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There's so much you can do with a Raspberry Pi - thanks to the ease of connecting external hardware to this small computer and the Internet-connectivity possibilities you can create all sorts of remote-controlled devices.

One example of this is by Derek Dickerson who explains to us how to create a remote-control pan/tilt security camera whose vision can be monitored from a remote website. The system uses the RPi-Cam-Web-Interface and some simple python code. Derek runs through the system in the following video:

If you're interested in making your own cameras, visit the comments section of Derek's YouTube video page. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.

Apart the usual fun and games, you can also create educational devices that are useful and can be customised to various tasks. One example of this has been described by Instructables user AdamW5 whose project uses a series of LEDs to indicate whether a number is even, odd or a prime number.

The method of entering the number in question is simple, the Arduino counts the number of times a button is pressed and then the number is compared against the list of primes in the sketch. This kind of device would be useful in early years of maths and adaptable to the curriculum.

To recreate your own, visit the project's Instructable page. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well. 

Once again Australian Arduino enthusiast Beau Walker has created an interesting and fun project. In this example the device is a simple Arduino-controlled telephone exchange for use with classic Telecom rotary phones.

Not only can each phone dial and connect with the other, the Arduino controls an external 90V signal which is required to activate the original ringers in the phone. Apart from fun for younger people, this could also be the framework for a simple phone-based intercom for larger homes, workplaces or farms. 

For more information, check out Beau's interesting website. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.

Simulating the concept of a smart home can be difficult when the target audience cannot observe one in real life (or they haven't seen superhouse.tv), so the next best thing is to add automation to a model house. This process has been demonstrated by Ian Jennings from PubNub, who shows how to use the PubNub service as a home automation control system.

The PubNub service allows you to cotrol an Arduino in real-time from an Internet-enabled device such as a smartphone, and with an Ethernet-enabled Arduino at the receving end the rest is quite simple. Review the following video for some interesting demonstration footage:

You can learn more about this through the demonstration's project page. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.

With a bunch of LEDs, some spare time, parts and an Arduino you can make all sorts of interesting and useful devices, and one of those is a very large digital thermometer. During a recent holiday break Instructables member Sobaka-Gemini did just that - by mounting lots of 10mm LEDs into a drilled wooden disc. This resulted with a pixelated numeric display that could be considered to have a retro feel about it.

The Arduino receives temperature data from a DS18B20 temperature sensor, and controls the higher power required for all the LEDs through a series of MOSFETS. For a quick holiday project - it was quite successful, as shown in the following video:

For complete details to make your own version, visit the project page. And for more, we're on facebook, twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.

To get started with your own temperature-controlled or measurement projects, consider using our TEMP: DS18B20-based temperature sensor module:

... or our HUMID: Humidity and Temperature sensor module based on the popular DHT22 sensor unit. Both modules are fully documented and easy to get started with. These are only two of over a dozen of our sensor and outputs modules. 

The Arduino platform lends itself nicely to working with all manner of sensors, interfaces and therefore measuring data types and signals with ease. And thus with some planning you can put all this to work, just as Instructables member TankMorph has done with his information centre for a 1990 US Ford Mustang.

The factory speedometer has been remove, and in its place an Arduino with a large character LCD, which is also connected to various sensors in and around the vehicle along with a GPS module. This allows for speed, temperature, engine temperature, trip meter, heading, real time and more to be displayed for the driver. It's a great way to modernise older cars or just add some "Knight Rider"-style pizazz for fun. Furthermore there's a lot of scope for logging vehicle paramters for later analysis.

In some jurisdictions there can be laws with relation to modifiying odometers, so check with your local agencies. However for more information and the Arduino sketch running the system - visit the project's Instructable page. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.

If you're looking for an Arduino Uno-compatible board to embed into various projects, choose what tens of thousands of others have done and use our Freetronics Eleven - the Arduino-Uno compatible with low-profile USB socket, onboard prototyping space and easy to view LEDs: 

If there's one great thing about IKEA apart from the interesting snack food, it is the possibilties of hacking so many of their products. From using photo frames as cheap enclsoures right through to hacking up their variety of lamps - each trek through their ambulatory puzzle stimulates the imagination. One great example of this has been documented by technical researcher David Bliss who converted an IKEA pendant lamp into an object that could resemble a "Death Star".

The enclosure of the lamp is a sphere, however it is divided up into smaller pieces that can expand and separate from the centre point. By adding an Arduino-controlled stepper motor to this mechanism, the sphere can be opended and closed at will. With the addition of RGB LEDs, some amazing lighting effects can also be created. Check out the video for a demonstration of the lamp - if you skip through you can see it open and close:

For much more detail about this fantastic project, visit David's website. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.

 If you're looking into this type of project and need to control a stepper motor with your Arduino or compatible, check out our HBRIDGE: DC/stepper motor shield. Based around the powerful Allegro A4954 H-bridge driver IC you can control two DC motors with complete ease, or one bipolar stepper motor. With connections for external power management, a complete beginners' guide and documentation - motor control couldn't be any easier. For more information and to order, visit the HBRIDGE: page.

Recently a variety of remote-controlled light bulbs have entered the market at various price points. Soon they were followed by products that imitated most of the functions (such as power and changing colour) however with much more inexpensive technology. One example of these are bulbs controlled by RF data links. These are very useful to the hacking and maker community, as the RF signal can easily be determine and replicated by an Arduino.

This exact process has been demonstrated by Instructables user FabricateIO who uses a cheap bulb from Amazon, and determines the required signals to control the bulb using some open-source test equipment. They explain how to dump the contents of the bulb's EEPROM which contains the codes required to activate it - and with a little detective work you can then have an Arduino and RF transmitted reproduce the codes - and thus have much better control of the bulbs - as demonstrated in the following video:

Another example of how you can command inexpensive consumer devices with an Arduino. To get started, check out the project page. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.

If you're looking to learn about Arduino development platform and how it interacts with external devices, you can't go past "Arduino Workshop -  A Hands-On Introduction with 65 Projects” by John Boxall.

Arduino Workshop takes the reader from having zero knowledge about the Arduino platform, electronics and programming and leaves them with the know-how and instructions on everything from blinking an LED, to robotics, wireless data, cellular communications, motor control, sensors, Internet connected systems and more. For more information including a sample chapter and table of contents, visit the book page. 

Thermostats for home HVAC systems may seem like a good idea, however the placement of the temperature sensors may not be ideal - and thanks to the closed-source nature of many systems it's impossible to add your own without great expense. However there is a solution, and with a little work William Thomas came up with a great solution.

By hacking into the control planel which has full manual control, William has used a Raspberry Pi to control relays connected to the relevant buttons on the panel for controlling the heating system. Once this has been done, the Raspberry Pi can now take control and make decisions based on sensors placed wherever they're required - and William has also created a neat web-based control via a LAMP stack to allow remoteo control via a smartphone.

Although this may sound complex, once the panel can be controlled by external hardware you can take over completely. For more information, check out WIlliam's github page. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.

As an interesting demonstration of technology from a few decades ago (that is, a pager) or a neat device to display incoming text messages - the following project by Ricky Robinett will be of interest. By using the cloud-based messaging service, node.js on a local machine and an Arduino with an LCD module you can create your own incoming SMS message display device.

Instead of using a direct Ethernet connection, the system relies on the host PC to recieve the data from Twilio via the Internet, with the node.js software extracting the requried data and sending it to the Arduino via USB-serial.

It's a neat project that could have some practical uses, so for more information visit the Twilio project page. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.

Looking for a rapid-use LCD for your Arduino or compatible projects such as the ohm meter above? Save time and move forward with the Freetronics LCD & Keypad shield which contains a bright 16x2 character LCD and five buttons that can be read from only one analogue input pin: