A servo motor is a special geared DC motor equipped with an electronic circuit for controlling the direction of rotation, as well as the position, of the motor shaft. Because servo motors allows precise angular positioning of their output shaft, they are used extensively in robotics and radio-controlled cars, airplanes, and boats to control the motion of their various parts. In this lab session, we will first explore what a servo motor consists of and how it works and then illustrate how to interface it with a PIC microcontroller.

Our curriculum has been broken out into three main categories: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Materials may include presentations, handouts, code and whatever else we've got!

You'll be able to learn simple programming techniques, soldering skills, and other basics before moving on to more advanced skills like using an Atmega and Xbee Wireless. The curriculum is simple enough for a child to understand, but interesting enough for an adult to walk away with some good knowledge. The entire curriculum is free and you'll even get a nice big Intro to Arduino book. If you've been toying with the idea of taking on some of the electronics projects we've featured here but didn't know how to start then this curriculum will give you a good understanding of what you need to know.

The Hackerspaceshop was found in early 2012 by Florian 'overflo' Bittner with a lot of support from the community at metalab , a hackerspace in central Vienna, Austria.

Ich habe mich in letzter Zeit ziehmlich mit dem Thema LED Matrix beschäftigt, hauptsächlich mit dem Rainbowduino RGB Led controller von Seeedstudio. Dieser Treiber steuert eine common anode 8x8 rgb led matrix an. das schöne: jeder controller hat ein i2c/spi/uart anschluss (man kann beliebige matricen hinzufügen), das negative: software pwm. nichts desto trotz, habe ich die rainbowduino firmware aufgemotzt und dazu eine einfach library für Processing geschrieben, damit man das teil auch einfach ansteuern kann. ich wollte mich natürlich mit einer 8x8cm "grossen" led matrix zufrieden geben, daher baute ich mir selber eine grössere. Das ganze habe ich in meinem blog dokumentiert, hier ein screenshot der matrix ohne diffuser:

Built by a startup company called Pwnie Express, the Pwn Plug is pretty much the last thing you ever want to find on your network—unless you've hired somebody to put it there. It's a tiny computer that comes preloaded with an arsenal of hacking tools. It can be quickly plugged into any computer network and then used to access it remotely from afar. And it comes with "stealthy decal stickers"—including a little green flowerbud with the word "fresh" underneath it, that makes the device look like an air freshener—so that people won't get suspicious.

Tired of waiting for Raspberry Pi? With delay after delay, and no fixed release date in sight, maybe it’s time to look for an alternative

The Raspberry Pi is no doubt a very exciting device, with an unmatched ratio of size, power, and value. However, after months of delays and false starts ranging from manufacturing problems to certification issues, the open source wonder board hasn’t actually been delivered to those who have bought it, or would love to buy it. All is not lost though, as there are several alternatives available that might just pique your interest.

Eric Wilhelm, Gründer des Webdienstes Instructables.com – auf dem Konstruktionspläne für offene Hardware angeboten werden –, ist jedoch optimistisch. Ninja Blocks könnten für alle interessant sein, die ein einfaches, konkretes Problem haben, dass sich mit bisherigen Systemen nicht kostengünstig lösen ließ – etwa eine SMS zu erhalten, wenn die Post ein Paket vor der Tür abgelegt hat. Michael Nelson von der Georgetown University glaubt gar, dass die Ninja Blocks den "Hype um das Internet der Dinge“ entscheidend weitertreiben könnten. Er hat sich bereits eine der bunten Kistchen bestellt, zusammen mit fünf Sensoren, einem WLAN-Dongle und einer Webcam. Die 265 Dollar hat Nelson nicht angelegt, weil er sich von seinem Ninja Block die Lösung von Alltagsproblemen erhofft. „Ich kann nun anfangen nachdenken, wie man Probleme löst."

EEBus ist ein Vernetzungskonzept, welches die Energiewirtschaft mit intelligenten Abnehmern vernetzt. Dabei werden unterschiedliche Technologien eingesetzt. Bei dem Standard werden bereits existierende in ein einheitliches technologisches Konzept gebracht. Initiative EEBus wird in Kürze präsentiert In Kürze wird die Initiative EEBus vorgestellt. Miele hat daran entscheidend mitgearbeitet; ebenso die anderen Gründungsmitglieder Gira, ABB/Busch Jaeger, Vaillant, SMA, E.G.O., Landis+Gyr, Jung, Kofler Energies, Kellendonk und der Branchenverband VDE. Die Initiative hat zum Ziel, EEBus als offenes Vernetzungs-Konzept von Smart Grid und Smart Home weiterzuentwickeln und am internationalen Markt zu etablieren. Laut Miele wurden bereits mehrere Geräte veräußert, die mit "SG ready"-Stickern (Smart Grid ready), versehen wurden

Why target education? The intention of the project is to get kids excited about programming computers again in the same way the BBC Micro produced By Acorn did in the 1980s. It’s an attempt to get away from the pointless exercise in learning how to use Microsoft Word and Excel and give kids some real IT knowledge. Doing this with current technology like a standard PC is expensive for schools. Even if they were to use a bare bones machine running Linux that bare hardware will still cost £199+ for one PC. The RaspberryPi is a cheaper alternative. Not only is it’s hardware cheaper. It’s a stateless computer. Which means if kids screw things up all they need to do is switch it off and on again. A worst case scenario is reinstalling the OS. The RaspberryPi is cheap enough that not only can schools buy them. But parents can buy them as well without having to worry about their kid breaking it.

The desire to learn new things. The desire to build something that has never before been built. The desire to hunt down problems--and then solve them. It was at this moment I realized something. Something which, to me, is an incredibly powerful revelation. Often times, I find myself hunting for solutions. I find myself desperately trying to figure out what I should do about X, and how to optimize Y. I find myself searching for solutions to problems, hoping to get them out of the way as quickly as possible so that I can move onto the next thing, the next chore, the next item on my todo list. It was in this moment that it all became clear to me-- I enjoy the problems. I crave them.

WebFront Live-Demo im SmartHome Paderborn Probieren Sie das IP-Symcon WebFront live im SmartHome Paderborn aus. Sie können die Beleuchtung steuern, Ihre Aktionen per Kamerabild sehen, Temperaturverläufe begutachten und vieles mehr. IP-Symcon WebFront über www.WebFront.info IP-Symcon iFront für iPhone, iPod touch und iPad im iTunes App Store IP-Symcon Mobile für Android Geräte im Android Market

If you're a fan of technology, chances are you've retired a few gadgets over the years and they're sitting in a box in your closet. Today's the day to dig out your leftovers and start thinking about what you can do to let them live and breathe again. Here are ten of our favorite ideas to get you started.

Auf Weather.chrisge.org ist in den letzten Monaten eine kleine Wetterstation mit Livecam entstanden. Als Basissystem kommt eine Seagate Dockstar mit Debian Squeeze zum Einsatz. Ein 1-Wire Netzwerk verbindet die 2 Temperatursensoren sowie einen Multisensor. Das Auslesen dieser Wetterdaten übernimmt OWFS. Des weiteren wird eine Webcam eingesetzt, die mit Motion betrieben wird. Die Wetterdaten werden mit Munin graphisch ausgewertet.

This is a really simple ambient display for temperature using an Arduino, an RGB backlight LCD, and a temperature sensor. The LCD displays the temperature in Fahrenheit and Celsius and adjusts the color of the backlight depending on the reading. An ideal range is set at 61F to 67F. If the temperature is in this range the backlight will change green. Above this range and the color will change red, below the range it will change blue.

Android phones/tablets/media players are so cheap at dx.com that maybe it is time to start using them as user interfaces to our projects. I mean, glue one to your project and have touch screen UI with graphics display.. :-)

Werden Sie Kunde bei Discovergy und leben Sie in der schönen Gewißheit, daß Sie nie mehr zu viel für Ihren Strom bezahlen müssen - und lernen Sie gleichzeitig, der Umwelt etwas Gutes zu tun, indem Sie den CO2-Ausstoß Ihres Haushalts dauerhaft senken.

Die Seite The Hacker Shelf ist eine wahre Fundgrube. Denn dort gibt es tonnenweise freie Literatur rund um die Themen Programmierung und Informatik nach verschiedenen Tags geordnet. Neben vielen Quellen zu Hochsprachen wie Python, kann man dort auch ausführliche Literatur zu eher technischen Themen wie der Assemblerprogrammierung finden.

Developers' pages Welcome to the digitalSTROM server software developers' pages. The dSS software was first published at Linux day 2009 as a pre-release. The 0.7.5 version was released at the dSS Developer Day on 15 January 2010. The software is released under GNU General Public License 3 (GPLv3). There is also a closed source license available for digitalSTROM alliance members. A contributors agreement defines the terms under which bugfixes and modifications can be submitted. Subscribe to the dss-announce mailing list to stay up-to-date with news on digitalSTROM open source topics. Developers can subscribe to dss-developer to exchange ideas.

ArpON (ARP handler inspection) is a portable handler daemon that make ARP protocol secure in order to avoid the Man In The Middle (MITM) attack through ARP Spoofing, ARP Cache Poisoning or ARP Poison Routing (APR) attacks. It blocks also the derived attacks by it, which Sniffing, Hijacking, Injection, Filtering & co attacks for more complex derived attacks, as: DNS Spoofing, WEB Spoofing, Session Hijacking and SSL/TLS Hijacking & co attacks. This is possible using three kinds of anti ARP Spoofing tecniques: the first is based on SARPI or "Static ARP Inspection" in statically configured networks without DHCP; the second on DARPI or "Dynamic ARP Inspection" in dynamically configured networks having DHCP; the third on HARPI or "Hybrid ARP Inspection" in "hybrid" networks, that is in statically and dynamically (DHCP) configured networks together. ArpON is therefore a proactive Point-to-Point, Point-to-Multipoint and Multipoint based solution that requires a daemon in every host of the connection for authenticate each host through an authentication of type cooperative between the hosts and that doesn't modify the classic ARP standard base protocol by IETF, but rather sets precise policies by using SARPI for static networks, DARPI for dynamic networks and HARPI for hybrid networks thus making today's standardized protocol working and secure from any foreign intrusion.

As a designer and engineer, I asked myself what should I do, I do not have political or economical power enough to make a difference. eWaste and kids not interested in education. What should I do? Ah! there there, eWaste = partly functional gadgets at no cost and kids = maybe fun interactive toys made from those gadgets? With that thought, ThinkerToys started, converting eWaste into educational fun interactive toys. Tinkering was a central part of coming up with new toys, and these toys were made to make the kids think, and yes that's where the name comes from, Thinking X Tinkering = Thinkering.

Having done half a dozen V-USB tutorials I decided it’s time to whip up something cool. As USB keyboards were an area untouched, I decided to make a small USB HID keyboard device that types a password stored in EEPROM every time it’s attached. A new password can be generated just by tabbing CAPS LOCK a few times (4 times to start password regeneration and one tab for each password character generated, 10 is the default password length)

diy

The SocialBot9000, as [Chris] calls his build, is an Arduino Uno connected to an Ethernet shield and an LCD character display. The firmware uses the Twitter API to search for recent posts containing the phrase, ‘socialbot9000.’ A PHP script on the Arduino does all the heavy lifting and with the great Bildr tutorial on getting the Ethernet shield up and running

Failure to create some form of predictability will result in chaos. Failure to create some sort of well-maintained Barbaric chaos inside the company guarantees that a fast-moving, ambitious, risk-taking and ruthless someone else - someone outside the company will invade, because they know what you forgot: hacking is important.

DigiKey is hosting a schematic editor as a web application, complete with PNG and PDF export, compiling a bill of materials, etc. It actually works better just running in the browser than some commercial schematic capture programs I’ve used. Now, if someone would just do this with printed circuit board layout…

A nice talk by Peter Kropf at PyCon 2012 on using Python to control external devices through an Arduino.

twas dahinter ist der Micro-SD-Card-Slot ausgestattet mit einer 2 GB Karte. In einige Beschreibungen aus der digitalSTROM Community steht noch 1 GB. In Anbetracht der geringen Nutzung dürfte das auch ausreichen. Denn der Server läuft auch ohne SD-Card. Der Server selbst und die Scripte, sowie die Apps laufen nach Aussage eines Technikers auf dem internen Flash von ca. 256 MB. Oben sind die Beiden USB-Anschlüsse. Mit einem späteren Update soll hier auch ein WLAN-Stick ansprechbar sein. Bis jetzt dienen sie zum Updaten des Servers wenn kein LAN-Anschluss vorhanden ist.

It's definitely not the most efficient way to get a clock on your wall, or the cheapest, but if you're looking for a clock that turns heads, looks cool, and is a great starter project if you're interested in tinkering with an Arduino, this laser wall clock definitely fits the bill. If you dig DIY clocks or you just think lasers are cool, this is the kind of project that you might want to try, especially if you're getting started with Arduino projects. You'll need an Arduino, of course, and you'll also need a pair of laser pointers, a few servos and motors to make the lasers move as time passes, and of course, the IKEA BLANDA salad bowl, available for 5 bucks, which will serve as the housing for all of the gear.

Unangenehme Mitarbeiter Low-Performer zu nennen ist eine neue Entdeckung der Manager und Personalchefs. Der Anglizismus läßt die Sache eleganter klingen. Ein ausgesprochen zynischer Begriff in Zeiten großer Arbeitslosigkeit und gestiegenem Rentenalter. Als ob der Druck schon nicht hoch genug wäre! Im Internet finden sich zahllose Seminare, wie man diese Low-Performer ausgrenzt. Mit Mobbing hat das natürlich nichts zu tun. Man schikaniert sie nur systematisch mit allen Mitteln, was auf dasselbe hinauskommt. Mobbing macht krank. Es ist an der Zeit, daß deutsche Gerichte dem nicht mehr hinterherhinken.

In Cradle to Cradle, McDonough and Braungart argue that the conflict between industry and the environment is not an indictment of commerce but an outgrowth of purely opportunistic design. The design of products and manufacturing systems growing out of the Industrial Revolution reflected the spirit of the day-and yielded a host of unintended yet tragic consequences. Today, with our growing knowledge of the living earth, design can reflect a new spirit. In fact, the authors write, when designers employ the intelligence of natural systems—the effectiveness of nutrient cycling, the abundance of the sun's energy—they can create products, industrial systems, buildings, even regional plans that allow nature and commerce to fruitfully co-exist. Cradle to Cradle maps the lineaments of McDonough and Braungart's new design paradigm, offering practical steps on how to innovate within today's economic environment. Part social history, part green business primer, part design manual, the book makes plain that the re-invention of human industry is not only within our grasp, it is our best hope for a future of sustaining prosperity.

Interaction with python First we import the serial library to python in order to communicate with the arduino (this includes talking over usb)

“FLORA has the benefit of not using an ISP header for programming; FLORA is completely USB-compatable.”

True, but there’s a Lilypad kit that includes the ISP header to USB thingy, so in practice you’re just programming it over USB anyway.

Not as slick as having USB built in (and the HID support in Flora is sweet) but folks shouldn’t get the idea that loading programs onto the Lilypad is somehow tricky.

Hier steht eine Beschreibung des Pollin Bausatzes AVR-NET-IO. Best.Nr. 810 058, oder als aufgebautes Fertigmodul, Best.Nr. 810 073.

Einige Features: Ethernet-Platine mit ATmega32 und Netzwerkcontroller ENC28J60. Die Platine verfügt über 8 digitale Ausgänge, 4 digitale und 4 ADC-Eingänge, welche alle über einen Netzwerkanschluss (TCP/IP) abgerufen bzw. geschaltet werden können

Arduino is an open embedded hardware and software platform designed for rapid creativity. It's both a great introduction to embedded programming and a fast track to building all kinds of cool devices like animatronics, robots, fabulous blinky things, animated clothing, games, your own little fabs... you can build what you imagine. Follow along as we learn both embedded programming and basic electronics.

What Does Arduino Do?

Arduino was invented by Massimo Banzi, a self-taught electronics guru who has been fascinated by electronics since childhood. Mr. Banzi had what I think of as a dream childhood: endless hours spent dissecting, studying, re-assembling things in creative ways, and testing to destruction. Mr. Banzi designed Arduino to be friendly and flexible to creative people who want to build things, rather than a rigid, overly-technical platform requiring engineering expertise.

Here is the documentation for a solar PV monitoring system that’s been developed as part of the OpenEnergyMonitor project. It’s based on Arduino and is fully open-source; hardware, firmware and web application.

The system monitors both generation and consumption and gives the user a clear indication of when their household electricity demands are being met by their solar PV array (green light) or when their not (red light). The wireless display also shows how much electricity is currently being exported or imported. Monitoring data is also posted on-line by a wireless
web-connected base-station to our powerful open-source web-application emoncms.

This development is part of the actively on-going OpenEnergyMonitor project to design and build open-source tools for the monitoring, visualization and control of energy.

Stromverbrauch im Überblick

volkszaehler.org ist ein freies Smart Meter im Selbstbau.
Der Nutzer behält dabei die vollständige Kontrolle über die anfallenden Strom, Wasser & Gaskosten

his is the home for everything about amateur Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Use the tabs and drop-down menus above to navigate the site.

This community also created ArduPilot, the world's first universal autopilot (planes, copters of all sorts, ground rovers, boats). The ArduPilotMega autopilot hardware runs a variety of powerful free Arduino-based UAV software systems, including:
* ArduPlane, a pro-level UAV system for planes of all types.
* ArduCopter, a fully-autonomous multicopter and heli UAV system.

Smart Meter erlauben die Analyse des eigenen Stromverbrauchs.
Der Haken an den erhältlichen Lösungen? Eine detaillierte Analyse ist in der Regel nur möglich, wenn die Daten zuvor auf den zentralen Server des Anbieters übertragen werden.
Dabei möchte man diese Daten gar nicht aus der Hand geben, denn sie erlauben einen detaillierten Einblick in die Lebensgewohnheiten eines Haushalts:

Wann stehen die Bewohner auf?
Wann gehen sie zu Bett?
Wie oft und wie lange sind sie in Urlaub?
Welche Elektrogeräte gibt es im Haushalt: Spülmaschine/Waschmaschine/Gefrierschrank?
Wie oft werden diese benutzt?
Wie oft wird gekocht?
Wie oft wird die Toilette nachts aufgesucht?

So what is the lesson here?  On the community side, we may have the greater challenge.  We can argue until we’re blue in the face about all of the great benefits of community development, but we can’t indemnify graphics IP vendors against lawsuits when the details of their designs are revealed in open-source drivers.  This obviously isn’t guaranteed to happen, but it only has to happen once to foul up the works.  On the vendor side, with a little help, trust and understanding you get a Linux driver stack, lots and lots of testing on a variety of platforms and an active community supporting your platforms.  This isn’t a free lunch, though, and it is important to seed the development community with engineering resources; this improves the community as well as the software it produces.

The open-source Arduino environment makes it easy to write code and upload it to the i/o board. It runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The environment is written in Java and based on Processing, avr-gcc, and other open source software.

In the past we've covered how to turn the inexpensive Ikea Sunnan solar lamp into a solar display case and today we have a hack from electronics manufacturer Voltaic Systems to turn the same lamp into a solar charging station for an iPad or other power-hungry phone or tablet.
This hack is actually three mini-hacks rolled into one—Voltaic shows how to replace the low-capacity rechargeable batteries in the lamp's battery pack with larger batteries, mod the lamp to accept additional external solar panels, and adding a modified Minty Boost charging circuit to allow devices to pull up to 1 Amp of electricity.

Broadly speaking, there is nothing new under the sun. Broadly speaking, the original curation technology was the very telephone switch with which the hackers tinkered. And here we are now, decades later, tearing down old filters to build new ones. Broadly speaking, however, there is still a difference between Morse code and the Internet, and innovation that happens in little steps, with little perfections and improvements, before too long reaches a point where evolution is seen as revolution with hindsight. The hacking that is happening in information and disintermediation, the themes in transactional efficiency described herein, and the three enterprising symbols at the forefront of these movements, will merit revisiting at some point in the future. The work these three have undertaken is much bigger than we may now realize.

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Open source software has been a well known idea, and something of a success, for decades, open source hardware is relatively new. You can say that open source hardware was born out the of the "maker" movement, but for such an obvious idea it has been slow to take off. The one big notable exception being the Arduino.
In an effort to popularize the open hardware movement we now have the Open Hardware Journal starting with November 1, 2011 Issue 1. As it says on the cover page you are free to read it, copy it and redistribute it - as long as you don't charge a fee, of course..

Back in August 2010, an Electronics Engineer from the UK called Ken Boak wrote that he had built a web connected Arduino for £12 and later shared the schematic.

These posts became the basis of a whole new product he would create which is known as the “Nanode”. Nanode is short for “Network Application Node” and is an open source, low cost Arduino board with built in Ethernet courtesy of the Microchip ENC28J60 chip. Over 1000 Nanode’s have been sold in the past few months.

I’m motivated and moved by the idea, the belief – that the people who invent and build and make things have the power to change the world. People who “remix” something or hack a better way.

It would be crazy expensive to just buy a lot of batteries to store power for down times, and there are a lot of alternative ideas about how to efficiently store that power, but if you think of electric cars, where the batteries are also used for something else, and fairly cheap and reliable computer programs running smart charge/distribution networks to help out with the spikes and valleys of demand, then it makes a lot more sense economically.

This is great. The manual with my etrex is practically useless. I bought it because I thought is was basic. Unfortunately the instructions are less than basic. I found a lot of my answers at this web site. THANK YOU :)

"The LCDs we sell at Adafruit have a low power LED backlight, run on +5v and require only 6 data pins to talk to. You can use any data pins you want! This tutorial will cover character LCDs"

Not only is this clever use of a beer can an ultra cheap tech hack, it also means less fiddling around with cardboard and aluminum foil as required by other hack methods. This method has been proven to improve Wi-Fi reception from around 2 bars to about 4 on average, varying between 3 and 5. Give it a go – all you've got to waste is a beer can!
Edit Steps
Gather the required materials and tools. These are listed below under "Things You'll Need". Gather the required materials and tools.
Clean the beer can. Make sure there is no residue left inside. Clean the beer can.
Take the ring-pull off the can. Take the ring-pull off the can.
Cut the end off the beer can where there's no opening. Do this using the Stanley knife or similar suitable safety knife. Cut the end off the beer can where there's no opening.
Cut around the end with the opening almost all the way. Leave a little bit of metal to keep attached the part that will be the base (see the white line in the illustration). Cut around the end with the opening almost all the way.
Cut along the middle of the can in a straight line, opposite to the piece of metal attaching the base. Cut along the middle of the can in a straight line, opposite to the piece of metal attaching the base.
Being careful, open up the middle piece of metal by bending it until it vaguely resembles the shape of a radar dish. Being careful, open up the middle piece of metal by bending it until it vaguely resembles the shape of a radar dish.
Place the completed Wi-Fi booster on your router. Place it so that the antenna pokes through the opening, and stick the base of the can to the router with a small piece of poster tack or other suitable adhesive. It's time to test how much your Wi-Fi is now boosted! Place the completed Wi-Fi booster on your router.

Edit Warnings
Be careful of the sharp edges around the can. It's easy to cut yourself on the sharp metal (and it's a lot worse than a paper cut!). You can use adhesive tape to cover them and avoid dangers. Use duct tape to cover the cut edges of the can bottom and sides.

Edit Things You'll Need
An empty, clean 500ml (16.9 fl oz) beer can
A Stanley knife or similar safety knife
A pair of scissors strong enough to cut through thin metal (most will do it)
A small piece of poster tack or similar adhesive
A decent router

Edit Related wikiHows
How to Create a New Scope in DHCP
How to Fix the Network in Parallel Desktops
How to Set up Your Laptop to Print Wirelessly
How to See Active Network Connections (Windows)
How to Repair Wi Fi Connection After Windows Service Pack 2 Upgrade

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Disclaimer: You apply this firmware on your own risk. This is an experimental ROM, which works for me till now. That doesn't guarantee that it works for you. This firmware is only for the A7HT Version 2!

gives links and recommendations for categories of: books, electrical equipment, development tools, components, digital electronics, and analog chips. As he puts it, this post is a “gigantic list of everything I would buy right now to replace my entire workshop if mine were to disappear.” This is a great list of things you may need if you’re starting out. If you have some experience, this list may introduce you something new.

The Android 3.1 platform (also backported to Android 2.3.4) introduces Android Open Accessory support, which allows external USB hardware (an Android USB accessory) to interact with an Android-powered device in a special "accessory" mode. When an Android-powered powered device is in accessory mode, the connected accessory acts as the USB host (powers the bus and enumerates devices) and the Android-powered device acts as the device. Android USB accessories are specifically designed to attach to Android-powered devices and adhere to a simple protocol (Android accessory protocol) that allows them to detect Android-powered devices that support accessory mode

Google's really not leaving any stone unturned at IO today -- it's now also announced a brand new Android Open Accessory standard, which promises to effectively be its own version of "Made for iPod." That means that any accessory designed using the API (which could even be something like an exercise bike) will be compatible with any Android phone or tablet -- running at least Android 2.3.4 or 3.1, that is. What's more, Google is also making a reference hardware design dubbed an "ADK" available to developers and, get this, it's based on Arduino.

Want more Android in your house? How about Android in your house. Google wants to think of "every appliance in your home" as a potential accessory for your phone. The opportunities are seemingly endless, the sort of thing we've seen in the Zigbee and Z-wave areas, but sadly this implementation doesn't actually seem to be using any of those standards. The team teased ideas like lights turning on and off based on calendar events, applications talking to washing machines, games automatically adjusting for mood lighting, and basically little green dudes taking care of all the menial duties in your house.

For the supporters out there, [John Boxall] has put together a site jam-packed with Arduino tutorials covering a wide array of concepts and techniques. We have covered his work before in relation to specific topics, but we felt that his site deserved mention as a whole. His tutorials cover some of the most basic concepts such as lighting LEDs with the Arduino, and work their way to more advanced subjects, lesson by lesson.

Im Prinzip ist die Dockstar auch nur ein kleiner Homeserver, mit Debian bespielt kann man damit also alles anstellen, was auch ein "normaler" Homeserver packt. Allerdings sind natürlich Grenzen in der Leistung gesetzt. So ist das Hosten einer oft besuchte Websites eine schlechte Idee für die Dockstar, auch ein OpenVAS Server wäre eine sehr schlechte Wahl, aber trotzdem gibt es genügend Serverdienste, die unter Linux mit wenigen Ressourcen zurechtkommen und von denen habe ich hier eine Liste mit Beiträgen aus unserem Blog und Wiki erstellt.

Instead of designing a completely new product to fit a certain price range, large scale manufacturing dictates that it is often cheaper to simply “cripple” an existing high-end product. This way the manufacturer can use existing molds, parts, assembly lines and training, etc. In electronic products, firmware is usually crippled to omit/hide certain features. For example, digital camera companies reserve functions (like RAW output, exposure and white balance bracketing, long exposures, etc.) for their higher priced cameras, even though their cheapest camera has the same capabilities (See the CHDK project for more info).

"Above all, think of life as a prototype.  We can conduct experiments, make discoveries, and change our perspectives.  We can look for opportunities to turn processes into projects that have tangible outcomes.  We can learn how to take joy in the things we create whether they take the form of a fleeting experience or an heirloom that will last for generations.  We can learn that reward comes in creation and re-creation, not just in the consumption of the world around us.  Active participation in the process of creation is our right and our privilege.  We can learn to measure the sucess of our ideas not by our bank accounts but by their impact in the world."

Engineers welcome any and all available scientific knowledge, but they needn't wait for scientists to give them the go-ahead to invent, design, or develop the machinery to advance technology or to check it when it runs out of control. Without understanding this, we will continue to underfund the engineering needed to solve our greatest problems.

It’s arrived. Hackers! is a full-colour, 12-page, quarterly newspaper packed with entertaining creations and ideas, features on artists, scientists, and everything inbetween. Read about laser-powered bongs, hacking time, new games for old 8-bits, side- channel attacks, Victorian hackers, combination locks and plenty more