Adafruit’s Secret Knock Activated Drawer Lock is designed to conceal traditional lock mechanisms – unlocking only when a secret pattern of knocks is detected. Essentially, a solenoid locks secures the drawer while a piezo buzzer “listens” for knocks. Meanwhile, an Atmel-powered Trinket (ATtiny85) compares the knock pattern to the stored secret knock. If they match, […]
Writing for CNBC, Tom DiChristopher confirms that the rapidly evolving open-source hardware (OSHW) movement is currently in the process of migrating from the garage to the marketplace. As DiChristopher notes, companies that follow an open-source philosophy make their physical designs and software code available to the public. By doing so, they engage a wave of […]
Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, decorating home exteriors, carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories and of course, watching horror films. We at Atmel would like to add one more item to the Wikipedia list above: building Halloween-themed Maker projects like Bill […]
Adafruit’s Trinket is a tiny microcontroller board built around Atmel’s versatile ATtiny85 (MCU). “We wanted to design a microcontroller board that was small enough to fit into any project – and low cost enough to use without hesitation,” Adafruit’s Limor Fried (aka LadyAda) explained. “[It is] perfect for when you don’t want to give up […]
Recently, the Adafruit crew designed a pair of goggles for cyberpunks, steampunks and yes, Daft Punks. Officially dubbed “Kaleidoscope Eyes,” key components for the headware include NeoPixel rings, an Atmel-powered (ATtiny85) Trinket (or Atmel-powered Gemma) and a battery (lithium-polymer or 3x AA battery case). Now the Adafruit crew is back with another slick goggle design. […]
Lüme is an electronically infused clothing collection that stylishly integrates dynamic, custom elements driven from a mobile phone. Built around Atmel’s versatile ATMega32u4, the design and engineering of the collection is focused on the integration of electronics in such a way that the components can be easily removed and embedded – creating pieces which are easy […]
The Gemma is a tiny wearable platform board neatly packed in a 1″ diameter package. The device – powered by Atmel’s versatile ATtiny85 – is easily programmable with an Arduino IDE over USB. Similarly, Adafruit’s Trinket, a tiny microcontroller board, is also built around Atmel’s ATtiny85. Although the Gemma only recently hit the streets, the […]
Adafruit’s Mike Barela has designed a temperature and humidity monitor built around the Atmel-powered (ATtiny85) Trinket. As Barela notes, monitoring sensors are a very common feature in current-gen Internet of Things (IoT) projects. “While the Trinket does not have a serial monitor built in, it [does] talk over various protocols including software serial, I2C (two wire) […]
Analysts at ABI Research have determined that wearable wireless device revenues will grow to exceed $6 billion in 2018. Of the four segments tracked, sports, fitness and wellness are the largest, never dropping below 50% share of all device shipments over the forecast period. “Fitness activity trackers are quickly gaining popularity in the market,” explained […]
Writing for the EE Times, Jeremy Cook penned an article earlier this week about Atmel’s versatile ATtiny, a microcontroller (MCU) routinely used by both DIY Makers and professional engineers to power a wide range of projects. “What if you want to shrink your project down to something that could rest on your fingertip? Appropriately named, […]
