Eric Schmidt has said that Google will make cash available through its investment into Teach First to buy Raspberry Pi and Arduino units for British schoolchildren. He was at the UK's Science Museum to talk about Mountain View's partnership with the charity, which puts top university graduates into schools to teach disadvantaged kids. The Android-maker wrote a cheque to fund over 100 places on the scheme, aiming to get bright computer scientists to reintroduce engineering principles to pupils. Mr. Schmidt hoped that with the right support, kits like the Raspberry Pi would do for this generation what the BBC Micro did three decades ago.

Google pumps cash into UK classrooms, will buy Arduino, Raspberry Pi sets for kids originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 05:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Change is good! And a new style of clothing always helps! SO here we are with a sexy new packages for the new Arduinos. View and enjoy!

Via:[Boingboing.net]

Ben Heck is always thinking up gadgets that make life easier, from completely hands-free luggage to a sensor system for improved cycling safety. His latest mod is meant for those of us who have burnt Ramen a few too many times. His so-called Ben-Stur Remote Control Android app works with a pot-stirring device, freeing users to stray from the kitchen while their meal is cooking. The app works via Bluetooth, and the pot-stirrer consists of an actuator arm, a chip clip, a timing belt and, of course, a wooden spoon. Heck used a Google ADK and an Arduino Uno for the control mechanism that communicates between the app and the stirrer. In the tablet app, users can check their food's temperature and control the speed of the the spoon's stirring. If that whets your appetite, click the source link for more info -- and check out our Maker Faire interview with Mr. Heckendorn himself.

Ben Heck's Android-controlled pot-stirrer does (most of) the cooking for you originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 May 2012 05:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Here's the deal, I'm building my first robot & I have an Arduino One board, but I've realized that the board is too pretty for me to use up in my current (and first) project and besides it would be a waste.

My first thought was:

Well, maybe I can pull out the ATmel chip on the board and stick a blank one there, upload the desired code there, take it out and follow some breaduino tutorial to build around it.

Peeked here

http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ArduinoToBreadboard

and...

read more

Next July a workshop on wearable computing will be held at Supsi Summer School (Ticino).

Goal of the workshop is the design and prototyping, through the Arduino platform, of objects that sense, interpret and react to the real world and that can be wearable and digitally fabricated.

More info here.

Via [openwear.org]

Unless you've been hiding under a rock lately, we're pretty sure you've heard about the Raspberry Pi by now -- a $25 credit-card sized PC that brings ARM/Linux to the Arduino form factor. As a refresher, the system features a 700MHz Broadcom BCM2835 SoC with an ARM11 CPU, a Videocore 4 GPU (which handles HD H.264 video and OpenGL ES 2.0) and 256MB RAM. The board includes an SD card slot, HDMI ouput, composite video jack, 3.5mm audio socket, micro-USB power connector and GPIO header. Model A ($25) comes with one USB port, while Model B ($35) provides two USB ports and a 100BaseT Ethernet socket. Debian is recommended, but Raspberry Pi can run most ARM-compatible 32-bit OSes.

This past weekend at Maker Faire Bay Area 2012 we ran into Eben Upton, Executive Director of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and took the opportunity to spend some quality time with a production board and to discuss this incredible PC. We touched upon the origins of the project (inspired by the BBC Micro, one of the ARM founders' early projects), Moore's law, the wonders of simple computers and upcoming products / ideas -- including Adafruit's Pi Plates and Raspberry Pi's own prototype camera add-on. On the subject of availability, the company expects that "there will be approximately 200,000 units in the field by the end of June". Take a look at our hands-on gallery below and our video interview after the break.

Gallery: Raspberry Pi hands-on

Continue reading Raspberry Pi hands-on and Eben Upton interview at Maker Faire (video)

Raspberry Pi hands-on and Eben Upton interview at Maker Faire (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 May 2012 06:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yesterday at Maker Faire Bay Area 2012 we visited the Electric Imp booth to chat with the startup's founders and get some hands-on time with the tiny wireless computer. What is the Electric Imp? It's a module containing an ARM Cortex M3 SoC with embedded WiFi that's built into an SD card form factor. While the device looks just like and SD card, it's not pin-compatible with the standard -- the idea is to leverage a reliable and affordable connector for the Electric Imp. The module is not very useful on its own -- it only comes to life when inserted into one of several boards, which provide the Electric Imp with power and access to the real world. In turn the device gives these boards a brain and an Internet connection. Eventually the company hopes that appliance manufacturers will incorporate Electric Imp slots into products to make them network aware.

We talked with CEO Hugo Fiennes (formerly with Apple) about the past, present and future of the Electric Imp so hit the break to read more and to watch our hands-on video.

Gallery: Electric Imp hands-on

Continue reading Hands-on with the Electric Imp at Maker Faire (video)

Hands-on with the Electric Imp at Maker Faire (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 May 2012 00:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hi

I am intrested in making a car that can be controlled anywhere through wifi. I do no know where to start and how to do it. Does anyone know what to use (arduino? arduino with ethernet shield? arduino with wifi shield?) or any good step by step instrunctions on this?

Anything would help

Thanks

DIY drones are the rage! Chris flew a quadcopter off the stage, and entertained droves of questions from how much weight the copters can carry, to FAA regulations, and announced that they would have a new ARM-based APM (Ardu Pilot Mega) by Maker Faire New York.

Honey, I Shrunk the Maker

I built this 6x larger than real life, fully functional Arduino GRANDE. Why? There was talk among the Make: editors about how Arduino is really big at Maker Faire, and I thought, why not make it even bigger? Literally.

After modeling it in 3D software, drafting it for laser cutting, soldering up all the banana plugs to the real Arduino UNO (this thing is really a shield), etching and painting the graphics, and building some large-scale components to plug in, here we have it. The first time I hoisted it up on my shoulder like a boom box I was pretty darned psyched!

I’m going to be showing the Arduino GRANDE at Maker Faire and doing a two talks about it on Saturday. I’ll use the GRANDE to demonstrate Arduino basics at the Make: Projects Stage in the Maker Shed (Saturday, 3-3:30 pm) and to talk about how I built this beast at the Make: Demo Stage (Saturday, 5:30-6 pm). Come on down and check it out!

It’s all packed up and ready to go.

Arduino GRANDE build photos on Flickr