On a slightly more serious note, a good playground for developing thses kinds of things might be products for developing countries. Specifically, those parts th

On a slightly more serious note, a good playground for developing thses kinds of things might be products for developing countries. Specifically, those parts that are not on grids. A lot of things you make must be cheap, must have own power source & must be useful enough to (a) justify spending money in a place without much (b) worth the hassle of putting panels on your roof or whatever. What seems relatively sensible is a solar powered desktop to start with.