TechnologyIQ

There’s so much to say about the recent announcements from Arduino and our technology editor Steve Bush has already covered the main points, talking to two Arduino kingpins, no less (co-founder Massimo Banzi and CEO Fabio Violante). See Arduino announces FPGA board, ATmega4809 in Uno Wi-Fi mk2, cloud-based IDE and IoT hardware. Read DevBoard Watch: Arduino Uno WiFi Rev 2 via Electronics Weekly Learn more about Arduino with these books and components Arduino Boards and Components via Amazon   Arduino Boards and Components via eBay An interesting link found among my daily reading

There are several similar apps on the market, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. I often use them to get me, at least, into the general area of a genus so that I can do a little more research and find out what I am looking at. Of course, the more specific the sub-species, the less likely these apps will be of much help…yet. The crowdsourcing option helps a lot in letting other, more knowledgeable people help both you and the app get better at identifications. — Douglas In July of 2016, thousands of people wandered out into streets and parks under the guidance of a hugely popular wildlife app. The app was Pokemon Go, and the wildlife did not, in any real sense, exist. Yet while Pokemon fans were attempting to collect fantastic—if ultimately digital—animals, some inevitably found real ones as well. The disconnect spawned quite a few jokes, mostly involving possums, and Ecologists and museum curators, sensing a learning opportunity, offered Pokemon Go-themed outreach events;

The tiny but potent PC that is the Raspberry Pi can be built into all manner of amazing projects, but this is arguably one of the most impressive tricks - creating a working robot. Of course, building a Pi-powered robot can take many forms. There are ready-made kits that add a robot arm to your Pi for just a few pounds, cheap and cheerful 'mouse' style chassis that simplify the build, and highly technical professional creations that can operate in the harshest environments around. One team created the PiTank (including a functioning ping-pong ball cannon), while another team of scientists investigating volcanoes used a Pi-powered robot to investigate and map active fissures - the only limit is your imagination! Read How to build a Raspberry Pi-powered robot via IT PRO   * A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs An interesting link found among my daily reading

Model rocketry hobbyists are familiar with the need to roll their own solutions when putting high-tech features into rockets, and a desire to include a microcontroller in a rocket while still keeping things flexible and modular is what led [concretedog] to design a system using 22 mm diameter stackable PCBs designed to easily fit inside rocket bodies. The system uses a couple of 2 mm threaded rods for robust mounting and provides an ATTiny85 microcontroller, power control, and an optional small prototyping area. Making self-contained modular sleds that fit easily into rocket bodies (or any tube with a roughly one-inch inner diameter) is much easier as a result. Read These Small PCBs are Made for Model Rocketry via hack a day Learn more about model rocketry with these books † † † An interesting link found among my daily reading

Linear actuators are integral devices in our world. Usually they are used for opening, closing doors, drawers Some geeks can build a robot and raise his limbs with linear actuators. Of course, you may not need a home robot, but controlling automatical movements of your furniture really comes in handy sometimes. Especially when it can be controlled with the help of compatible board that makes the controlling process much easier. Today we will give you the comprehensive guide on how to control it with a joystick, rotation knob, three buttons with preset positions. And you will never believe, but you will hardly be in a driver’s seat. The ruler is the code. Let us tell you about each possible way. Read How to Control a Linear Actuator with Arduino via Hi Tech Gazette Learn more about Arduino with these books and components Arduino Boards and Components via Amazon Arduino Boards and Components via eBay   * A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Ma

For this year’s office holiday party, [Gavan Fantom] wanted to do something really special. Coworkers were messing with LEDs to come up with displays and decorations, but they lack that old-school feel of mechanical displays. He wanted to create something that had retro look of moving elements, but didn’t want to just recreate the traditional flip mechanism we’ve all seen over and over. What [Gavan] came up with is breathtakingly impractical 8×8 display that sounds as cool as it looks. Each “pixel” in the display is a 3D printed screw mechanism rotated by a hobby servo. As the pixel is rotated in its case, it becomes progressively more visible to the observer. The opacity of the pixel can even be adjusted by varying the degree of rotation, allowing for rudimentary display of grayscale images. Read A Gloriously Impractical Electromechanical Display via hack a day   * A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs An interesting link found among my daily r

How to Take Time-Lapse Pictures of Your Plants Growing via Lifehacker My little bot @grow_slow has been taking a photo of my fiddle-leaf fig plant every morning at 10:17 am for over two years. I finally put all the photos together, so here's what 2 years of growth and movement look like!!! pic.twitter.com/58q4RvAMGg — Nicole He (@nicolehe) June 17, 2018 Plant life comes at you fast; before you know it that little sprout is a full grown monster plant, desperate for a bigger pot. If you’re a green thumb type who’s fascinated by your plant’s progress, here is the perfect way to document every tender unfurling. Artist and programmer Nicole He set up a camera powered by a Raspberry Pi computer to document the slow growth of her fiddle-leaf fig plant. She programmed the computer to post a picture everyday to Twitter under the handle @grow_slow, in case anyone else wanted to follow its development. After two years, He compiled them all into a little video of “growth and movement

I always love  a good DIY version of expensive devices.You learn while making it and learn by using it after. — Douglas The Makey Makey is a great little device that emulates a USB keyboard and lets you make keys out of any somewhat conductive thing (aluminum foil, bananas, play dough, etc.), which can then be used as a controller for games and educational projects. The Makey Makey has two downsides: (1) cost and (2) the need for a ground connection. This project is a cheap alternative using a $2 STM32F1 board and capacitive sensing. It only has 10 inputs as opposed to the Makey Makey's 12, but it has the advantage that in addition to emulating a keyboard, it can emulate a USB gamepad controller (digital joystick). Read $3 Alternative to Makey Makey via Instructables Learn more about Arduino with these books and components Arduino Boards and Components via Amazon Arduino Boards and Components via eBay * A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs

Keep tabs on your local environment with this home-built rig. — Douglas Our surroundings are constantly degrading, and there are innumerable disease that can be caused by living in unhealthy, impure and polluted surroundings. I know there are a number of devices in the market that will measure the concentration of harmful pollutants in your house. But, I decided to build one so, I get to choose the functionality I want. Read IoT Air Quality Monitor via Adafruit Industries Learn more about Arduino with these books and components Arduino Boards and Components via Amazon Arduino Boards and Components via eBay * A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! † Available from the LA Public Library An interesting link found among my daily reading