# Key Ideas from #hplusroadmap IRC Discussions

• Open hardware initiatives were prominent, with SKDB software integrating with Octopart to enable command-line searching for electronic components, and discussions about GitHub being used to host hardware projects like Jeff Kantarek's electronics work.

• The Chinese Shanzhai (山寨) DIY electronics culture was discussed as an important parallel to Western open hardware movements, with participants sharing resources like shanzai.com.

• Distributed manufacturing concepts were explored through Kevin Carson's "The Homebrew Industrial Revolution" paper and discussions of a solar turbine prototype at Factor e Farm that claimed to intercept 30kW of solar energy with a 48-fold concentration ratio for only $750 in materials.

• Tensions around "truly open" hardware were evident when the group attempted to contact MakerBot Industries for CAD files shared "in confidence" and when discussing with Mitch Free about creating a web interface for open source hardware.

• Open source biological design tools appeared on participants' radar, with mentions of the GeneDesign project on GitHub showing the group's interest extended beyond traditional hardware.

• Participants critically discussed IBM's claims about "emulating a cat brain," highlighting the important distinction between actual brain emulation and simply building large artificial neural networks.

• Technical challenges were shared, including a user's difficulty solving gear equations with SymPy (while Wolfram Alpha could handle the same problem), demonstrating the practical computational issues faced in open hardware design.