Mitch Altman, inventor of TV-B-Gone has done something kinda alien to many inventors of successful gizmos: he’s made it open source. Interesting, since when he first came up with the idea, Altman patented it, on the advice of his patent attorney brother.Now he’s sold a bundle of them, he’s had a change of heart. Seeing patent laws as responsible for stifling “the creativity that patents were supposed to encourage,” he’s making the source code, board layout and TV power codes all available online. Can we expect a host of DIY hacks? Ohboyyes. Read on at the Makezine link: the full skinny on his reasoning is pretty interesting. [Makezine]
