Product Development Status Light Project

Product Development Status Light Project

A couple of months ago I decided to try and move into product development, not a complete switch of career but perhaps moving a percentage of my time to building real things. This is a change that has no clear path at least from an income perspective so as a way in I have been spending some of my spare time designing and building devices which have a connection to the work I am doing with my existing clients.

The first item was a status gauge which I will write about separately, the second item was something I initially called the status puck. This is a hockey puck shaped glowing device which showed me the result of a series of tests run against a project I am working on. The tests are run by a service called Codeship and they provide a simple output with 3 possible states. These tests are run by multiple people working on the project so this light would represent the overall state of the code providing the team with a quick insight into the validity of the code.

Uses the Adafruit Trinket and NeoPixel Ring!

Filed under: leds-lcds,NeoPixels,trinket — by Tyler Cooper, posted December 13, 2013 at 2:23 pm

LVL1′s first Quadcopter Ultimate Arial Combat Competition (QUACC)

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I wonder how many folks will experiment with techniques to take over the competition? And make sure to take a look at the two contest rules. ;-)

LVL1′s first Quadcopter Ultimate Arial Combat Competition (QUACC):

This is it, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: LVL1′s first Quadcopter Ultimate Arial Combat Competition (QUACC). This is STRICTLY limited to 16 competitors, so sign up now.

Don’t want to compete? All comers are welcome!

On December 21st, at 6pm, LVL1 is hosting its first ever Quadcopter Destruction Competition!  Test your aerial skills in the ring of battle in this single-elimination tournament of destruction! For $40, you get a quadcopter, and entry into this one-of-a-kind competition.

Here’s how it works: On December 14th, you’ll receive your Quadcopter (A Syma X1 Model).  You have 7 days to train up and modify your drone however you see fit. On the day of the competition, all competitors will be placed in a single elimination tournament. Before each round, a 3 foot crepe-paper streamer will be attached to your drone.  The match begins by a signal from the event organizer, and ends when one competitor’s quadcopter can no longer take flight, OR one competitor’s quadcopter runs out of battery power. If one quadcopter is rendered unable to take to the skies, the remaining quadcopter is the winner.  if both survive, the winner is the quadcopter with the longest streamer remaining.

Contest Rules:

  • The event organizers may disqualify any quadcopter at any time for any reason.
  • Any modifications applied to the quadcopter must pass the following test: “You must be willing to remain in the same room as the quadcopter if the controls are given to a psychopathic 12 year old.

Read more.

Filed under: educational mini UAVs — by Matt, posted at 1:54 pm

Putting A 27 year old Mac Plus On The Internet

Hackaday shows us how Jeff connected his 27-year-old Mac Plus to the internet (with help from his Raspberry Pi and a Python script from his friend Tyler):

A Plus has a few options to get on the Internet. The best, but most expensive, is a SCSI to Ethernet computer. For a somewhat slower connections, a PowerPC mac can be used as an Ethernet to Localtalk (the Macintosh serial port networking protocol) bridge. Lacking either of those pieces of hardware, [Jeff] decided to use a Raspberry Pi. The Pi does the heavy lifting, and a handful of serial adapters and voltage converters turns the Pi into something that can talk to the Plus’ serial port…

Read more.

Filed under: Raspberry Pi — by Kelly, posted at 12:58 pm

3D Systems Acquires Village Plastics #makerbusiness

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BREAKING NEWS: 3D Systems Acquires Village Plastics Co..

While this might not sound like a big deal if you aren’t a 3D printer of filament vendor or supplier, this news is likely to have tremendous ramifications for desktop 3D printing, in particular for the companies looking to push into the FFF market this coming year.

A large number of the desktop 3D printer manufacturers and filament vendors manufacturer their 3D printing filaments at Village Plastics and then sell the material under their own label — if you have participated in desktop 3D printing in the past four years within the United States, there is a strong possibility that you have printed with material manufactured at Village Plastics.

One of the interesting positive developments is that the new ownership by a company with an emphasis on desktop 3D printing might rapidly stimulate the development new types of printing filament options as the emphasis on that aspect of their business increases — which could well benefit other existing customers as well as the Cube/CubeX 3D Systems line of products.

From the press release:

3D Systems (DDD) announced today the acquisition of Village Plastics Co., a leading manufacturer of filament-based ABS, PLA and HIPS 3D printing materials. Through its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Norton, Ohio, Village Plastics delivers the highest quality, precision 3D printing filaments. 3DS plans to immediately integrate Village Plastics materials and manufacturing technologies to accelerate its development of advanced filament-based materials for its growing Cube(R) and CubeX(TM) 3D printers. Additionally, the company plans to support all of Village Plastics’ existing customers by providing full access to its complete portfolio of design-to-manufacturing products and services.

“Village Plastics brings significant filament-based material development know-how and large scale manufacturing expertise that are vitally important to our Cube 3D printer consumer and prosumer growth initiatives,” said Avi Reichental, President and CEO, 3D Systems. “With the Village team on board, we expect to be able to enhance the profitability of this growing category and fast track the delivery of new high-performance filament-based products for the benefit of our users worldwide.”

Read more.

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Filed under: 3D printing,maker business — by Matt, posted at 12:55 pm

Diagnostics by Design Workshop and Hackathon

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The Diagnostics by Design, a workshop and hackathon for global health, will be held on January 11, 2014 in Berkeley, CA. via hive76.

The Diagnostics by Design workshop is an interdisciplinary forum for discussing the challenges and lessons learned in developing and implementing global health technologies, specifically at the point of care. Through interactive talks, a panel discussion with experts from industry and academia, and a hands-on build session, we will explore the challenges associated with translating technologies beyond the lab. This workshop will draw on the expertise and experience of individuals from across disciplines to explore collaborative solutions to global health issues. The workshop will feature Columbia Professor and mChip inventor Samuel Sia as the keynote speaker. See our eventbrite page for a full list of speakers and panelists and for registration…

Read more.

Filed under: hackfriday — by Kelly, posted at 10:30 am

Just Look at All The Details On This Assassin’s Creed Costume

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Cosplayer Anime_freak_kai definitely didn’t go renegade when he made this Shahkulu costume from Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. The helmet is made from Wonderflex and craft foam and all those details were etched into the foam! The precise embroidery on the tunic is insane, and he said that was the most complicated part:

Tunic- Definitely the most complicated part of the costume. All the embroidery (trim, frogs, and smaller details) was done entirely by hand, and the bordering is multiple layers of machine satin-stitching. I used about 7 full spools of gold thread for it. The tunic is in two pieces, the entire top is one piece for convenience (undershirt, sleeves, red/white tunic, and shoulder cups) and the flaps below the belt are separate. The top was hand-stitched over the grey undershirt and a zipper was hidden in the front. The flaps attach to the belt via snaps. Craft foam was used as interfacing for the white tunic since it was stiff and flexible enough. Wool felt was used for the grey undershirt and pants. Linen and a dyed patterned linen was used for the white tunic.

Read more about the process at the below link.

via Cosplay

Filed under: cosplay,costuming — by Amy Ratcliffe, posted at 10:22 am

Adafruit Holiday Gift Guide 2013: Gifts for Mom and Dad!

It’s a personal theory of mine that parents often get the short end of the stick during the holiday season. They go out of their way (sometimes to a fault) to get you that magical, personal gift you’ve been dreaming of all year…and you return the favor by buying them the scarf from the bottom of the sale bin at the Department store on December 24th at 9pm. This year, make your parents feel appreciated and modern, and choose from one of our tech-themed gift suggestions below.

Available at Adafruit!


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Solder:Time Desk Clock: Make a sleek full featured, conversation starting desk clock. The Solder:Time™ Desk Clock is the latest addition to the Solder:Time kit family. The Solder Time Desk Clock (STDC) is a DIY soldering kit. You only need to provide some basic electronics tools; Solder iron, solder, screwdriver, some fine grit sandpaper and wire snips. We’ve pre-programmed the chip, so it’s ready to roll once assembled.

Itching to hack in some custom code or hardware? Bring it on! Designed with hack-a-bility in mind, the STDC is based on the same ATMega microprocessor used in the Arduino products. There are extra digital and analog pins broken-out, an open serial port as well as I2C all easily accessible within the case, as well as an integrated prototyping area on-board. Download the sketch from our web page, modify it, add extra hardware if that’s your thing, and WOW your friends (or the Internet) with your amazing add-ons. Download the sketch from our web page here.

Read More

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Glitch Scarf by Glitchaus: Remember when your NES would suddenly decide to scramble mid game? Our very own Jeff Donaldson, is a glitch art pioneer and creator of notendo. He’s also a designer whose practice is based on these bugs and glitches, such as this comfy glitched out winter-wear. Read More

Shop for more of Jeff Donaldson’s work here!

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USB 3-Way Charging Cable – iPhone 5/iPhone/iPad and MicroUSB:For charging nearly any kind of portable gadget, this 3-in-1 cable can handle it. Great for use with a Mintyboost, or our USB power packs (or just powering your projects). One USB-A jack splits into three connectors: Micro USB, iPhone/iPad/iPod 30pin (for older iDevices) and the newer Lightning (newer iDevices). Read More

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USB Flashdrive Cufflinks – 4 GB Storage: Look sophisticated all while storing 4,194,304 Kilobytes. These cufflinks will hold your clothes together and keep your data at hand. Perfect for Father’s day or for that geek who loves technology and needs to get dressed up for a special event. Read More

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Ascii Heart Necklace: Show that you care with this geeky necklace depicting an ASCII heart, like you’d see in email or text messages! The pieces are laser-cut in Sterling silver, then hand soldered to silver tubes that hang from the 20″ curb chain. The necklace is polished and has a high-shine finish and is treated to reduce tarnishing. The pendant measures 1.5″ square, and the two pieces dangle freely with a silver bead between them. This necklace makes a great gift for any special occasion. Read More

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Silver Bipolar Earrings – NPN / PNP: Perhaps we are a little BIASED, but we think that these silver earrings are the perfect mix of pretty and geeky. Made of quality sterling silver (not cheap BASE metal!), one drop has an NPN symbol stamped on it, the other a PNP. These are definitely not your COMMON electronics-themed jewelry. Simple and classic, they go with all the CURRENT fashion. When donning these, you will certainly GAIN a look of elegance! Read more

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Engineering Shirt: Formulas and variables and integrals and derivatives: to the casual observer it looks like you’re doing MATH. But you’re NOT. Because when you solve for x, things EXPLODE. You’re doing ENGINEERING. Shirt created, designed and supplied by David Malki at wondermark!
Read More

Available Elsewhere!

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Nerd Herder gadget wallet from Rockitbot: This is the gift for the Dad whose pockets seem to resemble the magic bag from Mary Poppins. It not only performs all the normal functions of a wallet but, in a sleek, space-saving manner. It has room for all of your extra gadgets. — you can keep your SD card, iPhone, and jump drive next to your cash and your driver’s license. There’s even room for a digital camera. The wallet closes using an elastic band to ensure your devices stay safe and compact inside.

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The Art of Fixing Things, Principles of Machines, and How to Repair Them: 150 Tips and Tricks to Make Things Last Longer, and save You Money: This book, by Lawrence E. Pierce, is an extensive yet approachable guide for the parent with a DIY approach. It has guides and problem solving techniques for home and auto repair/maintenance. The photos accompanying the guides are clear and, we think, quite beautiful.

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Dash Greek Yogurt Maker: We’ve recently found that it’s hard to have a conversation about health and food these days that doesn’t involve Greek Yogurt. The invasion of the tasty, versatile, protein-packed dairy product came on slowly but strongly and it looks as though it’s here to stay. And we couldn’t be happier about it. This plastic yogurt maker has dishwasher safe accessories and includes a detailed recipe guide (because, how do you make yogurt?). This is a great gift for the health conscious maker/chef in your family.

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Jenga Tetris Game from Hasbro: JENGA! TETRIS! Does there exist a more perfect union in the world of family games? We think not.

SHIPPING DEADLINES

Here are your 2013 shipping deadlines for ordering from Adafruit. Please review our shipping section if you have specific questions on how and where we ship worldwide for this holiday season.

UPS ground (USA orders): Place orders by Friday 11am ET – December 13, 2013 – There is no guarantee that UPS Ground packages will arrive in time for Christmas.

UPS 3-day (USA orders): Place orders by Thursday 11am ET – December 19, 2013 – Arrive on 12/24/2013.

UPS 2-day (USA orders): Place orders by Friday 11am ET – December 20, 2013 – Arrive on 12/24/2013.

UPS overnight (USA orders): Place orders by Monday 11am ET – December 23, 2013 – Arrive on 12/24/2013.

UPS International: Place orders by Monday 11am ET – December 16, 2013. Can take up extra time due to worldwide delays and customs. Should arrive by 12/24/2013 or sooner.

Please note: We do not offer Saturday service for UPS.
Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2013, Christmas, no UPS pickup or delivery service.
Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014, New Year’s Day, no UPS pickup or delivery service.

United States Postal Service, First Class and Priority (USA orders): Place orders by Friday – December 13, 2013 – Arrive by 12/24/2013 or sooner.

USPS First class mail international (International orders): Place orders by Friday – November 22, 2013. Can take up to 30 days ore more with worldwide delays and customs. Should arrive by 12/24/2013 or sooner, but not a trackable service cannot be guaranteed to arrive by 12/24/13.

USPS Express mail international(International orders): Place orders by Friday – December 13, 2013. Can take up to 15 days or more with worldwide delays and customs. Should arrive by 12/24/2013 or sooner.

Gift Certificates are always available at any time.

When in doubt contact us!

Filed under: gift guides — by Kelly, posted at 10:00 am

From the Adafruit Forums: Christmas Video Wall @Raspberry_Pi #piday #raspberrypi

Here’s a great project by Walt aka alishl06 from the adafruit forums:

A BIG THANK-YOU to Adafruit for the plans to build the Video Wall. I built one and integrated it in this year’s Christmas Light Show. I put it inside the Wreath. Look close! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqVRfI24wBw

A Raspberry Pi handles the Videos. I built an interface that goes between my Christmas Light Controllers and the Pi to specify which Video the Pi has to run. The Raspberry Pi I am using is the one I got for free when I ordered the parts for the Video Wall!!!

Thanks for sharing this, Walt! Keep up the awesome work!

Filed under: Raspberry Pi — by jeff, posted at 9:00 am

Ladyada on a circuit board chair :) @WIREDINSIDER #WIREDSTORE

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There’s really only one chair that fits Ladyada :) This is a circuit board chair we saw (and sat in!) at the Wired store in NYC.

Filed under: art,events — by adafruit, posted at 8:50 am

Fritzing Friday: Bluefruit EZ-LINK

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Now in the Adafruit Fritzing Library — our Bluefruit EZ-LINK Bluetooth Serial Link & Arduino Programmer.

Filed under: Fritzing — by johngineer, posted at 8:01 am

IOT Raspberry Pi Wifi Picture Frame @Raspberry_Pi #piday #raspberrypi

Awesome project from Bill Levien featuring the NTSC/PAL (Television) TFT Display – 3.5″ Diagonal!

Featured Adafruit Products

ID913_MED

NTSC/PAL (Television) TFT Display – 3.5″ Diagonal – Yes, this is an adorable small television! The visible display measures only 3.5″ (8.9cm) diagonal, the TFT comes with a NTSC/PAL driver board. The display is very easy to use – simply connect 6-15VDC to the red (+) and black (-) wires, then connect a composite video source to the RCA connectors. Voila, a television display! (read more)

998Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit, be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Have you tried the new “Adafruit Raspberry Pi Educational Linux Distro”? It’s our tweaked distribution for teaching electronics using the Raspberry Pi. But wait, there’s more! Try our new Raspberry Pi WebIDE! The easiest way to learn programming on a Raspberry Pi.

We now have Raspberry Pi Model B with 512MB RAM in stock and shipping now!

Filed under: Raspberry Pi — by jeff, posted at 8:00 am

Light Play : Kinect and Kinematics

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Light Play : Kinect and Kinematics @ Robotic Arts.

…we were able to do some actual “light playing” this weekend. As a member of our hackerspace suggested, it would be really neat to see the delta robots paint with their LEDs in some long exposure shots. After another round of promotional pics, we took a robot in the bedroom, set the tripod up and turned out the lights…heh. The result was magical.

Filed under: art,kinect hacking,robotics — by adafruit, posted at 7:34 am

Free Your Raspberry Pi Serial Port @Raspberry_Pi #piday #raspberrypi

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How to free your Raspberry Pi serial port via raspberrypi-spy.co.uk:

By default Raspbian configures the Raspberry Pi serial port (GPIO14-GPIO15) to provide boot-up information. It also allows you to login via a connected device. If you need to use the Pi’s serial port for something else (i.e. a specific add-on board) you will need to disable this default functionality.

It’s something I needed to do when I played with the Ciseco Pi-Lite and luckily isn’t too difficult as the instructions below will hopefully show.

Read more and learn how to do it yourself here!

Filed under: Raspberry Pi — by jeff, posted at 7:00 am

Adafruit PiTFT running on Raspberry Pi @Raspberry_Pi #piday #raspberrypi

Leo White shared a video of his adafruit PiTFT running on Raspberry Pi:

I connected up my AdaFruit PiTFT board (http://www.adafruit.com/products/1601) this weekend and spent a few minutes putting it through its paces and decided to do a short video for those who were thinking about getting one.

As you can see this isn’t going to replace a HDMI monitor (especially considering the space available when running X), but is more useful for targeted applications e.g. Displaying status, providing a specific set on controls (e.g. buttons to turn lights on and off, take readings from sensors etc.), displaying the last picture taken from the RPi Camera.

Note: The flickering of the screen isn’t noticeable in normal usage.

Thanks, Leo!

Featured Adafruit Products

1601_MED

PiTFT Mini Kit – 320×240 2.8″ TFT+Touchscreen for Raspberry Pi – Is this not the cutest little display for the Raspberry Pi? It features a 2.8″ display with 320×240 16-bit color pixels and a resistive touch overlay. The plate uses the high speed SPI interface on the Pi and can use the mini display as a console, X window port, displaying images or video etc. Best of all it plugs right in on top! (read more)

998Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit, be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Have you tried the new “Adafruit Raspberry Pi Educational Linux Distro”? It’s our tweaked distribution for teaching electronics using the Raspberry Pi. But wait, there’s more! Try our new Raspberry Pi WebIDE! The easiest way to learn programming on a Raspberry Pi.

We now have Raspberry Pi Model B with 512MB RAM in stock and shipping now!

Filed under: Raspberry Pi — by jeff, posted at 6:00 am

Raspberry Pi Foundation Is Giving Away 2000 Pi Kits! @Raspberry_Pi #piday #raspberrypi

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Lance Howarth, CEO of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, is getting into the holiday spirit with a Raspberry Pi giveaway:

Here at Pi Towers we are getting into the festive spirit, and we’ve been thinking how best to pay back the goodwill our community has shown us over the last year. So, in support of “Hour of Code” as part of Computer Science Education week, we got together with our friends from Google and we are going to give away Pis for Christmas. That’s right: we’re giving away up to 2000 Google Raspberry Pis to anyone under the age of 18 in the United Kingdom. To qualify for a free Pi you need to do one of two things. Either:

  • Get your school to do an “Hour of Code” between now and the end of term and we’ll send a Pi for every participant to your school (up to a maximum of 20), or
  • Design a “My Pi Project” poster and send it to us here at Pi Towers, and we’ll send you your own Raspberry Pi.

How do I take part?
You can get more information on Hour of Code week from our friends at Code.org. They have lots of great ideas of what you can do for the Hour Of Code. If you are a member of Code Club, how about getting your class to have a go at their festive project Christmas Capers? To qualify for your Google Pi, just ask your teacher to register here. At the end of next week we’ll take the first thousand Raspberry Pis and start shipping them out on a first come, first served basis, so the Pis should be waiting for you when you come back to school in January.

Read more!

Filed under: Raspberry Pi — by jeff, posted at 5:00 am

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