Cellphones

BLE Shields in the Maker Shed: One-Tap Wireless Between Arduino and Cell Phones

BLE Shields in the Maker Shed: One-Tap Wireless Between Arduino and Cell Phones

By Brian Jepson

Brian Jepson

I'm a tinkerer and finally reached the point where I fix more things than I break. When I'm not tinkering, I'm probably editing a book for Maker Media.

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Maker Shed is now carrying RedBearLab’s Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Shield. It’s an inexpensive, simple, and fun way to get Arduino talking to an iPhone, iPad, or even some Macs… and probably a few Android devices as well. True to its name, BLE is low power, and it’s also easy. Check out the walkthrough in the second half of this post: with a few clicks (or taps) I got my iPad and Arduino talking the universal language of blinkenlights!

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Snakes on a Game

Snakes on a Game

By Sean Michael Ragan

Sean Michael Ragan

I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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“Enough is enough! I have had it with these blankety-blank snakes on this blankety-blank, um…ARM…Cortex-M0, ah, microcontroller.”

Right, so, apologies are now due to hardworking Hack a Day writer Mike Szczys for reducing his latest tasty MCU project to a perfunctory SamJack joke. In point of fact…

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New in the Maker Shed: NFC Shield and Tags

New in the Maker Shed: NFC Shield and Tags

By Maker Shed

Maker Shed

The Maker Shed is brought to you by Maker Media, the makers of MAKE Magazine, the Maker Faire, and much more.

Launched originally as a source for back issues of MAKE Magazine, the Maker Shed expanded rapidly to meet the demand for 'projects in a box,' otherwise known as kits. Now we have a little bit of everything for makers, crafters, and budding scientists, from Arduinos to sock monkeys to chemistry sets .

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This NFC Shield for Arduino (available in the Maker Shed) is a great way to experiment with NFC. What’s NFC you ask? It’s an extension of RFID with a purposefully decreased range, making it great for projects where security is a consideration.

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How-To: Embed an RFID Card in an iPhone

How-To: Embed an RFID Card in an iPhone

By Sean Michael Ragan

Sean Michael Ragan

I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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Based on this recent work from Londonite Dhani Sutanto, Becky over at Adafruit just posted this cool tutorial on how to install the antenna and chip from an RFID passcard, such as the MBTA’s CharlieCard transit pass, inside your iPhone.

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Meet 5 Basic Survival Needs with a Busted Cellphone

Meet 5 Basic Survival Needs with a Busted Cellphone

By Laura Cochrane

Laura Cochrane

"To oppose something is to maintain it." –Ursula Le Guin

Currently: NEO.LIFE Alum: Instructables and MAKE

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The Art of Manliness has a post up about dismantling a broken cellphone in order to mine it for useful components that can keep you alive after you get stranded in the middle of nowhere. Tools include a compass out of magnet paired with ferrous metal wire, a survival signal mirror out of a layer of screen, and a small-game snare out of headphone wire. But my favorite is the arrowhead spear made from a circuit board.

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