A couple of years ago, I reviewed JeVois-A33 computer vision camera powered by Allwinner A33 quad-core Cortex-A7 processor running Linux. The tiny camera would implement easy-to-use software for machine vision with features such as object detection, eye tracking, QR code and ArUco marker detection, and so on. The camera could handle the tasks at hand, but since it relied on purely software computer vision, there were lag for some of the demo applications including 500ms for single object detection, and up to 3 seconds for YOLO test with multiple object types using deep learning algorithms. That’s a bit slow for robotics project, and software solutions usually consume more than hardware accelerated ones. Since then, we’ve started to see low-cost SoC and hardware with dedicated hardware AI accelerators, and one of those is Kendryte K210 dual-core RISC-V processor with a built-in KPU Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) hardware accelerator and APU audio […]
easySwitchBox is a LoRa Wall Switch Powered by Coin Cell Batteries and Arduino (Crowdfunding)
easySwitchBox is a simple actuator that does one basic thing – To send an on/off signals that can be used to control anything wirelessly. Whatever you intend on doing with the signal sent is left to you. easySwitchBox is the brainchild of easySensors, the Belarus based creators of DIY Arduino focused hardware products. easySwtichBox combines an Arduino based chip and a LoRa radio to be able to send a signal for long-range distances. On the surface, easySwitchBox looks like another wall switch you have seen around, but there is more to it. Powered by the famous Atmega 328P microcontroller, easySwitchBox is more than a wall switch, and you can reprogram it to be an intelligent one indeed or anything else you want. The power supply comes from two attached coin cell battery, making it possible to move the device around and not be confined by location or space. easySwitchBox […]
Your Smartphone Totally Needs a $15 Cooling Fan
2019 is the year of (silly) cooling fans for SBCs and smartphones! After ICE Tower cooling fan for Raspberry Pi 4, and ROG AeroActive Cooler II for ASUS’ latest gaming smartphone, you’ll be pleased to know you can now add a USB powered cooling fan to most smartphones to keep up working optimally in all conditions. You can get this beauty for just $14.99 shipped on Banggood. The cooling fan just clips to your smartphone and is compatible with mobile phones with a 62 to 85mm width since it’s adjustable. It’s made of ABS plastic and measures 80 x 68 x 49 mm. The mobile phone cooler ships with a USB cable to power it. This will quickly deplete your battery though, so they recommend using a power bank instead. Most people will find a smartphone fan to be a ridiculous idea, but a few years ago, I had a […]
BeagleBone Green Gateway SBC Adds Octavo OSD3358 SiP, Ethernet, and a DC Jack
BeagleBone Green Wireless was launched in 2016 as an alternative to the official BeagleBone Green with WiFi & Bluetooth connectivity, and some extra USB ports meaning the Ethernet port had to go. The Linux SBC was based on Texas Instruments Sitara AM3358 processor and a 512 MB RAM chip. Seeed Studio has been working on an update of the board named BeagleBone Green Gateway that combines the processor, the RAM chip, and more components into one thanks to Octavo Systems OSD3358 SiP. The new board also adds Ethernet, a DC jack for power instead of just relying on micro USB, and an I2C RTC chip and battery. BeagleBone Green Gateway specifications with changes highlighted in bold: SiP – Octavo Systems OSD3358 with Texas Instruments AM3358 Arm Cortex-A8 processor @ 1.0 GHz, 2×32-bit 200-MHz programmable real-time units (PRUs), 3D graphics accelerator, 512MB DDR3 SDRAM, 4KB EEPROM, and integrated power management Storage […]
Orange Pi Zero LTS SBC Launched for $8.49 and Up
Orange Pi Zero LTS is an update to Orange Pi Zero Allwinner H2+ board with the same specifications, but tweaks to the hardware that Shenzhen Xunlong Software claims lower power consumption and reduce heat. The SBC supports Armbian’s Debian and Ubuntu images, and best suited for headless applications that require network connectivity via Ethernet and/or WiFi such as smart speakers. The board also features one USB port, and two I/O headers for expansion. The good news is that you can now buy Orange Pi Zero LTS for the same price as the original model, namely $8.49 for the 256MB RAM version, and $10.49 for the 512MB model$10.49 for the 512MB model, excluding shipping costs ($4.73 to my location). Here’s a reminder of Orange Pi Zero LTS (v1.5) specifications: SoC – Allwinner H2+ quad-core Cortex A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU @ 600 MHz System Memory – 256 to […]
Librem 5 Linux Smartphone Specifications Finalized
If you were interested in purchasing, or more exactly pre-ordering, a privacy-focused, open source Linux smartphone with clearly defined hardware specifications, Purism Librem 5 was not quite for you. Until today that is, as while the company did not commit to exact specifications at the beginning of the project, Purism has now revealed the full specifications of Librem 5 Linux smartphone. Librem 5 specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX8M quad-core Cortex A53 @ up to 1.5GHz, Cortex-M4 real-time core, 3G GPU with OpenGL/ES 3.1, Vulkan, OpenCL 1.2 support System Memory – 3GB RAM Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, MicroSD slot up to 2 TB Display- 5.7″ IPS TFT touchscreen with 1440×720 resolution Connectivity Cellular Option 1 – Gemalto PLS8 3G/4G modem w/ single sim on replaceable M.2 card Option 2 – Broadmobi BM818 (made in China) nanoSIM tray Dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi 4, Bluetooth 4.0 GPS – Teseo LIV3F GNSS Cameras – […]
“New” Allwinner H603 Processor Shows Up in X96H Low-cost TV Box
A little while ago, we started to see Rockchip RK3318 TV boxes that appeared to have the same specifications as Rockchip RK3328 based devices. We later learned RK3318 was a cost-down version of RK3328 but failed to get any details about the lower-cost as we were informed Rockchip did not really want to advertise the cheaper model. It appears Allwinner may have done something similar with Allwinner H6 processor, as we’ve started to see an Allwinner H603 processor shows up in X96H TV box on Aliexpress and GearBest with price starting at around $26.99 shipped in 2GB RAM + 16GB storage configuration, and going up to $40.99 with 4GB RAM, 64GB flash, and dual-band WiFi & Bluetooth connectivity. X96H TV box specifications: SoC – Allwinner H603 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.5 GHz with Arm Mali-T720 GPU System Memory / Storage Configurations 2GB DDR3 + 16GB eMMC flash + microSD slot […]
Elk, An Allwinner H3 Development board Crafted For the Decentralized Internet (Crowdfunding)
Back in 2017, Bitcoin peaked at almost $20,000; many were pretty shocked about how this supposed virtual currency suddenly become a scare resource. It also brought limelight to the technology behind it Blockchain and the idea of Decentralized internet. Although the success of the cryptocurrency didn’t last that long, as it lost about 80 percent in a year and still categorized as one of the biggest bubbles in financial history. After the crash of Bitcoin and some other similar cryptocurrencies, a lot of people predicted that’s the end of the whole Blockchain thing, and the idea of Decentralized internet will not happen. The recently announced Facebook Libra, a new cryptocurrency by the American giant Facebook, shows that Blockchain and the Decentralized web isn’t going anywhere and will probably start growing stronger. Arduino made it possible for Artist, Makers, Engineers, Students to bring ideas to life and quickly make things easier. Now, […]