boardx motherboard

This is what I love about electronics and the diy community. Not only is this motherboard compatible with any processor and is Arduino SDK compatible, all of the designs for this motherboard are open source for greater innovation, giving you the most amount of flexibility in using and expanding on this product. The Kickstarter campaign is so he can produce them en masse and sell them at a fair price to students and hobbyists.

Please help support this project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/upgradeindustries/boardx-the-open-source-miniature-motherboard

Can't wait to get my hands on one!

clara rockmore and the theremin

For a special Memorial Day treat, here's a video of the great Clara Rockmore playing the theremin with the delicate vibrato of an opera singer. Just saw the documentary about the theremin called Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey, which features Clara Rockmore, Bob Moog, Brian Wilson, and Léon Theremin himself. Amazing film about an amazing invention.



The theremin operates with heterodyne oscillators for both the frequency (pitch) and amplitude (volume) antennas, using L/C circuitry and grounded variable capacitance (your hand as the "ground") for changing the frequency and volume - much like "tuning" a radio or the electrical equivalent of a tuning fork. As you can imagine, DIY projects for the theremin are plentiful and varied with solar-powered optical theremins that are light-sensitive like this one by the artist Jan van Nuenen (check out his awesome animations, too!):





And back to my love for the arduino, check out this one with infrared sensors called the Squaremin by Nick Hardeman:



And finally, scans from Electronics Illustrated 1960 about the theremin available online thanks to the wonderful website SynthGear.

google adk

Google just came out with a MAJOR game changer at the Google I/O 2011 streaming live on youtube right now. The Android Device Kit is Arduino-based hardware that will integrate with an Android, allowing creative freedom for hackers everywhere! Waiting for some choice videos to show the early capabilities of this technology. Here are a couple:





Props to Mike Dinerstein for hipping me to this!

arduino love

I've seen the future, and it involves arduinos. This clever little open-source microcontroller has gone from powering LEDs and robots to large-scale museum installations.

And now this...



NYC Resistor is holding a class on arduinos this Saturday with all of the proceeds going to the Japan Society's earthquake relief fund. If you ever wanted to build an arduino for a good cause, here's your chance: Arduino 101.