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Link your Internet of Things Easily with the WiPi Wireless Bridge
You may be familiar with radio wiz Rick Winscot and his easyRadio modules for Arduinos. They are popular as you pop on the shield and via serial you have an instant mesh network, operating in US and...
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Arduino Micro and Other Tiny Boards
Arduino introduced their latest product today - the Arduino Micro comes with headers, operates at 5V and sports a 16 MHz ATmega32u4. The unit is basically a mini-size Arduino Leonardo as the unit can...
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Adafruit Electronic Character Plush Toys Signup
The Adafruit folks have had the circuit playground characters as part of their Ask an Engineer Ustream wallpaper for awhile (circuit playground is the name of their popular electronics app on iTunes)....
View ArticleBackup, Backup, Backup
I think I lost a 3TB drive on my Windows Home Server 2011 box today. All the client PC backups were on that drive but no data that I recall so it's not a great loss.Of course I have not automated a...
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Laptops - get ready for the touchless glut
Not many people know we're in a laptop glut except manufacturers, retail outlets, and the refurb shops. That is to say the consumer has not been informed there is a glut to ensure they don't demand...
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Resurecting a Dell M1530 Laptop
I got a great deal at Dell outlet four years ago - a Dell XPS M1530 aluminum laptop for just under a thousand dollars. Yes, today you can get a darn good ultrabook for that but that was then.Well that...
View ArticleDeals at MicroCenter
Last month, I blogged that MicroCenter had been touting their "Arduino" (which turned out to be a Ghio clone) for $19.99. Today's ad is out and the new and improved prices are out. They state they...
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Online Courses - Refined and Redefined Learning
Online learning is finally coming into the promises made in the early Internet. From MIT CourseWare to Khan Academy to today's offerings, it's all getting better.If you haven't heard of Caltech's...
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Cylon Pumpkin Build Details
By request, I am posting details on my Cylon Pumpkin build from two weeks ago.Inside the parts look like thisThe Larson Scanner (moving LED array) with its AA battery pack is at top. It is a kit from...
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Wiring up Bob the Robotic Head #hackfriday
No, I did not forgo Black Friday shopping altogether for Hack Friday (the new day which one spends hacking things together). Shopping started at 7:30 Thanksgiving with a trip to Walmart and also some...
View ArticleLots of Sales, Items Running Out
I like to shop the early sales but I have found that certain items I want to buy, especially at Maker stores, are out of stock. Hard to see a sale but no stock. I jumped when Adafruit got RFID boards...
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Raspberry Pi in Stock at Newark
Newark has the Raspberry Pi in stock at the standard $35 price point, no limit. They state they have twenty but that does not decrement. The link is...
View ArticleArduino Shield Compatibility Documentation
There does not appear to be any site that attempts to cross-reference Arduino shields and compatibility between Arduino processor versions (Uno, Mega, Due, Leonardo, Micro, Nano, etc.).I asked Adafruit...
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MicroCenter Maker Parts Expansion
As I had hoped, MicroCenter has increased their stock of electronics and Maker kits. Parts from Arduino, Sparkfun, Maker Shed and Parallax are included.They are also selling Arduinos at good prices....
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Why are Arduino Wifi shields soooo expensive?
Makers are cheap. They are frugal and recycle and repurpose but overall they do not want to spend too much money. So why are the Arduino(tm) shields that connect to wifi so expensive?The new Arduino...
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Whoville: Honey Boo Who
In talking about The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, I asked about Honey Boo Who, a mashup of Honey Boo Boo and Cindy Lou Who. Both seem to be exploited by the media for the holidays.
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Official Raspberry Pi App Store Open
Today marks the announcement by the Raspberry Pi Foundation of an application (app) store for software, tutorials, and other material for the Raspberry Pi computer. Currently there are some games,...
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The Arduino Esplora is Available from Radio Shack
I have been looking on radioshack.com for days to see if the new Arduino Esplora was available. Finally on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) the web site said they were so I drove to a local store...
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Gertboard Completed
I posted on October 24th that I had received my Gertboard from Newark, shortly before they discontinued it as a kit. With the holidays and making my Cylon Pumpkin, I did not have time to build it...
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Twine Available for Purchase
The Twine sensor is one of the more successful Kickstarter projects completed. It is a battery-powered wifi sensor node. It has internal temperature and orientation sensors and can use other sensors...
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