06/26/14

2 Ways to Win Some Free Stuff!

5008299

With myself focusing more on Arduino and Raspberry Pi articles – I wanted to share two great contests I’ve come across that are being run right now.

Connectedly a Month of Pi Contest

One is being run by yours truly, and gives you 4 chances to win a Raspberry Pi from Newark. Just drop a comment on this article on Connectedly, and your automatically entered to win!  Why not? :)

Newark Automation Ace

This one is a bit more hands-on, but your fate is in your own hands.  Newark is running a fun little multiple choice question game for electrical engineering minded folks!  This one has some bigger prizes, including a Milwaukee and Ideal Tool Set bundle, Xcelite 86-Piece service Technician Tool Set with Roller Bearing Case, Bose Wireless Speaker, 3 mystery prizes, and even 300 pairs of safety glasses!  Who doesn’t like free stuff?  You can play the game here! (611)

06/16/14

Arduino: Getting Started with Buttons!

articlecover

Using Buttons and Switches with an Arduino

Welcome to the fourth instalment of the working with Arduino series! So far we have covered everything from blinky lights, to calculating resistors, to working with graphic displays!

The majority of these have been output based components (what you see). In this article, we will cover input based sensors. The information here can be scaled up for almost all input devices used on an Arduino.

Continue reading → (858)

06/2/14

Building an Arduino Temperature Sensor with an LCD Display–Part 2

CoverPhoto

In a previous article, I discussed how to create a Nokia 5110 LCD Display with a TMP36 sensor.  Today I will cover this in more detail, with a bit more detail around the how!

Parts

In this article, I’m just going to list the parts I used.

  • Mini breadboard – $3 China | $4 Sparkfun / Newark
  • Nokia 5110 – $3 China | $10 Sparkfun / Newark
  • Arduino Uno – $10 China | $30 Sparkfun / Newark ***
  • TMP36 – 5$ China | $1.50 Sparkfun / Newark
  • Potentiometer – $1.10 China | $1 Sparkfun / Newark
  • 4 x 10kΩ resistor – cheap
  • 1 x 330Ω resister – cheap
  • 1 x 1kΩ resistor – cheap

Continue reading →

(2416)

05/30/14

RetroRogue for BlackBerry 10 – Well Worth 99 cents

logo

I just want to say, I gave this game a try, and absolutely love it.  Its a rogue-like, which I’ve been waiting forever for on BlackBerry 10.  Which is a fancy way of saying once you die – your DEAD.  No magical life number two.  You start all over.  This game is for the hardcore for sure.

There have been a few really fun little RPG games for BlackBerry 10 that I love, such as The Depths and this one.

Continue reading → (578)

05/25/14

Arduino – Working with RGB LEDs

This short tutorial will show you how to get started using multicoloured LED’s with Arduino.  Specifically common anode and common cathode and to control the red, blue and green separately.  This means multicoloured blinky lights!  And later, you will be able to see a sample of how to control this with Wi-Fi.

Continue reading → (2441)

05/25/14

Arduino – Calculating Required Resistor Values

Have you ever hooked something up to power … and noticed it either smoking or a strange pop followed by silence or a broken device?  The most common cause is too high of a voltage.  Every component on your electronic devices can only handle voltages up to a certain point.  I’m going to show you a simple formula to calculate the required resistor values when working with Arduino.

Continue reading → (1771)