For an interesting example of automation and the Raspberry Pi - the following project by George Koulouris will be of interest. They have created an Internet radio based arouund the Pi, which plays streaming audio from a varierty of services. However as an interesting twist, the start and stop times for the radio are stored in a Google Docs spreadsheet - which is polled by the Pi to determine when to play the radio. And for local control, a play button has also been added to the project.
Even if you're not interested in the remote aspects, this project results with a very neat end product, placed within a 3D-printed enclosure which looks great. All the design files have been made available so you can recreate your own. For inspiration, a demonstration is shown in the following video:
To get started, visit the Raspdio's project page. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.
If you need to rig up some hardware interfacing to your Pi, one options is to use our PiBreak board. It provides labelled breakout pins for all GPIOs, a large prototyping area with solder pads, and power rails for easy power connection:
Furthermore the PiBreak also includes mounting hardware to firmly attach it to your Raspberry Pi using a nut, bolt, and spacer - and is compatible with all revisions of both model A and B Raspberry Pi computers. For more information about our PiBreak board, our Getting Started guide, and to order - visit the product page.
