Rewind: The vintage tech and trends of CES

Long before becoming the world’s largest consumer electronics show, the first CES took place in New York City back in June of 1967. The debut event, which originally began as spinoff from the Chicago Music Show, had attracted just about 17,500 attendees and 100 exhibitors. Since then, attendance has risen to over 160,000 visitors along with 3,600-plus exhibitors and countless new product releases. While the smart home, wearables and virtual reality may be the focus of CES 2015, once upon a time devices like VCRs and Nintendo consoles stole the spotlight.

With this year’s show in full swing, let’s take a quick look at the most noteworthy gizmos, gadgets and trends from the show since its 1967 inauguration.

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Videocassette Recorders (VCRs), 1970

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Laserdisc Players, 1974

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Camcorders, 1981

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Compact Disc Players, 1981

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Nintendo, 1985

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Digital Audio Technology, 1990

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Compact Disc Interactive, 1991

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Digital Satellite Systems, 1994

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Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs), 1996

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High-Definition Televisions (HDTVs), 1998

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Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), 1999

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Microsoft Xbox, 2001

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Plasma TVs, 2001

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HD Radios, 2003

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Blu-ray Discs, 2003

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HDTV PVRs, 2003

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IPTV, 2005

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OLED TVs, 2008

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Netbooks, 2010

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Tablets, 2010

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Drones, 2010

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3D TVs, 2011

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Smart Appliances, 2011

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4G Phones, 2011

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Ultrabooks, 2012

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3D OLED, 2012

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Fitness Bands, 2013

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Atmel XSense, 2013

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Flexible OLED, 2013

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Smart Glasses, 2014

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Smart Lights, 2014

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4K TVs, 2014

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Driverless Cars, 2014

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Futuristic Car Center Consoles, 2014

Rewind: 30 breathtaking drone videos of 2014

For many, the term “drone” seems to conjure images of military use and war weaponry. As a result, the mere thought of these futuristic flying devices tend to pose security and privacy concerns to several people. When, however, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) used for defense purposes and those that may one day may buzz around the skies are quite different, and indeed, may change the world — for the better.

Amid recent security concerns, bans throughout U.S. national parks and ongoing regulation woes, these gadgets — some of which powered by Atmel 8 and 32-bit AVR microcontrollers —  have managed to capture stunning birds-eye views that would’ve otherwise been inconceivable a few years ago. Before the days of drone videos, filmmakers had to rely upon helicopters for such aerial shots; however, these ‘copters aren’t nearly as agile and inexpensive as UAVs. That said, there’s certainly no shortage of UAV footage.

Below, we’ve compiled just some of the most breathtaking videos taken over the last 12 months.

Christmas Spectacle

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Necker Island

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Alaskan Ice Cave

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4th of July Fireworks

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San Diego Yacht Fire

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Lima, Peru

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Erupting Volcano at Tanna Island

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Burning Man

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Seattle Space Needle

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Above the Clouds in the Netherlands

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Apple 2 Campus

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Catching Waves in the Mentawai Islands

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Dolphins at Dana Point

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Niagara Falls

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Beijing, China

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Scaling the World’s Tallest Building in Dubai

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Rockfall in Northern Italy

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OK Go’s Music Video

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Whale Watching in Maui

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The Beauty of Baltimore

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LA Love

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Hong Kong Protests

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The High Arctic

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Serengeti Safari

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The Big Apple

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Chernobyl

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Winter Wonderland

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Iceland

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Aerial Cape Town, South Africa

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The Northern Roads of Oregon

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Koh Yao Noi

 

 

 

 

Scan all your books for a dollar each

I just used 1DollarScan in San Jose to scan a bunch of old yearbooks, text books, and manuals from General Motors I have kept for 35 years. There is no “catch,” it really is a dollar a book, but there are some conditions. To be fair, their definition of a book is 100 pages. So if you have a 101 page book, then its two dollars. If it’s a 199 page book, its still two dollars. A 1001 page book is 11 dollars. It is still the best deal you will ever see. Heck, the Post Office makes more than 1DollarScan if you have to ship the books.

Hiroshi Nakano at 1DollarScan will make high-quality pdf files or jpegs of all your books.

You can use media mail, however, and get a really cheap rate. I like the flat-rate Post Office boxes, and there is always UPS and FedEx ground. If you have a pallet of books maybe freight is the cheapest way. For folks like me that live in Silicon Valley, you can just drop the books off.

Now, if the books are copyrighted, 1DollarScan intends to dispose of them after they scan them, so that there is no copyright issues. You just changed the form of the copyrighted material you already paid for, and the Supreme Court has decided that issue decades ago. If the material is your own, or something like a high-school yearbook, 1DollarScan can return the material, if you pay for the shipping.

I had two big bags of books for 1DollarScan.

Since they count 100 pages as a “set” and every book is at least one “set” it did not take long for me to see that I had over 67 sets. I just stopped counting, since they have a 100-dollar a month platinum deal, where several premium services are included free.

So I want to point out the downsides since you are engineers and analytical. But first, rest easy, because Hiroshi Nakano, the founder of 1DollarScan is also an engineer. He came to Silicon Valley working for a big corporation. After a few years, he returned to Japan. There he noticed similar scanning services growing in popularity, since space is at such a premium in Tokyo. So Nakano returned to Silicon Valley and started 1DollarScan. As you would expect from a fellow engineer, the pricing is rational, the website is clear and it works great, and everything seems too good to be true.

As to those downsides? Well, since he uses very light compression on the pdf files, they are huge. My General Motors Institute yearbook came in at 350MB. That was 242 pages of high-res and mostly images. Because I sprung for the 100-dollar a month deal, the file was named with the title of the book and I can use their “tune up” online service to make smaller pdfs suited for phones or tablets, Kindles or other devices. Alternatively I believe they will provide you with the raw jpeg files, and for an extra dollar, they can do 600dpi jpegs. For me, the pdfs just make more sense, and hundreds of separate jpeg files are too unwieldy to handle.

The only other downside is the OCR (optical character recognition) was not perfect. I had 1DollarScan scan in a big 1960s magazine from the Cleveland Plain Dealer called “Cleveland, a city grows to greatness.” The preface has a small biography of the two authors. The type was tiny and the magazine was 50 years old. The page image is perfect, and you can’t see the OCR errors until you highlight and cut-and-paste the text into a notepad or some other editor. Here is what the OCR produced:

George J. Barmann, coculhor of l{ris work, has been on lhe staff of ihe Plain Dealer since epfember, 1942. He came lo the paper {rom the lllinoir State Journal, in Springfield, where he had gone affergraduation from flre University of lllinoir, in !937. On the Plain Dealer, Barmann spent some time in writing about education. After thal, he did general asignmenf reporting. whish meanr covering almoct the whole range of stories that daily come acro3r the City De*. Barmann, in recenl years, has done chiefly feafurer for the Plain Decler, including a greal many inierview with headline peronaliiies and people of the fheafer. Also, he ha; writlen feature stories aboul lhe Civil War. He lraveled through the Deep South, from New Orleans to Charleston, S.C., and wrole a series of arlicle: on whaf Southerners were thinling in tfii: l00th anniver:ary of ilrat wer. A nalive of Chillicolhe, Ohio, Barmann al*ended Miami Univer:ity ai Orford, O. before lramfering to iournalirm ai lhe Universify of lllinois.

Other fonts came out much better, this was the worse OCR of anything that got scanned. But there is a solution to both the big file size and the OCR accuracy. Based on the advice of analog engineer Walt Jung, I had purchased a copy of ABBYY Finereader 11. I am pretty sure it was under 100 dollars. I used ABBYY to scan in all my loose papers and tax records. I find it far better than TextBridge and other OCR programs, which I also own. ABBYY will take in a pdf file, and re-recognize the text, and save it with much higher compression. So I ran the 1DollarScan pdf into ABBYY and made another pdf file. That file of a 64-page ledger-size book was 9MB instead of 120MB. Here is the ABBYY OCR result of the Cleveland book:

G e o r g e J. Barmann, co­author of this work, has been on the staff of the Plain Dealer since September, 1942. H e came to the paper from the Illinois State Journal, in Springfield, where he had gone after gradua­tion from the University of Illinois, in 1937. O n the Plain Dealer, Bar­mann spent some time in writing about education. A fte r that, he did general assignment reporting, which means covering almost the whole range of stories that d a ily come across the C it y Desk. Barmann, in recent years, has done chiefly features for the Plain Dealer, including a great many interviews with headline personalities and people of the theater. Also, he has written feature stories about the C iv il W a r . H e traveled through the Deep South, from New Orlea ns to Charleston, S.C., and wrote a series of articles on what Southerners were thinking in this 100th anniversary of that war. A native of Chillicothe, Ohio, Barmann attended M ia m i University at Oxford, O., before transferring to journalism at the University of Illinois.

You can see ABBYY was much more accurate, but its problem is that it peppers extraneous spaces in the text. If you searched Google for George Barmann, it would find the 1DollarScan pdf but not the ABBYY pdf. This is because it is trying to line up the highlighted hidden OCR to the image of the text on top of the OCR. Since the font is a bit funky, is hand-typeset and has kerning, ABBYY breaks up words when it adds needless spaces. Both OCR results were a bunch of separate lines that I concatenated above so they would fit this post. Where the ABBYY version has hyphens, those are correct, there were line breaks there. Oh, I know, I can take a screen shot of the pdf images, here:

The 120MB 1DollarScan screenshot has way less image compression, if you click on the image you can see the author’s eyes much more clearly that the image below.

The 1DollarScan 120MB pdf run through and re-recognized by ABBYY Finereader 11 is only 9MB, and the text quality is nearly as good. The ABBYY image quality suffers from the higher compression, so you should not erase the original 1DollarScan files.

You can see that the 9MB ABBYY is almost as good for text as the 120MB 1DollarScan pdf, but the image in the 1DollarScan pdf is clearly better. So for things like a yearbook, I definitely will keep the larger 1DollarScan file, and maybe make a ABBYY pdf out of that to send around or post online. I looked into the extraneous spaces in ABBYY and there seems to be no “cure”. I tried making a “tagged” pdf in ABBYY and it is just much bigger and even worse OCR.

OK, so you can see that 1DollarScan is the real deal, here is a photo montage.

Hiroshi Nakano examines the books dropped off for scanning at 1DollarScan.

One side of the warehouse at 1DollarScan is for books waiting to be scanned. Lead times are only a week or two.

Hiroshi Nakano uses this guillotine stack paper cutter to remove the bindings of your books.

Hiroshi Nakano shows the spine of a book that he has cut off with the guillotine stack paper cutter at 1DollarScan.

Here is the workstation where an employee at 1DollarScan feeds several scanners and once, while tending to paper jams and insuring you get the perfect scan.

I should mention that I asked Hiroshi Nakano if I should not show the heart of his operation above with the multiple scanners being fed by his employee. I told him that someone might see it and try to compete with him. Nakano smiled and said, “Nobody can compete with me.” I love the precision and factual nature of my fellow engineers, don’t you? Lets face it, a dollar to scan 100 pages with OCR is pretty remarkable.

Once the books are scanned and the pdfs are posted for your download, 1DollarScan holds your books for two weeks, in case there were any problems. After that, the copyrighted books are recycled, or un-copyrighted materials are sent back to you if you pay shipping.

Hiroshi Nakano from 1DollarScan patiently explained his operation to me and I was assured that it really is true that he can do high-quality scans of your books and magazines for a very low price.

There is real joy in being able to keep all my books in electronic form while dispensing with hundreds, maybe 1000 pounds of paper. Lets see if I can find a picture–

An engineers can collect a lot of paper. There were tax records for my business, project folders for jobs I worked on, letters from college girlfriends, owners manuals, and two big stacks of books you can barely see in the back right corner. The ammo boxes bottom right are full of pictures and negatives.

It took about six months, just scanning in all these loose papers. The hand-written letters from girlfriends I kept as 300dpi jpegs. Same for my hand-written printed notes, the OCR in ABBYY is pointless on handwriting anyway. For pictures, I scanned them at 600dpi, anything finer I could not see any difference on the 47-inch TV I use as a monitor. For negatives and slides I did 2400dpi, which is the same spatial resolution as doing the printed picture at 600dpi. I used ABBYY to make pdf files of any printed materials, including some booklets that I thought 1DollarScan might not want to do. But all the books, yearbooks, magazines, and manuals, well, it was just so nice to send those two big stacks to 1DollarScan and have it taken care of my by some diligent professionals. Lets face it, disk space is nearly free. I have a 2-Terabyte NAS (network-attached storage) at home that can hold all these files with room to spare.

For scanning all my loose documents, I had a Canon laser MF 4890dw on the right. For 11×17 and oversize, a Brother MFC-J6710DW inkjet on the left. For pictures, slides and negatives a Canon CanoScan 8800F back-lit flatbed in the middle.

A standard desk would hold all three of my scanners, The laptop was driving my two TVs, and a wireless keyboard and mouse did the control. Lots of paper towels and Windex to keep the platens clean. It was a monumental job but now it is done. I will keep all my receipts and records on the NAS now. I back it up onto the laptops, and to a SSD (solid-state drive) I keep in the safety deposit box at the bank. I have auto titles and my birth certificate as paper, everything else is virtual. It is heaven. I gave away the two printer-scanners but kept the flatbed so I can do receipts and such as they come in. No more shoe boxes full of receipts for me.

I made three runs to the Sunnyvale dump with the scanned paper. My pal said some companies will let you put your personal stuff in their shredder boxes. Either way, it is great to have all kinds of room, as long as I resist the temptation to fill it up with old test equipment or Sportster parts. And for getting rid of that stuff, you can use flea markets, Craigslist, and eBay.

Stock-engine-test_1969-Chevrolet-327-cu.in.-V-8-42p_ABBYY

Here is a link to a scan I had done by 1DollarScan and then ran through ABBYY Finereader. It went from 28MB to 2.7MB. The booklet a really cool engine test report I had from my student days at GMI. Since Mary Barra, the CEO of GM went to GMI too, hopefully she won’t sic a bunch of high-tone Detroit lawyers on me. I do note there is no copyright symbol on the document. Now the blocky shading on the title is due to the compression in ABBYY. The 1DollarScan document does not have those artifacts. But it is 10 times bigger. Note how the scan is straight and note how they scanned the both sides of the back cover, even when there was no text. You want the whole booklet scanned, they do it. Now they do charge 2 dollars for magazines, and I am not sure they counted this booklet as a magazine or thin book. In any event, that was why it was worth it to get the premium membership for a month. Hiroshi Nakano thought I was being fair and I thought the same about him. More than fair. Part of the premium service is they give the pdf file the name of the book. In this case they carefully typed: Stock engine test, 1969 chevrolet 327 cu.in.v-8, 42p.pdf. Since I am putting it on a web server, I changed the name to my convention: Stock-engine-test_1969-Chevrolet-327-cu.in.-V-8-42p_ABBYY.pdf. When pals talk trash about GM, I whip out this 45-year-old engine test. General Motors knows more about cars and good engineering than all the congressmen and lawyers put together. I still miss being an auto engineer.

Rewind: These successfully-funded Kickstarter projects are powered by Atmel

Kickstarter first opened its virtual doors on April 28, 2009. Since then, the wildly-popular crowdfunding site has tracked just shy of $1.5 billion in pledges from 7.6 million individuals actively backing 75,800 creative projects.

Many have pondered as to whether the crowdfunding bubble would burst anytime soon, and as the burgeoning Maker Movement and Internet of Things have conveyed, the answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT! By 2025, the crowdfunding investment market is expected to near $100 billion.

Since its inception five years ago, more than $116 million has been raised for over 1,400 technology projects — a number of which have been hardware gadgets powered by Atmel | SMART and AVR microcontrollers. In fact, 217 projects were based and built around the fan favorite Arduino boards (and AVR) over the last 12 months. Specifically, 160-plus AVR based projects garnered $7 million in Kickstarter funding, of which nearly two-thirds were successful, including:

Robox

C Enterprise Ltd. (CEL) debuted its new desktop 3D printer and micro-manufacturing platform. Powered by an Atmel | SMART ARM-based MCU, the Robox was designed by its creators to “demystify” the 3D printing process.

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The Reactor Core

The Reactor Core is a hardware programming platform for Arduino boards and stand-alone AVR-based MCUs. Designed by Frank Fox, the Reactor Core is powered by an ATmega328P and an FT232R for USB to serial communication.

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ATtiny85 ISP! 

Designed by Ben Escobedo, the open source ATtiny85 ISP! can probably best be described as a breakout prototyping board for Atmel’s ATtiny85/45/25 lineup.

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OpenBCI

OpenBCI – created by Joel Murphy and Conor Russomanno – is a low-cost programmable open-source EEG platform that gives Makers easy access to their brainwaves. Aside from its ADS1299 IC, the OpenBCI is equipped with an ATmega328 (+ Arduino’s latest bootloader). The Maker duo have have thoughtfully broken out all the Arduino pins, allowing Makers to blink lights or drive motors. In addition, version 3 of the OpenBCI board uses bluetooth low energy (BTLE) for data transmission and programming of the ATmega controller.

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White Bread Shield

Mark Davidson has designed an ATmega328 based Arduino prototyping shield that can also be used as a stand-alone board for various DIY Maker projects. Dubbed the “White Bread Shield,” the platform is compatible with Arduino Uno boards.

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MicroSlice

The MicroSlice is a mini laser cutter and engraver, controlled by an ATmega328. The open source platform is being promoted as a kit that takes approximately 15 hours to build.

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The ABXY

The ABXY – the brainchild of Kevin Houck – is an open source ATmega328 based rapid fire and macro platform for the Xbox 360.

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Smart Nixie Tube

The Smart Nixie Tube is an open-source platform, powered by the versatile ATmega328p MCU of course, that is ideal for any dorm room, bedroom or Makerspace.

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UFactory

UFactory – located in China’s Shenzhen – has debuted a 4-axis parallel-mechanism desktop robot arm. UArm, modeled after the ABB industrial PalletPack robot, is built around an ATmega328 which powers a custom board. 

The platform is constructed with acrylic or wood parts and fitted with standard RC hobby servos.

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King’s Assembly

Solid Art Labs has introduced the King’s Assembly – a unique device that packs a high-precision laser mouse, full mechanical keyboard and an analog joystick into a single platform. For its mapping and programmability, it’s no wonder the team selected the beefy AT90USB128 MCU.

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DIY Delta Robot Kit

The Robot Army crew unveiled a DIY Delta Robot kit, which of course was driven by an ATmega328 MCU, that caters to the rapidly growing Maker community. The kit includes all mechanical pieces in grey and neon yellow plastic (the yellow fluoresces under black light), spacers, brackets, ball bearings and hardware required for assembly. In addition, the kit is packed with electronic components, PCB and wire harnesses.

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Game Frame

Game Frame – a grid of 256 ultra-bright LED pixels – was designed by Jeremy Williams to showcase pixel art and old school video games. As its creator notes, video game artists used to draw everything with a sheet of graph paper, a few colors and a couple of animation frames.

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Pi-Bot

STEM Center USA revealed its ATmega328 embedded Pi-Bot, a hands-on robotic learning platform for both students and professional engineers.

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OSCAR

OSCAR is a super high resolution 9.7″ screen with an ATmega32U4 powered adapter that allows users to easily link the display to their PC, Mac or Linux machine.

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energyShield

NightShade Electronics unveiled a rechargeable battery shield for Arduino Uno (ATmega328) and Leonardo (ATmega32U4) boards.

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Dual Arduino Micro XplorerBoard

Rich Electronics developed the XPlorerBoard, a portable platform that allows Makers to easily plug in two Arduino Micro boards (ATmega32U4) and eliminate loose parts with integrated components.

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Open Enigma Project

Designed by the ST-Geotronics crew, the Open Enigma (M4) Project – powered by an Arduino Mega (ATmega1280) – first surfaced towards the end of 2013.

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Skirmos

Skirmos is an open-source, versatile laser tag system that features an ATmega328P MCU, an Arduino bootloader, a color LCD screen (acts as a realtime HUD) and an infrared LED.

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EasyPlug

EasyPlug – designed by InXus Interactive – is a versatile sensor shield for Arduino boards, and enables Makers to connect a plethora of sensors to their board in just seconds.

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Vega Edge

Made of laser-cut leather, the Edge is a wearable light that snaps securely onto your clothing with the help of four strong neodymium magnets. You can wear it discreetly by day or brightly at night with your winter coat, cardigan, hood, scarf, handbag, collar, pocket, belt, or wherever you’d like a touch of light.

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Reflowster

The Reflowster is an ATmega32U4 powered smart outlet designed to instantly turn your toaster oven into a reflow soldering station.

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Primo

Primo is a playful physical programming interface that helps teach children programming logic without the need for literacy. Powered by an Arduino unit, the play-set uses shapes, colors and spacial awareness to instruct programming logic through a tactile learning experience.

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MicroView

MicroView is a chip-sized platform with a built-in OLED (64×48) display that allows Makers to see what their board is “thinking” without having to link with a PC.

 The device, designed by the Geek Ammo crew, is built around the ATmega328P MCU.

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Pocket Printer

Developed by the team at ZUta Labs, the Pocket Printer is an untethered device comparable in size to a CD case that features a set of omni wheels and a printer cartridge tethered to an Arduino board. Once placed down, the device begins to run along the paper, using its aforementioned wheels and a high-res optical sensor to move around, distributing ink wherever it’s needed. For multi-paged documents, simply pick up the printer and place it onto the the next blank sheet of paper.

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Printoo

Printoo is a printed electronics prototyping platform designed to help bring everyday objects to life. The core Printoo module is powered by an ATmega328, while additional hardware modules consist of a display driver, battery connector, batteries (soft and ultra-thin), battery holder, sensor module, solar cell connector, conductive ink adapter, DC motor drivers, electrochromic display, organic photodetector slider, polymer solar cell and LED strip.

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Digispark Pro

Powered by the uber-mini ATtiny167 MCU, the new board is even easier to use than the original Digispark.

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Mirobot

Mirobot – created by Ben Pirt – is an ATmega328 powered DIY WiFi robotic kit designed to help children learn about technology and programming.

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Mr. Beam

Mr. Beam is an open source DIY laser cutter and engraver kit for paper, wood and plastic, whose key components include an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), custom shield and a Raspberry Pi.

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Hummingbird Duo Robotics Kit

BirdBrain Technologies (a Carnegie Mellon University spinoff) debuted the Hummingbird Duo, a robotics kit powered by an ATmega32U4 MCU.

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Lil’Bot

Created by Chris Hakim, Lil’Bot is a low-cost, open-source balancing robot powered by an ATmega328 MCU.

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The Papilio DUO

The Papilio DUO is a board that allows Makers and developers to easily draw circuits, move pins, connect extra serial ports and even link a Bitcoin miner to the ATmega32U4.

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LazerBlade

Designed by Darkly Labs, the LazerBlade is an entry-level laser cutter and engraver kit targeted at Makers, artists and DIY hobbyists that is driven by an ATmega328 MCU.

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CNC xPRO

Spark Concepts has debuted the CNC xPRO on Kickstarter, a versatile platform powered by an ATmega328.

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Ai.Frame

The open source Ai.Frame is a miniature robot powered by an Arduino Mini (ATmega328) paired with infrared and ultrasonic sensors.

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DuinoKit Essential Project

Designed by math teacher Dan Alich, the DuinoKit Essential Project (DEP) is a cost effective development system for aiding the learning of electronics and programming.

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PopPet

PopPet is as an “expandable, customizable and easy-to-assemble” robot kit powered by the an ATmega8 microcontroller.

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M-One

M-One is described by the MakeX team as a “personal desktop factory” for Makers, designers, artists and engineers.

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IMUduino BTLE

The innovators over at Femtoduino have developed an uber-tiny device for all of your emulation needs, the IMUduino BTLE. Powered by an ATmega32U4, the Arduino-compatible board comes in at just under 2.7 grams and is packed with USB keyboard and mouse emulation, Bluetooth LE (BLE), real-time orientation and motion sensing IMU, as well as 10V max voltage regulation.

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ChainDuino

Michael Tedeschi originally created the ChainDuino after realizing that he wished it were simpler to connect multiple Arduino Uno (ATmega328p) boards with readily available Cat5 cable.

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Homey

In an effort bring homes to life, Homey converges all of the smart devices under one roof and allows homeowners talk to them. Homey can learn a homeowner’s habits and predict their next move to make their life more efficient.

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AmbiLED

The AmbiLED HD is the first high-resolution ambient light conversion kit for computer monitors. The wireless ambient light strip affixes directly to the back of your TV, thus allowing for your field of view to be flooded with visual stimulation.

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Multi-Program Laser Trip Wire Set

Straight out of the ‘90s movie Entrapment, crowdfunding veteran Patrick Thomas Mitchell has created a system of laser trip wires designed to keep any area secure.

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CANBus Triple

Driven by an ATmega32U4, CANBus Triple has been developed in hopes of providing an Arduino-style device for cars that can be used to bus data and add awesome functionality to your vehicle.

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Pax Instruments T400

The Pax Instruments T400 is a simple, inexpensive and open-source temperature datalogger. Designed by Charles Edward Pax, the ATmega32U4 powered T400 is a first in a new class of affordable lab instruments.

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Dr.Duino

Dr.Duino is a fully-equipped breakout board for testing all features of the Arduino platform. Created by Long Island-based Innovative Electronic Solutions LLC, the newly-launched device enables developers using the popular board to have a genuine fixture for testing their Atmel based designs. Think of it as a shield for your shields!

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DUO Light

Maker Jack Eisenmann has developed a lightweight, single board computer that can connect to an SD card, a composite video monitor and a keyboard, and provide a low-level computer programming experience.

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LED Matrix Shades

Garrett Mace of macetech LLC recently designed a pair of open-source, programmable stunna Matrix Shades.

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TinyScreen

With much of the tech community is abuzz about larger screen sizes, the TinyScreen is here to show customers just how adaptable a miniscule display can be in a world overrun by massive screens. Led by Maker Ken Burns, TinyCircuits successfully launched a campaign for its

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MicroDuino

Paying homage to Game Boy’s 25th birthday, the MicroDuino Studio team has now debuted the Microduino-Joypad, an 8-bit multi-functional game console capable of playing all-time classics ranging from Tetris to Snake. The open-source gadget will allow Makers to relive some of their greatest childhood memories of clicking away at those giant buttons on a vintage Nintendo handheld.

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DrumPants

Ever catch yourself drumming on your thighs? Your table? Your desk? Your steering wheel? Now, starting a one-man band is as simple as wearing this musical kit. DrumPants, dubbed by its creators as “the world’s industrial quality wearable musical instrument,” transforms your outfit into a full ensemble with 100+ built-in high-quality sounds. Its control box — powered by an Atmel | SMART ARM Cortex-M3-based MCU — features an ultra-low latency Bluetooth 4.0 chip, a built-in sound engine for 1/8-inch headphone jack, 128 instrument sample banks and a Micro-USB for connection to a laptop or PC.

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APOC Pro

Developed by AeroSplice, the APOC Pro is an advanced open-source Gamma particle and X-ray radiation detector powered by an ATmega328 MCU.

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Makesmith CNC Router

Designed by Bar Smith and Tom Beckett, Makesmith uses off-the-shelf parts to put viable CNC technology into the hands of engineers, DIY hobbyists and Makers.

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Controllino

Designed by the SG-Tronic team, the Controllino is an open-source programmable logic controller (PLC) built around Atmel’s ATmega328 and ATmega2560 microcontrollers. The Arduino-compatible PLC allows Makers to produce and control their next Internet of Things project, ranging from industrial to home automation applications.

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Nomiku Wi-Fi

In an attempt to make sous vide cooking more accessible to the home chef, the team behind the Nomiku Immersion Circulator unveiled a new prototype that features Wi-Fi connectivity. Embedded with an ATtiny88 MCU, the Nomiku can receive inputs from the accompanying Tender smartphone application. Tender, available on the iOS and Android platforms, grants users the ability to share recipes throughout the sous vide cooking community. With a few clicks and the correct ingredients, a home chef could have a Top Chef winner’s recipe brewing on their stove in just a matter of minutes.

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DrinkMate

Developed by the team at Edge Tech Labs, DrinkMate is a lipstick-sized breathalyzer that plugs directly into your smartphone. Unlike others of the past, the world’s smallest breathalyzer — which measures 1.8″ long x 0.62″ in diameter — works in conjunction with the Android phone’s app and displays his or her blood alcohol content (BAC) results instantly with no calibration, no mouthpiece and no battery.

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MangoCube

MangoCube is a pocket-sized, Arduino-compatible development board powered by an ATmega32u4 MCU. Created by London-based Maker Bhargav Mistry, MangoCube provides developers with an uber-mini, stackable header-friendly board that comes in three versions: MangoCube LEO, MangoCube BLE (Bluetooth 4.0) and MangoCube Wi-Fi. Additionally, it can be found in a selection of five vibrantly colored cases, each of which allow a Maker to express his or her personality.

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Lo-Fi SES

Designed by the Assorted Wires crew, Lo-Fi SES is a hackable 8-bit chiptunes device generated quite a bit of buzz on Kickstarter. Based on an Atmel AVR MCU, the Lo-Fi SES replicates the shape of a good ol’ SNES controller, whose buttons are used to trigger samples, change tempo, as well as play, record and delete tracks. The controller, which is the heart of the Lo-Fi SES experience, comes equipped with a default playlist of onboard sounds including a lo-fi drum set. Bring back attack sounds from those childhood video games!

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MAID Oven

Powered by an ATmega32L, the MAID (Make All Incredible Dishes) Oven is an all-in-one device that can learn your eating habits, like daily caloric intake, and then suggest new recipes for you based on its pre-programmed optimization algorithms — which are driven by an ARM processor. The appliance functions as a microwave, convection oven and top-heater, meaning that it can whip up anything from a bag of popcorn or Eggo waffles to a birthday cake for a family celebration.

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BeON Home

While there has been an influx of smart bulbs in recent years, none of them may be nearly as intelligent as one Cambridge-based startup’s new system, which has been designed to out-smart would-be intruders. As its creators note, the BeON Burglar Deterrent aspires to give off the impression of a lived-in home while you are away. Embedded with an Atmel | SMART SAM G ARM Cortex-M4 MCU, BeON’s sound processing engine can detect the tone of a doorbell and will immediately trigger the lights on in sequence to simulate your active presence, thereby increasing its level of ‘smartness.’ (Think of it as a professional grade Home Alone contraption.) Aside from the ATSAMG53 based sound algorithm, each BeON bulb boasts a backup rechargeable battery, ensuring its burglar prevention powers work even without power.

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Phoenard

As seen at the Atmel Maker Faire, Embedded World and Electronica booths, former AVR Hero Pamungkas Prawisuda Sumasta, Ralf Smit and their team have successfully completed a Kickstarter campaign for their all-in-one Arduino-compatible prototyping gadget, Phoenard. While its form-factor is rather convenient, its hackability and wide-range of applications is where the Phoenard truly sets itself apart. The gadget, which is powered by an ATmega2560, not only sits perfectly in your hand but can slide quite easily into your pocket. The 11.8 x 6.1 x 1.1 cm device boasts a full-color touchscreen display and an on-board battery, and is even equipped with its own operating environment. Given its incredible versatility, the self-programmed Phoenard is bound to make every true Maker’s dream a reality.

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AllPixel

Designed by the team at Maniacal Labs, AllPixel is a USB interface capable of controlling up to 680 pixels on any popular LED strip equipped with a USB port. Based on an ATmega32U4, the small, open-source board measures just 2.7″ x 0.9,” as well as provides easy USB control of all major programmable LED strips. It is compatible with Linux, Mac and Windows platforms, and can run on any device that supports Python, including Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone Black, or pretty much any desktop/laptop.

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Arki

Arki is a stylish wearable band that not only tracks a wearer’s daily activities, but seeks to improve posture along the way. In short, the device analyzes your steps, then vibrates if and when you aren’t standing tall. The brainchild of Los Angeles and Seoul-based startup Zikto, the latest tech to adorn our wrists is powered by an Atmel | SMART SAM4LS ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller. The gadget offers all the classic activity tracker functions, however in a rather attractive and fashionable package. A popular complaint around fitness trackers is that they are bulky and not practical to wear in professional settings. However, the newly-unveiled device caters to everyone, from activity seekers to fashionistas, with its waterproof casing and interchangeable straps to match any ensemble.

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AirBeam

Designed by the Brooklyn-based HabitatMap team, AirBeam is a portable, palm-sized system for mapping, graphing and crowdsourcing air pollution in real-time as you make your way around city streets. While the wearable instrument may not purify the air, it does enable you to monitor what you are breathing in, thereby increasing your awareness of the budding issue. As its creators note, pollution is among the leading causes of chronic illnesses as well as contributor to a number of terminal illnesses. In an effort to share and improve the atmosphere, the device is powered by an ATmega32U4 and based on the Arduino Leonardo bootloader.

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SnapJet

Have you ever browsed through your smartphone pics and wished you could print copies in a moment’s notice? A new device, aptly named SnapJet, is now making that a reality. The open-source, instant-film printer uses Polaroid technology to let users wirelessly print their photos directly from a smartphone. Powered by an Atmel AT90USB1286, the mobile device also features an OLED display and other connectivity options — like USB and BLE — just in case you feel the need retouch a few pics, or for those Makers out there, the urge to reprogram or hack the open-source device.

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SmartBox

The RepRap-based printer, which features a build envelope of 200 x 200 x 180mm, is equipped with an easy-to-use LCD screen, an SD card slot, an extrusion nozzle measuring 0.4mm in diameter, as well as an integrated aluminum frame. Based on an ATmega1284P MCU, the SmartBox team claims to be the lowest-cost FFF 3D printer with a large building space and an LCD screen convenient battery. In addition, the machine’s convenient battery was designed to eradicate any possibility of the printer shutting down during a power outage, meaning no more fretting over losing that project after countless hours of hard work!

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MeArm

Developed by Benjamin Gray and Jack Howard, MeArm aims to bring a simple robotic arm well within the reach (and budget) of everyday educators, students, young Makers and parents alike. Powered by an Arduino Leonardo (or Uno), the MeArm is essentially a shrunken-down version of an ordinary industrial robot arm. Meanwhile, its MeBrain platform is based on an ATmega32U4 MCU — which is the same chip used in the Leonardo — the MeBrain’s two joysticks are responsible for commanding the MeArm. By simply plugging the robot arm into the board and the board into a power supply, Makers can control the robotic contraption as well as a few movements to play back.

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SuperDuino

Created by Maker Mohsin Farooq, SuperDuino is a coin cell operated, Arduino-compatible board with a built-in 1.7-inch color display and a three-axis accelerometer. Designed for experienced engineers, hobbyists and students alike, the ATmega328 based SuperDuino comes with a series of tutorials which can be used to create anything from a temperature or humidity controller, to a capacitance or frequency meter, to a smartwatch, to a talking clock, to a digital logical analyzer, to even a game controller for Flappy Bird or Bricks Breaker.

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L3D Cube

What better way to ring in the holidays than by transforming your living room into a dance party? With the L3D Cube, now you can. Developed by the Looking Glass Factory crew, the 3D fixture is a true DIY kit allowing Makers to create their own “volumetric” display in just 30 minutes. After constructing the easy-to-assemble box, users can download a number of visualization apps to it or program it themselves using either Arduino or Processing language.

Atmel and other things turning 30 in 2014

The big 3-0. Can you believe it? It seems like yesterday, we were focusing on non-volatile memories and inventing EEPROM. And now, we’re looking back in the rearview mirror over the past 30 years as gaze ahead towards the constantly-connected era, better known as the the Internet of Things.

Ah, 1984. A period when our company was just being founded, Prince was turning the silver screen purple, the first Mac was hitting our desks, and Kevin Bacon was helping a small town get its groove back. Safe to say, if you’re turning 30 this year, you’re in good company… here’s some proof.

Tetris

Russian programmer Alexey Pajitnov released the first version of the game — which featured seven tetrominos descending from the top of a the screen to form a puzzle stack at the bottom — on June 6, 1984. The game would go on to become insanely popular and… addicting.

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The Mac

Steve Jobs introduced the original Macintosh computer on January 24, 1984. At the time, the model (which would later be renamed to “Macintosh 128k”) was the first mass-market PC featuring an integralgraphical user interface and mouse.

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Dell

Michael Dell created PC’s Limited while a student at the University of Texas on February 1, 1984. Originally, he sold IBM PC-compatible computers built from stock components out of his dorm room, before eventually dropping out to focus full-time on his fledging business.

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3D Printing

In 1984, Chuck Hull of 3D Systems Corporation invented stereolithography, a printing process that enabled a tangible 3D object to be created from digital data. The technology is used to create a 3D model from a picture and enables users to test a design before investing in a larger manufacturing program. Today, a number of Atmel MCUs (including AVR XMEGA, megaAVR and Atmel | SMART SAM3X8E) are used to power these next-gen devices, all inspired by Hull.

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IBM Portable

IBM introduced its Portable Personal Computer 5515 model 68 in February 1984, shortly after the success of Compaq’s suitcase-sized portable machine. At the time, the computer weighed 30 pounds — certainly not “mobile” by today’s standards. The Portable was eventually replaced by the IBM Convertible.

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Mark Zuckerberg

We wouldn’t be sharing this blog on Facebook if the founder of the iconic social channel wasn’t born on May 14, 1984.

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HP LaserJet

The world’s first desktop laser printer for IBM-compatible PCs was introduced in May 1984. It was a 300-dpi, 8 ppm printer that sold for just under $3,500.

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Cisco Systems

Networking equipment company Cisco was founded in December of 1984 by two members of Stanford University’s computer support staff. The phenomenal growth of the Internet in the mid-to-late ’90s quickly changed the telecom landscape. Eventually, the company would go on to become evangelists of the “Internet of Everything.”

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Computer Viruses

University of Southern California professor Fred Cohen published a paper entitled “Computer Virus—Theory and Experiments,” where he warned about and shared the first definition of computer viruses.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The TMNT first appeared in an American comic book published by Mirage Studios in May of 1984 in Dover, New Hampshire. The pizza-eating, crime-fighting ninjas were the brainturtles of artists Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman, who in true Maker fashion, started a tiny publishing company out of Laird’s living room.

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Legal Taping of TV Shows

The Supreme Court decided a crucial case in January of 1984. Known as the “Betamax Case,” the court considered whether home VCR users could legally record TV shows for the purpose of watching them later, a practice known as “time-shifting.”

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The Declaration of “National Ice Cream Month”

I scream, you scram, we all scream ‘thanks’ to President Ronald Reagan, who proclaimed July 15, 1984 as the first “National Ice Cream Day.” From there on, the Congress designated July as “National Ice Cream Month.”

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“Where’s the Beef?”

Who could ever forget those Wendy’s ads, right? “Where’s the beef?” quickly emerged as a catchphrase throughout the United States and Canada, originating as a slogan for the fast food chain.

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TED Conferences

Born in 1984 out of Richard Saul Wurman’s observation of a powerful convergence of technology, entertainment and design. The first TED included a demo of the compact disc, the e-book and cutting-edge 3D graphics from Lucasfilm, while mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot demonstrated how to map coastlines using his developing theory of fractal geometry. At the time, it was a one-off event held in Monterey, California, organized by Wurman himself.

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Transformers

The Transformers TV show, which made its debut in the U.S. on September 17, 1984. was inspired by the Japanese towline Microman. Transformers shortly thereafter rolled out its own figurines after Hasbro bought distribution rights for the Microman toy molds from Japanese company Takara.

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“Baby Bell” Telephone System

Led by the Bell Telephone Company and subsequently by AT&T, the Bell System was a system of companies which provided telephone services to a majority of North America from 1877 to 1984. In 1984, the system was broken up into seven independent companies by a U.S. Justice Department mandate, which became known as the “Baby Bells.”

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This is Spinal Tap

Directed by Rob Reiner, the breakthrough mockumentary “This is Spinal Tap” was released on March 2, 1984. The film, which would go on to become a cult classic, chronicled the fictional comeback tour of British heavy metal group Spinal Tap.

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What is the Trebek Era of JEOPARDY!

Alex Trebek has hosted nearly 7,000 episodes of JEOPARDY! since its syndicated debut on September 10, 1984. Over the past 30 years, he has become one of TV’s most enduring and iconic figures, engaging millions of viewers worldwide with his impeccable delivery of “answers and questions.”

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MTV’s Video Music Awards

Long before the days of Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Usher, MTV launched its first Video Music Awards (commonly referred to as “The VMAS”) on September 14, 1984. The event, which was hosted by Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler at the Radio City Music Hall, honored the best music videos from May 2, 1983, to May 2, 1984 — an era when the channel actually aired videos!

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The Print Shop

Brøderbund’s Software Inc.s’ publishing package The Print Shop epitomized the 1980s computing, enabling users to make cards, signs, and even banners. Before printing, it showed a colorful “THINKING” screen as it computed the graphics necessary to print.

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The Moon Treaty

The Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies is an international treaty that turns jurisdiction of all celestial bodies (including the orbits around such bodies) over to the international community. The treaty was finalized in 1979 and entered into force for the ratifying parties in 1984. As a follow-on to the Outer Space Treaty, the Moon Treaty intended to establish a regime for the use of the Moon and other celestial bodies similar to the one established for the sea floor in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

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Canadians in Space

One of the first country’s first astronauts, Marc Garneau became the first Canadian in outer space in October 1984.

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Virgin Atlantic Airways

Virgin Atlantic’s maiden flight from Gatwick to Newark Liberty International Airport took place on June 22, 1984.

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Space Shuttle Discovery’s Maiden Voyage

Space Shuttle Discovery was one of the three orbiters of NASA’s Space Shuttle program and the third of five built. The shuttle’s maiden voyage occurred on August 30 through September 5, 1984. Over 27 years of service, it would go on to launch and land 39 times, gathering more flight time than any other spacecraft to date.

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Ghostbusters

“Who you gonna call?” The iconic science fantasy comedy — starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis as three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City who start a ghost-catching business — made its box office debut June 8, 1984.

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The Terminator

On May 12, 1984, two beings from the year 2029 arrive in Los Angeles: one is a Terminator T-800 Model 101 (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a cyborg assassin programmed to kill a woman named Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton); the other is Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), a human resistance fighter sent to protect her.

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The Karate Kid

Released on June 22, 1984, The Karate Kid was an American martial arts romantic drama film starring Ralph Macchio, Noriyuki “Pat” Morita and Elisabeth Shue. The flick was an underdog story in the mold of previous success, Rocky.

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Gremlins

Who could ever forget June 8, 1984? Not only was it the day Ghostbusters made its debut, but it was the day a boy inadvertently broke three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashed a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town.

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Revenge of the Nerds

Revenge of the Nerds was an American comedy film highlighting the social life on a college campus. The flick, which starred Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards, made its premiere on July 20, 1984.

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Bruce Springsteen “Born in the USA”

Plain white t-shirt, check. Jeans, check. Red hat in the back pocket, check. This summer anthem was released on June 4, 1984.

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Cirque du Soleil

Before becoming an incredibly popular mix of circus arts and street entertainment (and certainly long before the days of synchronized dancing drones), Cirque du Soleil was conceived with the assistance of the Quebec government, as part of the celebrations surrounding the 450th anniversary of Jacques Cartier’s arrival in Canada. The first production, Le Grand Tour debuted in the small Quebec town of Gaspé, and was later performed in 10 other cities throughout the province. The first blue-and-yellow big top seats 800, much smaller than its sold-out venues today.

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Hulkamania

“Whatcha gonna do, brother?” Hulkamania was officially coined on January 7, 1984.

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Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary Pass

November 23, 1984: A day that will forever live in sports history. What has since been dubbed “The Hail Flutie Game” was a college football game between the Boston College Eagles and University of Miami Hurricanes. The game is most notable for a last-second Hail Mary pass from quarterback Doug Flutie to wide receiver Gerard Phelan to give Boston College the win.

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Don’t forget, you can join us in our birthday celebration! Learn how by clicking here.

Video: Drone captures footage of synchronized holiday lights

Flickering lights, check. Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas,” check. Drone, check. Holiday cheer, check. In what is surely one of, if not, the most stunning Christmas spectacles we’ve seen this holiday season, the residents of Yucaipa, California recently came together to rig an entire neighborhood with synchronized lights and tunes. And, the result is pretty brilliant.

Resident Jeff Maxey recently uploaded a series of videos showcasing the impressive effort of his neighborhood using no other than a drone to capture a bird’s-eye view of the celebration.

Indeed, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen UAVs used to showcase holiday festivities. Last year, Bay Area filmmaker shared footage of San Francisco landmarks from the air — like the Ferry Building, Embarcadero Center, and Coit Tower — all decked out in lights.

Well, Santa hats off to you, folks! Perhaps this should be added to our list of awesome ways drones are being used today…

What the puck? Mistletoe drones help spread holiday cheer

While we’ve recently explored a number of innovative uses for drones, TGI Fridays has added yet another. This holiday season, the restaurant chain will have UAVs play cupid in select locations, all in an effort to entice guests to make their date night more spirited.

How it works is simple: The mistletoe-equipped drones will fly around the dining establishment and hover over couples trying to enjoy their fried green beans and Jack Daniel’s Burgers. When they kiss under the flying apparatus, they are awarded special gift cards to continue their holiday merriment. No kiss? No gift card for you!

In addition to the festive garland, the restaurant chain’s drone also features an HD kiss cam and is capable of capturing up to 20 minutes of spooching.

“At Fridays, we decided to put a little extra ‘happy’ into the holidays by rolling out the Mobile Mistletoe this December,” explained Brian Gies, TGI Fridays CMO. “We’re inviting friends to get together to enjoy a more spirited holiday season inspired by a little Mobile Mistletoe mischief. If guests show a little love under the mistletoe, Fridays might just show them a little love with some nice holiday gifts.”

Now, the idea of floating a UAV over patrons isn’t entirely a bad one. In fact, Gizmodo recently compiled a comical list of some other drone-driven restaurant experiences that could make eating even more enjoyable in the future.

If you recall, mistletoe drones helped spread their holiday cheer right there in the Bay Area last year, but this is the first time they’ll be hovering inside restaurants.

Amazon installs warehouses with 15,000 robots for the holiday rush

While delivery drones may still be a thing of the (near) future, Amazon has installed more than 15,000 robotic helpers across 10 of their U.S. fulfillment centers just in time for the Cyber Monday rush. The orange 320-pound bots from Kiva Systems are designed to expedite delivery time to customers while competing with brick-and-mortar stores.

These robots, which navigate across the warehouse floors on wheels, utilize vision systems to enable the unloading and receipt of an entire trailer of inventory in as little as 30 minutes — which pales in comparison to the hours of work by man. In addition, Amazon said its centers will be equipped with Robo-Stow, a gigantic robotic arm that shifts inventory, while employees will use high-end graphically oriented computer systems to fulfill customer orders in an effort to accelerate the process.

In fact, the robots have allowed Amazon to get packages out the door in as little as 13 minutes, compared to about an hour and a half on average in the non-futuristic facilities.

“The Amazon fulfillment teams are dedicated to innovating in our fulfillment centers to increase speed of delivery while enabling greater local selection at lower costs for our customers. The advancements in our latest fulfillment centers hit all three of these customer desires while continuing to provide a work environment that is great for employees,” said Dave Clark, Amazon’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations and Customer Service.

As Reuters notes, Amazon deployed the robots earlier this summer, ahead of the holiday quarter, when the company typically books about one-third of its annual revenue. The updated fulfillment centers are in five states — California, Texas, Florida, New Jersey and Washington.

 

Video: Leap Motion sensor hack turns any object or surface into a touch interface

Computer screens. Gift boxes. Beers cans. Cork boards. Bart Simpson. Pikachu. Each of these things can become touch interfaces thanks to a new proof of concept demonstration from Russian creative agency The Family. By hacking a standard Leap Motion sensor, the team was able to calibrate the device to interpret gestures. Watch it in action below!

 

Video: Tony Hawk rides a real hoverboard

Great Scott! Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk recently took a ride on a real hoverboard, similar to the one depicted in the cult classic Back to the Future. Now, all you need are some self-lacing shoes and you’re good to go! Watch Hawk ride the board below.