Blogs

A new system that allows hospitals to track equipment using RFID down to a section of a room is being introduced by GE and CenTrak. Reed more on www.medgadget.com/archives/2008/05/virtual_rfid_walls_allow_for_closer_equipment_tracking.html

and www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/108624.php

Jennic's evaluation kits provide a complete environment for the rapid development of wireless sensor network applications based on the JN5139 wireless microcontroller. All the hardware and software required for product development is included, with five network nodes, an unrestricted software development kit, test environment and support applications. Multiple wireless networks including point-to-point, star, and mesh types can be supported. A demonstrator of a home automation system is included that monitors data from remote sensors and displays the results onto the controllers LCD display, while commands sent between the nodes activate control signals. This is provided as an example to be directly used as the basis for many product developments. See more www.jennic.com/products/index.php

First time seen at the Ars Electronica 2005 see more from Theo Jansen:  www.strandbeest.com/

Valentino Braitenberg describes a series of thought experiments in which "vehicles" with simple internal structure behave in unexpectedly complex ways. He describes simple control mechanisms that generate behaviors that, if we did not already know the principles behind the vehicles' operation, we might call aggression, love, foresight and even optimism. Braitenberg gives this as evidence for the "law of uphill analysis and downhill invention," meaning that it is much more difficult to try to guess internal structure just from the observation of behavior than it is to create the structure that gives the behavior. Read more  about:  people.cs.uchicago.edu/~wiseman/vehicles/

www.thebox.myzen.co.uk/Hardware/Glockenspiel.html

This project first saw the light of day at Christmas 1993 as my 124th constructional article in “The Micro User” magazine for the Acorn Archimedes or BBC computer. It was easy in those days to get an output from a computer, as these two computers had “User Ports” dedicated input / output ports brought out to a connector. Nowadays it is much more difficult to set a bit accurately timed as the operating system gets in the way. Therefore I decide to move the intelligence away from the controlling computer into an Arduino controller board and have the instrument driven from a MIDI signal that could be derived from computer, controller or instrument.

more info  http://arduino.tw

A drum machine built from an Arduino board, some resistors, two pots, two DIP switches and two 4021 shift registers.

One of the pots controls the sampling rate and the other controls the delay between notes.

The two DIP switches set the notes. There are eight beats in the loop. Each beat is set by the combination of the two switches.

Info, Code, Schematic:  http://little-scale.blogspot.com/2008...  

and

http://little-scale.blogspot.com

The struggle to keep your houseplants watered is getting a little help. A group called Botanicalls (Kate Hartman, Kati London, Rebecca Bray, and Rob Faludi) has come up with a method to monitor your plants remotely, then be Twittered when they need some water. Reed more www.botanicalls.com/twitter/

growdown.blogspot.com/2008/04/arduino-and-silvia-two-italians-one.html 

The typically straight-up espresso maker is now controlled electronically, allowing integration of a calendar, sleep timer, wake-up alarm, and temperature regulation. The system also allows a user to time its functions (to get that perfect cup of espresso),

The new Arduino Nano is the smallest and most versatile Arduino board yet. Designed and manufactured by US-based Gravitech, it has all the functionality of an Arduino Diecimila in a compact, breadboard-ready design. The Nano includes an ATmega168 microcontroller (w/ bootloader), integrated USB (FTDI chip) w/ Mini-B jack, a full complement of i/o pins (including two more analog inputs than the Diecimila), an ICSP programming header, and on-board regulator.

the Nano will be available from Gravitech in June for an economical $49.99.-

www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardNano