For many people the sound of a smoke alarm is so unpleasant that they’ll take the batteries out just to avoid it; for Jer Thorp, it’s a useful notifier whenever a key news story hits the wire. Jer rigged up a smoke alarm to sound when a keyword-identified article appears, creating the incredibly annoying NewsAlarm.
Every week I seem to be writing about how someone has used an Arduino to fashion an interesting gadget, and today’s – while not as obviously useful as, say a Pong-playing wristwatch - is still impressive. Using an Arduino, a Hall effect sensor and an electromagnet, the microprocessor board can keep a floating magnet perfectly positioned.
Video demos after the cut
One of the reasons the Arduino is so successful is because of its flexibility – there’s plenty of very complex ways you can implement the microprocessor board into a project – but that doesn’t mean it can’t do simple tasks just as well. Psycholinguist Franklin Chang used his Arduino to make a fetchingly homespun wristwatch.
Video overview of the Arduino watch after the cut
I’m more used to Twitter trying to steal my time and concentration, but this latest Arduino project turns it into a protector of law and order instead. The Arduino is used to monitor a home burglar alarm and send out status messages should anything unexpected happen; that could include when the alarm was activated or shut off, error messages regarding dodgy sensors, or just when the alarm actually sounds.
Arduino-fanciers Oomlout have put together a neat control box for the popular prototyping board, complete with five potentiometers and three switches. There’s also a software app that can monitor the position of each of the controls. In the process, Oomlout have (hopefully) tipped that their next product may just be an Arduino-controlled robot arm.
Check out the demo video of the control box in action, after the cut
Arduino have taken the tiny wraps off of the official ethernet shield for their open-source prototyping platform, which adds network connectivity to the device. Based on the Wiznet W5100 ethernet chip, the new shield provides a network (IP) stack capable of both TCP and UDP, and supports up to four simultaneous socket connections.
SlashGear Japan
