DIY: a (smart) phone worth keeping

Dave Hakkens, Phonebloks, Wikipedia

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In 2013 Dave Hakkens' Phonebloks campaign began with a single video. Dutch designer Hakkens had presented his idea for an open-source modular smartphone at his graduation from Design Academy Eindhoven. Here's the video.

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Soon after Google/Motorola stepped up to partner with Phonebloks in developing the concept. This effort became Project ARA with a pilot release date of early 2015. Google's ATAP group is handling the effort; the team is headed by Paul Eremenko, formerly with DARPA. There's an ATAP channel on YouTube. Here's a video about the development effort.

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The Verge reported in May 2015

...the project is expected to begin a pilot test in Puerto Rico later this year where the public will presumably be able to try it out.

As an aside, another ATAP project of interest is a Spotlight Story titled "Duet" in Times Square; a making-of video is below.

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-- Marge

DIY: print a plastic pistol

Since everyone is talking about this gun, a true do-it-yourself project, here's my two-cents.  As Forbes says "3D-Printed Gun Fires a New 'Shot Heard 'Round The World'."  Defense Distributed did it, as shown in this video:

The Verge notes that "Lawmakers rush to ban 3D-printed guns, but enforcement options are murky."  This article from TheGuardian gives some background on Cody Wilson, head of Defense Distributed (DD).

Photos of the gun, called the Liberator, and replicas can be found in this Forbes article, "DIY Firearms Makers Are Already Replicating And Remixing The 3D-Printed Gun."  Blueprints for the pistol were published to the internet, but DD took them down in response to a "request" by the Feds (U.S. Department of Defense Trade Controls), according to this article by Policymic.  Before they were removed, the blueprints were "...Downloaded 100,000 Times In Two Days ..."

While the gun can fire only one shot, how accurate is it?  Can you hit what you aim at or does the bullet come to rest somewhere not intended?  Can it explode in your hand(s)? An article in Scientific American discusses some of the factors involved in printing the gun and using a plastic one.

Possibly the do-it-yourself project you choose can be fatal.

-- Marge