kickstarter

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments on Crowdfunding Report 2013 on CNXSoft Blog

Crowdfunding Report 2013 on CNXSoft Blog

Crowdfunding has really took off in 2013, with sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, as they enable start-ups to launch new and innovative products, and some established, even large companies, I’m thinking Canonical with Ubuntu Edge here, have also tapped into that market, actually shifting part of the risks from shareholders, to customers / individual funders. In this post, I’ll go through all the crowdfunding projects, 16 Indiegogo and 25 Kickstarter campaigns, featured on cnx-software.com between the beginning of December 2012 till the end of November 2013, to find out which ones have been a stellar success in terms of funding and on-time delivery, and those that have failed in one way or another, with some being close to looking like scams. There was a wide range of products with dealing home automation, the Internet of things, wireless Arduino compatible boards, Linux development boards, media players and more. Let’s go straight […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on $89 LOGi Development Boards Add FPGA and Arduino Headers to the Raspberry Pi and Beaglebone Black (Crowdfunding)

$89 LOGi Development Boards Add FPGA and Arduino Headers to the Raspberry Pi and Beaglebone Black (Crowdfunding)

LOGi-Pi and LOGi-Bone are expansion boards featuring Xilinx Spartan 6 for respectively the Raspberry Pi, and the Beaglebone Black. Valent F(x), the company who designed the boards, is currently looking for funds via Kickstarter in order to bring the cost down to $89, or even $69 for early backers. LOGi boards specifications: FPGA – Xilinx Spartan 6 LX9 TQFP-144 FPGA 9,152 Logic Cells, 16 DSP48A1 Slices, 576KB Ram, and 96 User Available I/O Pins System Memory –  256 Mb SDRAM connected to the FPGA Storage – 1x High Bandwidth SATA connector expansion port Video Output – 10x Length-tuned LVDS Pairs Connectors: 2x Digilent Inc. PMOD ports supporting 59+ plug-and-play hardware modules Arduino compatible headers connected to the FPGA pins (3.3v only) supporting over 200 Arduino Shields. Bit-Stream loading interface connected to the host processor, optional bitstream FPGA self-loading from onboard Flash. Misc – 2x LEDs 2x Push Buttons 2x DIP Switches 3.3v I/O Regulator and […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Smart Power Strip Controls and Monitors your Electric Appliances with Android or iOS Devices (Crowdfunding)

Smart Power Strip Controls and Monitors your Electric Appliances with Android or iOS Devices (Crowdfunding)

Broadlink SP1 and Plugaway are smart sockets controlled by your mobile device(s) via Wi-Fi, but they only support one appliance at a time. Smart Power Strip will fix that thanks to 4 sockets with independent power consumption meters that are controlled via Wi-Fi by Android or iOS devices. The power strip is comprised of 4 independent relays, 2 USB ports, a 120V or 230V circuit breaker, and a dual 2.4 GHz module for Wi-Fi and Home Automation (MESH) technology. It supports 100-250V AC, with a maximum of 15 Amps. The smart power strip will be available for US, EU, UK, and AU standards. That’s about all we know about the hardware. The mobile app will allow you to turn on/off devices manually, monitor each appliance’s power consumption individually, set timers, and monitor which device is on/off. As long as you have Internet access, the smart power strip can be accessed […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Crystal Board Combines Rockchip RK3188 ARM SoC with Xilinx FPGA and Arduino Compatible Board (Crowdfunding)

Crystal Board Combines Rockchip RK3188 ARM SoC with Xilinx FPGA and Arduino Compatible Board (Crowdfunding)

Red Crystal, a German startup, has just introduced the Crystal Board, a 3-in-1 development board with Rockchip RK3188 SoC running Linux or Android, an Arduino UNO compatible board, and a Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA. The concept is a similar to the UDOO board, but adds an FPGA. The company has launched a Kickstarter campaign to gather funds to manufacture the Lite and Pro versions of the board for respectively $149 and $179. Crystal Board specifications (Lite and Pro versions): SoC – Rockchip RK3188 ARM Cortex-A9 quad core up to 1.8Ghz + Mali-400 MP4 GPU MCU – Atmel Atmega328 SMD FPGA – Xilinx Spartan6 XC6SLX9 with 9152 logic cells System Memory – 2GB DDR3 @ 1066MHz (1GB DDR3 @ 1066MHz for Lite version) Storage – micro SD card slot, SPI flash Video Output – HDMI 1.4 Connectivity: 10/100M Ethernet port Wi-Fi  802.11b/g/n with antenna. Dual band for Pro version, 2.4GHz band for […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on $27 Plugaway Wi-Fi Smart Sockets Support Australia, China, Europe, U.K. or U.S. Standards (Crowdfunding)

$27 Plugaway Wi-Fi Smart Sockets Support Australia, China, Europe, U.K. or U.S. Standards (Crowdfunding)

Until now, Broadlink SP1 was the cheapest ($32) Wi-Fi smart socket I found. It supports Australian and Chinese plugs, and Android and iOS smartphones. The two main downsides is that the application is in Chinese by default (English can be installed via a firmware upgrade), and although the top of the socket support international plugs, the plug of the device only support Australian / Chinese standard, and you may need an adapter to connect the device to your wall socket. There’s now a similarly priced option in Kickstarter called Plugaway that supports Australia, China, Euro, U.K. or U.S. standards, can measure power consumption, dim lights, and comes with Android and iOS apps, with Windows planned for a future release. Specifications: MCU – Atmel ATmega128 up to 16MHz with 128 KB flash Wi-Fi – Marvell 88W8686 Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g chip, to be upgraded to support 802.11n for longer range Current sensor […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Micro Python Brings Python to MCU Boards and Robots (Crowdfunding)

Micro Python Brings Python to MCU Boards and Robots (Crowdfunding)

Micro Python is an implementation of the Python programming language, written from scratch and optimized to run on micro-controllers such as the ones based on ARM Cortex-M cores. Damien George, the developer, also designed the Micro Python board powered by STMicro STM32F405 Cortex M4 MCU for the purpose of running Micro Python. Even though in this project, the star of the show is not the board itself, as Micro Python will run on other platform once it’s open source, let’s have a look at the hardware specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32F405RG @ 168MHz with 1MB flash, 192KB RAM, and an FPU. External storage – Micro SD slot 30 general purpose I/O pins – 5 USARTs, 2SPIs, 2 I2C busses, 14 ADC pins, 2 DAC pins, 2CANs, and 4 servo ports with power. Built-in USB interface Misc – 4 LEDs, a user switch, a reset switch, a real-time clock, and a 3-axis […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments on Qubi Android Media Center Features Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 SoC

Qubi Android Media Center Features Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 SoC

Traditionally Qualcomm Application Processor have mostly been found in tablets, smartphones, and in development board such as the company’s own Mobile Development Platforms (MDP) or MyDragonBoard boards. But recently, a Snapdragon S4 has found its way into a smartwatch and today, I’ve found an upcoming, or maybe not, media player  powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 600. Beside Qualcomm quad core Krait SoC, Qubi Android media center features 2 GB RAM, 16 GB NAND Flash,  dual band Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac, Gibabit Ethernet, and more. Here are the specifications of the device: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 Quad Core Krait CPU @ 1.7 GHz with Adreno 320 GPU System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 16GB NAND Flash + microSD slot Connectivity – Dual band Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac, Gigabit Ethernet, and Bluetooth 4.0 Video Output – HDMI with HDMI-CEC support Audio Output – HDMI, optical SPDIF Video – 1080p video decoding USB – 3x USB […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on 1Sheeld Arduino Shield Leverages Your Android Smartphone Hardware

1Sheeld Arduino Shield Leverages Your Android Smartphone Hardware

To get started with Arduino, a simple board is enough, with soon, you’ll need to add shields for Wi-Fi, sensors, maybe a small display, etc.. and costs add up. Integreight, an Egyptian startup, had to idea to create a simple shield called 1Sheeld that can leverage your smartphone hardware assets such as Wi-Fi, LEDs, sensors, the display, the speaker, etc.., so you don’t have to spend extra money on shields. Technical Specifications: Runs on an ATmega162 @ 16 MHz Uses a standard HC-06 adapter (Bluetooth 2.0) providing up to 30 feet range (about 9 meters) Uses a modified version of the Firmata protocol Can communicate with Arduino using UART 50mA current draw That’s for the hardware, and there’s also a software platform and Android app to manages the communication between the shield and the smartphone, and select different shields options. You’d have to write your sketch using the company’s library, […]