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Sonoff POW and Sonoff TH16 WiFi Relays Review – Part 1: The Hardware

Sonoff TH16 is a WiFi 16A relay that can take external sensors via a 2.5mm jack, while Sonoff Pow is a WiFi relay capable of measuring power consumption. Both have been designed by ITEAD Studio, and feature Espressif ESP8266 WiSoC. The company sent me both items for review, and I’ll start by checking out the hardware a little more closely than what is possible during the product announcement. I received Sonoff TH16 together with Sonoff AM2301 temperature and humidity sensor, which I’ll use to use to control an outdoor water pump and gather temperature and humidity data, as well as two Sonoff POW relays,which I plan to use to measure power consumption in my office, both from the power outlets and my aircon. All three WiFi relays support 3500 Watts, and 85 to 250V input. The packages have three QR codes for eWeLink iOS app, the Android app (coolkit.apk), and […]

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Inforce Computing Introduces 6301 SoM and Devkit Powered by Snapdragon 410E SoC with Long Term Availability

Qualcomm launched Snapdragon 410E and 600E processors for the embedded market at the end of September, meaning the processors were easy to source by any company, not matter how small they are, and the company would now offer long term availability often required for embedded systems. Inforce Computing is now leveraging the new Snapdragon 410E processor with their Inforce 6301 micro SoM, and corresponding development kit. Inforce 6301 micro SoM specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 410E (APQ8016 SoC) quad core ARM Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2GHz, Adreno 306 GPU, and Hexagon DSP @ 700MHz Memory – 1GB LPDDR3 @ 533MHz  (Option: 2GB) Storage – 8GB eMMC v4.5 flash (Option up to 64GB) NAND, 1x micro SD card interface with support up to HS200 Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.1 LE, Wi-Fi dual stream 802.11 b/g/n @ 2.4GHz (WC3620), on-board GPS/GNSS/BeiDou/Galileo (WGR7640) Video – H.264/263 playback and capture @1080p; H.265 playback @720p; Interfaces […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
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Anet A8 DIY 3D Printer Could Be a Worthwhile First 3D Printer for $147

You probably have wished getting started with 3D printer, as I did, but you may have been put off with the high cost associated with 3D printers even the cheaper ones for several hundred dollars, especially if you are unsure whether you’re going to use it often. But there’s now a very affordable 3D printer kit based on Prusa i3 printer that sells on GearBest for $146.99 including shipping with A8PRINT coupon. Anet A8 3D printer specifications: Print Area: 220 x 220 x 240mm Print speed – 100 mm/s Nozzle diameter – 0.4 mm Layer thickness – 0.1 – 0.3 mm XY-axis positioning accuracy – 0.012 mm Z-axis positioning accuracy – 0.004 mm Supported materials – ABS, PLA, TPU, Luminescent, Nylon PVA, PP, Wood??? Material diameter – 1.75mm Frame material – Acrylic plate Platform board: Aluminum Base 2004 LCD screen for configuration SD card for offline print Supported file formats – […]

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ONENUTS Nut 1 TV Box Specifications, Unbagging and Teardown

I first discovered Shenzhen Tomato’s ONENUTS brand through ONENUTS T1 3-in-1 projector, tablet, and mini PC, but the company has now launched a new product with ONENUTS Nut 1 Android TV box powered by Amlogic S912 processor, and the usual 2GB RAM and 16GB storage, but the product stands out a little thanks to its presentation as we’ll see below. ONENUTS Nut 1 Specifications The technical specifications are pretty much standard: SoC – Amlogic S912 octa-core ARM Cortex A53 processor @ up to 1.5 GHz with ARM Mali-820MP3 @ up to 750MHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60Hz with CEC and HDR support, and AV port (composite) Audio Output – HDMI, AV (stereo audio), and optical S/PDIF Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, dual band WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 USB […]

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Giveaway Week – Vana Player Linux Based HiFi Audio Player

After giving away a virtual reality headset on Monday, and a TV box on Tuesday, I’ll offer a very unique device for the third day of this giveawat week with Vana Player, an HiFi audio player based on Allo Sparky ARM Linux development board. Beside the development board the kit includes two audio DAC boards, a 30W amplifier, a reclocker board, a capacitance multiplier board, and accessories like an acrylic “case” and a power supply. The system is running Ubuntu 12.04 with Max2Play web interface to configure the system running a SqueezeBox server, Kodi and more. I found a few bugs during my review, but the company has now released a new firmware update that should fix many of the issues I encountered. All items shown above will be included in the package. Note that you’ll also need a 19.5V power supply, for example from an old laptop to power […]

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GIGABYTE GB-BPCE-3350 Apollo Lake Mini PC to be Powered by Intel Celeron N3350 Processor

GIGABYTE GB-BPCE-3350 will be one of the first Intel Apollo Lake mini PCs powered by the entry-level Celeron N3350 dual core processor, with two SO-DIMM slots for up to 8GB RAM, SATA support, HDMI 2.0 and VGA ports, etc… and very much designed like an Intel NUC. GIGABYTE GB-BPCE-3350 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N3350 dual core processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.4 GHz with 12 EU Intel HD graphics 500 @ 200 MHz / 650 MHz (6W TDP) System Memory – 2x SO-DIMM DDR3L 1333/ 1600/ 1866 MHz slot up to 8GB Storage –  1x 2.5″ SATA 3.0 bay for drives with 7.0/9.5mm thickness, 1x micro SD slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0 with HDCP 2.2 up to 4K @ 60 Hz, and VGA up to 1920×1200 @ 60 Hz; Dual independent display support Audio – HDMI out, 3.5mm audio in/mic in combo jack; Realtek ALC255 audio codec Connectivity […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
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Giveaway Week – VR SKY CX-V3 Android Virtual Reality Headset

It’s been a while since I’ve organized a Giveaway week, and with Christmas less than two months away, it might be a good time to launch another one. It will take place on October 31 – November 6 with one device or board offered every day, starting with VR SKY CX-V3 All-in-one Android VR Headset. CX-V3 review showed that it’s good enough to play 2D and 3D videos, but Allwinner H8vr might not be quite powerful enough for VR games, and the IPD (Interpupillary distance) is not adjustable, so depending on the distance between your eyes, virtual reality apps may not be usable at all. That’s not a problem for videos however. I’ll send the kit with all accessories to the lucky winner. To enter the draw simply leave a comment below. Other rules are as follows: Only one entry per contest. I will filter out entries with the same […]

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Getting Started with RabbitMax Flex IoT and Automation Hat for Raspberry Pi

At the beginning of the month I showed how to assemble RabbitMax Flex, a Raspberry Pi HAT compliant add-on board for Raspberry Pi boards with 40-pin header, that targets IoT and home automation project with its relay, IR transmitter and receiver, I2C headers for sensors, buzzer, RGB LED, and more.  Since I’ve already described the hardware, I’ve spend some time this week-end following the user’s guide to play around with the board using a Raspberry Pi 2 board, and try various features. The user’s manual explains that you need the latest version of Raspbian, but I’d not played with my Raspberry Pi 2 board for a while, so the kernel and firmware were quite old:

So the first thing I had to do was to upgrade Raspbian. There are basically two options to upgrade, either downloading and dumping the latest Raspbian firmware image to your micro SD card, and […]

Boardcon CM3588 Rockchip RK3588 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications