Back at Build 2016, the Windows team announced the Desktop Bridge, allowing developers to bring their existing desktop apps and games over to the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) by converting their app or game with the Desktop App Converter and then enhancing and extending it with UWP functionality. This enables the path to gradually migrate the app or game to reach all Windows 10 devices over time, including phones, Xbox One and HoloLens.

Last month, along with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update SDK, the team also announced a process for you to start bringing these converted apps and games to the Windows Store for easier and safer distribution to customers.

Now, the first apps are available in the Windows Store for Windows 10 customers running the Anniversary Update, which includes the Arduino IDE, Evernote, Virtual Robotics Kit, and several others.

These are the same apps that customers know and love, but are now available for download in the trusted Windows Store. For your customers, the Windows Store is the safest and most secure place for them to find and manage content across a range of Windows devices, including PCs, phones, Xbox One and HoloLens. For developers, the Desktop Bridge enables you to make use of the new functionality available to UWP apps right out of the gate, including access to a host of new APIs like Live Tiles, Cortana and Action Center that provide best-in-class support for thousands of scenarios across all of Windows.

Want to learn more? You can read all about the apps and tooling updates for the Desktop Bridge here.

Microsoft is getting their latest OS into the Maker scene through SBC integration. Their latest update adds support for Arduino and Dragonboard.

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The post Microsoft Announces Windows IoT Support for Arduino and DragonBoard appeared first on Make: DIY Projects, How-Tos, Electronics, Crafts and Ideas for Makers.

Day one of Microsoft's Build 2015 conference is in the books, but that doesn't mean the news has stopped. The Windows 10 IoT Core Insider developer preview (phew!) has launched for small devices including the Raspberry Pi 2. Redmond admits that it's still pretty rough around the edges, but it's hoping that the maker community can provide feedback for how the platform's turning out along the road to a full release. What's more, the software giant is partnering with Arduino for a series of "Arduino Certified" products to bring the ubiquitous DIY boards into the Windows family and take advantage of all that the software has to offer. For example, cloud computing, a familiar user interface, image processing and a ton more. It follows the theme of bringing everything under one roof that Nadella and Co. have been so vocal about lately, and should hopefully help tinkerers develop some pretty powerful stuff in their garage.

Filed under: Desktops, Microsoft

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Source: Windows Blog, Steve Troughton-Smith (Twitter) (1), (2)

Day one of Microsoft's Build 2015 conference is in the books, but that doesn't mean the news has stopped. The Windows 10 IoT Core Insider developer preview (phew!) has launched for small devices including the Raspberry Pi 2. Redmond admits that it's still pretty rough around the edges, but it's hoping that the maker community can provide feedback for how the platform's turning out along the road to a full release. What's more, the software giant is partnering with Arduino for a series of "Arduino Certified" products to bring the ubiquitous DIY boards into the Windows family and take advantage of all that the software has to offer. For example, cloud computing, a familiar user interface, image processing and a ton more. It follows the theme of bringing everything under one roof that Nadella and Co. have been so vocal about lately, and should hopefully help tinkerers develop some pretty powerful stuff in their garage.

Source: Windows Blog, Steve Troughton-Smith (Twitter) (1), (2)

If you have ever forgotten your computer password after a long weekend or maybe you can remember it but just can’t seem to type it correctly, [Thomas] has a project for you. It’s a physical key that locks and unlocks your PC.

So how does it work? The heart of the project is an Arduino Leonardo. You may recall that this board is a bit different from the preceding Arduinos as it can enumerate on a host computer as a Human Interface Device (HID), such as a keyboard or mouse. The Arduino sketch continually reads an input pin using an internal pull-up resistor to make it logic high with the key switch connecting the signal to ground. When the Arduino sees the pin change from high to low, it sends out a keyboard command consisting of the Windows Key and “L”, which is the keyboard shortcut for locking the computer.

When the physical key is turned again, the Arduino sees the pin change back to a high state and it again emulates a keyboard but this time enters your password. You do have to include your password in the Arduino sketch for this to work. In addition, there are two LED’s wired up to show if the computer is locked or not, but you’ll be able to tell pretty quick when trying to get back to work.

The Arduino sketch and Frtitzing diagram are available at the above link in case you would like to make one yourself.

Hi everone!

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Hello world!

This is my very first robotic project. I made a 5 degrees of freedom manipulator arm completely from scratch. First thing i want to say is that this guy with his project was my inspiration for doing this: http://letsmakerobots.com/node/18504. To be honest (and as everyone can see ;) i copied much from his design. Thank you very much for your great work! And i'm very sad we can't buy the supermodified boards anymore, because my plan was to use them for my robot ):

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