Via Technologies released the hardware design for a low-cost laptop with WiMax support under an open-source license in an effort to make customisation easier and shorten design cycles for system makers. The CAD (computer-assisted design) files for the OpenBook reference design can be downloaded for free and made available to anyone under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 license.

When you create a new device that you believe is one of the first in its category, the hardware design can only be as good as the software. As demonstrated by the iPhone's success, if you ignore the software, the hardware is worthless, no matter how good it is. What do you do, then, if you have a completely new device and you can't find software that is suited for it? The answer is Linux.

A public domain / open source design shelter for poor country that can resist to extrem conditions and cost less than 200 dollars to build. It s designed for poor countries. It s still an ongoing project but already get a big community and good documentation.

If you've been scanning the news today, you might be under the impression that VIA Technologies had released an open-source notebook design. The OpenNote mini-note reference design has gotten a a sudden burst of press attention, but most of the stories don't seem to understand what's really open about this design.

Whether you think "search" is sexy or not, you probably can't live without it. In fact, according to the blurb on the book's back cover, "It (search) influences what we buy and where we go. It shapes how we learn and what we believe." That's a powerful statement, and probably more true than we realize (or we wish).

"Free software is a good thing, its empowering, I might even go as far as to say its the way things should be done. One of the biggest threats to free software at the moment is “web services”, or if you’re an airy fairy Web 2.0 person “The Cloud” (airy could, geddit?).

Once again the Defective by Design have sprung into action to denounce another product from Apple, and once again nobody really cares. Defective by Design is a marketing campaign sponsored by the Free Software Foundation. While the FSF does plenty of good work, DBD is increasingly out of touch with the majority of users.

The success of open-source software raises a tantalizing question: Could the same design philosophy work for tech gadgets? Open-source software is one of the great success stories of the past few decades.

The goal of the MyHDL project is to empower hardware designers with the elegance and simplicity of the Python language.