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 Mike LaGrasta has used a variety of simple hardware and an Arduino board to create an amazing multi-coloured backlight system for his glass desk. Although building such a lighting system would seem complex, it is quite simple - and the results are well worth it:

The instructions for creating this visual feature are easily followed and not difficult at all. The lighting can be controlled over the network, or you can program your own patterns directly using the Arduino sketch. Or perhaps use a range of light and temperature sensor modules to make the lighting interactive with the surrounding environment. You can find Ethernet-enabled Arduino-compatible boards here at Freetronics such as our EtherTen:

 as well as our WS2801 daisy-chainable RGB LED modules:

So to make recreate this project, head over to Mike's instructions for inspiration, and Freetronics for the hardware. 

After some experimenting Mike Chambers has made a speed detector using an Arduino board and custom software written for Adobe Air. The hardware uses two laser pointers aimed at matching photoresistors. The Arduino then measures the time between the first and second beam being broken by a moving object, using this data to calculate the speed of the object. You can see this in action:

Kudos to Mike for releasing all the design information as well as the code for both the Arduino and Air on his github page. You too can build the 'Accelerate' project with one of our Arduino-compatible boards and associated hardware. For more information on the project visit Mike's website.

 Grant Gibson found a deal on a "Space Invaders" character clock that was too good to pass up, and has modified it somewhat using some Arduino hardware and a bit of hacking to turn the clock into a gmail notifier:

He also includes a complete rundown on how the clock was modified, including hardware and software for the PC as well as the Arduino sketch. This project is a great example of how Arduino-compatible hardware and some ingenunity can be used to turn ordinary items into the extraordinary. 

As there isn't much space inside that "Space Invaders" clock, a board such as our LeoStick would be perfect - as it is one of the smallest Arduino-compatible boards on the market and also includes a piezo buzzer for extra output when embedded inside an object:

Reading about such projects is inspiring to the rest of us, and we congratulate Grant for his efforts. For more information visit his website. 

 For those of you administering a web server and looking for a low-power way to keep an eye on the server statistics without running another display, Kerry Wong's solution may be of interest. He has designed an Arduino-based solution that receives data from his linux server including uptime, IP address, load, date/time and hits - which is then displayed on a 16x2 character LCD:

As you can see the hardware is home-brewed, however you can make use of our Arduino-compatible hardware and LCD display shield to save time and create a neater solution. Or for the statistically-paranoid administrators, feed the data to one of our LED dot matrix display units:

Either way, the author has presented all the server-side and Arduino code for you to work with as well as a detailed set of instructions. So visit the site of Kerry D. Wong and enjoy the project. 

 Although learning with Arduino hardware and software is infinitely enjoyable and leads to many other endeavours, it is also useful to work with analog and digital electronics as well. With this in mind, a very useful open-source piece of software exists to allow you to design simulate digital logic circuits - called "Logic Circuit" - for example:

It allows you to use the usual logic gates, clock sources, outputs such as LEDs in single, 7-segment display and matrix form, and so on - to simulate logic circuits with ease and no cost. The software is simple to install albeit only available for Windows environments at this stage, and there is also a support forum and help available. For more information and to download, visit the website here. 

As a demonstration of designing for interface archaeology, Martin Kaltenbrunner used a vintage telegraph key used for sending morse code, and interfaced this with an Arduino board and Ethernet interface to create an automated solution to the problem of sending tweets via morse code, for example:

 For those of you of the Android persuasion and looking to interface your device with an Arduino, have a look at the range of tutorials available at mitchtech.They have several well-written and detailed tutorials on using both analog and digital I/O with an Android phone, as well as a variety of examples to work with. For example, interfacing temperature and light sensors:

You will notice in the video that they are using a seperate USB shield with an Arduino. However here at Freetronics we have created the optimum solution - our USBDroid - which contains a USB host-mode controller and a microSD memory card slot all merged together into a single, integrated board that is 100% Arduino compatible. This is the ideal platform for developing peripherals or projects based around Android devices with ADK (Android Developer Kit) functionality, but without requiring a USB host controller shield stacked onto an Arduino. 

For more about the tutorials visit the site, and don't forget to check out our USBDroid board today. 

Those of you with rainwater tanks at home or in rural situations would understand the difficulty of accurately determining how much water is left. You could have a trained ear and be able to knock the side of the tank for a rough estimate, however doing so is not for everyone. A member of our Freetronics forum has instead devised and published details of a portable ultrasonic water tank gauge that can quickly show the amount of water left in a tank using a simple 'fuel gauge' style readout:

Full details including the Arduino sketch are available to download. Although the author used a Freetronics Eleven board:

perhaps consider using a Leostick to reduce the total size and increase portability of the gauge. 

 If a numerical combination system, keyswitch or self-discipline isn't enough to keep someone out of your treasure box - consider following Basil Shikin's instructions on how to make a lock that is triggered by a specific piece of music. Basil uses an Arduino, an electret microphone, and various electronics installed into a customised box. Matched with some nifty coding of the Goertzel Algorithm which is used to detect a particular frequency in a sounds, the system can detect a particular tune and then action the lock (or not). For example:

For those who would like to reproduce this project, you can start with our Arduino-compatible boards such as the Leostick, and our MIC sound input module, then follow Basil's instructions here.