bluetooth News - Page 30 of 65 - CNX Software

September 22, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

PUCK 2 Bluetooth to IR Bridge Allows you to Control Appliances from your Android or iOS Phone

We’ve already seen there are several solutions to control IR appliances such as air conditioners or (dumb) televisions via your smartphone thanks to solutions such as ZaZa Remote that adds an IR transmitter to your 3.5mm audio jack or more recently via your USB-C port. If you don’t quite like having extra hardware connected to your smartphone WiFi to Infrared bridges such as the compact and omnidirectional Broadlink RM Mini 3 are cost-effective solutions, although you’d need one in every room where you wish to control appliances. I’ve recently noticed an even smaller “smartphone to IR” solution with PUCK v2 Bluetooth to IR bridge. The full technical details about PUCK 2 have not been made available, but we do know it’s a Bluetooth 4.2 to infrared remote bridge that transforms any iOS or Android device into a remote. The infrared LED has a range of about 4.5 meters, while Bluetooth […]

September 10, 2019September 10, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Up2Stream Pro HiFi Audio Receiver Board Streams Audio over WiFi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, or USB

Last December, we wrote about Up2Stream WiFi audio module designed for people wanting to build their own DIY wireless speakers. The module is based on MediaTek MT7688AN MIPS processor with 64MB DDR2 and 16MB flash storage The module also comes with a small baseboard allowing for an easier connection to speakers. The company has now introduced Up2Stream Pro model based on the same module, but with a baseboard adding more features including Bluetooth, Ethernet, USB, and audio jacks. Up2Stream Pro key features and specifications: Audio Output – 3.5mm AUX jack and I2S header Input – 3.5mm AUX-in SNR: 91db THD: 0.03% Sample rate – 24bit up to 192kHz FLAC, Wav, and APE codec supported, but NOT SBC, APT-X, APT-X HD, or LDAC. Multiroom & Multizone support EQ control Connectivity – Ethernet, WiFi, and Bluetooth 5.0 Streaming Protocols – Airplay, DLNA, UPnP, Spotify Connect Compatible Services – Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, Qobuz, […]

August 23, 2019August 23, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

iMars Black is an Inexpensive Bluetooth 5.0 USB Audio Transmitter & Receiver

Last year I wrote about a Bluetooth 5.0 audio amplifier board and the potential benefits of Bluetooth 5.0 for audio applications which include support for configurable periodic data broadcast which may improve power consumption, and reduction of reconnection times. It’s unclear to me whether those are clear advantages in practical terms but I’ve just noticed iMars Black, a Bluetooth 5.0 USB audio transmistter & receiver being sold on Banggood for $3.99. Bluetooth 5.0 (D00251) transmitter and receiver specifications: Connectivity Bluetooth 5.0 A2DP, and AVRCP (receiver mode only) Range – Up to 15m (line of sight) Pairing name: ZF-169 Audio ports – 3.5mm Tx and Rx audio jacks Misc – LED: red or Tx, blue for Rx; Button to switch between Tx and Rx modes Power Supply – 5V via USB connector Dimensions – 39x25x12mm The Bluetooth 5.0 USB audio dongle ships with two audio cables, and a user manual. There […]

August 21, 2019 by Ayo Ayibiowu - 15 Comments

Pitaya Go is an IoT development board with multi-protocol wireless connectivity

One of the challenges in starting a new IoT project is the question of what connectivity to use. Depending on the nature of a project, there are several wired and wireless connectivity options that can be used to power a project and ensure it’s a success. We have WiFi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Zwave, LoRa, ZigFox, Thread, NB-IoT, 3G/4G, and others. You can use from anyone, but which one to use is another thing because most development board only support 1 or 2 of those. Well, with the introduction of the Pitaya Go, you don’t have to worry so much about that decision. The Pitaya Go is an IoT development platform with multiprotocol wireless connectivity built-in. The Pitaya Go is based on the Nordic’s high-end multiprotocol SoC nRF52840 and the Microchip’s extremely low power Wi-Fi network controller ATWINC1500B. The nRF52840 SoC is the most advanced member of the nRF52 Series SoC family, and it […]

August 15, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Embedded Linux Conference (ELC) Europe 2019 Schedule – October 28-30

Embedded Linux Conference Europe 2019 Schedule

I may have just written about Linaro Connect San Diego 2019 schedule, but there’s another interesting event that will also take place this fall: the Embedded Linux Conference Europe on October 28 -30, 2019 in Lyon, France. The full schedule was also published by the Linux Foundation a few days ago, so I’ll create a virtual schedule to see what interesting topics will be addressed during the 3-day event. Monday, October 28 11:30 – 12:05 – Debian and Yocto Project-Based Long-Term Maintenance Approaches for Embedded Products by Kazuhiro Hayashi, Toshiba & Jan Kiszka, Siemens AG In industrial products, 10+ years maintenance is required, including security fixes, reproducible builds, and continuous system updates. Selecting appropriate base systems and tools is necessary for efficient product development. Debian has been applied to industrial products because of its stability, long-term supports, and powerful tools for packages development. The CIP Project, which provides scalable and […]

June 21, 2019June 21, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

Android Patch Brings Bluetooth SBC Codec Audio Quality on-par with aptX

In the context of CNX Software’s topics, SBC usually stands for “Single Board Computer”, but SBC also stands for “SubBand Codec“, a standard and mandatory Bluetooth codec which is supported by all headphones, portable speakers, car head units, and basically everything that plays audio over Bluetooth. SBC is known as a basic and low-quality Bluetooth codec, so people will often recommend using other codecs such as aptX, AAC or LDAC wherever possible, but ValdikSS has submitted a patch for Android which improves Bluetooth SBC codec audio quality on most existing devices, allegedly making it as good as the high quality aptX HD codec. ValdikSS explains this basically works by increasing the bitrate: My patchset bypass Android Bluetooth stack limitations and increase bitrate from stock 328 kbps to 452 or 551 kbps, depending on device speed capabilities. It’s already merged into LineageOS 15.1 and 16.0, Resurrection Remix and crDroid alternative Android […]

June 3, 2019June 3, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Silicon Labs Demonstrates Bluetooth 5.1 Location Technology (Video)

Recently there are been advancements related to precise indoor positioning with the announcement for Bluetooth 5.1 and 802.15.4z. Both can provide 1 to 10 centimeters accuracy with minimal lag, and Bluetooth 5.1 achieves this through Angle of Arrival (AoA) and Angle of Departure (AoD) features and an antenna array. I had never seen the new feature in action, but Silicon Labs recently demonstrated Bluetooth 5.1 location technology at Arrow IoT summit with a DMX-512 connected light following a person carrying a Bluetooth 5.1 tag. It looks fairly accurate, and it does not have a 3-6 seconds lag like previous solutions based on earlier versions of Bluetooth? So what does one need to enable Bluetooth 5.1 location finding? First, we’ll need a Bluetooth 5.1 base station with an antenna array, The one used above includes a 16 antenna array (4×4 grid) used to calculated angles of departure and arrival and ultimately […]

May 19, 2019February 26, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Arduino Introduces Four New Nano Boards with WiFi, BLE, Sensors, and/or HW Crypto

The Maker Faire 2019 is now taking place in San Mateo, California, United States, and Arduino has made an habit of announcing new products during the events. This year is no different as the company has announced a new Nano Family with four boards: Arduino Nano Every powered by a Microchip ATMega4809 AVR microcontroller Arduino Nano 33 IoT with secure internet connectivity thanks to a U-blox ESP32 WiFi module and ATECC608A HW crypto chip Arduino Nano 33 BLE with Bluetooth connectivity via U-blox NINA B306 module based on Nordic Semi nRF52840 Bluetooth 5.0 chip Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense with a design similar to Nano 33 BLE but some extra on-board sensors. Arduino Nano Every Specifications: MCU – Microchip ATMega4809 AVR microcontroller @ 20 MHz with 48KB flash, 6KB SRAM, 256 Bytes EEPROM USB to Serial via Microchip ATSAMD11D14A Arm Cortex-M0+ USB MCU 2x 15-pin expansion headers with GPIO, SPI, […]