The RIoTboard has grown its connections and its functionality with the release by Farnell element14 of the RIoTboard adapter, enabling the connection of a variety of accessory types. These include accessories from a wide range including Arduino shields, MikroE Clicks, Pmods and Raspberry Pi. 

Ben travels to the United Kingdom to attend EMF Camp, an outdoor camping festival for geeks, crafters and technology enthusiasts. He sets up camp and breaks out the camping chair he souped-up for the occasion. In a series of flashbacks Ben shows how he created the mods back at the shop - including a beverage holder with active cooling and fans that detect campfire smoke to blow it away from the camper.

Farnell element14 has introduced the C8051F850-B-DK development kit from Silicon Labs which opens up the C8051F85x/6x AEC-Q100-qualified, low-cost microcontroller family. The development kit enables developers to evaluate hardware and develop code, straight out of the box.

  The term SBC or single board computer has been around for many years and has meant different things to different people. By Cliff Ortmeyer, Global Head of Solutions Development, Premier Farnell.

Ben and Felix continue building the simple cell phone. Ben dials in the code to parse the data sent by the FONA to the OLED display and Felix solders the necessary components on the homespun, double-sided PCB.

Ben decides to go back to a simpler time before smartphones by building a DIY basic cell phone. He uses the Adafruit FONA as the foundation of the project along with a keyboard, battery, OLED and MCU. Ben programmes the MCU to be the brains of his phone project.

Ben creates a project for Little Free Library, an organisation that promotes literacy and the love of reading through free book exchanges.

Using the Raspberry Pi and its camera module, Ben creates a motorised web camera so viewers can tune into the shop and take a look behind the scenes. Felix uses his Linux skills to get the Pi streaming to the web and Ben builds the mechanical features of the project. Ben carefully designs the project from the camera out to ensure everything will function once it’s all assembled.

Texas Instruments CC3200 Launchpad and CC3100 BoosterPack, a development platform and Wi-Fi device, created for faster and easier implementation of solutions for the Internet of Things(IoT) is now available at Farnell element14. The kit is the industry’s first single-chip programmable microcontroller with built-in Wi-Fi connectivity suitable for applications in cloud connectivity, home automation, safety and security, health and fitness, an...

Social media for engineers; is it a useful source of information, or simply a distraction? By Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community, element14.

element 14 has undertaken a global survey into the use of development kits that found they were used in almost half of electronics designs last year. The survey, which sampled the views of 2,000 designers of electronics prototypes, found that that while development kits are used in 45% of designs, only half of these are being taken through to the full production process.

A new development board featuring a Freescale Kinetis K next-generation microcontroller and crystal-less USB controller is now available from Farnell element14.  The Freescale Freedom FRDM-K22F is targeted at USB applications that require a high level of integration and the lower-power capabilities of the new generation of ARM Cortex-M4 core; @120MHz with Floating Point Unit and embeds 512KB Flash and 128KB RAM in a LQFP64 package.

Farnell element14 has launched the Texas Instruments MSP430 ULP(ultra low power) FRAM LaunchPad, a development platform which combines embedded FRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memory) and a holistic ultra low-power system architecture.The MSP-EXP430FR5969 is an easy-to-use Evaluation Module for the MSP4305969 microcontroller, and enables developers to reduce energy budgets, minimise product size and enable a battery-free world.

The age of the development kit is very much upon us. According to Farnell element14 research conducted with more than 1,500 designers of electronic prototypes, on average development kits were used in 45% of all designs in the 12 months up to March 2014. By utilising readymade, low cost boards engineers can test their design ideas with a variety of components. By Richard Curtin, Global Director of Strategic Alliance, element14.

In this video, Farnell element14 takes it's first look at the latest Raspberry Pi, the Raspberry Pi Model B+.

Honeywell’s Nanopower Anisotropic Magnetoresistive Sensor ICs are now available from Farnell element14. The new ICs provide the highest level of magnetic sensitivity, as low as 7 Gauss typical, while requiring no more than 360 nA. The Sensor ICs are smaller, more durable and more reliable than reed switches, operating with the same sensitivity for the same cost.

The impact open source hardware has had in the past year has been momentous. Educators, students and hobbyists have all traditionally been big proponents of open-source hardware, but in the last 12 months we finally saw large companies and professional engineers begin to openly embrace the open source movement as well.

element14 is launching the latest in its extensive development kit range the Raspberry Pi Compute Development Kit to allow design engineers to harness the power of the Raspberry Pi for embedded applications. The Raspberry Pi Compute Module allows design engineers to use their own interface board that will host the compute module and deliver a smooth experience as they move from prototyping on the Pi through to shipping commercial product in volum...

Farnell element 14 and RS Components have launched Raspberry Pi B+. This new version has been developed with a close ear to customer feedback and meets many of the requests that have flowed back since the multi-million, credit-card sized computer was launched just over two years ago.

Farnell element14 has launched Texas Instruments MSP430 ULP (ultra low power) FRAM LaunchPad, a development platform which combines embedded FRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memory) and a holistic ultra low-power system architecture. The new addition to the LaunchPad family, MSP-EXP430FR5969 - an easy-to-use Evaluation Module for the MSP4305969 microcontroller enables developers to reduce energy budgets, minimise product size and enable a batter...