This is a listing of file upload services for developers. They typically provide a front-end JavaScript module to embed the uploader on your site and a back-end service to receive the uploads. Some will also provide workflow and image processing services
Alternatively, you can use one of these JavaScript modules and build your own back-end to handle uploads or use AWS S3 with a Gateway-Lambda setup to sign upload requests.
If you haven’t already heard Windows 8 has done away with the “Start” button. To add it back, I highly recommend Classic Shell. You will not only get the start button back, you can also choose which version of Windows to style your Start menu after. It will also restore some of the classic UI functionality that has been lost in new versions of Windows including the classic Windows explorer tool bar as well as the classic copy dialog.
My dad got me an ARDX Experimentation Kit for Arduino for my birthday. I just finished all the 13 experiments and I have to say it is a pretty awesome kit and a good introduction to the Arduino. The kit comes with a variety of input and output components/devices including:
10x Red and 10x Green LEDs
10mm Blue LED
5mm RGB LED
Force Sensor
DC Motor
Hobby Servo
Shift Register
Piezo Element
Pushbuttons
Variable Resister/Potentiometer
Photo Resister
Temp Sensor
Relay
Also included are some transistors, resistors, diodes, etc. After you finish going through the experiments this gives you a good head start once you decide to build your own project.
Another bonus to the kit is that is comes with a custom cut piece of clear acrylic to mount the included Arduino and a bread board. There are wiring sheets you can cut out and overlay on the bread board but I didn’t find these necessary.
Code for most of the projects can be found online at the URLs mentioned in the instructions with the exception of the last two experiments. For the RGB LED experiment I could not find the code online and I had trouble with the code printed in the manual. I had to make the color arrays regular variables instead of constants to get the code to work for me. I could not find the force sensor code online either but the code printed in the manual worked and was pretty trivial to enter.
Overall I have to say this is a great kit for someone that would like to learn how to use Arduino to interface with real world devices.
The ARDX kit comes with many electronic components and breadboard wires. More than needed to complete all the experiments.
The Arduino comes packaged in an interesting little box.
A 9 volt battery clip and power plug are included so you can run your Arduino without a USB connection for power.
The manual is complete with a description of all the components, and 13 experiments.
One experiment uses the Arduino in combo with a transistor to control a small toy/hobby motor. Code is included to shut the motor on and off and run the motor at different speeds.
Experiment 5 shows you how to use a shift register to effectively add many more digital outputs to the Arduino.
An RGB LED experiment demonstrates how to combine the base colors to create additional colors.
Experiment 13 demonstrates how to use a pressure sensor with the Arduino. The Arduino increases the brightness of an LED as more pressure is applied.
For Christmas 2011 Pictometry had a holiday “Throwdown” challenge. Each department was given box of miscellaneous items that had to be incorporated into some sort of creation. The box was handed off from one engineer to the next. Everyone was too busy. Finally, with two days left before the judging, it was time to take action. With much help from my fellow engineers I built TreeBot, a remote control Christmas Tree with all the trimmings and wireless video for remote operation.
It consists of my old Duratrax Evader RC car with a Christmas Tree mounted to it, Christmas lights on a power inverter, an iPod Shuffle playing Christmas tunes on an amplified speaker and a 2.4 Ghz video transmitter for remote operation. It is decorated with various items we had to use in our creation. We came in second place behind Finance who did a Christmas Carol play using the items as props but I feel it was a good entry representative of engineering given the time constraints.
Here is a video of the TreeBot in operation.
I took some pictures of TreeBot as I took it apart in case we decide to build something similar next year:
TreeBot
We used a cheap amplified speaker and an iPod Shuffle loaded with Christmas music to give TreeBot a voice.
A 2.4 Ghz video transmitter was used to transmit TreeBot's perspective to a receiver wired to an old analog video monitor another engineer donated to the cause.
If I were to do it again I would use a wider angle lens for the video camera. Navigating around corners was particularly difficult because of the narrow field of view.
We made the face out of materials provided. The eyes are made from little sticky foam beads shaped into balls and the mouth is a strand of foam peanuts.
TreeBot was lit up using a standard strand of incandescent Christmas lights (provided) using a cheap power inverter on a 3000mAh 3S LiPo Battery pack.
Presents were secured to the tree using zip ties. Nylon zip ties were used extensively throughout TreeBot.
A piece of wood was placed into each of suspension points to keep the car from sitting on the ground under the weight of the Christmas Tree.
The skirt of TreeBot consisted of two pieces of cardboard from the box we were given cut into two half circles and then stapled together to form a semi-cone. It was covered with wrapping paper and garland was zip tied around the edge. The skirt was then zip tied to the Christmas Tree stand.
The stand that came with the Christmas Tree was zip tied to the car's frame.
Bolt's were used as a standoff to level the Christmas Tree stand on the car. Zip ties were again employed to secure the Christmas Tree stand to the bolt heads.
It was not terribly shocking to find that the cheap power inverter wasn't putting out the advertised voltage even though our input voltage met specifications. Regardless, it was enough to power a strand of Christmas lights.
This is the car frame after everything was removed.
I just finished a scratch build of the Funbat, an RC plane design that uses Dollar Tree foam board designed by Bloody Micks. I posted build pictures here on RCGroups.com. Now I just need a nice calm day.
