Adafruit DIY LED Watch: Pixel O’clock

Adafruit continues its wonderful marketing campaign with another fun and functional gadget that you can build using the company’s products. This time it’s a wristwatch that uses LEDs to display the time or point North or to a preset destination. The exposed circuitry serves as its detailing.

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The main components of the watch are the FLORA Arduino-compatible platform and the NeoPixel Ring, which houses the LEDs. You can switch between watch, compass and GPS modes using a button that you’ll place behind the watch. To use the GPS, you’ll alter the code that Becky Stern wrote and save the coordinates to your desired location. You can only save one set of coordinates though.

adafruit watches earrings 620x668magnify

Head to Adafruit for the full how-to and parts list. The parts cost about $110 (USD) in total, so you might want to make a protective case for the watch as well. The great thing about this watch – aside from the fact that you built it yourself! – is that you can recycle or repurpose its parts for your other projects.

[via Laughing Squid]

Science, Not Magic, Guarantees You’ll Never Get Lost Wearing This Pendant

In what could be the most stylish camping accessory ever created, Meister designed this gold and titanium pendant that transforms into a functioning compass. So whether you’re deep in the woods, or strutting down a runway, you’ll theoretically never get lost with some basic survival skills. That, and just over $3,000 for the pendant. I’ll stick with hunting for moss on a tree. [Meister via Born Rich] More »

Sony preps extra-low power mobile GPS chips, draws on motion sensors for help

Sony preps extralow power positioning chip that draws on motion sensors

Many of us can vouch for smartphone navigation being something of a battery hog. Sony would like us to navigate relatively guilt-free: its D5600 and flash-equipped D5601 chips chew no more than 10mW of power for everything they do. Most of their peers demand more than that just for the RF side of the equation, Sony says. They also won’t lean on outside help for their location fix. Both chips talk to GPS, GLONASS and similar systems, but they further share the increasingly common ability to use an accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer to get a more reliable position lock. Don’t expect thrifty GPS just yet, when Sony ships the basic D5600 in June and D5601 in September; that doesn’t even include the time spent to build a phone or tablet around either of the new parts. We’ll be patient if they reduce that anxiety over battery life whenever we’re getting directions.

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Source: Sony

Android App Turns Lamps on or off Just by Pointing Your Device at Them

Developer Mike Leslie is working on what he calls Project Rita, a device that “keeps track of all of the information that the user is personally interested in” and ultimately “present the user with the right information at the right time.” Mike is giving us a taste of this Jarvis-level wizardry with one of Rita’s components, an Android app that toggles lamps on or off in a bad-ass manner.

project rita universal geospatial light switch by mike leslie

Mike calls the app the Universal Geospatial Light Switch. When he points his phone to one of his lamps, the app sends GPS and compass data from the phone to a script that “understands the layout of the room.” The script will then order the lamp to turn itself off or on using the good old X10 home automation standard. Now on to the fun part!

Imagine if you could do this with any appliance. Now that’s would be a true universal remote control.

[via Project Rita via Hack A Day]

Google Maps offline for Android is available today in version 6.9, also Compass Mode for Street View

Google showed off offline Google Maps at its event earlier this month, and now during I/O it’s ready to turn the feature on. We’ve got a couple of video trailers for offline Google Maps here (embedded after the break), users with Android 2.2 devices and above should keep an eye on Google Play for the new version of the app. Also new in this version is the Compass Mode for Street View shown off today, that lets you look around places as though you were there based on your device’s gyroscope and even go inside. We’re not all seeing it on our devices yet, but the updated version has already been spotted on a Galaxy Nexus or two.

Continue reading Google Maps offline for Android is available today in version 6.9, also Compass Mode for Street View

Google Maps offline for Android is available today in version 6.9, also Compass Mode for Street View originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 14:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FishPi sets course for the open sea, captained by a Raspberry Pi

FishPi sets course for the open sea, captained by a Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi‘s journey to reach owners has been a lengthy one, but Greg Holloway is preparing to send his board on a longer voyage — one across the Atlantic. Nestled inside a tupperware tub, the RaspberryPi is the brains of FishPi, an autonomous vessel — guided by GPS and a compass — that measures 20 inches from bow to stern. Currently in proof-of-concept form, the craft uses a 40 mm rotating propeller and draws juice from batteries powered by a 130 watt solar panel. Producing kits for students, enthusiasts and professionals is the goal of the project, but testing and development are still on the docket. While the Linux-laden launch isn’t ready for the high seas quite yet, you can sail to the source for the technical breakdown or check it out at the Nottingham Hackspace Raspberry Jam next month.

FishPi sets course for the open sea, captained by a Raspberry Pi originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 03:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Verge  |  sourceRaspberryPi  | Email this | Comments