Tinkerforge Electronic Construction Kits

Over at Engadget:

Does Arduino coding bring you out in a cold sweat? Perhaps what you need is the new open-source gear from TinkerForge.The modular system is designed for even novice users to whip up fully functioning robots in a matter of minutes hours. You start with a 4 x 4cm Brick, which you program over USB, but it won't do anything until you add accessories in the form of Bricklets: switches, joysticks, motors, accelerometers and LCDs. You can stack up to eight Bricks to expand the potential of your projects, including a step-down transformer and a (forthcoming) WiFi unit. If the rules-based programming software is too easy for you, the hardcore can bust out their mad C, C++, C#, Java and Python skills. The first models are available today, Bricks cost between €30 ($40) - €50 ($70) and Bricklets cost €3 ($4) - €20 ($25). Head on past the break to catch the press release and a video of some of the brilliant ways you can use this technology, including an infra-red theremin, self-positioning telescope and robots -- so many robots.

More here

FabScan | open source 3D scanner

Ponoko reports on:

FabScan which is an opensource kit-set 3D scanner that generates point cloud data from any 3D form with an ordinary webcam and laser line level...FabScan, true to maker traditions is housed in a well designed laser cut MDF case and includes Arduino controlled stepper motors. As an open source project, Engelmann has provided all the files for laser cutting, PCB boards and well documented assembly instructions for anyone to build their own.

More here

3d Printing and Disruption

Jaron Lanier in Edge:

Image courtesy of Discover 3d Printing

If 3-D printers become good and ubiquitous, the number one question is going to be, can somebody make up an object and get paid for it? Just hypothetically, let's say 3-D printers are good enough to print out a new phone, which is conceivable, not immediately but it will happen, or to print out a new computer, a new tablet you'd want to use, or some other device. Is the company that operates the advertising auction system at the back end that's paying for the network connection the only party that makes money at that point? I don't think that's a sustainable future, and society would break before we hit that point, but right now what's funny is that is the path we're headed towards. When you're headed towards a path that's impossible, it means that something's going to break, and so you should get on a different path that's more plausible, and it's urgent that we find that other path.

Image of Jaron Lanier courtesy BN

The rise of 3-D printers could be particularly destabilizing in that it could hit economies that are reliant on particularly low-end manufacturing. It could be a disaster for China, and it could happen rather quickly. And at the same time, if you think about this: You have machines that can make machines… If people could get paid for creatively coming up with things for them to do, if you can make a living from that, from what you do with your heart and your head as regards to the creation of physical things…

Recycling is efficient suddenly because of the way this all happens. You can take old things and turn them into new things very efficiently, which you could do because just as you can have assembling robots and 3-D printers, you can also have disassembling, and de-printing robots.

In that world, you could have an incredible amount of employment, and generation of liberty and autonomy for people who are just helping things get creative, instead of the manufacturing paradigm where there’s a limited number of things that can be made.

Instead, they'll constantly be recycled, so there could be this entire churn, and all these new things. When this technology works, is this going to be a technology that just benefits whoever's auctioning off the advertising?

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'Potaghurt' from sweet potatoes

Entrepreneurship Africa reports on a Ghana based initiative:

...through the Root and Tuber Improvement and Marketing Programme (RTIMP) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), women’s groups in the local communities have new opportunities to increase family incomes. Hitherto they were engaged in the production and selling of soymilk and soybean ice cream.
They are now in the business of producing yogurt from sweet potato and helping to train others in the production. The ‘Potaghurt’, is healthy and nutritious.
RTIM identified, supported and trained women’s groups in the business of producing value-added potato products.
“After the training on potaghurt production, we realized that the products that they trained us on were good so we asked for some of the things that we may need to produce the Potaghurt”, said Madam Doris, who belongs to the Wedada group in the Kasena Nankana West District of the Upper East region.

More here

Ghanalive.TV

The intent of GhanaLive.tv is to "stream live local TV and radio content from Ghana to the Ghanaian diaspora. This will allow people of African descent to keep in touch with their cultural and historical roots via the rapidly growing digital platform of IPTV."

Organic Agriculture Centre of Kenya

In Kitchen Gardener's Int.:

Organic Agriculture Centre of Kenya (OACK) is a local non-profit promoting sustainable organic agriculture to small scale farmers in central Kenya. Through its partnership with KGI, OACK has been able to train hundreds of farmers and gardeners in organic methods and dig several new kitchen gardens, including new school gardens.
In Kenya, like in many other part of the world, these gardens are not merely a healthy form of recreation, but play a critical role in helping households and communities to achieve sustainable food security-website

Wambui Mukenyi | Fashion Designer

In Kenya:

Wambui Mukenyi’s new collection, modelled by Nancie Mwai

The Wambui Mukenyi label is the brainchild of a self taught designer, a true artist and a visionary. Every collection shows the designer’s love for luxurious fabric, whilst at the same time instilling her African heritage to produce timeless feminine and effortlessly stylish pieces.
Beginning from custom made pieces for her clients in 2009 Wambui Mukenyi branched out into making African wedding gowns and ready to wear cloths full of creativity and style... The WM Label is a statement of fashion in contemporary life where elegance must meet the everyday needs and brings life to any wardrobe.

via Kilele

Quick Hits

Kevin Ombajo is the founder of True Blaq an event management agency.
MacArthur Fellow Teaches Teens How to Build Robots.

Growing in East Africa Dyer & Blair Investment Bank.
Total property management by FilmoRealty.
Creatives Academy aspires to be the largest pool of resources of and for creatives in Africa

Kickstarted: How one company is revolutionizing product development

Thomas Ricker writing in The Verge:

With crowd-sourced funding now within easy reach to everyone, anybody with a dream can, for the first time in history, execute upon their million dollar ideas with relatively little risk for themselves or their backers. In fact, the Kickstarter community — a collection of individual backers, venture capitalists, manufacturers, suppliers, retail agents, and fulfillment centers all linked together by a common internet — has the potential to revolutionize product development by illuminating the path from concept to creation for millions of passionate individuals, casting off the shadow of obfuscation that prevents so many from realizing their dreams. A revolution bolstered by the like-minded services from IndieGoGo and Quirky and a burgeoning market for both 3D printing services and 3D printers suitable for home use — one of which was birthed right on the pages of Kickstarter, earning over $800,000 in pledges in the process.

More here

Wenchi Volcano Honey and more

The Slow Food Foundation presents a range of delectable honey's from Ethiopia:

The wonderful crater of the Wenchi volcano, two-hour drive from Addis Ababa, is a ring of steep green sides which surround a deep blue lake at the bottom. Thanks to its warm thermal waters, the entire area has been a well-known touristic destination for a few years now. In Wenchi, an association manages all eco-touristic activities and safeguards and promotes the natural resources of the volcano area. In 2010 a group of 40 beekeepers created the Wenchi Beekeepers Association. The volcano honey - harvested from October to December, at the end of the rainy season - is yellow-amber in color and has a very fine and smooth texture. Its aroma is intense, with floral scents and notes of lightly roasted caramel. Creamy to the palate, it has medium acidity and is mellow and fresh, thanks to the presence of a balsamic note. The main flowers it is made from are Egynia abyssinica (Kosso), and Erica arborea (Hasta). The honey is partly produced with traditional hives (large cylinders made of interwoven bamboo strips, covered with leaves of false banana and then closed at one end with a round wooden plank), and partly with modern hives.

More here

The promise of Red Maasai Sheep

Worldwatch on the advantages within an indigenous breed:

Image courtesy of Worldwatch

The Red Maasai East African sheep, also called Tanganyika Short-tailed, is a hardy breed of sheep indigenous to northern Tanzania, south central Kenya, and Uganda. The Red Maasai, which are distinct for having red hair instead of wool, are used primarily for their meat...While other sheep, known as Dorpers, were imported to East Africa from South Africa, Red Maasai have become a proven resource for farmers in recent years because of their resistance to worms and adaptation to semi-arid climates. Red Maasai are known to be resistant to a number of parasites, making them popular among the local population.

concluding:

With their pest- and drought-resistant qualities, Red Maasai is an important indigenous breed that is helping to improve food security in East Africa.

The "Let Us Grow" Project Cape Town

 Design Indaba presents “Let Us Grow”:
Your Street Cape Town Winners - Let Us Grow from Design Indaba on Vimeo.

“Let Us Grow” is a project to beautify Cape Town and drive interest in urban agriculture as part of growing hyper-local produce on unused or derelict plots in the city,” explains Andrea. “We also plan to drive community interaction and create employment opportunities with the initiative. The inspiration for Let Us Grow comes from various urban greening initiatives around the world and the team’s interest in promoting sustainable living.”
The initiative would focus on creating community gardens (even on rooftops in the CBD) that would benefit the environment, beautify the city, and engage the community (including local schools, who could use the gardens as an educational tool). The fruit, herbs, and vegetables grown in the gardens would be sold to local restaurants and residents. The revenue raised from the sale of the produce would be ploughed back into the initiative to create more gardens and to train and hire more employees.

More here
via City Farmer

Making Things That Matter | Kipp Kitts

Kipp Bradford of KippKItts:

Our motto “Make Things That Matter” comes from Tim O’Reilly. At Maker Faire New York, September 2011, we showed off the KippCool. One of the primary applications is medical cooling for heart attack and stroke victims. It was no accident that we found this application. A series of conversations I had with an official from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical Foundation at Health FOO, and O’Reilly organized health conference, set me on the path towards medical cooling, and I never looked back. When Tim awarded us an Editor’s Choice Blue Ribbon that said “Making Things That Matter” on the back, I realized that found the purpose and meaning in my life. From these humble beginnings, I will make sure one thing never changes. This business is all about being meaningful to our community and ourselves. We make things that we care about, things that solve our problems, and we hope you also find our products bring simplicity and meaning to your lives.

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Penda Health

Escape Velocity profiles Penda Health which "aims to provide comprehensive, safe, reliable, and accessible sexual and reproductive health services."

Incubating the 'Bisou' light at Activespaces

Al Banda writing in ActivSpaces:

Sebastian and I set to work gathering the material needed to build the first model of the street lighting unit. After a few days of purchasing and assembling pieces, we had a working prototype ready for testing. It was however on this fateful day that Sebastian’s cat, Bisou, who had kept him company during all the tinkering, tragically passed away. As homage to his cat, we named our street lighting device “Bright Illumination & Sound Unit” – Bisou.

Bisou is effective, cost efficient and an easy hardware hack. We connected a lamp with a motion sensor to a pair of speakers and an MP3 player. The lamp only comes on when there is motion to minimize consumption. Once the lights are triggered they are accompanied by audio media which can run a message such as “This light is sponsored by ActivSpaces“. Our 2nd Bisou prototype featured an encasement to protect the unit against weathering and to facilitate secure installment on outdoor structures.

More here

BongoHive | Tech-hub

Indigo Trust reports on a grant they awarded to Bongohive a Zambian tech-hub:

We’re delighted to announce that we have awarded our first grant to Zambia. The grant of $19,600 will go towards supporting the work of BongoHive, a tech hub, which takes its inspiration from similar facilities in Kenya, Uganda, Senegal and Cameroon. The Hive is an independent space for the tech community aimed at driving forward sustainable development and bringing about social change in Zambia...[continue reading]

Moringa School of Trades

In Ghana:

The Moringa Community is committed to helping the people of Ghana, West Africa improve their quality of life by developing sustainable locally appropriate technologies, and to train local citizens in this model in order to provide occupational opportunity, reduce the physical rigors of rural African lifestyles, and help meet basic life needs for those of developing nations. To this end, we have already completed the construction or the Moringa Community School of Trades in the village of Breman Baako, Central Region of Ghana, W. Africa. We provide training in Food Preservation & Nutrition, Agriculture and Farming, Machine Based Woodworking, Weaving, Soap Making, and other traditional craft related trades. Our mission is to fight poverty through empowering underprivileged people to create practical, locally appropriate small businesses that can sustain them and their families through the joy of work and the satisfaction of accomplishment.

Fati + Mado | Ceramic Duo

Fatimata Ly and Madeleine Bombote collaborate on a new ceramic jewelry line:

Fati + Mado is the logical result of a collaboration that began in June 2011 at the exhibition "On Course" in Gorée. While sharing the courtyard of the presbytery, Madeleine and Fatima chose to continue the momentum of jewelry. But this time, it Fatimata, designer ceramics, which Madeleine joined in his passion for jewelry. Madeleine is an architect and interior designer. She has an attraction to ceramics reflecting his profession but also the curiosity of this material both strong and difficult to handle when it is miniaturized. As for Fatima, she is fascinated by the appearance of both permanent and ephemeral clay material that remains his most natural expression.. The Duo celebrates the light of the earth at the service of elegance...[more]

In an Open-Source Society,We Will Innovate by the Seat of Our Pants

Joichi Ito in the NYTimes:

Image by Mizuka Ito

Innovators are able to prototype a new product with 3-D printers and cheap laser cutters for nearly nothing. Even complex products can be manufactured with help from supply chain companies that are making their systems available online to anybody. Today we are seeing the emergence of a community of hardware hackers and designers very reminiscent of the developers who wrote the original open standards of the Internet. An explosion of grass-roots innovation in hardware is coming — freely designed and freely shared — as it did in software.

More here

Manufactured: Cyrus Kabiru

Makeshift profiles Maker Faire Africa participant Cyrus Kabiru:

Manufactured: Cyrus Kabiru's Recycled Art from Makeshift on Vimeo.
His great grandfather was a prophet, his family tree peppered with traditional doctors. Laughing, Cyrus says that, like a traditional African doctor, he is a traditional African artist.
The tall, soft-spoken Cyrus Kabiru hammers a bottle top completely flat for a sculpture series he’s working on. Self-taught artist, sculptor, and designer, he is a quiet observer, expressing the world around him through recycled object sculptures and free hand paintings.
“I know someone through eyes,” he says...[continue reading]

Maker Faire Africa in the New Yorker

In the New Yorker Maker Faire Africa was highlighted as one of the 'Ten Biggest Positive Africa Stories of 2011':

via Wikipedia

African innovation was celebrated for a third year at Maker Faire Africa. Emeka Okafor, a Nigerian, once said that he couldn’t understand why, in the tech realm, so little interesting and creative activity seemed to be coming out of sub-Saharan Africa. Curious about what good ideas from Africa looked like, he helped found Maker Faire Africa, where inventors from across the continent gather to showcase their wares—this October in Cairo, in previous years in Nairobi and Accra. The result has been astounding: mobile apps, seed-planting devices, solar-powered computer kiosks made out of recycled oil drums, paraffin lamps, and other technologies that, importantly, address the immediate needs of Africans.

HAXLR8R :: Hardware Accelerator

Accelerators come to the hardware startup world:

HAXLR8R takes teams with hardware prototypes and turns them into functional, fundable companies. We recruit 8-10 teams of 2-3 entrepreneurs who have a concept or an early prototype for a high-growth startup. The teams go through a competitive application process and agree to locate themselves in Shenzhen (China) for the duration of the program.
 Over fifteen weeks, the startup teams will build and refine their prototype product, launch it to an initial group of customers for feedback, and test their delivery and/or business models. During the last two weeks, each startup creates a polished company pitch and demo to present to seed investors and potential partners at HAXLR8R Day which will be in the Bay Area.

H/T Mitch Altman

Peace Mass Transit

In Nigeria:

Founded by Samuel Maduka Onyishi with a single campus shuttle, at the University of Nigeria. Peace Mass Transit has grown into a transportation company with a staff of about 2,800 that moves 30,000 commuters daily on its mini-bus service.

Roots Marketing

A How we made it Africa profile:

When Roots Marketing Communications first opened shop in Tanzania, all the staff members lived in one house that doubled as the company’s office. In addition, they also rented out two rooms.
“The five of us were upstairs, the office was downstairs. We just cut costs down totally. We would all meet for breakfast and then start working,” says South African-born Ulric Charteris, co-founder of Roots. Five years on, the company is still based in the same building in Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam, but with no one actually living there. From its humble beginnings Roots managed to establish itself as one of Tanzania’s top advertising agencies, looking after some of the country’s leading brands...[continue reading]

Remixing 'Maker' Procedures with Alchematter

Dominic Muren's Alchematter:

...is a new kind of platform for sharing and remixing procedures that describe how to make objects

"Pounding Light" Lamps

From Fatimata Ly:

Terracotta chandeliers inspired by recurrent power cuts in Senegal, West Africa. These chandeliers could also be used as simple lamps, candleholders... The texture, color and shape make light whimsical.

More
Images courtesy of Jean Claude Thoret

Build your own Stereolithographic 3D printer

In Hackaday:

[Andy's] 3D printer build uses lasers to create objects from goo. The Stereolithographic process uses resin that is cured by UV light to create the finished product. A single laser mounted to a CNC gantry is able to precisely target a point on the surface of the resin to begin the printing process. As the layers are built up, the stage, which is mounted on the Z axis, slowly sinks into the resin vat. So basically you’re printing from the bottom up but the laser never moves up or down. There’s a time-compressed video of an object being printed embedded after the break. It illustrates the process better than we can describe it...[continue reading]

via Adafruit

The 'Maker' movement could herald a new Industrial Revolution

In the Economist:

The maker movement is both a response to and an outgrowth of digital culture, made possible by the convergence of several trends. New tools and electronic components let people integrate the physical and digital worlds simply and cheaply. Online services and design software make it easy to develop and share digital blueprints. And many people who spend all day manipulating bits on computer screens are rediscovering the pleasure of making physical objects and interacting with other enthusiasts in person, rather than online. Currently the preserve of hobbyists, the maker movement’s impact may be felt much farther afield.

Image by Andrew Kelly

The parallel with the hobbyist computer movement of the 1970s is striking. In both cases enthusiastic tinkerers, many on America’s West Coast, began playing with new technologies that had huge potential to disrupt business and society. Back then the machines manipulated bits; now the action is in atoms. This has prompted predictions of a new industrial revolution, in which more manufacturing is done by small firms or even by individuals. “The tools of factory production, from electronics assembly to 3D printing, are now available to individuals, in batches as small as a single unit,” writes Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired magazine.
It is easy to laugh at the idea that hobbyists with 3D printers will change the world. But the original industrial revolution grew out of piecework done at home, and look what became of the clunky computers of the 1970s. The maker movement is worth watching.

More here

Kenya's Eagle Eye Laser Centre and InReturn Capital investment's

The welcome trend of fund based investment in health facilities continues to gather steam. African Capital Markets News reports on an InReturn Capital's investment in Kenya’s Eagle Eye Laser Centre:

Hurlingham Eye Care Services group has been operating optical shops and a diagnostics centre around Nairobi since 2000 and in April 2010 opened the Eagle Eye Laser and Diagnostics Centre.This aims to be a leading provider of eye-care surgery and diagnostics in East Africa, particularly long-term eye problems. The centre is the first clinic in East Africa to offer Lasik surgery, which is the most advanced type of laser surgery for vision correction. Other eye surgeries include cataract, glaucoma, multifocal refractive surgery, as well as a broad variety of eye diagnostics using modern technology.

Continuing:

InReturn already has investments in construction, infrastructure and energy and is keen to expand into healthcare. It linked with HECS in July 2011. It provides hands-on support to HECS in strategic focus, human resource management and marketing and financial administration processes, as well as joining weekly management meetings and being a member of the board. Its investment in the surgery centre will assist in expanding and improving operational capabilities while the centre prepares to expand within the region. The plan is also to set up a non-profit unit that will provide free eye-care health services such as free surgeries and consultations to the lowest income groups.

More here

Patrick Missodey, Jeweler

Fati of Pattern & Texture speaks with jewelry designer Patrick Missodey:

f a t i: What does the name of your brand stand for?
Patrick: The name of my brand is “Fifa Denali”, which embodies peaceful creativity. “Fifa” means peace in Fong (a language from Benin, West Africa) and “Denali” means God exists. For me, God represents inspiration and without inspiration and peace one cannot be creative.

Image courtesy of Pattern & Texture

f a t i: What is your style?
Patrick: My inspiration comes really from my surroundings, nature and all kind of metals. I am always observing what I have around me. When I walk in the city I am constantly looking down to find the most curious object or looking at nature and get back to my workshop and start crafting.

More here

From Scraps to Seedlings in Ethiopia

via City Farmer a report on the gardening work of Samson Aberra:

Sometimes when Samson Aberra is working in the garden, planting seedlings or replenishing his nursery, onlookers gather to watch him toil. What they don’t know is that Samson Aberra is not “toiling”—he’s barely working, he claims. In fact, he is doing what he loves: gardening...Throughout 2010, Samson irrigated his garden from the contaminated river. He noticed the quality of his vegetables did not stack up to other products in the market. With his earnings he installed a municipal water line direct to his garden, brining fresh, highland water to his urban garden. Every month he pays 10 birr for the water and now has a product he can really be proud of.
“Consumers need quality vegetables. It was an easy decision to make,” he says.
Samson grows a variety of vegetables as well as ornamental plants, which he sells in the market. He has embraced every tool USAID UGP has to offer including, fruit trees, compost piles and nurseries. Like a garden pro, he plans successive plantings and seedlings quietly wait their turn in his nursery.

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Kumasi Centre for Learning

In Ghana:

Co-founded by Yaw Adu-Gyamfi the "KCLL exists to improve the livelihood of the youth in Kumasi through the provision of the requisite entrepreneurial, technical and vocational skills, and also to create opportunities for lifelong learning."

Malagasy i-Hub

The "...Malagasy i-Hub is a co-working project initiated by bloggers in Madagascar. The goal is to set a co-working space for ICT/multimedia and independent workers..."

Priming the Innovation Critical Mass Pump

Whether its in technology,agriculture,manufacturing,innovation or anything else priming the pump or pipeline determines whether an industry or way of thinking reaches critical mass.Afrinnovator concatenates their thoughts with those of Hash in a recent post:

...the basic concept behind Erik’s pyramid model is that there are currently very few success stories as far as African tech startups are concerned, and at the same time fewer attempts. The base of the pyramid is made up of the upcoming guys who simply have an idea, maybe some code running but no real business or business model, just an idea. The middle level is made up of the guys who’ve come up with a business out of their idea but are playing at the Small and Medium Enterprise level, they have not quite ‘broken through’, at the very top are the likes of Ushahidi and MPESA, the names that are easily recognisable even at big time international conferences. These are the ones that have caused the world to turn around, look back at Africa, and specific African states/cities and say “Wait a minute! Something’s going on there”. The theory part goes something like this: to expand the ecosystem and get more success stories at the top of the pyramid, we need to put effort into the base of the pyramid, broadening it. The idea is that the more people we have trying at the bottom the more chances some of them will trickle up into the SME space, the more get up that one level, the more chances that a few will break through further into the top of the pyramid.

In addition:

At the end of the day what we really want to achieve, particularly as far as the bottom up approach is concerned, is critical mass. The right number of entrepreneurs and innovators taking a chance, trying and trying and trying and trying and trying, and then trying some more and then some more. The more the better, because the more they are the higher the chances of a few breaking through the ceiling.

More here

A few points to complement this conversation, if we are to enable the innovation process varying concurrent approaches will be required. Some top-down others of a bottom-up nature.Stringing together nodes that are working -linking them- is essential for multidimensional idea transfer. One of the keys though is the strength of these connection points moreso at the fragile nascent stage. If any of them happen to be less dynamic or robust the fledgling network will suffer unless it finds a way to error correct and route around sources of weakness.This is one area where the numbers come in, a greater number of points increases the redundancy and consequently the likelihood an emergent dynamic pulsing network...[to be continued]

Small Scale Chemistry

Wouldnt it be great to see these folks link up with Hackteria? From chemistry2011:

The prime objective of Global Microscience Programme is to introduce to teachers, inspectors, and education officials the advantage of performing chemistry experiments on a small scale. Through introductory workshops in developing countries and countries in transition, participants gain hands-on experience under expert guidance.

via SciDev

El-Minya Hacker Space

In Egypt:

The Minia Hackerspace is a place where everyone in El-Minia can share his projects , learn , collect a team for his project.This organization had been established in El-Minya for the development of innovation in all areas,its also provide a new type of the appropriate environment for creative ideas in the arts and engineering.