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posted by mattie_p on Wednesday March 12 2014, @08:29AM   Printer-friendly
from the play-into-our-hands dept.

skullz writes:

"Much ado has been made about SXSW and the resurgence of hardware hacking as apposed to software. Even NPR is getting in on the action, airing a story about littleBits SXSW demo, including some videos. LittleBits are small circuit modules which snap together using magnets, much like LEGOs would if they were held together by magnets. The company pays homage to an open source mentality and hosts example projects, such as this LEGO and littleBit soundmachine, on its website, even though it seems to be missing several (or all) of the actual assembly instructions."

From their website:

littleBits (spelled lower case L, upper case B, all one word) consists of tiny circuit-boards with specific functions engineered to snap together with magnets. No soldering, no wiring, no programming, just snap together for prototyping, learning and fun. Each bit has a specific function (light, sound, sensors, buttons, thresholds, pulse, motors, etc), and modules snap to make larger circuits. Just as LEGO (TM) allows you to create complex structures with very little engineering knowledge, littleBits are small, simple, intuitive, blocks that make creating with sophisticated electronics a matter of snapping small magnets together.

If you followed SXSW, please share your favorite discoveries or insights gleaned from the conference.

 
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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Bob the Super Hamste on Thursday March 13 2014, @01:01PM

    by Bob the Super Hamste (3514) on Thursday March 13 2014, @01:01PM (#15836) Homepage

    From what I remember from high school shop class the most likely outcome of someone who has naver worked with a table saw or other power tools is that they usually end up taking one to the seeds as the piece that they just cut off gets kicked back by the saw. Every quarter at least one kid had that happen to them, and it was really hard not to laugh since the teacher always shows them how to use the tool correctly and points out that you should stand off to the side a little bit.

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