Not that I’m going to put down my soldering iron anytime soon, but hacking with plugs (as opposed to molten lead) is a little more inviting for many of us. Not to mention a lot quicker, forgiving and often robust. I’ve been noticing more cool products that allow even the amateur to unleash the hackor within - isn’t that what it’s all about anyway?

We all know the Arduino & it’s lineage as being a great platform to start hardware hacking. One of the great parts of the Duemilanove et al is the group of shields that are available to plug into the thing to instantly give you what you need. Want to connect your kit to the net? Try the Lady Ada’s ethernet board. Perfer to turn the Arduino into a treaded tank of terror… Try the TankShield. You know you want to watch the video.

Liquidware's TankShield

A new product was recently released that adds even more functionality to the Arduino, or conceivably any electronics devices. It’s called the Tinkerkit. It’s a set of 20 sensors, 10 accuators, and even an Arduino shield, that allow you to plug and play to turn your concept into an up and running prototype. Very cool. It hasn’t been released yet, but you’ll be hearing more of them.

Tinkerkit Pieces

Another great company in this space is the widely known BugLabs. If you don’t know about these guys, they make a central computer about the size of an iPod called the BUGbase. Then they have BUGmodules that plug into the 4 ports (2 on each side) that give the device input and output. Each module has certain functionality, like the BUGmotion that senses motion using a passive IR sensor and an accelerometer. With this plug the BUGcam, could make camera that takes a picture of anything that crosses its path. This is already currently available and getting traction.

BUGbase + BUGs

Another cool project works with an array a little computers with screens that can link together to form ad hoc networks between each other. They’re called Siftables, and they seem to open up a lot of cool possibilities. Check out this video on TED to get a better idea of what they’re capable of. The tech isn’t a product yet, but they’re working on it. I’m not sure if it will be open source or not, but I heard they’re filing patents.

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Uncategorized by Nick