Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi, announced at MakerCon the collaboration between the open-source microcontroller and futurist Bruce Sterling. The Open-Source Apartment will be located in Torino, near Arduino Italian headquarters and it will serve as a test ground for the latest developments from the open source community, being outfitted with furniture from OpenDesk and a variety of hardware creations.
Watch the video below and more details will be available during Maker Faire Rome:

A new release of OpenWrt-Yún was announced today on Arduino Forum by Federico Fissore and you can download it from this page.

1.4.2 includes both bug fixes and new stuff.
We fixed some glitches in the webpanel (a bug was found by wildpalms: thank you!).
The OpenWRT Image Builder and the software produced by the http://allseenalliance.org/ is now available for download.

Compared to 1.4.1 this release contains:

• OpenWrt-Yún (Linux side)
  Added “image builder” to the build process. See details on Github
  Added alljoyn feeds and packages. See details on Github

• Web panel
  Fixed wrong JSONP serialization. See details on Github
  Fixed a javascript error in webpanel login page

The complete list of changes is available here.

Arduino has been chosen as an example of how the open-source, collaborative approach is reshaping the world of technology and design and, on September 5th and 6th, we’ll be on of the contributor of the Weekend Specials section of the 14th International Architecture Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia curated by Rem Koolhaas.

The Arduino space at the Biennale Architettura 2014 has been conceived to inspire visitors to rediscover their ‘maker gene’: the impulse to learn and make things by yourself. Curated by Enrico Bassi, the exhibition includes responsive installations and hands-on demos to encourage visitors to interact and better understand the creative, transformative potential of Arduino and other open-source digital tools.

The first section focuses on the history, development and applications of Arduino. It features a glance at the evolution of the board, alongside an illustration of how it can enable an easy, direct approach to electronics and programming. In a dedicated area, the Treviso Arduino User Group, a local community of makers, engages visitors in a two-day hackathon on biometric and environmental sensors. The mezzanine level offers a playful and immersive take on what Arduino can bring to light installations.

A second section explores the impact of Arduino on a variety of innovative projects and businesses. It features a selection of items from Arduino AtHeart, a program designed to support and promote independently developed Arduino-based products: Primo, Smart Citizen Kit, Bare Conductive Touch Board, littleBits Arduino Module, and Cromatica.
In the Italian Innovators area, a special focus is granted to outstanding examples of how Arduino fosters creativity and technological development in its country of origin: WASProject, a research initiative on architectural 3d-printing; MEG, an innovative open-source home greenhouse; Light Cryptalk, an Arduino-powered recreation of the WW2 Enigma cypher machine.

Ironically extending the maker approach to other, broader parts of society, a set of videos in the final section of the exhibition compares the effects of the closed- and open-source philosophy in sectors ranging from the auto industry to architecture, suggesting the possibility of a radical, pervasive transformation.

The Maker Gene was produced in collaboration with: Fablab Torino, Officine Arduino, Treviso AUG, Torino AUG, MEG, WASProject, Michele Lizzit, Primo, Smart Citizen Kit, Bare Conductive Touch Board, littleBits Arduino Module, and Cromatica.

Supported by: Arduino

Useful links:

Take a look at the general website of La Biennale>>

The venue hosting The Maker Gene is the Arsenale and our installation is hosted within the Weekend Specials initiative.

You can buy your ticket  at this link.
Come and visit us on the 5th and 6th of September from 10am to 8pm!

Next 21st of September Arduino Tour is finally landing in London for a one-day workshop, starting at 10am at The Maker Works London, UK. (max. 18 people).

This edition of the official Arduino workshop is focused on the world of the Internet of Things and will allow participants to experiment with a botanical kit including an Arduino YÚN, plants and sensors. The workshop teaches you how to turn your plants and virtually any object into connected, responsive elements using Arduino YÚN.

Arduino YÚN is the combination of a classic Arduino Leonardo and a small Linux computer, able to connect to a network or Internet via Ethernet or WiFi. Arduino boards are able to read inputs – light on a sensor, a finger on a button, or even a Twitter message – and turn it into an output – activating a motor, turning on an LED, publishing something online.

Check the program and book your participation >>

Last May at Maker Faire Bay Area Massimo Banzi introduced our new board to the open source community:

The Arduino Zero, developed in collaboration with Atmel, is a simple and powerful 32-bit extension of the platform established by Arduino UNO. The Zero board aims to provide creative individuals with the potential to realize truly innovative ideas for smart IoT devices, wearable technology, high-tech automation, crazy robotics, and projects not yet imagined. The board is powered by Atmel’s SAMD21 MCU, which features a 32-bit ARM Cortex® M0+ core.

After the great experience we’ve been having with the beta-testing of the the Arduino TRE, we are happy to announce that starting today a limited batch of 20 Arduino ZERO is available for people wanting to join us in the process of beta-testing it..

The ideal beta-tester has time and interest in working on some specific issues we hope to accomplish with the beta-testing: we set up a list of tasks including writing examples, testing libraries and external hardware, and making projects that can be completed in a variety of timeframes.

Ultimately our goal is to make the ZERO welcoming to non-technical customers and useful for tech-savvy customers at the same time, like all of our products. To that end, we’d like feedback from you, as beta testers, about where we could simplify for beginners and explain or document better.

If you want to take part and feel you can spend some time on it, fill this application form by the 17th of August.

By the 21st of August we are going to contact 20 people out of those filling the application. They will receive a coupon to get the Arduino ZERO Developer Edition for free on the Arduino Store.

We will also send them an invite to a Basecamp project where they can get started with the program and sign up for tasks and projects according to their interests, skill-set and time availability.
The beta-testing phase is going to last 1 month (ending around the 20th of September).

Feel like joining us? Fill the form now!

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The MakerFaire Rome Call for Makers runs until June the 15th, so you should be quick as we are only a couple of days away from final deadline!
If you’ve got an awesome project you want to show off to thousands of people in the capital of Italy, this is your moment.
The Call for Makers originally was due to close on the 25th of May, but we knew you needed some extra time to finalise your project, and we’ve extended it to next Sunday, June the 15ht, 2014 at midnight (CEST) and this is the final last call.

You can submit your project right now on this page and let us know it via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram using the hashtags #Call4Makers and #MFR14.

Riccardo Luna, co-curator of Maker Faire Rome has just revealed the first list of speakers confirming their presence next October! You have some more days to submit your project, deadline extended until 15th of June.

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Today, together with Massimo Banzi, we have some important news to share with you. There are big novelties at the second annual European Maker Faire in Rome (actually, there will be many more within the next few days as you will see…).

The first one is the list of speakers for the opening conference on October 2. It is not complete, other names will be added, but already we can say: it is an incredible list.

We are delighted to announce the presence of, among others, Cory Doctorow, who, here, on this blog, does not even need to be introduced; artist Neil Harbisson; scientist Ellen Jorgensen, who will discuss genetic hacking; the very young Joey Hudy will be back and, this time, Super-Awesome Sylvia will also come; and the Dutch robot music band TeamDARE.

We have given particular attention to the 3D printer sector and its medical applications: therefore, scientists will be the protagonists of great allenges like printing ears, lungs or hearts in 3D.

There are many names and you will see them on this site, but first let me publicly thank the European Space Agency for honoring us with the last public appearance before a six month space mission of astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti: I know Samantha well, I know what she is worth and I am fascinated by her curiosity about the world of makers; I heard her planning a mission taking maker tools into space and the idea of Arduino among the stars is fascinating.

So, we have the names. Now, where will they all be? This is the second novelty: we will leave the Palazzo dei congressi and, instead, meet at the Parco della Musica designed by Renzo Piano. Not only is it the most beautiful structure for events in Rome, it is a real park where we intend to build a Makers Village comparable to those that exist in San Mateo and New York.

We are not exaggerating, the space is beautiful and there is room for everyone: exhibitions, workshops, areas for babies and children, an area for parties. Asset Camera, as you know, is producing Maker Faire Rome for the second time, and after the huge success of last year is offering us a container where the only limit will be our imagination.

Now we are waiting for your projects. And we are certain they will be worthy of an event that will occur in the middle of the semester when Europe is headed by Italy, which will therefore make it a great celebration of European innovators (but we will still also have African and Chinese makers and fablabs).

And, for this reason we have decided to extend the deadline of the Call 4Makers. There’s still time, a few extra days have been added (until June 15). And a beautiful place awaits you. Not just to have fun, but to truly take part in the third industrial revolution.
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Article written by Riccardo Luna and originally published on Maker Faire Rome website.

It’s a pleasure to announce the latest development board, Arduino Zero, expanding the Arduino family by providing increased creative opportunities to the maker community.

Arduino and Atmel unveil the Arduino Zero, a simple and powerful 32-bit extension of the platform established by Arduino UNO. It aims to provide creative individuals with the potential to realize truly innovative ideas especially for smart IoT devices, wearable technology, high-tech automation, crazy robotics, and projects not yet imagined.

The board is powered by Atmel’s SAMD21 MCU, which features a 32-bit ARM Cortex® M0+ core and one of its most important feature is Atmel’s Embedded Debugger (EDBG), which provides a full debug interface without the need for additional hardware, significantly increasing the ease-of-use for software debugging. EDBG also supports a virtual COM port that can be used for device programming and traditional Arduino boot loader functionality.

Massimo Banzi, Arduino co-founder and CEO said:

“The flexible feature set enables endless project opportunities for devices and acts as a great educational tool for learning about 32-bit application development.”

Reza Kazerounian, senior vice president and general manager, microcontroller business unit at Atmel added:

“Leveraging more than 15 years of experience since the inception of AVR, simplicity and ease-of-use have been at the core of Atmel’s technology, Atmel is pleased to see the continued growth of the global maker community stemming from the increasing access and availability to open source platforms such as Arduino. We enable makers, but the power lies within the makers themselves.”

The first prototypes of Arduino Zero will be on display at Maker Faire Bay Area 2014 in San Mateo on May 17 and 18 at the following booths:
Arduino Booth: #204
Atmel Booth: #205
ARM Booth: #405

See you there!

We are excited to announce that starting today a limited batch of 50 Arduino TRE Developer Edition boards is  available in the Arduino Store.

The Arduino TRE Developer Edition (see other pics) is a pre-production board. Its release kicks off our redesigned Beta Testing Program: anyone in the community who purchases the board will be able to give us feedback and suggestions in a new, direct way.

After buying the board you’ll receive an invitation to join the beta-testing program, as a beta-tester you will be able to contribute to the development of the board by signing up for tasks and projects. You’ll be working alongside the Arduino and BeagleBoard.org teams on tasks such as writing examples, testing libraries and external hardware, and making projects. Completed tasks will be rewarded with a special program of benefits, including the possibility of featuring your project on the Arduino blog and receiving a coupon for the same value of the TRE Developer Edition you purchased. We will be beta-testing the board for about three months.

As many of you already know, the Arduino TRE is not a typical Arduino board. It’s a Linux computer running on a Sitara processor, plus a full Arduino Leonardo. It builds upon the experience of both Arduino and BeagleBoard.org, combining the strengths of both.

When using Arduino TRE  you’ll see a new editor (IDE) that has been specifically developed for this board. The TRE IDE comes pre-installed with the onboard Linux and is accessible via a web browser. It builds upon the simplicity of the Arduino software experience, while adding a few new powerful features (such as uploading sketches from the onboard Linux) and a refreshed UI.

[click to enlarge]

The Arduino TRE final board will be available later this year, pending results of Beta Testing Program.

[click to enlarge]

Massimo Banzi  will be featured as  Meet the Media Guru at #DigifestTO2014 in Toronto on the 9th of May!

Digifest is Toronto’s international festival celebrating digital creativity and this year the theme is Digital Urbanism and the Future of Cities:

For the first time in our history, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities. With a continual growth of 60 million urban residents every year, 70% of the population will live in cities by 2050.

If you are not staying in that part of the world, follow the livestream starting at 4.30 pm local time (20.30 GMT).