Sproutling’s smart baby monitor is a wearable for infants

It’s safe to say that being the parent of a newborn can be an exhausting task to undertake. Parents will search high and low for any product that can help them earn a few more minutes of relaxation during the day. Stress no more as the Sproutling baby monitor, now available for pre-order, looks to help […]

Report: Smart cities to quadruple by the year 2025

The number of global smart cities is expected to grow from 21 in 2013 to an estimated 88 in 2025, according to a new report from IHS Technology. These smart cities will possess energy efficient infrastructures as well as keep a maintained focus on security and streamlined transportation efforts. Lisa Arrowsmith, IHS Associate Director, defines a smart city as a city […]

IoT set for takeoff…

Nantes, France. I’m here to pick up a friend from the airport. There is a great view of the runway, and I’ve seen his plane land, a beautiful Airbus A320 flying Air France colors. This is a domestic flight, and ten minutes later, he is off the plane and has his luggage. We talk about […]

Looping and layering melodies in real-time

A Maker by the name of Jonathan Sparks has created a musical instrument using color and gesture that will surely change the way producers and artists interact with MIDI boards. Using a combination of Atmel-based Arduino, Max/MSP and Ableton Live, “Nomis” has turned loop-based music into an expressive and visual art form. “Sounds are selected and displayed through the first light […]

Soil moisture sensor packs an ATtiny44A MCU

Powered by Atmel’s ATtiny44A microcontroller (MCU), Chirp is a plant watering alarm equipped with a soil moisture sensor. According to a company rep, Chirp uses capacitive sensing as opposed to resistive humidity sensing. Meaning, it does not actually make an electric contact with the soil, thereby successfully avoiding electrode corrosion and soil electrolysis – resulting in […]

Arietta G25 SoM eyes open hardware baseboard

As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, the Arietta G25 is an uber-mini system-on-module powered by Atmel’s versatile SAM9G25 ARM9 processor. According to CNX-Software, Acme Systems, the company that manufactures the board, is now considering designing an open source hardware baseboard for the module. If produced, the baseboard would likely feature: Arietta G25 SoM connector […]

Touchless 3Dpad gets a Matlab update

Back in May, Ootsidebox introduced the 3Dpad, a sophisticated touchless gesture control interface with a depth perception of 10cm. The platform – which made its Indiegogo debut last month – comprises three primary components: Electrode plane PCB Arduino shield Arduino Uno (Atmel ATmega328 MCU) “To detect the proximity of the human hand or finger, we use […]

Atmel-powered shield measures air quality

Powered by a tinyAVR Atmel MCU (microcontroller), this Air Quality Sensor Shield measures temperature, humidity, carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Currently available on Tindie for $95, the shield can be connected to an Arduino board or Nanode to create a air quality station. Developed by Wicked Device, the open source sensor shield is part […]

Hitting the Beat with good vibrations


Created by Lorenzo Bravi, Hit the Beat is a slick drum machine designed to transform virtually any item into a real-life drum sample. Fortunately, you don’t need to be a musician or have any sense of time to play the rather unique instrument. As Filip Visnjic of the Creative Applications Network reports, Hit the Beat […]

Acme ships SAMA5D31-based Acqua SoM



Acme Systems has introduced the Acqua A5, a System on Module (SoM) based on Atmel’s SAMA5D31 ARM Cortex A5 microprocessor (MPU) clocked @ 536MHz. Additional key specs include up to 512 MB RAM, up to 256 MB Flash, serial EEPROM, micro SD card slot, three USB host ports, JTAG soldering pads on SoM, serial port […]