Everday hackers

Boston.com / Business / Technology: "Today, a growing hacker culture is not only reclaiming the original meaning of the term but also applying its can-do ethic far beyond computer code to embrace everything from home electronics to home improvements. Just as the first hackers looked at behemothcomputers and rudimentary programs and insisted, ''We can make them better,' so are modern-day hackers looking at a wide variety of products, services, and materials and saying, ''We can make these better, too.'

Take Tony Northrup of Woburn, for example. Dissatisfied with a pet sitter who showed up only sporadically to care for his cat, he didn't merely fire the sitter and find another one. Instead, at the cost of about $250, he built a system of wireless cameras, motion detectors, and an old personal computer to snap pictures of the cat at strategic places -- like the food bowl -- and load them on a website, allowing him and his wife, Erica Edson, to check on the cat from almost anywhere."