Ada Lovelace Day – Woman in Technology

"I will publish a blog post on Tuesday 24th March about a woman in technology whom I admire but only if 1,000 other people will do the same." — Suw Charman-Anderson

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Women’s contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines. Whatever she does, whether she is a sysadmin or a tech entrepreneur, a programmer or a designer, developing software or hardware, a tech journalist or a tech consultant, we want to celebrate her achievements.

I’m in! Join me!

  Photo courtesy of Fumi

Limor Fried: Open Source Entrepreneur

When I was growing up there were all sorts of electronics kits available for those of us who were interested in learning more about the subject.  My favorite birthday gift was the Radio Shack 150in1 Electronic Projects Kit I got when I was eight. 

As I got older I would drool over each copy of the latest Heathkit Catalog – I really, really wanted to build that 25" Color Television!

Unfortunately, many of the companies that made these wonderful products have long fallen victim to the pressures of globalization, the declining interest of hobbyists, and the fact that many of the classic projects have lost relevance to today’s enthusiasts.

Enter the Open Source entrepreneur Limor Fried. Limor’s company, Adafruit Industries offers a line electronics kits that are fun to build but even more importantly, relevant to today’s technology – you’ll not find any SCR 3-channel Color Organs here! She has made Adafruit a success by offering learning experiences and fun, not just a box of parts and a mimeographed sheet of instructions.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Limor about her company, click through for that and some pictures of one of Adafruit’s kits that I’ve just completed.