- MIT’s 180-page report on the Aaron Swartz case (swartz-report.mit.edu) acknowledges that the institute ignored broader policy questions, accepted an “aggressive” prosecution, and quietly restricted JSTOR guest access after Swartz’s first download incident.  
- Channel members drafted a “best-case BOM” for an open-source automated DNA/RNA synthesizer: HPLC, UV-Vis, syringe pumps, 3-way pneumatic valves, nitrogen tank, oscilloscope, optical fibers/filters, and Merrifield-style reagents; pricing and sourcing data are being crowdsourced and the Eugene biotech lab (ex-Life Technologies) is being approached for dyes and hardware advice.  
- A newly highlighted ACS paper on “Liquid-Phase RNA Synthesis Using Alkyl-Chain-Soluble Support” is viewed as a promising alternative to solid-phase resins, with supplementary videos and data retrieved via paperbot/libgen.  
- A 192-column circular oligonucleotide synthesizer shown on YouTube can perform synthesis, cleavage, and deprotection on the same instrument using 6–8 reagents and scales from 10 nmol to 2 µmol; argon, nitrogen, or dry air are acceptable carrier gases.  
- Participants clarified that successful phosphoramidite chemistry requires rigorously excluding water to prevent the 5′-OH from acting as a “poser nucleotide,” and debated whether viral “non-enzymatic DNA synthesis” videos actually show copying rather than de-novo synthesis.  
- Azco Biotech’s $95 k “Dr. Oligo” instruments that switch between microarray and column formats were noted, though mechanical details remain opaque.  
- Emerging near-term vision-enhancement tech: Wired coverage of 2.8× magnifying contact lenses that use thin Fresnel-like optics.  
- DIY network-infrastructure examples include MonkeyBrains ISP in San Francisco, Sutro Tower line-of-sight links, and “micro-trenching” fiber installs (1/8-inch sidewalk cuts) for rapid, low-cost broadband deployment.  
- Argentina (Buenos Aires) was highlighted as a destination offering free university courses—even to foreigners—with one participant negotiating visa sponsorship from a local tech company as an inexpensive route to formal biochem/molecular-biology lab training.  
- The 19th International Meeting on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming (ISNSCE, Tempe AZ, Sept 2013) was announced as a key venue for open-source and experimental nucleic-acid nanotechnology work.