Friday, October 14, 2011

Geiger Counter Kit



Introducing the Geiger Counter Kit from the Maker Shed. This kit costs a fraction of a commercial unit and it works just like you it should, blinking and clicking in the presence of radiation. It takes about an hour to build and even has a serial output for tracking radioactivity over time.
Is Grandma’s pottery or glass collection radioactive? Do bananas give off radiation? Is that granite table given to you by your mother-in-law slightly “hot?” (In my case, yes!) With this Geiger Counter Kit these questions are yours to answer. While this is a functional Geiger counter it is for educational purposes only. Please do not use it for anything important.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Good bye Mr.Steve



"Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Monday, October 3, 2011

Submarine cable system connecting the world


Submarine cable map
 
TeleGeography’s free interactive submarine cable map is based on our authoritative Global Bandwidth research, and depicts 188 active and planned submarine cable systems and their landing stations. Selecting a cable route on the map provides access to data about the cable, including the cable’s name, ready-for-service (RFS) date, length, owners, website, and landing points. Selecting a landing point provides a list of all submarine cables landing at that station. more

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Google Maps Feature Lets You 'Helicopter' Preview Routes


Google Maps now includes a cool new feature that lets you preview a route with a 3D bird's eye animation, whether you’re driving, walking, biking, or using mass transit.
To use it, go to Google Maps, click "Get directions," and input your start and end points—just like you would normally. Starting Friday Google has added a small "3D" button next to "Driving directions to (your destination)."
Click on it and your once two-dimensional route comes to life in Google’s Web-based version of Google Earth. Now views allow you to see 3D rendering of elevations such as buildings, hills and mountains as Google flies you along your recommended route.
You can pause the flight by clicking anywhere in the 3D view or on the pause button in the lower left of the map. While the flight is paused, you can explore the surrounding area in 3D by clicking and dragging the map.
For instance, you could take a break from your helicopter ride and click on photos, YouTube videos or Wikipedia pages that are geo-linked to locations along your route.
To resume the flight, you just click on the play button in the lower left of your map.
If you’re not sure which leg of the trip you’re seeing, just look to the left panel where it is highlighted in the directions. You can also use this pane to fast forward or reverse your virtual trip by clicking on a different step.
If the images here -- captured from a virtual trip from Atlanta to Washington, D.C. -- don’t impress you, check out the blog post from Google’s Earth and Maps team where they show photos from a picturesque drive from Carmel, California to Big Sur.
Either that, or play around with it yourself -- maybe taking a pretend trip from London to Paris, or Beijing to Shanghai. read more

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Raspberry Pi - the £15 computer


David Braben explains the raspberry PI scheme designed to give a £15 computer on a stick to every child. He is talking to the BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones

Monday, August 15, 2011

For all Gadgets+.Net Micro fans .Net Gadgeteer is now available...
http://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/297


Description
FEZ Spider Starter Kit is the first commercially available .NET Gadgeteer-compatible kit. it includes everything necessary for educators, hobbyists and even professionals. Embedded development is fast & easy (FEZ) thanks to .NET Micro Framework, .NET Gadgeteer and the numerous GHI value added features such as WiFi and USB Host.
The kit includes:
FEZ Spider Mainboard is a .NET Gadgeteer-compatible mainboard based on GHI Electronics' EMX module. This makes FEZ Spider Mainboard the most feature-full .NET Gadgeteer compatible device in the market. It contains all of .NET Micro Framework core features and adds many exclusive features, such as USB host, WiFi and RLP (loading native code). All these features combine to provide a rapid prototyping platform.

Key Features:
  • 14 .NET Gadgeteer compatible sockets
  • Configurable on-board LED
  • Configuration switches.
  • Based on GHI Electronics EMX module
    • 72MHz 32-bit ARM7 processor
    • 4.5 MB Flash
    • 16 MB RAM
    • LCD controller
    • Full TCP/IP Stack with SSL, HTTP, TCP, UDP, DHCP
    • Ethernet, WiFi driver and PPP ( GPRS/ 3G modems) and DPWS
    • USB host
    • USB Device with specialized libraries to emulate devices like thumb-drive, virtual COM (CDC), mouse, keyboard
    • 76 GPIO Pin
    • 2 SPI (8/16bit)
    • I2C
    • 4 UART
    • 2 CAN Channels
    • 7 10-bit Analog Inputs
    • 10-bit Analog Output (capable of WAV audio playback)
    • 4-bit SD/MMC Memory card interface
    • 6 PWM
    • OneWire interface (available on any IO)
    • Built-in Real Time Clock (RTC) with the suitable crystal
    • Processor register access
    • OutputCompare for generating waveforms with high accuracy
    • RLP allowing users to load native code (C/Assembly) for real-time requirements
    • Extended double-precision math class
    • FAT File System
    • Cryptography (AES and XTEA)
    • Low power and hibernate support
    • In-field update (from SD, network or other)
  • Dimensions: W 2.25" x L 2.05" x H 0.5"
Power
  • Supply voltages are regulated 3.3Volt and 5.0Volt DC.
  • Low power and hibernate modes
  • Active power consumption 160 mA
  • Idle power consumption 120 mA
  • Hibernate power consumption 40 mA
Enviromental:
  • Operating temperature: -20 to 65°C
  • RoHS compliant /Lead-free compliant
Most EMX software features are GHI exclusive, see software documentation for details.
For more information about .NET Gadgeteer visit:
http://www.netmf.com/gadgeteer/



Sunday, August 14, 2011

Breathalyser using Aurdino @ Science Gallery Dublin

Today we had workshop in Dublin Science Gallery @1300. Which was held by Irish robotic society, David taught us how to make breathalyser using Aurdino. It was a good fun.