• Parallax will begin retailing an open-source electronics kit through RadioShack, a milestone for mainstream availability of DIY hardware.

• DIYbio Los Angeles founder Romie Littrell is interviewed at arsbiologica.org; upcoming events include the DIYbio Summit, Open Hardware Summit (Sept 14-15), FOSSASIA (Nov 11-13), Open Science Summit (Oct 22-23), Manchester DIYbio (Oct 29), Israel’s ICON transhumanist conference (Oct 24), Ephemerisle 2012 (June 9-10), Quantified Self 2012 (May 26-27), and Personalized Life Extension 2012 (date TBD).

• Jonathan Cline’s blog (88proof.com) outlines “software-defined protocols” that parse English-language bench protocols into code for microfluidic chips, aiming for Git-like version control and automated, reproducible wet-lab experiments.

• gcpopell, a masters student, is modeling sub-micron electrohydrodynamic jet printing with Taylor cones to reach <10 nm resolution, combining Simulink physics models with hardware toward molecular-scale additive manufacturing.

• Participants argue that the transhumanist movement’s real progress has shifted from high-profile organizations like Humanity+ to low-profile DIYbio circles where longevity, augmentation, and open-source bio projects are quietly advancing.

• A large public microfluidics paper archive (http://diyhpl.us/~bryan/papers2/microfluidics/) shows PCR, DNA synthesis, and sequencing already implemented on lab-on-a-chip devices, positioning microfluidics as the most credible near-term route to automated biology.

• The channel debates whether biologists should learn to program or be given simple, API-driven instruments; proposals include a minimal binary protocol plus Python wrapper, and an expert-system approach that translates plain-English protocols into robotic actions.

• kanzure introduces SKDB, an “apt-get for hardware” package manager for lab equipment, using STEP/IGES/BRL-CAD formats, git versioning, and metadata.yaml bills of materials, alongside open-source CAD tools (HeeksCAD, FreeCAD, BRL-CAD, OpenCASCADE, pythonOCC).

• A vision emerges of fully automated, software-defined labs where protocols are causal code, experiments are scheduled by algorithms, and human presence is limited to maintenance—mirroring the evolution from manual to automated computing.

• kanzure releases an AI-class.com registration spambot (ai-class.py) that inflates MOOC enrollment numbers using U.S. Census name lists, framing it as commentary on the hype around 100 k-student online courses.