How The 'Internet Of Things' Can Spark An Open Source Community

Ninja Blocks puts a power into the hands of developers and users that has never been realized before, and which could be the genesis of an open source community of makers.

Ninja Blocks just put its June manufacturing run on sale after selling out its last five months of production. The Ninja Block is open source hardware and software for connecting the analog world of sensors and actuators with web services. It’s is an off-the-shelf way for people with many different skill sets to gain experience building the "internet-of-things."

The Ninja Block lets inventors and hobbyist imagine and build low-cost systems that would otherwise require custom hardware and software. For instance, it can be used to connect a wireless doorbell and camera so when the bell is rung, the camera takes a picture of the person at the door and Ninja Block emails it to the user inside. [..]