A first look at Maker Faire New York 2015

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Heading to the New York Hall of Science this weekend? You’ll find some big names inside the Atmel booth.

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Are you excited? We sure are! Atmel is getting ready to take center stage at the 6th Annual World Maker Faire in New York City this weekend, September 26th and 27th. And boy, are we in for a treat! This year will surely be yet another amazing event with more than 830 Makers and 85,000 attendees expected to flock the New York Hall of Science. Once again, as a Silversmith Sponsor of the show, we’ll be shining the spotlight on a wide range of AVR and Atmel | SMART powered projects inside our booth.

Our team is currently en route to Flushing Meadows, where you will soon find us setting up our space in Zone 3. (Program guide available here.) Over the two-day span, we will be showcasing a wide range of gizmos and gadgets from DIYers and startups who have successfully taken their idea from the ‘MakerSpace to MarketPlace.’ Among the names you will see:

Arduino

Found at the heart of the Maker community, Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software.

Arduboy

Arduboy is an open source, credit card-sized device for people to play, create and share their favorite 8-bit games.

Keyboardio

Keyboardio‘s Model 01 is an heirloom-grade keyboard for serious typists, which features a beautiful hardwood body, an advanced ergonomic design, and is fully programmable with the Arduino IDE.

Microduino

Microduino are quarter-sized, stackable building blocks that allow Makers of all ages and skill levels to bring robots, music boxes and countless other projects to life.

Modulo

Modulo is a set of tiny modular boards that takes the hassle out of building electronics, giving Makers the ability to develop custom electronics for their project without having to design and assemble circuits from scratch.

Qtechknow

Quin Etnyre is a 14-year-old Maker, teacher and entrepreneur, who fell in love with Arduino after attending his first Maker Faire at the age of 10. The whiz kid recently successfully funded his Qduino Mini, an Arduino-compatible tiny board with a built-in battery charger and monitor.

Zippy Robotics

Prometheus from Zippy Robotics lets Makers create real circuit board right from their desktop in just minutes.

Bosch

Bosch Sensotec has developed a prototype indoor navigation device based on Arduino and the BNO055 sensor, which will enable firefighters to quickly escape from dangerous dark or smoke-filled structures.

And that’s not all…

Look who’s talking now!

Don’t miss Atmel’s Henrik Flodell as he explores the ways to Take Your Arduino Prototype to the Next Level on Saturday from 11:00am-11:30am on the MAKE: Electronics stage. He will be immediately followed by the Wizard of Make Bob Martin who will demonstrate how to Stretch Your Arduino Environment to Get the Visibility You Need. 

On Sunday, Atmel VP of Marketing Sander Arts will hop on the MAKE: Electronics stage at 11:30am to reveal how Makers with an entrepreneurial spirit can Turn Their Prototype Into a Business. Several hours later at 4:00pm, Atmel Head of Social Media Artie Beavis will moderate a lively discussion between Bob Martin, 14-year-old CEO Quin Etnyre, Arduino’s Tom Igoe and Dr. Michael Wang on the ways Arduino Opens New Doors for Educators and Students.

Go behind the scenes!

You don’t have to be a reader of EDN.com to enjoy a unique meet-up hosted by the site’s LEDitor-in-Chief Lee Goldberg, which will taking place on Saturday 10:30am. The VIP walking tour will take you backstage several of the event’s most interesting exhibits, namely Atmel. You’ll also walk away with tons of t-shirts, evaluation kits and lots of other cool swag.

Those wishing to participate are encouraged to meet in front of the rocket-shaped “Forms in Transit” sculpture, located at the traffic circle that’s just beyond the main entrance. The actual tour of the Faire grounds will kick off at 11:00am sharp! With only 25 spots available, reservations are strongly recommended. To RSVP, write Lee at LEDitor@green-electronics.com.

Can’t ‘make’ it to the Faire? Don’t worry!

You can always follow @Atmel live on Twitter for the latest updates, trends and happenings. What’s more, we’ll even be bringing the show to you live via Periscope. Stay tuned!

Atmel heads to Shenzhen to talk Makers

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Shenzhen has emerged on the Maker scene for its shortened development cycles, entrepreneurial spirit and DIY culture.

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Sander Arts, Atmel VP of Corporate Marketing, continued his trip through China with a stop in Shenzhen on Wednesday, January 21, where he had the chance to explore the latest and greatest innovations coming out of the city, in particular those being created inside Seeed Studio — a hardware innovation platform designed to enable Makers to grow inspirations into differentiating products.

There, Arts had the opportunity to sit down with the Seeed Studio team, including founder Eric Pan, to discuss the Maker Movement, open-souce hardware as well as Chinese DIY culture. Later on, the Atmel VP participated in a well-attended press event with a number of journalists, tinkerers and entrepreneurs to discuss Atmel’s place at the heart of the rapidly growing global movement, and of course, the Internet of Things.

Recently, 35-year-old Shenzhen — which is located in the southern region of China — has emerged as quite the innovation hub, spurring Makers from all walks of life to delve deep into their imaginations and develop their ideas. Leveraging on its experience in manufacturing goods and access to parts, countless entrepreneurs, tinkerers and hobbyists have been drawn to the city.

“Shenzhen is a unique environment for passionate Makers with an entrepreneurial spirit,” Slate’s Silvia Lindtner explained.

The city’s capabilities have aided manufacturers in greatly shortening the production timeline from ‘Maker to market,’ which greatly enhances experimentation and provides a reliable, cost-effective solution for startups. In fact, the last few years have experienced an uptick in new companies coming to Shenzhen to finalize their concepts with notable examples including Pebble and Oculus Rift, Slate reveals. Additionally, hackerspaces and accelerators (like HAXLR8R and Highway1) have had an integral influence on innovators, another surefire sign that the Maker Movement has, indeed, arrived.

“Makerspaces will likely enable a new wave of tech startups in China as in the U.S. To be sure, Makers working with their peers are now able to more easily realize their goals, while bringing products to market with new platforms such as e-commerce sites and crowdfunding. 

Nevertheless, major companies in China are somewhat cautious about encouraging grass-root innovations, even though some of them are actively involved in a collaborative dialogue with Makers as part of a strategic open innovation strategy,” Eric Pan, founder of Seeed Studio, told in a recent interview.

Developed in 2008, Seeed Studio is a convergence of manufacturing and a true embodiment of the so-called Maker culture. The company designs and produces its own open hardware kits, platforms and custom PCBs, while serving as a distributor for a large number of brands like the Atmel based Arduino. Moreover, it has even played a pivotal role in establishing the hardware incubation project HAXLR8R as well as the very first Maker Faire in Shenzhen.

Just last year, MAKE: Magazine‘s Dale Dougherty announced the inaugural full-scale Maker Faire in China, which successfully recognized the significance of the city as a global capital for DIYers. An estimated 30,000 people walked the tree-lined streets to partake in the event, while 300 Makers manned 120 exhibits.

“Maker Faire Shenzhen shined a light on the externalities and ecosystems of making itself: the political regimes which regulate; the infrastructures which support it; the forms of work that drive it; and the culture and history that shape it,” an earlier Guardian article noted.

“One thing is for certain. The inherent entrepreneurial spirit of the Chinese people will help the Maker culture grow – and vice versa. 

The biggest hurdle, from what I can tell, may very well come from established educational facilities, simply because Chinese students expect to be trained in traditional methods when specific professional skills are required. 

However, exposure to multiple academic disciplines will encourage people to people think out of the box and explore different ways of approaching problems and opportunities. In addition, being asked more open-ended practical questions instead of simply memorizing facts would go a long way in encouraging students to try out real-world solutions,” Pan says.

Video: Atmel talks Makers, Arduino and IoT at ESC Brazil

This past August, Atmel had the opportunity to be an exhibiting sponsor at the Embedded System Conference in São Paulo, Brazil. Aside from showcasing our latest IoT solutions, Atmel | SMART product line and AVR microcontrollers, we were fortunate to also have time to interact with the vibrant Latin American embedded community.

Sander Arts, Atmel VP of Corporate Marketing, shared detailed insight into DIY culture, as well as the integral role Atmel plays in fueling the emerging embedded community. Additionally, Arts addressed the growth of the worldwide Maker Movement, showcasing a variety of startups (e.g. Pebble and MakerBot) who each got their start using versatile a range of Atmel 8- and 32-bit MCUs.

“There are over 217, in this particular moment, based and built around an Arduino (and AVR),” Arts revealed. “Specifically, there are over 160 AVR based projects on Kickstarter, of which 103 successful, collecting $7 million in funding.”

Arts went on to explore the newest addition to the Arduino family, the Arduino Zero — a simple, elegant and powerful 32-bit extension of the platform originally established by the popular ATmega328 based Uno.

Arts added that there are now over 1,000 Makerspaces and communities around the world, including a number of nearby Brazilian hackerspaces.

Shortly thereafter, the Atmel VP of Marketing had the chance to sit down with Garoa Hacker Clube’s Luciano Ramalho to further discuss the Maker Movement throughout the region, the company’s role in the DIY movement, embedded solutions and development environments, and of course, the budding popularity of Arduino.

During his Makers Club interview, Arts hinted at a couple of “additional developments around the Internet of Things for Makers,” which we now know was the Arduino Wi-Fi Shield 101 — a shield which enables rapid prototyping of IoT applications using the highly-popular open-source platform.

Throughout the week, there was a tremendous amount of real buzz and excitement amongst the embedded engineers, developers and hobbyists in attendance. Caminhos de Sucesso Editor Jose Antonio Purcino caught up with Atmel Senior Product Marketing Andreas Eieland and EE Times’ Max Maxfield to explore the latest hot trends and topics in embedded design, IoT and wireless.

“The Internet of Things is nothing new, as we have been connecting MCUs to sensors and analyzing the data for a long time,” Andreas Eieland, Atmel Senior Product Marketing Manager, told EE Times. “But what is new is the technology options available for engineers to develop connected systems without the high degree of complexity of the past.”

Next, the Atmel team will be heading to Electronica 2014. Here’s a quick look at the tech you can expect to see next month in Munich.

The Arduweenie is shining bright for Maker Faire

This is the tell-all guide to #Arduweenie, a bewitching Maker project brought to you by Tenaya Hurst of Rogue Making and dog hunter LLC.

My project is a wire frame in the shape of a dachshund dog wrapped with a 5-meter long RGB LED strip which I program. That’s all he is, and yet, loved by so many children and Maker Faire attendees alike. It all started one cold rainy day…

I was teaching and facilitating a class with Workshop Weekend at Tech Liminal in Oakland, CA. We provide a weekend for Makers to consult with electrical engineers, software engineers, and teachers like me, to better understand electronics. One of our makers was leading a class in LED strips and I was immediately enthralled. We had a big five meter strip going down the middle of our long table and we saw all the demonstrations of the way we could change the patterns using Arduino IDE – a programming environment.

I couldn’t wait to show my students at Galileo’s Tech Summer Camps at the Tech Museum of Innovation. I teach three classes there – Circuits & Electronics, Wearable Tech, and Maker Studio. The problem I faced was how to display the LED strip to effectively show off the patterns, but also make the display portable. When I was a little kid, I played with Light Bright, so this would be a 3D programmable version!

Also since I was a kid, I’ve loved dachshunds or wiener dogs. They’re simply the best. Sure, I have been sad that I can’t bring my dog, Woodchuck, to my various workshops. Obviously, I want to be focused on making and teaching, not my dog, but I still feel bad that he must be left at home. So that influenced the solution to my problem. I wanted something that would remind me of Woodchuck and some way to display my LED strip… the ideas were swirling!

At the same time, a friend of mine was designing his garden and started getting into topiary shapes. Also, I happen to just see the amazing documentary “A Man Named Pearl” about a very inspiring artist who happens to use trees and shrubs as his medium. Finally, I happened upon Etsy and found the answer – exactly what I needed!  A topiary shape of a dachshund, custom made by Gina Moll of Hollywood, Florida.

The RGB LED strip fits perfectly around the little dachshund allowing for fun rainbow patterns, color chasing functions, Cheshire cat swirls, and more. I tooled around with #Arduweenie for months and he made a few appearances in my classrooms. It wasn’t until an Open Make event at the Tech Museum of Innovation in April 2014, that #Arduweenie made the leap to true Twitter fame. A photo taken by Rebekah and tweeted by Prinda got the attention of Atmel’s VP of Marketing, Sander Arts. After all, nearly all Arduinos feature an Atmel chip, ranging from the ATmega32u4 to SAM3X8E. The #Arduweenie features an Arduino Uno (ATmega328).

Last April, I hosted The Tech Challenge, a large scale engineering challenge. Sander Arts was a special guest, but I didn’t get to meet him that day – as host I was on stage the entire event introducing the teams. It later all came together at Maker Faire San Mateo 2014 when my Linino.org exhibition booth was adjacent to the Atmel-Arduino installation. Sander was very kind and came to meet me in person with his team. I was so graciously included in three photos on Atmel’s blog about the Maker Faire – and #Arduweenie made it in two photos as well!

Since becoming famous, #Arduweenie has delighted students in my classrooms from San Jose to Oakland, Santa Rosa to San Francisco.

Side note: For those of you who may not know, we love making chippy puns to hit tunes from both yesterday and today. (Right, Sir Mix-A-Lot?) And, with her rendition of Katy Perry’s “Birthday,” Tenaya’s “Happy Making” doesn’t disappoint. Happy Maker Week, everyone! 

Atmel celebrates first-ever White House Maker Faire

Atmel Corporation, a global leader in microcontroller (MCU) and touch solutions, calls the first-ever White House Maker Faire a success. With a goal of making technology simple, accessible and easy to use, Atmel is an ardent supporter of the Maker Movement and shares the passion for tomorrow’s innovators, visionaries and manufacturers.

From powering 3D printers to Arduino boards, Atmel’s 8 and 32-bit microcontrollers enable makers to create an extensive range of projects, further strengthening the DIY experience and government funded initiatives such as STEM, (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

“The Maker Movement is the next great revolution of industry and embodies the American Spirit,” said Sander Arts, vice president of marketing at Atmel.

“We congratulate the White House for putting on such a great event and appreciate its recognition and advocacy for the Maker Movement. Whether a hobbyist or an engineer, the power of this community is inspiring and Atmel is honored to be at its heart, providing the technologies that empower makers of all ages to turn imagination into reality.”

As seen at Atmel’s booth during Maker Faire Bay Area 2014, Atmel attended the White House Maker Faire joined by key makers who showcased their technologies including Quin Etnyre, age 13, CEO of QTechknow and Sylvia Todd, age 12, from Super Awesome Sylvia.

Additionally, Arduino, the popular open source platform and community for prototyping, was represented at the White House Maker Faire. Leveraging Atmel’s technology in a series of development boards, communities such as Arduino aim to enable open source collaboration, foster creativity and promote tinkering.

Follow the whereabouts of Atmel, Quin and Sylvia online and join the conversation with @Atmel and @TheAVRMan using the hashtag #NationofMakers.

For questions about the event and Atmel’s participation at White House Maker Faire, please email events@atmel.com.

More Information

Atmel at White House Maker Faire 2014: http://www.atmel.com/atmel-makes/default.aspx
About Maker Faire: http://makerfaire.com/
Embedded Design Blog: www.atmelcorporation.wordpress.com
Atmel Twitter: www.atmel.com/twitter
Atmel AVR Man: https://twitter.com/TheAVRMan
LinkedIn: www.atmel.com/linkedin

From Shanzhai to OSHW: The Maker Movement in China

Although the Maker and open source hardware movements are a global phenomenon, the DIY culture in China can actually be traced back to the ancient concept of Shanzhai. As Gabrielle Levine, the newly appointed president of the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) notes, China is going to be a huge driving force in the open source hardware landscape.

“There are many similarities between [the local concept of] Shanzhai and the open source hardware community,” Gabriella Levine told OpenElectronics in February. “Both Shanzhai and open source hardware projects borrow information, tools, source code, CAD files and techniques; both improve upon other’s work to accelerate development.”

SeeedStudio founder Eric Pan expressed similar sentiments during a recent interview with Atmel’s official blog, Bits & Pieces.

“MakerSpaces will likely enable a new wave of tech startups in China as in the US,” he confirmed.

“Clearly, hardware development is becoming a more agile process with the aid of [open source] prototyping tools like RepRap and Arduino boards – both of which are helping to facilitate innovation across the world and particularly in China.”

Similarly, David Li, co-founder of Shanghai’s first Maker Space, told The Economist that the DIY movement has inspired the creation of legitimate and innovative products, with socially progressive Makers teaming up with more traditional manufacturers in China.

We at Atmel are at the strategic heart of the international Maker Movement, with a comprehensive portfolio of versatile microcontrollers (MCUs) that power a wide range of Maker platforms and devices, including 3D printers (MakerBot Replicator 2 and RepRap), the vast majority of Arduino boards, as well as Adafruit’s Gemma, Trinket and Flora platforms.

Indeed, Arduino boards are currently used by millions of Makers, engineers, schools and corporations all over the world. At least 1.2 million Atmel-powered Arduino boards have been sold to date, with the ATmega328-based Uno being a particular Maker and prototyping favorite. Of course, stand-alone AVR microcontrollers like the tinyAVR lineup are also popular amongst the DIY crowd.

As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, an increasing number of Makers are kicking off project prototyping with Atmel-based Arduino boards. Concurrently, we are also seeing a jump in professional engineers relying on Atmel-powered Arduino boards to create initial models for their devices, platforms and solutions.

Atmel-powered uArm

According to Gartner, 50% of companies expected to help build the rapidly evolving Internet of Things have yet to coalesce. This is precisely why Atmel views China’s Maker Movement as one of the primary tech incubators for future IoT companies and devices, many of which will undoubtedly use Atmel microcontrollers (MCUs) to power their respective platforms.

Atmel will proudly be attending Maker Faire Shenzhen this year on April 6-7. Our booth – #4 – is located right next to Center Stage. We’ll be showcasing a number of Atmel-powered products including a Zigebee-based lighting demo, robotic model car, various Seeeduino boards, the Rainbow Cube (LED light controlled by Atmel MCUs) and an e-ink badge.

I’ll also be giving a presentation about Atmel microcontrollers, the IoT and Makers at 2PM on April 7th at the Center Stage. Hope to see you there!

Atmel visits Beijing Makerspace

Sander Arts (@Sander1Arts), VP of Corporate Marketing at Atmel, visited the Beijing Makerspace on Monday, March 31, 2014.

After participating in a well-attended press event, Arts met a number of journalists, tinkerers and entrepreneurs to discuss Atmel’s place at the heart of the rapidly growing global Maker Movement.

According to Beijing Makerspace co-founder Justin Wang Shenglin, the community workshop can perhaps best be defined as a social enterprise.

“We organize fun workshops, seminars and other events for people who’d like to turn their ideas into physical prototypes or products,” Shenglin told the South China Morning Post during a recent interview.

“Most of our activities are open to the public, while a few are for members only. People who join us come from all walks of life: IT engineers, programmers, designers, artists, students – even psychologists. The thing they have in common is a desire to make cool stuff.”

Shenglin also described China as a “paradise” of sorts for Makers.

“All the materials they could want are here and extremely cheap. At markets like Zhongguancun, you can find almost everything you need,” he explained.

“[Plus], there are more than 20 Maker organizations in China, where the concept has only just started. [Nevertheless], it will take time to get more people involved.”

As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, Chinese government officials are also taking a keen interest in the Maker Movement due to its lucrative economic and educational potential.

For example, Shanghai’s municipal government has backed plans to build 100 Maker Spaces throughout the city. Each location is slated to be equipped with a 3D printer and will host staff to help visitors with traditional crafts such as woodworking.

Interested in learning more about China and the Maker Movement? Be sure to check out our Bits & Pieces article archive on the subject here.

Atmel’s Tech on Tour heads to Napa

After a successful Tech on Tour (ToT) stop in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood, the Atmel Mobile Training Center is heading to California’s sunny Napa Valley.

We’ll be at the Meritage Resort & Spa on 875 Bordeaux Way on March 23-24, 

showcasing a wide variety of tech across a number of spaces including touch, security, microcontrollers (MCUs), wireless, lighting and automotive.

More specifically, you can check out:

• Agent smartwatch (Secret Labs) powered by Atmel’s ARM-based SAM4S and tinyAVR MCU
• Philips Hue Bulbs with Atmel‘s ZigBee and Lightweight Mesh Stack
• Turtle Beach i60 Wireless Gaming Headset with Atmel Wi-Fi
• Direct
Roku3 remote with Atmel’s Wi-Fi Direct 
• Venstar Color Touch Thermostat with Atmel’s ARM9-based MCU
• Makerbot 3D printer with Atmel AVR microcontrollers
• ASUS T100 Transformer with Atmel’s MaxTouch T Series Cap Touch controller and XSense Metal mesh touch sensors

In addition, Sander Arts, VP of Corporate Marketing at Atmel, will be hosting a session on easy-to-use, fully integrated solutions for University students at 12:30 pm on March 23 in the Carneros Ballroom.

“In this short session, students will see how Atmel provides a broad portfolio of hardware and software solutions that are easy-to-use and cost-effective for the classroom environment. Our boards and software development kits provide students hands-on training with some of the latest electronics for developing fun applications using Ardunio-based boards to Atmel’s own development solutions,” Arts told Bits & Pieces.

“They will also hear about Atmel’s revamped University Program and how we are using our latest social media channels, mobile trailer, challenges and competitions to engage with University students.”

Interested? You can register for the event here.

Atmel’s Tech on Tour mobile trailer hits the road

Atmel’s Tech on Tour (ToT) crew has tirelessly crisscrossed the globe for many years, offering hands-on technical training for a wide range of company products. This month, Atmel kicked off a new ToT era with a tricked-out mobile trailer that will be hitting the road this month.

The versatile mobile training center allows visitors to interact with a plethora of next-gen Atmel tech, including AVR and ARM based microcontrollers, automotive and crypto solutions, microprocessors, Internet Of Things (IoT) products, wearable devices, 3D printers, touch sensors and XSense.

In addition to hands-on training, Atmel will leverage the fact that it is at the heart of the Maker Movement and well positioned at the center of IoT innovation. From my perspective, the IoT will be led by a rising generation of tinkerers, inventors and innovators. These are dedicated people who are working out of universities, garages and small companies. We will go and meet them.

Our mobile Tech on Tour trailer provides a familiar setting for customers, engineers and Makers, as well as designers, students, professor and executives. We want to meet people in the market working on projects like electronics, robotics, transportation, alternative energy and sustainable agriculture. That is why we are offering hands-on training and access to soldering irons, along with a chance to brainstorm about the future together.

To be sure, the ToT trailer is quite a scalable platform, functioning not only as a mobile training center, a showroom and conference center, but also as a trade show booth, entertainment center, content creation platform, executive meeting center, recruitment platform, tech support center and employee engagement engine.

On top of that, we are partnering with all global distribution partners, customers, third parties, Makers, government officials and universities to bring Atmel to the market. We are very excited about the concept and the pull from the market and distribution partners has been very promising.

Note: You can request a ToT stop at your location here.

Rako starts at Atmel

Some of you might recognize me from my previous job at EDN magazine. I covered the analog beat. So many of my friends were surprised to hear I was joining Atmel. What they did not realize is that being an analog expert is only part of what I love. I ran a consultation business for 20 years. My specialty was designing, prototyping and delivering working hardware. One of my favorite jobs was in 2001, at a startup where I designed a complete point-of-sale terminal in only 2 months. I knew I would need help doing the software, so I called my friend Dave Mathis. He agreed to write the code, but only if I used a modern micro. Not knowing any better, I suggested a well-known micro. He said he would quit if I used that hardware. He refused to program one, after more than a few bad experiences. Then I figured we could use an 8051 clone. He said that he really did not want to deal with special function registers. OK, this was going nowhere fast, so I asked him what he thought would be a good embedded processor. Dave had written Forth compliers for Samsung micros, so I didn’t know what to expect. He said I should check out Atmel. I did. I was impressed. I had been exposed to Atmel micros when I was consulting to HP. They ran wicked fast and did not need 8 clocks to execute an instruction. The other thing I loved is that I could get a Butterfly prototyping board for $49.95, and a real in-circuit emulator for $200. When you are in a startup in angel-investment mode, that low barrier to entry really means a lot.

So I picked a nice little AVR micro that did everything we needed and more. I wrote the assembly language firmware for the point-of-sale terminal as well as some other products we developed. I hired two buddies to write some C code. I see why Dave recommended Atmel. Wags have joked: “The best programming language is the programming language your best programmer likes best.” I really like the Atmel development system and the chips worked great. Both buddies have gone on to love and use Atmel micros in their projects as well.

So I am really looking forward to document how Atmel can make your design work go better. I will be getting up to speed on Atmel’s touch technology and will share with you what I learn. I am also looking forwarded to getting into the ARM controllers. That is some heavy iron to an 8- and 16-bit guy like me, but my buddy Dave will point me in the right direction and I am sure my co-workers here will put up with my questions.

When Sander Arts asked me to join him at Atmel, the first thing I did was call my pal Dave. We thought Atmel was cool and we knew it 13 years ago. But I was not sure of how Atmel was doing in the eyes of the world. Dave said “Atmel’s star has really risen in the last 5 years.” The Arduino was part of that. But he said people were also seeing how cool the Atmel ARM stuff was. And the whole world was seeing what Dave saw in 2000, how Atmel can get you into 8-bit development cheaply, and how nice the code works. When I was at the Design West conference this year (2013) I saw my buddy Windell Oskay, the co-founder of Evil Mad Science. When I told him I was starting with Atmel he was really jazzed. He said that he loved the Arduino and the whole development ecosystem that has sprung up around it.

In addition to telling you about all the cool things Atmel is up to, I will be sure to keep you informed of all the fun things my pals are doing. This includes lifestyle things like the electronic flea market here in Silicon Valley and career things like how my crack protégé has figured out a LinkedIn profile that gets him 3 headhunter calls a week. Stay tuned and look for all the system design scuttlebutt that will help you be a better engineer and programmer.