First High Resolution 3D Printer Kit for DIY community – Veloso 3D Print:
Date archives "April 2012"
Why a German Pirate Party victory would change the world
Change Germany and you change Europe. Change Europe and the anti-sharing forces can no longer force their will on the world. Rick Falkvinge explains: “If the German Piratenpartei manages to get 10-15% in the national elections, comes out on top in the coalition game, and becomes a supporting part of the next German administration in… Continue reading
A pivotal p2p transition moment: Open Source Ecology launches Extreme Manufacturing platform
The birth of the era of mass production, based on economies of scale, which is now ending, was when Ford instituted the Assembly line. The birth of the era of physical peer production, based on economies of scope, occured thanks to the convergence of Marcin Jakubowski’s Open Source Ecology, an integrated set of openly designed… Continue reading
Why we need to bypass electrical utilities if we want to build a low carbon society
Excerpted from Bill St. Arnaud: “I have long argued that we need to bypass electrical utilities if we want to build a low carbon society. Utilities, even if they are publicly owned, have an inherent economic incentive to use cheap and dirty coal or gas, as they then earn the generating revenue. With distributed solar… Continue reading
Early commentaries on the new peerfunding system: eco^2
David Pinto and friends, with my support, are launching a new funding mechanism to support commons-based value creation. He asked a few people for their opinion on this intriguing project:
Web Browsers and Web Weavers
Web Weavers are to be something like our own personal firewall on the web, but not only… They don’t yet exist, but captaincalliope (http://captaincalliope.net/) has a vision of what they should do and how they will work, and he says … “I’ve identified the Web Weaver as the missing requisite piece to solving global scale… Continue reading
Max Keiser Report: Michel Bauwens on Bitcoin as a post-Westphalian currency
My intervention occurs in the second part, after about 12 minutes:
The successful game plan of the European Pirate Parties
Rick Falkvinge explains the game plan of the Pirate Party and why they’re succeeding: “After the Pirate Party’s political entry in the 2006 Swedish elections, we set out on a five-step plan to make sure that the offline civil liberties would carry over into the online world, against the wishes of the old guard. Each… Continue reading
Move over SOPA & PIPA: Here comes CISPA
Source: Anne Sewell In the wake of SOPA and PIPA, there is yet another terrifying bill on the table. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (or CISPA for short) which is currently being discussed by Congress. In Washington, Congress is discussing the best way to avert the ongoing cyberattacks and some legislators have put… Continue reading
Project of the Day: Docummunity
Project site: http://www.docummunity.com/ The first fully interactive collaborative documentary site that is totally geared to enable groups of users to collaborate together on one communal documentary From project’s main site: “Docummunity is the first fully interactive collaborative documentary site that is totally geared to enable groups of users to collaborate together on one communal documentary…. Continue reading
FileServe and Wupload Exit The File-Sharing Business
Source: TorrentFreak Following the shutdown of Megaupload in January and comments made by Paramount Pictures’ vice president for worldwide content protection on Friday, both Wupload and FileServe have effectively exited the file-sharing business. FileServe initially disabled all 3rd party sharing and discontinued its rewards program back in January following the Mega raids. Although the affiliate… Continue reading
Why electricity utilities are terrified of the success of solar
Excerpted from Bill St. Arnaud, who summarizes this article: (go to the original for the graphs) “Here is a pair of graphs that demonstrate most vividly the merit order effect and the impact that solar is having on electricity prices in Germany; and why utilities there and elsewhere are desperate to try to reign in… Continue reading
Book of the Day: Together. The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation
Book: Richard Sennett. Together: The Rituals Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation. Yale University Press, 2012. Living with people who differ—racially, ethnically, religiously, or economically—is the most urgent challenge facing civil society today. We tend socially to avoid engaging with people unlike ourselves, and modern politics encourages the politics of the tribe rather than of the… Continue reading
Can the Commons Go Electoral?
Source: David Bollier From an American perspective, it would seem unlikely that the commons could become a topic of mainstream electoral concern in the near future. The cultural base just isn’t there. Yet the surprising success of the Pirate Party in Europe suggests that a new cultural cohort – politically disaffected, digitally networked, culturally independent… Continue reading
Ten Examples of Architecture as a Collective Action
Source: Changfang Luo Thanks to contemporary media, architectural news and knowledge is more accessible than ever: every day, design and architectural journals both online and off deliver fresh news about iconic buildings, luxury museums, beautiful villas, eco-friendly houses, and much more. But these stories often reflect the designers’ personal perspectives and concentrate on a limited… Continue reading
Why grassroots solutions are needed in an era of the failing Westphalian state system
I do not agree with the anti-political stance below, but believe that grassroots efforts and social movements need to be integrated. Nevertheless, Nicola Foss of Automatic Earth makes a good case of why p2p inititiatives are so vital as a survival and resilience strategy. Nicola Foss: “When you have economic contraction you also have a… Continue reading