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For some the sound of rain (or other natural happenings) can be quite soothing, and the ability to listen can help them relax or find sleep easier to achieve. With this in mind Instructables member Adum24 has created a device that can simply play rain or other sounds at the flick of the switch.

Based around a Raspberry Pi, the user interface is simply a power and volume switch. The Pi can boot automatically and begin playing the audio file without any other user intervention. To save effort some inexpensive powered speakers have been mounted inside an enclsure with the Pi to make the simple rain box - as demonstated in the following video:

Apart from the orginal use, this could be harness for all sorts of simple audio-playback requiremenst. So click here to learn how to make your own version. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.

Every day we find more uses for our PiBreak board - the great way to mount circuitry to your Raspberry Pi. 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 new PiBreak board, our Getting Started guide, and to order - visit the product page. 

And now for something completely different by Instructables member TannyPB - an Arduino-powered Kaleidoscope. Based on a toy that was popular in prevous centuries, the Kaleiduino instead blinks a group of LEDs in various colours, whose reflections are enhanced using a group of mirrors inside a home-made tube.

The neat thing about making an electronic version is that you can update the patterns yourself, or perhaps add an accelerometer to make the display more interactive. Or if you're not interested in the final product, the instructions demonstrate how to multiplex LEDs to get more control with less GPIO

Either way, visit the project page for complete instructions. And for more, we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.

If you're looking to make your own colourful LED-based project, consider our Freetronics RGBLED: full colour module. It includes a bright RGB LED on the top of the board and a WS2801 constant-current, addressable, multi-channel LED driver on the back. This smart module can be daisy-chained, so you can connect a number of these together in a string and drive each of the module colours individually from your microcontroller. For more information and to order, visit the product page.

As part of a workshop about motor control, the Children's Museum of Houston in the US devised a simplet yet fun robotic device that can draw on spherical objects such as eggs and ping-pong balls via computer control. Once the sphere is locked into the device, a stepper motor can rotate it with another controlling the position of the pen in conjunction with a micro servo.

This is controlled by an Arduino which in turn receives instructions from a PC running some custom software. And thanks to the generosity of the creators, the files for a laser-cut enclosure have been provided so you can make your own without too much effort.

After having the panels cut, this would make a fun weekend project to share with children or just enjoy yourself. To get started, visit the project instructable page. And for more, we're on facebook, twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.

Keeping track of the lunar phases of the moon is of interest to people from a wide variety of backgrounds - including astrologers, fishing enthuisasts or those afraid of werewolves to name just a few. To help keep up to date the phase clock by Instructables team member DJ will fit the bill.

It uses a Raspberry Pi to retrieve the current date and time, calculate the phase of the moon and then control a series of LED light strips mounted inside a neat housing to illustrate the phase of the moon. A rapid demonstration of this is shown below.

This project could easily be replicated with an Arduino and RTC IC, however you can find complete details for this clock including enclosure design files on the project Instructable page. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.

Every day we find more uses for our PiBreak board - the great way to mount circuitry to your Raspberry Pi. 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 new PiBreak board, our Getting Started guide, and to order - visit the product page. 

Once again the Arduino platform has been used to replicate something incredibly fascinating, and in this example we have the Enigma cipher machine used between the 1920s and 1940s. This device was used to code and decode messages in peacetime and also during World War Two. You can find out more about the Enigma machines through Wikipedia.

However this version has been hacked into a children's toy computer, which offers the end user a nice keyboard and enclosure for the project. It's surprising how simple these toys can be, and with a little research in the toy store some neat options can be found. The project emulates a three rotor Enigma and once completed would be a lot of fun.

For complete information including the sketch and neat videos, visit the project Instructable page. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.

If you're looking for an Arduino Uno-compatible board for various projects, choose what tens of thousands of others have done and use our Freetronics Eleven - the Arduino-Uno compatible with low-profile USB socket, onboard prototyping space and easy to view LEDs: 

Data can be represented using many forms and medium, and the typical wireless data transmissions is using RF radio modules. However there are many options to experiment with and one of them is sending data via infra-red. Most experimenters will know that IR is useful for controlling an Arduino, however data such as text can also be transmitted.

This has been demonstrated by Instructables member Yoruk who shows how to send text over an infra-red link using sample data from a temperature sensor. Although the range of infra-red is limited it still has a use, for example if you need to send data from a rotating item it's much easier to use interference-free IR than using wires which tangle.

Yorruk has provided the required hardware details along with transmit and receive sketches, so visit his Instructable to learn more. And for more, we're on facebook, twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.

If you're looking to learn how to use an Arduino to with infra-red remote data and much more, you can't go past "Arduino Workshop -  A Hands-On Introduction with 65 Projects” by John Boxall.

Arduino Workshop takes the reader from having zero knowledge about the Arduino platform, electronics and programming and leaves them with the know-how and instructions on everything from blinking an LED, to robotics, wireless data, cellular communications, motor control, sensors, Internet connected systems and more. For more information including a sample chapter and table of contents, visit the book page.

There's an almost unlimited number of clock types you can make based around the Arduino platform, thanks to the ease of connecting real-time clock ICs and various output devices. One neat example of this has been demonstrated by Instructables member paulindallas who has built a neat word clock.

For the uninitiated, a word clock is just that - a clock that displays the time using words to make up a sentence in the same way that most people would say what time it is. Overall it's pretty simple, but provides a neat talking point and helps further the constructor's knowledge of all things Arduino.

For complete instructions, the sketch and more please visit the clock's Instructable page. And for more, we're on facebook, twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.

Sensing and analysing various forms of data is quite simple with an Arduino, and a neat example of this has been demonstrated by Instructables member Nikus with his bike computer. It has many functions including the display of speed, temperature, distance, and so on.

The speed and distance is calculated by measuring pulses from a reed switch and magnet on the wheel of the bike, and the temperature data coming from a DS18B20 temperature sensor. Finally the data is displayed in two methods, the first being a usual LCD module - and the second is a servo with a horn used to indicate the speed as an analogue dial, for example:

This is a fun project to share with children or beginners to the world of Arduino, and also a useful end product. You can learn how it's done from the project Instructable page. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well. 

Here at Freetronics we're always interested in clock projects of various types, and Nixie tube clocks are no exception. Although a bygone technology the glow and challenges of working with these tubes are quite satisfying, and an example of this has been documented by enthusiast Tom Cousins with his latest project.

Tom has built a six-digit clock using IN-12 nixie tubes, an Arduino-compatible circuit and controls the 74141 Nixie drivers with shift registers - an overall classic design that has been tried an tested. To make life simpler the HV power supply for the tubes is a prebuild unit, which can be safer and save a lot of time. Furthermore Tom runs through the clock in his latest video below:

Finally Tom has been awesome and shared everything you need to know in order to reproduce the clock, including schematics and the Arduino sketch - so visit his project page for build information and links to the required files. And for more, we're on facebook, twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well. 

If you're wanting to make your own Arduino-compatible devices such as the clock above, you'll need an ATmega328P MCU with Arduino Uno bootloader:

This is the same Atmel AVR ATmega328P microcontroller used in the official Arduino Uno, as well as our Eleven, EtherTen, USBDroid, and other boards. Perfect for building your own Arduino-compatible project directly on a breadboard or on a custom PCB, or for replacing the MCU in an existing board. Comes with the Arduino Uno bootloader pre-installed. Better still, it even has a special label stuck on top with details of the pinout, so you don't even need to look up the datasheet when connecting it up in your project! For more information and to order, click here!

Fans of popular 8-bit computers are starting to find various media types used in their heyday are staring to age and become unusable. Without having the luxury of easy duplicaton, some interesting methods are used to save the data for future use. One example of this was faced by Robert Crossfield who has created a method of backing up data from Commodore 64 game cartidges

By using an Arduino Mega, his circuit can dump the contents of an 8k cartridge and send the bytes back to the Arduino's serial monitor via USB. This data can then be captured and saved by the host computer for later use. It's a simple yet usable solution to rescue the data before it's too late.

For details including the schematic and Arduino sketch, visit the project website. And for more, we're on facebook, twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.

Looking for an Arduino Mega board with a huge variety of features? Then check out our EtherMega - quite simply the most fully-loaded Arduino-compatible board on the market today. Apart from being completely Arduino Mega2560-compatible, it includes full Ethernet interface, a microSD card socket, full USB interface, optional Power-over-Ethernet support and still has a circuit prototyping area with extra I2C interface pins. So if your project is breaking the limits, upgrade to the EtherMega today.