ajartech-blog

[ajartech-blog]

Fantastic! Be sure to vote!

Vote for Caleb Harper of @MITCityFarm and show the world we love urban agriculture!

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National Geographic’s Emerging Explorers Program recognizes and supports uniquely gifted and inspiring scientists, conservationists, storytellers, and innovators—explorers who are already making a difference early in their careers. To help the emerging explorers realize their potential, National Geographic awards each of them $10,000 for research and exploration.

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INSIDE THE INVENTIVE MIND Taku Aratsu Software Pro, IBM Japan 5 Patents “I abstract and embody a problem repeatedly and see it from many sides when I invent a new method.”

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Not sure how aquaponic systems work? Check out this handy dandy chart!

[ajartech-blog]

Learn about GrowUp Urban Farms!

The video shows how GrowUp is bringing products closer to consumers by localizing food production, and their goals for the future!

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This 2014 video clip from The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallow shows actor Morgan Freeman discussing how he turned his 124-acre ranch in Mississippi into a refuge for them.

The story has been circulating again thanks to the popular Facebook page The Free Thought Project. We're always happy to see a ringing endorsement for saving the bees!

“There’s a concerted effort to bring bees back onto the planet…we do not realize that they are the foundation, I think, of the growth of the planet, the vegetation…”

We’d like to thank Freeman and other likeminded folks who are working to save bees in their own backyards. Sustainability starts at home!

Find out how Freeman becomes “one with the bees,” why he doesn’t even wear a beekeeper’s outfit and more in this clip:

http://althealthworks.com/6135/concerned-about-mass-die-offs-morgan-freeman-converted-his-124-acre-ranch-into-a-bee-sanctuary-with-video/

[ajartech-blog]

PowerMatcher Technology

The Flexible Power Alliance Network has decided to release the PowerMatcher Suite free and open source.

"PowerMatcher is an agent-based technology to leverage the power consumption and production in a decentralized manner giving the users full control."

Acting on the principle of supply and demand, devices place bids on their willingness to consume or produce energy, and could be a game changer.

Read all about it at http://opensource.com/life/15/4/powermatchersuite-tool-producing-energy

[ajartech-blog]

Great video on LED lighting and farming! Let's solve our food shortage problems and get on board with indoor farming and urban agriculture.

[ajartech-blog]

Solar concrete wall developed in Germany

“Solar-aktive Betonfassade”. Sounds good, right? Reckli and Heliatek have developed a solar-active concrete wall for sustainable, net-zero energy buildings. Technical term: Building integrated organic photovoltaic (BIOPV).

With an installed power of 1kWp, the south-west oriented wall (3 rows of concrete modules with vertically mounted integrated solar film, total area: 16,80 m x 3,50 m) will supply around 500 kWh of electricity per year. The annual energy output is expected to be about 25% above the yield of silicon technology.

[press release]

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[ajartech-blog]

Data for Good.

Here's a movement we can all get behind.

Open data should do no harm and make things better. This simply, socially responsible approach is, in our opinion, the key to a thriving open source ecosystem in which socially good data is made public.

"We’ve seen too many instances of datasets that should have been kept private making it into the public domain—as well as instances of datasets that should have become public, and datasets that have been carefully pruned being criticized for release."

There's a simple three step tier everyone can take, whether it is with revealing data, or simply discussing something one-on-one with a peer: Does it need to be said? Does it need to be said by me? Does it need to be said right now? Simply checks and balances clear of malcontent can only make open data better.

Read the full article: http://opensource.com/business/15/2/open-crowdsourced-data

[ajartech-blog]

Fascinating stuff!

This book explores an opens source city by using Raleigh, North Carolina as its case study. It explores the use of transparency and collaboration when it comes to government and data, and reflects how these things would affect the city's culture, politics, economics and more.

What we love about this is the book isn't just a case study, but a how-to-guide for cities that wish to be open source as well.

Learn more at: http://theopensourcecity.com

[ajartech-blog]

Some very important legislation happening in New York regarding open source software and tax credits for those associated with their development. While part of the whole open movment is making products and programs accessible by offering them to the public, making it certainly comes with expenses for those on the design end. This legislation would help cushion their expenses during the development process.

Click the link to learn more.

http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S161-2015

[ajartech-blog]

We love anything that has to do with vertical farming, as you know, and today, we wanted to shed some light on farming. Specifically on…well, the lighting. Pretty important to plant growth.

Kind LED grow lights are making it possible for plants to thrive in new crop facilities where the outdoor climate would typically not be suitable. Thanks to the slim shape and the fact that they requiring little to no maintenance makes these bulbs a shoe in for vertical farming! Plus the lights are waterproof; so no muss no fuss when it comes to watering the farm.

“These kinds of technological advances in lighting have made possible environments that have never been seen before, and the proof of validity of the application lies in the fact that the plants thrive as hard as any growing in the sunlight, using less water, less nutrients, and without sunlight.”

Read more at http://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/15/05/p5504407/kind-led-grow-lights-now-being-used-in-vertical-farming-applications-fo

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Urban farming is going to become instrumental in feeding our nation and fighting off drought. The fact that ultra industrial Detroit is at the epicenter of this movement is absolutely inspiring.

We particularly enjoy that the Artesian Farms creator featured in this particular story wasn't necessarily seeking out green opportunities, but viable entrepreneurial ones! It's great when good business sense and environmental causes can come together.

We are thrilled to see that the city utilizing vertical farming! If an urban Goliath like Detroit can implement these agricultural changes, you can too! We can't wait to help you take those first steps to a cleaner, greener life with our open source greenhouse kits.

Be sure to read the full article and take a gander at the video on Artesian Farms!

[ajartech-blog]

Got this ready for today. #maythe4thbewithyou #tone #Arduino #funemployed by josephlmacdonald https://instagram.com/p/2RJM9amBpC/ Order your Arduino on amazon and make a robot that brings you butter: http://www.amazon.com/?tag=arduinosafire-20

[ajartech-blog]

We love this kickstarter! We highly recommend you checkout the EcoQube C. Beautiful, sustainable, and incredibly creative design- this is something you'll want in your home!

Plus, it utilizes aquaponics, so you know we're all about it!

[ajartech-blog]

Loved participating in today's #techtalk with Bloc!