The drive for miniaturisation may have taken the back seat of most consumer's minds, now that the opposit is starting to become popular - for example larger smartphones and so on. However making things as small as possible is always an interesting challenge for the hobbyist and one excellent example of this has been demonstrated by Daniel Rojas with his tiny word clock.
By choosing a very small 8x8 LED matrix, and applying a printed sheets of letters in the appropriate place, each LED can neatly represent a letter. With a matching custom-made PCB on the rear with an Arduino-compatoble circuit and real-time clock IC - the clock can come to life and operate in the same manner as the larger wall-mounted word clocks. For a great demonstration check out the following video:
To make your own version, visit Daniel's interesting website for design files and more information. And for more, we're on facebook, twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well. And have you made something great and want to share it with the world? Post the details in our Project Showcase forum, and you could even win a prize.
If you're looking for a tiny Arduino-compatible board that's still easy to work with - check out the Freetronics LeoStick. It's the Arduino Leonardo-compatible board that's cheaper and smaller than the original:
Apart from being one of the smallest Arduino-compatibles on the market with USB, it also has an onboard RGB LED and piezo which can be used a knock sensor and various tune and sound effects. Plus you can add extra circuitry with the matching protostick! For more information and to order, click here.
