coming along to linux.conf.au, ask around for Jonathan Oxer and come and say hi! I’ll be running the Open Hardware Miniconf on the first day of the conference so I should be easy to find. At the OHMC we’ll have a bunch of people building this little soccer-playing robot: