Build a Mobile Electronics Prototyping Kit Inside a Suitcase

Not everyone has a ton of space to build their DIY projects, which is why Digital DIY forum member Baldor decided to build theirs into a suitcase.

The suitcase is handmade, but any old suitcase should work. Included inside is a set of breadboards, voltage regulators, voltmeters, different development boards, and more. Beneath all that is another layer with various cables and power supplies. It's a completely contained system that can be packed up in a matter of seconds. If you don't have a ton of space for your electronics projects, this is one way to group it all together in a tiny case.

Prototyping Case | Digital DIY via Hack a Day

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Mainstream 3D Printer Ownership To Build Slowly

Despite the on-going hype attached to 3D printing, and the advent of more consumer-friendly, affordable machines designed with a mainstream user in mind, consumer adoption of 3D printers is set for relatively slow growth in the near term, according to analyst Juniper Research.

Writing in a new report, Consumer 3D Printing & Scanning: Service Models, Devices & Opportunities 2014-2018, the analyst predicts sales of consumer 3D printers will exceed one million units by 2018, rising from the circa 44,000 estimated to be sold this year.

After what it describes as this “limited” medium term opportunity, Juniper said it does expect a significant increase in shipments beyond the five-year period — driven by widening scope of applicability for 3D printers and the arrival of more established printing vendors into the space, namechecking the likes of HP, along with lower price-tags for the machines.

Educating consumers about what 3D printers can be used to make, as well as creating the ‘killer apps’ and content to drive interest in the notion of print-it-yourself-at-home, are going to be critical factors in establishing a mainstream market, the analyst added.

It noted that “niche and novelty” applications for 3D printers are on the rise, such as the consumer experiences being developed by Hasbro and Hersheys in partnership with 3D printer makers — for print it yourself toys and chocolates, respectively.

“Educating and motivating the public on the idea of 3D printing, to create everyday objects is critical for the long-term success of this segment. Killer applications and content will be the key drivers – something unique and personalised, which is not available in stores already,” said report author Nitin Bhas in a statement.

One consumer-focused 3D printer in the making is the $299 Micro, currently raising funds on Kickstarter to move from prototype to shipping product. The low cost device is now within touching distance of $3 million in crowd pledges — having blasted past its original $50,000 funding goal in 11 minutes — although The Micro’s Kickstarter traction still sums down to a relatively small pool of backers (10,360+ at the time of writing).

The Micro’s measured success (passing $2M raised in just three days is impressive, but again it’s getting that traction by selling to a relatively small group of early adopters) underlines the nascent state of the 3D printing market, as these first few waves of consumer-focused prototype machines seek to prove out the potential they are sketching.

The Micro’s low price-tag is certainly helping to drive interest — but lower prices still will be required to drive greater mainstream adoption, along with improved capabilities and a lot more structured content so that the average 3D printer owner won’t have to come up with all the creative ideas for what to print themselves.

Build a Tiny, Foldable Workstation that Mounts to a Wall

Sometimes, finding a workspace is impossible, which is why Instructables user hp07 built a workstation that can fold into a tiny little box.

The workstation includes a big set of tools, but what's really interesting about it is the fact that you can mount it to the wall and fold it away when it's not in use. When you do want to use it, the workstation folds out into its own little desk. It's a pretty simple concept, but it looks like it works well and doesn't take up much space. Head over to Instructables for the full guide.

Zero-Space Flexible tool Storage Workstation - Portable or Wall Mountable | Instructables

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Build a Smartphone Connected Garage Door Opener with an Arduino

Garage door openers are simple enough when it's just a button, but if you want something more high tech, Instructables user MegunoLink shows off how to build a garage door opener you can control with your smartphone.

MegunoLink's build uses a network capable Arduino, a relay board, a few cables and wires, and a power supply. From there, you'll just compile the code onto the Arduino and you can then access your garage door from anywhere. The end result is a pretty straightforward system where you'll enter a password into your phone that opens the garage door. Head over to Instructables for the full guide.

Arduino WiFi Garage Door Opener | Instructables

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Mimic Your Boss's Body Language to Build Rapport and Get Ahead

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To build a relationship with your superiors at work and have a better chance of moving up the ladder, try mirroring their mannerisms, says LearnVest. In other words: monkey see, monkey do.

According to a study out of Duke University, subtle forms of mimicry can prove useful when you're trying to win someone over. It's known as the "chameleon effect" because, in the same way that a chameleon changes the color of its skin to match the environment, people can change behaviors and mannerisms to mirror the person who they're interacting with. Plus, another study from Nijmegen University in the Netherlands reveals that mimicry increases rapport — and your chances of getting what you want.

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but the LearnVest team is quick to add that this mimicry needs to be subtle and you need to choose your timing well. Trying to mirror your boss when he's mad at you will backfire, so make sure it's the right person at the right time.

How To Finally Get Ahead At Work | LearnVest via The Daily Muse

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Build a Transportable, Fold-Out Toolkit and Workbench for All Your Gear 2014

Build a Transportable, Fold-Out Toolkit and Workbench for All Your Gear 2014

If working space is at a premium in your home, otherwise you like carrying every part you want with you at all times, this DIY toolkit-plus-workstation does double duty. It holds your instruments in a (largely) transportable field, and folds out into a space and floor you may truly use and reach your instruments easily.

To be fair, toolboxes aren't a new invention—you can buy them anywhere. What makes this one unique is that it folds out into a full workstation that you can use anywhere, and that puts your tools within arm's reach while you work. Of course, you'll need more than just the tools in the kit to make the kit, so be warned—this one will require a little time in your garage workshop or over at the hardware store getting the cuts and wood that you'll need to put all of this together.

When you're finished though, the end product is a portable toolkit (it even has a handle!) that can carry a wealth of basic tools just about anywhere, securely, and even a few storage drawers for loose objects. When it's ready to use, just fold down the front and sides of the container to create a wooden work surface, and get to work. Hit the link below to see the full walkthrough.

Make a Portable Workstation | Instructables

Posted by: http://gosspot.com/

Writted by: totor

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Savioke Gets $2M To Build A ‘Services Industry’ Robot

Savioke, a robotics startup out of Sunnyvale led by the former CEO of the now-defunct but influential Willow Garage robotics startup, is announcing a seed round of funding today, $2 million from Jerry Yang’s AME Cloud Ventures, Google Ventures, Morado Venture Partners and other individual investors. It is planning to use the money to develop and build its first robot, an as-yet unnamed piece of hardware that will be focused on the services industry.

Why the services industry? CEO Steve Cousins says that he and his team see a “huge untapped opportunity” to target that vertical. “Hospitals, elder care facilities, hotels, restaurants, office services all provide large opportunities for robots to take on dirty, dull and dangerous work, improve process efficiency, reduce cost, and most importantly free up people to help other people,” he says. “We see the services industry as the next logical step for robotics, moving out from behind the fences in factories and out from research labs to provide value around people, where we live and work.”

I asked, but was told that there are not yet any models, names or other details available for the new services robot. What we do know is that it will be built on the open source robot operating system ROS, which was originally developed at Willow Garage under Cousins. Savioke says it plans to begin customer trials later this year.

Indeed, Cousins was at the startup at a significant time. In addition to creating the ROS, Willow Garage spun off some eight startups — Suitable Technologies (maker of the Beam remote presence system); Industrial Perception, Inc.; Redwood Robotics; HiDOF (ROS and robotics consulting); Unbounded Robotics; the Open Source Robotics Foundation; the OpenCV Foundation and the Open Perception Foundation. Two of those spinoffs, Industrial Perception, Inc. and Redwood Robotics, were eventually acquired by Google in 2013. It also created the PR2 robot as well as the open source TurtleBot.

Savioke, founded in 2013, was not strictly a spinoff, but it is nevertheless a Willow Garage off-shoot, with not only Cousins at the helm but a number of other staff also coming over (in fact, everyone but one of Savioke’s full-timers and an intern are ex-WG). Even its name seems to be a hat-tip to Willow Garage’s arboreal theme, pronounced “Savvy Oak.”

What’s interesting about the concept behind Savioke is that it’s a signal of how the robotics world, and those developing for it, are trying for more targeted products as the space continues to mature. “There’s a unique entrepreneurial excitement surrounding Silicon Valley’s robotics industry today, and much of that is due to the efforts of the team at Savioke,” noted AME’s Jerry Yang in a statement. “As the market for service robots continues to grow, AME is pleased to offer our support to Savioke.”

And, in a world where robotics are equal parts exciting and challenging businesses (the demise of Willow Garage is direct enough evidence of that) Cousins’ track record feels like a good bet for investors.

“As the lines continue to blur between industrial and personal robotics industries, Google Ventures is thrilled to be working with an exceptional group of people at Savioke,” noted Andy Wheeler, a general partner at Google Ventures. “Steve and his team already have had a lot to do with moving the robotics industry forward. The next act promises to be even more revolutionary.”

myWebRoom Picks Up $2.8M To Build Out Its Online Platform For Self Expression, Drops Beta Tag

This morning myWebRoom dropped its beta tag and announced that it has raised a total of $2.8 million to date.

As a service, myWebRoom is something of a hybrid social, bookmarking, and user-expression experience. In short, each myWebRoom user has a WebRoom that might look something like this:

(Yes, that’s my Facebook profile picture. I apologize.) Anyhoo, WebRooms items are interchangeable and clickable. Click on the computer, and you are presented with a number of search engine options, for example. Other items offer up different sets of personalizable websites.

So, your room is at once a portal of sorts, and a digital representation of things that you like. The company intends to make money by having brands pay it to put their items in the WebRooms of its users and so forth. You could put a Sony TV, if I can invent an example, in your WebRoom, perhaps.

myWebRooms also includes a social component in that you can have “friends” on the site (you can invite them in from Facebook, naturally).

The $2.8 million includes $600,000 in angel money, and $2.2 million from Konstantin Nikolaev, a Russian billionaire.

What I like about myWebRooms is that I am utterly not in its potential user group. Wrapping a skin around my Web experience, while perhaps aesthetically pleasing, would only slow me down. Also, I have an actual apartment to decorate, making my need for a rival digital space somewhat lessened.

That said, it’s good to realize you are not the only person alive.

During its beta period, the company picked up 35,000 registered users, generating around 25,000 monthly hits. Leaving beta, the company told TechCrunch that it wants to reach 100,000 registered users by the end of the year. That’s a modest goal.

myWebRoom will need to scale quickly to attract large-dollar brands — at lower levels of usage it wouldn’t present a large enough audience to garner the sort of brand attention that it needs to be a viable business.

So fresh out of beta and with a stack of cash, myWebRoom now needs to prove product-market fit.

Build a Custom Closet on the Cheap

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Custom closet systems neatly organize your clothes and make the most of your available space, but, depending on the size of your closet, they could cost thousands of dollars. Mindy of My Love 2 Create transformed her master closet with just a few hundred dollars and lots of elbow grease.

The closet includes lots of drawers and hanging shelves, a storage bench, a shoe rack, and built-in bins for laundry.

She shares with us not just the materials list (total spent: $305.74) and plans, but also photos of the build each step of the way, plus clever tips, such as using cheap foam core to cover up unsightly areas.

Head over to her blog post for the inspiration for your own closet transformation.

Master Closet Makeover Reveal! | My Love 2 Create

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Install official KitKat 4.4.2 build on Galaxy S4

Anthony Muzonzini 2014-03-19T20:00:00Z2 days ago

Anthony Muzonzini

Currently living out in the East Coast. When not on the AndroidPIT grind you can usually find me turning up or play footie.

Samsung has recently released Android 4.4.2 KitKat for the Samsung Galaxy S4. If for some reason you have not managed to get the update over the air, then you may want to manually install the update and we will show you how you can do that here.

Install Kitkat 4.4.2 manually on your phone / © SamMobile

As always, you have to proceed with caution as AndroidPIT doesn’t assume any responsibility for any damage done due to the firmware installation.

Before you get started, please make sure your GS4 is the GT-I9500 version.

After you have made sure of this, you should back up your data and also make sure to charge your phone to at least 80% or have it charging while doing the installation.

Finally, you must enable USB debugging mode and you do this by going to settings and then on to developer options.

Manually Installing Android 4.4.2

1) Download the Firmware package and Odin v.3.07

2) You must then put your GS4 in download mode by holding down the volume down, home and power buttons. When a warning appears, you must press the volume up button.

3) You should then unzip Odin v.3.07. run the .exe file and then run it as an administrator.

4) Using your USB cable, you should connect your Galaxy S4 to your PC. One of the ID:COM fields should turn blue in Odin. If this doesn’t happen then you should reinstall the relevant drivers for your phone.

5) Within the Odin program, you should perform the following operations.

           A) Press PDA and select the file that has .tar.md5 in the file path.

           B) Press Phone and select the file with Modem in the file path.

           C) Press CSC and select the file with CSC in the file path.

           D) Press PIT and select the file with .pit in the file path.

6) Make sure “re-partition” is NOT selected. After this, check auto reboot and F. Reset Time.

7) Press the start button and the installation process should commence. Leave it alone until it is done.

8) Once your Galaxy S4 phone has rebooted, you will be running Android 4.4.2 KitKat.

Have you used this method to update your phone? How did you find it? Please leave us a comment below and we will get back to you.

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Google Voice may just integrate with Hangouts (Rumor)

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YAMM3 – Build Megamenu For Bootstrap 3

There are many usability advantages in using megamenu on a webpage. With megamenu, you can take full control over your menu. Almost all web elements can be assigned there. Some great companies have even applied megamenu into their website. Amazon and Mashable for example. Amazon have an image background in their menu and Mashable uses image thumbnails for a more attractive menu.

If you have been working with Bootstrap, now you can build a megamenu in a snap with this brand new library called Yamm from Geedmo.

Yamm3 (Yet Another Megamenu) is a CSS library to help you build a megamenu in Bootstrap 3 easily. The megamenu works for both responsive and fixed layouts. It covers almost all bootstrap elements to be included in the navbar like picture, accordion, list, grid, table, form and so on.

Recommended Reading: Working With Bootstrap Plugin: Modal Window

Basic Guide

Yamm3 uses lightweight and pure CSS. To get started with Yamm3, you only have to include the Yamm3 class you need into your standard navbar HTML markup.

Before working with Yamm3, the first step is to include the Yamm3 and Bootstrap stylesheet library into the head section as follows:

<head>... <link href="css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="css/bootstrap-theme.min.css" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="css/yamm.css" rel="stylesheet">...</head>

And don’t forget to also include the jQuery and Bootstrap library into your project, either in the head or body section, like so:

... <script src="js/jquery-1.10.2.min.js"></script> <script src="js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>...

Please note that we use Bootstrap 3 here and the minimum jQuery version required is version 1.9.0+. If you are still running on the previous Bootstrap version, we recommend following the guide of the previous Yamm version.

HTML Markup

In basic usage, to use Yamm3 firstly add .yamm class at the top of the navbar markup. Then, you can add your menu markup into the .dropdown-menu class. The following is a basic example.

<nav class="navbar yamm navbar-default " role="navigation">... <ul class="nav navbar-nav"> <li class="dropdown"> <a href="#" class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown">Dropdown</a> <ul class="dropdown-menu"> <li> <div class="yamm-content"> <div class="row">  <!-- Your Menu Goes Here --> </div> </div> </li> </ul> </li> </ul>...</nav>

As seen there, you can also use .yamm-content as an option to wrap content with padding.

For example, let’s try to add an accordion menu inside our markup navbar. Replace the Your Menu Goes Here comment with the following code.

<div id="accordion" class="panel-group"> <div class="panel panel-default"> <div class="panel-heading"> <h4 class="panel-title"><a data-toggle="collapse" data-parent="#accordion" href="#collapseOne">Accordion Group Item #1</a></h4> </div> <div id="collapseOne" class="panel-collapse collapse in"> <div class="panel-body">This is collapsible menu.</div> </div> </div> <div class="panel panel-default"> <div class="panel-heading"> <h4 class="panel-title"><a data-toggle="collapse" data-parent="#accordion" href="#collapseTwo">Accordion Group Item #2</a></h4> </div> <div id="collapseTwo" class="panel-collapse collapse"> <div class="panel-body">This is collapsible menu.</div> </div> </div></div>

By calling the accordion id and using a panel-group class for grouping, you are able to create an accordion inside the navbar. And so our menu will look like the screenshot below:

There are plenty of other components you can add into the navbar. Self exploration of other components you can implement can be done if you download the Yamm3 complete archive and open the index.html file with your favourite code editor.

Javascript

There is an additional javascript code used for the prevention of an unexpected closed menu in some components like accordion, forms, etc. Just include the following code into your head or body section:

<script> $(document).on('click', '.yamm .dropdown-menu', function(e) { e.stopPropagation()})</script> 

Conclusion

Yamm3 is another great third-party product to boost your Twitter Bootstrap’s development when building an attractive navbar. You just need a little effort in exploring all implementation components, as it lacks documentation support for creating various components menu.

Share your opinion with us in the comments section below.

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