When you can't find the camera you want

Sponsored by Digi-Key
Gadget Master features cool, homemade electronic gadgets proudly brought to us--by you!

Complete with build instructions for the design engineer who likes the silly side of inventing things and enjoys building stuff in his and her spare time, these gadgets range from highly silly and impractical to extraordinarily inspirational for your own engineering design work.

Why not submit your own pride and joy for publication in Gadget Master? Send us your project details here.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Robot helicopters perform James Bond tune

Sponsored by Digi-Key
Gadget Master features cool, homemade electronic gadgets proudly brought to us--by you!

Complete with build instructions for the design engineer who likes the silly side of inventing things and enjoys building stuff in his and her spare time, these gadgets range from highly silly and impractical to extraordinarily inspirational for your own engineering design work.

Why not submit your own pride and joy for publication in Gadget Master? Send us your project details here.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Let the latest Gadget Master posts come to you, with RSS

The best way to get the very latest Gadget Master posts as soon as they are published? RSS!

And it's not just Gadget Master. Check out all the RSS feeds that are available for Electronics Weekly content. The feed for Latest News, for example, can be found here.

There are 12 Electronics Weekly feeds you can tap into:
News
Jobs
Products

(Blogs)
Mannerisms
LED Luminaries
Gadget Master
Made by Monkeys
Electro-ramblings
Directive Decoder
Tech Startups
Open Source Engineering
Parallel lines

To use an ElectronicsWeekly.com RSS feed you simply need to download and install a RSS reader. Alternatively RSS functionality is built into the personalised areas of sites such as Google & Yahoo, or in Internet browsers such as IE7 and Mozilla Firefox.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, by the way. And if you are unfamiliar with this technology, just check out the What is RSS section of our RSS page. electronics news

Wind River offers Qt Commercial on VxWorks

Wind River has collaborated with developer of Qt for desktop and embedded development Digia to offer platform support for the Qt Commercial development framework on Wind River's VxWorks real-time operating system (RTOS).

Qt Commercial is a cross-platform user interface (UI) and application framework with tools for the creation and deployment of applications for desktop and embedded platforms.

his collaboration opens the way for developers across a range of market segments including industrial, medical, and aerospace and defence to design and deploy rich UIs using the Qt development framework running seamlessly on VxWorks.

The Qt Commercial development framework in combination with VxWorks will support graphical user interface (GUI) development and standardisation across projects, revisions and organizations within the enterprise.

In addition, it will enable the users of VxWorks to create differentiated and user-appealing devices with advanced interactive GUIs and added support for 3D and 2D graphics through OpenGL ES and OpenVG.

Qt Commercial support will be offered on VxWorks 6.9 and subsequent versions, and will be available on selected Intel, Freescale and Texas Instruments platforms. Qt Commercial support for VxWorks will be available in a beta version based on the Qt Commercial 4.8.1 release.

Digia will be demonstrating Qt UI applications running on VxWorks platforms at Embedded World 2012, next week.

Richard Wilson

Self-balancing unicycle - the one true way!

This gadget may not yet be weatherproof enough for your daily commute in the UK, but for a pop to the shops for icecream on a sunny afternoon the Focus Designs self balancing unicycle, SBU V2.0 is a real treat.

The company reports that it's increasing production "to meet a quickly growing demand", with a lead time of 8-12 weeks.

The cycle is gyro stabilised, battery-powered and driven by an accelerometer, and the manufacturers claim green credentials for it too.

The SBU control unit basically controls the forward/backward motion and the rider controls the left/right balance - lean forward to go faster and lean backwards to stop makes that part of the ride entirely intuitive.

Focus Design's website says:

"The powerful 1000 Watt BLDC hub motor propels the rider forwards and backwards at up to 10 MPH. This advanced motor is built right into the wheel and is maintenance free. The SBU electronic balance control module is integrated into the wheel itself. The SBU control module performs several critical functions, including motor speed control, motor torque control, and regenerative braking. we've increased the number of sensors to seven for the SBU Version 2.0 which gives a smoother ride, a more accurate balance response and improved turning. Of course the most notable thing inside the SBU is the battery itself, our LiFePO4 lithium-ion nano-phosphate battery is powerful, safe, lightweight and able to take you more than 12 miles between charges."

Specifications:
    * Style: 1-seat, open-top, single-wheel-drive electric self balancing unicycle.
    * Drivetrain: Direct drive, variable speed with electronic motor control.
    * Motor: Permanent magnet brushless DC motor with variable drive.
    * Efficiency: 85%
    * Throttle: Rider lean detection determines speed and direction.
    * Chassis: High strength 7005 aluminum frame.
    * Seat: Deluxe gel unicycle saddle, adjustable height.
    * Suspension: The tire and your body.
    * Wheel: Heavy duty alloy hub motor.
    * Tire: Quality high PSI. Size: 20?x2.125?
    * Brakes: 1000W regenerative braking via the hub motor.
    * Speed: About 10 mph (depending on the rider's weight)
    * Range: About 12 miles (depending on the terrain)
    * Battery Life: Over 1000 cycles.
    * Battery: Custom high quality LiFePO4 lithium-ion phosphate 38.4 volt battery.
    * Full Charge Time: About 2 hours.
    * Charger: Custom international 2A fast charger. 100 to 240VAC.
    * Built: Camas, Washington USA

Dimensions:
    * Overall length (in. / mm) 20.0 / 508.0
    * Overall width - pedals folded: (in. / mm) 10.3 / 261.9
    * Overall width - pedals ready to ride: (in. / mm) 17.0 / 431.8
    * Overall height: (in. / mm) 34.5 / 876.3
    * Curb weight (lbs/kgs) 29 / 13
    * Leg Room (in./mm) unlimited / unlimited
    * Front Head Room (in./mm) unlimited / unlimited
    * Front Shoulder Room (in./mm) unlimited / unlimited

Find out more about it at http://focusdesigns.com/design/

Sue Proud

The Dead Platform Graveyard - mobile lessons to learn

Falling within the purview of "good ideas, bad execution", here's an interesting article that tries to take an overview of what makes a platform fail, when it comes to mobile devices. And there have been a lot of failed platforms...

The MD of VisionMobile, Andreas Constantinou, enumerates the more than 25 platforms that could be  classed as failed, from Meego and Aria (?) to UIQ and Prism...

He begins:

2011 turned out to be open hunting season for mobile platforms, with the MeeGo, webOS and LiMo projects coming to an end.

MeeGo, webOS and LiMo, together with Windows Mobile and Symbian are just the tip of the dead OS iceberg. The last 10 years have seen numerous companies launch operating systems or platforms for mobile devices, most of which have been fallen under the media radar. The table below lists all known mobile platforms that have died or are a 'zombie' (semi-dead) state - that's all 26 of them, from Access Linux Platform to Windows Mobile.

It is worth checking out the table - The Dead Platform Graveyard - a definitive looking summary.

The platforms failed for a combination of reasons such as cost of ownership, conflicting revenue models, lack of network effects, and high adoption barriers...

For example, discussing each of these factors in turn, when it comes to "network effects, he says:

It was Apple that proved how network effects - the positive feedback loop between app developers and users - can lead to enormous demand-side economies of scale. It was the power of well-oiled network effects that made Nokia realize that "it had to go to developers" (and not wait for developers to go to Nokia) before eventually losing the Symbian battle against Android and iOS.

But enough of failure. What is the success factor of modern platforms?

Firstly, Andreas  software DNA, that is a company with resources, processes and values routed in the PC or Internet world where developers, not OEMs are the platform's primary customer. Secondly, a successful platform vendor needs to have large pockets due to the billions of dollars in investment needed to build a stable and advanced software foundation, while attracting developers to the platform. Note that the bubble size in the chart shows last relative size of 4 quarters of vendor revenues.

Read the full blog post >>

Linux distributions, in graphical form

Thanks to Steve Bush, our Technology Eduitor, for flagging this amazing graphic. Ever wondered what a document of Linux distros would look like, in graphical form?

Check out the Wikipedia page for List of Linux distributions. Specifically, check out http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Gldt.svg

And there's anoher one for the Debian family tree.