Wow! eBook – Blog

Book Description

Whether you’re new to Arduino and Android development, or you’ve tinkered a bit with either one, this is the book for you. Android has always been a natural fit with Arduino projects, but now that Google has released the Android Open Accessory Development Kit (the Android ADK), combining Android with Arduino to create custom gadgets has become even easier.

Beginning Android ADK with Arduino shows how the ADK works and how it can be used with a variety of Arduino boards to create a variety of fun projects that showcase the abilities of the ADK.

Mario Böhmer will walk you through several projects, including making sounds, driving motors, and creating alarm systems, all while explaining how to use the ADK and how standard Arduino boards may differ from Google-branded Arduinos. You aren’t tied to specific hardware with this book; use what you have, and this book will show you how.

What you’ll learn

• How different boards work with the ADK
• How to create your first sketch and project
• How to work with light and sound
• How to work with servos and DC motors
• How to work with photoresistors and thermistors to sense the environment Download Now »

Book Description

In Programming Your Home, technology enthusiast Mike Riley walks you through a variety of custom home automation projects, ranging from a phone application that alerts you to package deliveries at your front door to an electronic guard dog that will prevent unwanted visitors.

Open locked doors using your smartphone. Assemble a bird feeder that posts Twitter tweets to tell you when the birds are feeding or when bird seed runs low. Have your home speak to you when you receive email, notify you when visitors arrive, and more.

You’ll learn how to use Android smartphones, Arduinos, X10 controllers and a wide array of sensors, servos, programming languages, web frameworks, and mobile SDKs. Programming Your Home is written for smartphone programmers, web developers, technology tinkerers, and anyone who enjoys building cutting-edge, do-it-yourself electronic projects.

This book will give you the inspiration and understanding to construct amazing automation capabilities that will transform your residence into the smartest home in your neighborhood!

What you need
To get the most out of Programming Your Home, you should have some familiarity with the Arduino hardware platform along with a passion for tinkering. You should enjoy innovative thinking and learning exercises as well as have some practical application development experience. The projects use a variety of hardware components including sensors and actuators, mobile devices, and wireless radios Download Now »

Book Description

Create your own electronic devices with the popular IOIO (“yoyo”) board, and control them with your Android phone or tablet. With this concise guide, you’ll get started by building four example projects—after that, the possibilities for making your own fun and creative accessories with Android and IOIO are endless.

To build Android/IOIO devices, you write the program on your computer, transfer it to your Android, and then communicate with the IOIO via a USB or Bluetooth connection. The IOIO board translates the program into action. This book provides the source code and step-by-step instructions you need to build the example projects. All you have to supply is the hardware.

• Learn your way around the IOIO and discover how it interacts with your Android
• Build an intruder alarm that sends a text message when it detects movement
• Make a temperature sensing device that logs readings on your Android
• Create a multicolor LED matrix that displays a Space Invader animation
• Build an IOIO-powered surveillance rover that you control with your Android
• Get the software and hardware requirements for creating your own Android/IOIO accessories

Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Getting Started with IOIO
Chapter 2. Intruder Alarm Download Now »

Book Description

Start building electronics projects with Netduino, the popular open source hardware platform that’s captured the imagination of makers and hobbyists worldwide. This easy-to-follow book provides the step-by-step guidance you need to experiment with Netduino and the .NET Micro Framework.

Through a set of simple projects, you’ll learn how to create electronic gadgets—including networked devices that communicate over TCP/IP. Along the way, hobbyists will pick up the basics of .NET programming, and programmers will discover how to work with electronics and microcontrollers. Follow the projects in sequence and learn techniques for building your own Netduino-based devices.

• Get an overview of the Netduino microcontroller family
• Install the free Visual Studio Express, .NET Micro Framework, and Netduino SDK
• Write code that lets you turn Netduino’s LED on and off
• Learn how to increase Netduino’s capabilities with various expansion shields
• Measure digital and analog inputs with MakerShield
• Make a light appear dimmer or brighter with Pulse Width Modulation
• Use electrical pulses to play a song and control the position of a servo motor
• Create an app to control your Netduino over the Web

Table of Contents Download Now »

Book Description

Beginning Kinect Programming with the Microsoft Kinect SDK gets you up and running developing Kinect applications for your PC using Microsoft tools and the official SDK. You will have a working Kinect program by the end of the first chapter! The following chapters will open up the secrets of three-dimensional vision, skeleton tracking, audio through the Kinect, and more. Examples illustrate the concepts in the form of simple games that react to your body movements. The result is a fun read that helps you learn one of the hottest technologies out there today.

Beginning Kinect Programming with the Microsoft Kinect SDKalso provides building blocks and ideas for mashing up the Kinect with other technologies to create art, interactive games, 3D models and enhanced office automation. You’ll learn the fundamental code basic to almost all Kinect applications. You’ll learn to integrate that code with other tools and manipulate data to create amazing Kinect applications. Beginning Kinect Programming with the Microsoft Kinect SDK is your gateway into the exciting world of three-dimensional, real-time computer interaction.

• Helps you create a proper development environment for Kinect applications.
• Covers the basics of three-dimensional vision, skeleton tracking, gesture recognition, and audio
• Provides fun examples that keep you engaged and learning

What you’ll learn

• Create a proper development environment Download Now »

Book Description

Meet the Kinect introduces the exciting world of volumetric computing using the Microsoft Kinect. You’ll learn to write scripts and software enabling the use of the Kinect as an input device. Interact directly with your computer through physical motion. The Kinect will read and track body movements, and is the bridge between the physical reality in which you exist and the virtual world created by your software.

Microsoft’s Kinect was released in fall 2010 to become the fastest-selling electronic device ever. For the first time, we have an inexpensive, three-dimensional sensor enabling direct interaction between human and computer, between the physical world and the virtual. The Kinect has been enthusiastically adopted by a growing culture of enthusiasts, who put it to work in creating technology-based art projects, three-dimensional scanners, adaptive devices for sight-impaired individuals, new ways of interacting with PCs, and even profitable business opportunities.

Meet the Kinect is the resource to get you started in mastering the Kinect and the exciting possibilities it brings. You’ll learn about the Kinect hardware and what it can do. You’ll install drivers and learn to download and run the growing amount of Kinect software freely available on the Internet. From there, you’ll move into writing code using some of the more popular frameworks and APIs, including the official Microsoft API and the language known as Processing that is popular in the art and creative world.

Along the way, you’ll learn principles and terminology. Volumetric computing didn’t begin with the Kinect. The field is decades old—if you’ve ever had an MRI, for example Download Now »