Play with smart materials

This is an interesting video from TED about playing with smart materials using open source methodology.

Ink that conducts electricity; a window that turns from clear to opaque at the flip of a switch; a jelly that makes music. All this stuff exists, and Catarina Mota says: It’s time to play with it. Mota leads us on a tour of surprising and cool new materials, and suggests that the way we’ll figure out what they’re good for is to experiment, tinker and have fun.

Making DIY Look Easy

Can we use make DIY electronics using open source hardware ?

The founder of Adafruit Industries offers insights into how she managed to build an empire from castaway altoid tins and other common household items.

More information in the next video from Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum 2012

Limor Fried, Founder of Adafruit Industries, discusses the power and potential of DIY electronics at the 2012 Innovation Forum.

Leah Buechley: How to “sketch” with electronics

Can we design electronic circuits another using pen and paper ?

Designing electronics is generally cumbersome and expensive — or was, until Leah Buechley and her team at MIT developed tools to treat electronics just like paper and pen. In this talk from TEDYouth 2011, Buechley shows some of her charming designs, like a paper piano you can sketch and then play.