POWERUP 4.0 is a Smartphone Controlled Paper Plane with Autopilot (Crowdfunding)

POWERUP 4.0 Paper Plane

A crowdfunding campaign about a paper plane… This can’t go very far, can it? Apparently, it can, because that’s Shai Goitein’s fourth POWERUP paper plane campaign, and PowerUp 3.0 raised over one million dollars a few years ago. POWERUP 4.0 is still a smartphone-controlled paper plane but this time it adds a few sensors, an autopilot, flight telemetry, and a night flight mode. More exactly that’s a kit for a paper plane, as you’d have to make your own and attach the kit to it. It’s powerful enough to support planes made of balsa wood, cardboard or foam board. They haven’t released the exact technical details of the kit but here are some of the key features: On-board flight control with autopilot that makes flying easier and allows you to make aerobatics manoeuvers such as loops or Twin motor + propellers allowing up to 10m/sec speed Connectivity – Bluetooth module […]

TIL: The Android Camera App Supports QR Code Scanning (in Some Phones)

Android Camera QR Code

QR Code are pretty common, and until today I used a third-party app to scan the codes and get the embedded information such as a webpage. But I’ve just read in LinkedIn that the default camera app can read QR codes. No need to install any third-party app, no need to reach any menu, just point for two or three seconds and it will work as shown in the short video below.  I’m always running out of space on with Xiaomi Mi A2 phone since it only has 32GB flash, and no MicroSD card slot.  So if beside saving some time while scanning QR code, I can get rid of one app that’s always a plus. Except it does not work on my phone. Instead I had to tap on the right of the camera app to switch to Google Lens (or launch Google Lens manually), and the QR […]

ctxLink Open Hardware WiFi Debug Probe is based Black Magic Probe (Crowdfunding)

ctxlink

Last month, we wrote about Blip nRF52840 dev board that also included an STM32F103 MCU running the open source Black Magic Probe (BMP) firmware for debugging and programming. Based on the original Black Magic Probe hardware product page, BMP is a JTAG and SWD adapter used for programming and debugging ARM Cortex MCUs, and does not require intermediate programs such as OpenOCD or STLink server. Instead, you can run GNU Debugger (GDB) and select the virtual COM port offered by the debug board. The reason I’m bringing BMP again today, is because a new open source hardware wireless debugging probe for Cortex-M based on Black Magic Probe has been launched in the last few days. ctxLink key features and specifications: Microcontroller – STMicro STM32F401RE Arm Cortex -M4F MCU at up to 84 MHz Connectivity – 802.11b/g/n WiFi via Microchip WINC1500 module USB – 1x micro USB port for connection to […]

Tiny USB WiFi Camera Supports Motion and AI Human Detection

USB WiFi Camera

When I first saw U21 HD camera it reminded me of SOOCOO G1 is action camera with a flexible stick, since the camera also comes with a flexible hose which allows you to orient it as you please. But it’s a different bear, as U21 is a surveillance camera powered over USB and featuring WiFi connectivity. I can’t see any motion detection, so it may have some dose of “AI” since it claims to support motion and human detection so you only get relevant alerts. It is currently sold (pre-orders) on Banggood for $33.65 including shipping with order starting to be processed on October 30th. U21 USB WIFI camera key features and specifications: MCU / WiSoC – No information (yet) Storage – MicroSD card slot up to 128GB for up to one month of recording (8GB = 2 days); Cloud storage via third party (paid) Camera – 14mm lens, HD […]

BASIC Compiler & Programming on Arduino Zero Boards (Crowdfunding)

BASIC Compiler Arduino

Arduino boards are normally programmed using Arduino “programming language” that’s more like an API using C/C++ language.  But when I started in high-school I remember learning Pascal and BASIC programming languages. Bruce Eisenhard also learned BASIC in the past, so he decided to port his company’s ARM BASIC compiler to Arduino Zero, and it should also work on other boards based on Microchip SAMD21G Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller. The compiler includes floating-point, strings, inline assembly, interrupts, pre-processor, and the BASIC firmware supports direct access to hardware registers so you can control digital and analog I/Os, ADCs, and other peripherals using BASIC programming language. A runtime monitor also facilitates debugging. The IDE used for development is called BASICtools that’s a free 30MB download which install programs and documentation. There are also libraries and examples from blinky to more complex code. It’s been possible to run interpreted BASIC on Arduino for a while, […]

Atomic Pi x86 SBC Meets Intel Neural Compute Stick 2 in $99 Neural Computing DevKit (Crowdfunding)

Atomic Pi Neural Computing Development Kit

IoT Team launched the $34 Atomic Pi SBC powered by an Intel Atom x5-Z8350 processor via a Kickstarter campaign last December. At the time, it only ships to the US, and looked too good to be true. But the thing is real coming from a failed robotics project, and the low-cost x86 board went back for sale via Amazon and other channels with worldwide availability last spring. The price has even gone a bit lower as you’ll find it for $32.95 on Amazon. Note that it requires some technical skills to get started and with 16GB eMMC flash it only supports Liux distributions such as Ubuntu 18.04, and installing Windows 10 is possible, but you’ll be seriously limited. Atomic Pi is back in the news, as IoT Team has now launched another Kickstarter campaign for the board, except it’s not sold standalone, but instead as part of a $99 neural […]

MUSTOOL MT99 is a $14 Smartphone-shaped Digital Multimeter

About a year ago we covered MUSTOOL MT8206, an inexpensive 2-in-1 multimeter & oscilloscope, and today we noticed another product from the company on Banggood. MUSTOOL MT99 is yet another cheap digital true RMS multimeter, but what’s different is the form factor. The tool looks like a smartphone and as such is more portable than competing multimeters. MUSTOOL MT99 specifications: Display – 3.5″ EBTN LCD with 3-line for voltage, frequency and analog bar… Mesurements DC voltage – 0.5 to 600V/0.1V ±(0.8%+3); input impedance: 10M Ohm AC Voltage – 1V to 600V/0.1V ±(1.2%+5); input impedance: 10M Ohm Resistance – 1Ω-10MΩ (1.2%+3); overload protection 250V AC/DC Capacitance 0.5 uF to 1000uF/0.1uF (3.5%+8) Up tp 6000uF/1uF (4.5%+10) Overload protection 250V AC/DC Frequency – 10Hz-1000Hz (2%+10); RMS above 1V AC Automatically identify diode and continuity Maximum display value – 9999 Live/neutral wire check Data hold, automatic power off Misc Automatic shutdown Portable hanging hole […]

TechNexion XORE is a tiny NXP i.MX 8M Mini LGA System-on-Module

TechNexion XORE LGA System-on-Module

There are several ways to design a system-on-module to carrier board interface, and the most common solutions are edge connectors (e.g. SO-DIMM), board-to-board connectors (placed under the module), and castellated holes where the board is soldered directly to the baseboard. Another less common method is to design an LGA (Land Grid Array) module, which also have to be soldered straight unto the carrier board, but enables much more compact system-on-modules, and that’s exacty what TechNexion has done with their XORE family of LGA system-on-module currently powered by the 14-nm NXP i.MX 8M Mini processor. XORE-IMX8M-Mini Module TechNexion XORE module specifications: SoC (one of the other) NXP i.MX8M Mini Solo single Arm Cortex-A53  @ 1.8 GHz + M4 processor, Vivante GC7000Lite 3D GPU NXP i.MX8M Mini Dual 2x Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.8 GHz + M4 processor, Vivante GC7000Lite 3D GPU NXP i.MX8M Mini Quad 4x Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.8 GHz + M4 […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC