RFDuino is a tiny board, about the size of a coin, powered by Nordic nRF51822 Cortex M0 SoC including bluetooth 4.0 LE support, and software compatible with Arduino UNO and DUE board, so you can just use Arduino sketches with the board. Bluetooth allows it to communicate with your smartphone (iPhone for now, but Android support is coming) to control motors & relays, monitor sensors, turn LEDs on/off, and more. Key features of RFDuino board: MCU – Nordic nRF51822 Cortex M0 @ 16 MHz Memory – 16 KB on-chip SRAM Storage – 256 KB on-chip Flash Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy built in MCU GPIO – 7 pin software configurable as digital IO, analog ADC, SPI, I2C, UART and PWM. The company currently offers several stackable shields for RFDuino including battery shields (1x AAA, 2x AAA, and CR2032 coin battery), a servo shield, a USB shield, a prototype shield […]
May the Force be with You Thanks to Thalmic Labs MYO Gesture Control Armband
If you’ve always dreamed of being able to control objects just by thinking about it, you may be interested in MYO, a gesture control armband that is supposed to “unleash your inner Jedi” by monitoring electrical activity in your forearm muscles, and converting that into input commands transmitted wirelessly to the object to control. This can be used to control a quadcopter, or more simply your computer, smartphone, tablet, television, etc.. There are not many details about the technology behind it, but we do know it’s using Bluetooth 4.0 to communicate with peripheral, comes with a lithium ion battery, and will be powered by an ARM processor. It will support Windows and Mac computers, as well as Android and iOS devices initially. The company will provide an “MYO API” to let developers come with new concepts and products, the device will be available sometimes in 2013, and you can pre-order […]
Bluetooth Smart Devices and Low Energy support on Linux – ELCE 2012
Andre Guedes and João Paulo Rechi Vita, software engineers at Instituto Nokia de Tecnologia (INdT), give a presentation about Bluetooth Low Energy support on Linux (BlueZ stack) at the Embedded Linux Conference Europe in Barcelona on November 5, 2012. Abstract: This presentation will cover a brief introduction on how the Bluetooth Low Energy technology works. Then it will present the current status of its support on Linux, presenting the available APIs and how to interact with Bluetooth Smart devices. Then we’ll present the profiles we’re currently working on and what support can be expected to be found on Linux and BlueZ this year. There will be also a few demos of Bluetooth Smart devices working on Linux. The audience of this talk is application or framework developers that want to add support for Bluetooth Smart devices to their software, hardware vendors,and technology curious. Basic Bluetooth understanding is recommended but not […]
$56 MK809 II Android Jelly Bean mini PC based on Rockchip RK3066 Processor
Kimdecent announced it started to sell MK809 II mini PC with Rockchip RK3066, 1GB RAM, 8GB Flash and built-in Bluetooth. This HDMI TV dongle is very similar to Rikomagic MK802 IIIs in terms of specs, and I’ve been told the user interface is also nearly identical. Here are the specs of the device: SoC – Rockchip RK3066 Dual ARM Cortex-A9 processor clocked @ up to 1.6 GHz with Mali-400MP4 Quad-core GPU, System Memory – 1GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 8GB NAND Flash + micro SD card slot (Up to 32 GB) Connectivity: Wifi – 802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth 2.1 3G support via external 3G USB dongle USB – 1x USB 2.0 Host, 2x micro USB Host Video Output – HDMI Video Codecs – MPEG1/2/4, H.264, VC-1, Divx, Xvid, RM8/9/10, VP6 Video Containers – MKV, TS, TP, M2TS, RM/RMVB, BD-ISO, AVI, MPG, VOB, DAT, ASF, TRP, FLV etc full formats Audio Codecs […]
StickNFind Bluetooth 4.0 Location Stickers for Android & iOS
Last year, Treehouse Labs unveiled BiKN Technology Platform, a 802.15.4 wireless sensor network that allows you to track objects fitted with Bikn tags within 60 m, and find your lost keys at home, your car in a parking lot, or track your pets location for example. A solution for the iPhone is available, and a kit with 2 tags and an iPhone case costs about $130. Since a case is required (for 802.15.4 support), this solution is unfortunately impractical for the variety of Android phones. Luckily, there’s now a new solution based on Bluetooth called StickNFind, by SSI America, which works both for Android 4.0 (and up) devices and iPhones. The StickNFind tags are based on Bluetooth 4.0 (Bluetooth Low Energy), have a line-of-sight range of about 30meters, and are powered by a replaceable CR2016 (or CR2020?) watch battery which can last up to 1 year for 30 minutes daily average […]
Ugoos UG007 Android 4.1 HDMI TV Stick Features Bluetooth and Rockchip RK3066 Processor
There are many low cost Android mini-PCs on the market today, but most of them can only support 2.4 GHz wireless connection (e.g. for keyboard, mouse or “fly mouse”) via an external USB dongle, and very few have built-in Bluetooth support. If you want the performance of UG802 mini PC and use your existing Bluetooth keyboard, game controller, headset…, Ugoos UG007 mini PC might be a good option since it features Rockchip RK3066 dual core processor and comes with Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR support. Here are the specs of Ugoos UG007: SoC – Rockchip RK3066 Dual ARM Cortex-A9 processor clocked @ up to 1.2 GHZ with Mali-400MP4 Quad-core GPU, System Memory – 1GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 8GB NAND Flash + micro SD card slot (Up to 32 GB) Connectivity: Wifi – 802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Mediatek MT6622) 3G support via external 3G USB dongle USB – 1x […]
AnDevCon IV Classes and Workshops Schedule
AnDevCon is a technical conference for software developers building Android apps, and the fourth Android developer conference will take place in San Francisco on December 4-7, 2012. The organizers have already listed the schedule, including details about the workshops and classes which will take place at the conference. The 4th of December is reserved for workshops, and the other 3 days can be spent on shorter classes. All workshops will provide sample code, as well as most classes, excluding the overview session and business related sessions. There will be three full day Android workshops: Android Development Boot Camp – Hands-on introduction to Android application development and the tools essential to the process. Beyond an introduction to the basics, this workshop also covers some of the common hurdles met with development, and how to overcome them. You will also have the opportunity to build an Android app of your own where […]
Deeper Smart FishFinder: A Sonar For Android and iOS Mobile Devices
Friday Lab has designed and developed Deeper Smart Fishfinder, a Sonar that communicates with your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth in order to help you locate the best location for fishing (i.e. where the fish are…). Deeper works with Android 2.2 or greater devices as well as iPhones and iPADs running iOS 4.0 or greater. The device, about the size of a tennis ball, is made of high-impact polycarbonate shell. This smart sonar is waterproof and can handle small shocks. You can use the Deeper for up to 6 hours on a battery charge and Bluetooth range is up to 50 meters. You’ll be able to see the bed of the pond, lake or river on your device, know where and how big the fish are as well as the temperature and depth of water. You can watch the video to see how the device was designed and how it […]