New Products Post
Our Shield Evolution giveaway ended April 15, 2013. Don’t forget you have until June 15, 2013 to submit your sticker combinations and claim your prize. You may win a Tick Tock Shield, a Shield Bot, or an Entertainment Pack. Good luck!
Have you ever wanted to run your Android apps on a bigger screen, such as your TV? Now you can with the Dual Core Mini PC MK808. The Dual Core Mini PC MK808 is an Android MINI TV that ships with Android 4.1 and runs on an ARMCortex A9 Dual Core RK3066 chip with 1 GB of RAM. Either connect it directly to your TV or to your monitor via HDMI and attach any peripherals necessary to send email, play games, watch a movie or surf the web. It’s a great portable option, especially when traveling.
Rapid prototyping just got a little easier with the Freescale FRDM-KL25Z development platform. This affordable board is enabled by Kinetis L Series KL 1x and KL 2x MCUs built on the ARM® Cortex™-M0+ processor. It can operate at 48 MHz and includes 128 KB of flash memory, a USB controller, and flexible power supply options. It has an embedded debug and programming interface, OpenSDA, that supports debug, debug with trace, and production programming. In addition, it can accommodate the Arduino R3 pin layout which facilitates the use of additional shields and expansion boards. Plus, it is mbed-enabled and supported by the mbed.orgcommunity which will be expanding their development platforms for Freescale later this year.
From Dangerous Prototypes, we have the Bus Blaster, a high-speed JTAG debugger for ARM processors, FPGAs, CPLDs, flash, and more. It is flexible and can work with various open source JTAG debuggers thank to its reprogrammable buffer. There are several different versions and the price points are similar. They are all based on the FT2232H high-speed USB 2.0 device. They have a buffered interface works that work with 3.3V to 1.8V targets. They come pre-programmed with the JTAGkey compatible buffer image and should support Serial Wire Debug when available. The Bus Blaster v3 is outfitted with series resistors to protect against damage and noise. The Bus Blaster v4 also has the series resistors, but has a larger CLPD than the older versions. Both of these fit in the standard PCB cases unlike the previous iterations.
Although Grove is a great tool for development and play, it is also fantastic for building practical finished products. Case in point, we have the Grove – Gas Sensorwhich can detect household and/or industrial gas leaks. The sensor is capable of detecting a wide range of gases, including LPG, i-butane, propane, methane, alcohol, hydrogen and smoke. The sensor has a fast response time, and measurements can be taken as soon as the sensor is heated up. The sensor comes in four different flavors:the MQ-2, the MQ-3, the MQ-5, and the MQ-9. Check out the chart below to see which version will meet your needs.
| Symbol |
MQ-2 |
MQ-3 |
MQ-5 |
MQ-9 |
| Gas Detected | Combustible Gas & Smoke | Alcohol Vapor | LPG, Natural Gas, & Town Gas | Carbon Monoxide, Coal Gas, & Liquefied Gas |
| Concentration Detected | 300-10000ppm | 0.04-4mg/L Alcohol | 300-10000ppm | 10-1000ppm CO;100-10000 ppm Gas |
We have two additional products in the Grove family this week, the Grove – Dry-Reed Relay and the Grove – Piezo Vibration Sensor. The Grove – Dry-Reed Relay is a hermetically sealed reed relay switch that uses an electromagnetic coil for activation. Because dry reed relays are not subject to oxidation they are faster, more reliable, and last longer. They can be used as proximity sensors, circuit controllers, and more.
Our last Grove module, the Grove – Piezo Vibration Sensor, has a wide variety of uses from car alarms to sensing washing machine vibrations. The sensor translatespressure, flexibility, acceleration, impact, and vibration into electrical signals. Specifically, it uses a piezoelectric film device as the switch and when it moves back and forth it creates a voltage output based on the voltage comparator. It can withstand large impacts and has a comprehensive dynamic range of 0.001 MHz – 1000 MHz. Sensitivity is easy to adjust with the screw potentiometer.
written by Erin
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