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Adafruit Weekly Editorial Round-Up: QT Py RP2040, Vivien’s Seismometer, Lemon Mechanical Keypad and More!

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ADAFRUIT WEEKLY EDITORIAL ROUND-UP

We’ve got so much happening here at Adafruit that it’s not always easy to keep up! Don’t fret, we’ve got you covered. Each week we’ll be posting a handy round-up of what we’ve been up to, ranging from learn guides to blog articles, videos, and more.

BLOG

Testing out QT Py RP2040 with Xiao Extension Board

This Expansion board is designed for the Seeed Xiao, and since the QT Py is pin compatible we thought we’d try it out with the RP2040 QT Py we just released to see how it works with CircuitPython. The RP2040 has toooons more flash and RAM than the SAMD21 so it’s a great little add-on! There’s a 128×64 OLED, button, piezo beeper, battery charger and booster, SD card and RTC.

Check out the full post here!

More BLOG:

Keeping with tradition, we covered quite a bit this past week. Here’s a kinda short nearing medium length list of highlights:

LEARN

Lemon Mechanical Keypad

Make a custom USB-HID keypad in the shape of a citrus fruit. This keypad features six mechanical switches for controlling media players like Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, etc. Powered by the Adafruit QT Py RP2040 and CircuitPython.

Inside the case is a NeoPixel Jewel that slowly fades in and out making the keypad illuminate. The QT Py and NeoPixel are housed in a 3D printed case with parts that snap fit together.

See the full guide here!

More LEARN:

Browse all that’s new in the Adafruit Learning System here!

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New Guide: Build a NeoPixel Crystal Chandelier with Speed & Brightness Control

DIY crystal chandelier

Take a look at the latest guide from Erin St. Blaine: build a three tiered chandelier with hanging DIY paper-craft crystals that light up with pixels inside. Easily add your own custom animations using CircuitPython and the LED Animations Library. This guide takes animated lights a step further, adding a rotary encoder knob that controls the brightness or the animation speed of the pixels, and also acts as an on/off switch. From the guide:

Floating crystals and glowing lights are a match made in heaven. This project combines a wide variety of skills and tools into one lovely project. Make a gorgeous hanging lamp with sparkly beads, glowing crystals, live edge wood and of course, lots of NeoPixels.

My chandelier is unique, and designed to show my personal style. Since you, dear reader, have your very own unique style, this tutorial will focus on giving you the tools to design and create your own one-of-a-kind bespoke hanging lamp. This tutorial will provide source files and ideas, and give guidance on how the electronics fit together.

This tutorial will also get you started with customizing your own software animations. The sample code uses CircuitPython and the delightfully easy to use LED Animations Library by Kattni Rembor. This code gives you a framework that allows speed and brightness control using a rotary encoder knob, so you can adjust the lighting to suit any environment or mood.

See the full build tutorial here: https://learn.adafruit.com/neopixel-crystal-chandelier-with-circuitpython-animations-and-speed-control/overview

crystal chandelier

We can’t wait to see the creative lamp you build with NeoPixels and Circuit Python!

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Moana and Iron Man Props #CircuitPython #Props #3dPrinting @emwdx

Evan Weinberg posts about building two props this year: the Heart of Te Fiti from the Disney movie Moana and  a Tony Stark Arc Reactor.

The Moana prop uses an Adafruit Trinket M0 board programmed in CircuitPython with one green LED and the RGB DotStar LED on the board. And for the Arc Reactor:

Finishing the heart necklace got me thinking about doing something similar for my own costume, but I was running out of time. I decided to go for an Infinity War version and 3D printed this model.

Since I had a Circuit Playground Bluefruit, the (built-in) ring of Neopixels was perfect to use for powering the glowing effect. The Cyan color of red: 0, green: 255, blue: 255 was about right for the blue glow shown in the movie.

The color can be changed with a cell phone over Bluetooth.

GitHub and STL files are in GitHub links in the blog post here.

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Adafruit Weekly Editorial Round-Up: February 16th – 22nd

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ADAFRUIT WEEKLY EDITORIAL ROUND-UP

We’ve got so much happening here at Adafruit that it’s not always easy to keep up! Don’t fret, we’ve got you covered. Each week we’ll be posting a handy round-up of what we’ve been up to, ranging from learn guides to blog articles, videos, and more.

BLOG

Iostats

Some adafruit.io stats @adafruit #IoT

adafruit.io, our IoT service for engineers, makers, hackers, and more has 308,729 total users, however! Here are the most recent stats from the last 30 days which is a pretty good picture!

Check out the full post here!

More BLOG:

Keeping with tradition, we covered quite a bit this past week. Here’s a kinda short nearing medium length list of highlights:

Learn

How to use the Puppet Module in the Bluefruit Playground App

Play with Virtual Puppets! Using the puppet module in the Bluefruit Playground App, you can create the coolest virtual puppet show ever. Learn how to control the puppet, add a green screen, then record your performance.

See the full guide here!

More LEARN:

Browse all that’s new in the Adafruit Learning System here!

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Adafruit Weekly Editorial Round-Up: February 2nd – 8th, #BlackHistoryMonth & Get a CLUE at PyCon US

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ADAFRUIT WEEKLY EDITORIAL ROUND-UP

We’ve got so much happening here at Adafruit that it’s not always easy to keep up! Don’t fret, we’ve got you covered. Each week we’ll be posting a handy round-up of what we’ve been up to, ranging from learn guides to blog articles, videos, and more.

BLOG

Adafruit BHM2020 blog

#BlackHistoryMonth 2020

Every weekday in February you can check out the blog for stories and figures that honor Black History Month. We are excited to share some of our favorite African American makers, scientists, artists, hackers and more!

Check out our posts here!

More BLOG:

Keeping with tradition, we covered quite a bit this past week. Here’s a kinda short nearing medium length list of highlights:

Learn

PyPortal Pet Planter with Adafruit IO

Treat your plant like a pet! Build a smart planter with Adafruit PyPortal and CircuitPython. Monitor your plants vitals with Adafruit STEMMA Soil Sensor and plot moisture and temperature data. Use Adafruit IO to create a visual dashboard with gauges of your plants water levels.

See the full guide here!

More LEARN:

Browse all that’s new in the Adafruit Learning System here!

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Students make Star Wars themed 3D printing and electronics projects #3Dprinting #CircuitPython #Feather #CircuitPlaygroundExpress

In the Adafruit Discord, middle school/high school teacher Daniel writes:

I’d like to show some Star Wars projects my students made for this semester. I’m finding it difficult to make the Wednesday night Show and Tell show due to family life, so forgive the forthcoming dump of photos. I teach high school 3D modeling and Middle School programming. I had a combined theme of Star Wars this semester. High School designed lightsaber hilts and 3D printed them. Middle School programmed the electronics (M4 Feather + Propwing) that went inside.

Middle School also made a bunch of Circuit Playground based Star Wars projects as well. (Everything is CircuitPython). We then showed everything off to the 3rd to 5th graders in a big Star Wars showcase.

Lightsabers designed in Blender. I wrote a Python script in Blender to form the base pommel, hilt, and blade holder. Students then designed their own lightsaber from there. Time of fun. Used both CP Express and some alpha CP Bluetooth.

Pictures from the post are below. Great job folks!! You too can join the Adafruit Discord – go to adafru.it/discord for more details.

 

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Circuit Playground Star Tree Topper via @BlitzCityDIY

Liz Clark, AKA BlitzCityDIY recently posted a remix of one of our Circuit Playground snap fit cases. Just in time for the holidays, this turns any Circuit Playground into a light-up tree topper. We printed it on our Creality CR-10S using Eryone Silky Gold PLA. A Circuit Playground Bluefruit works well here since we can change up the NeoPixel colors and animations. We wired up a JST slide switch adapter and used a 500mAh battery. The case has a built-in holder for the slide switch so it’s easy to turn it on/off. It also fits nicely on our Christmas tree! If you’d like to build your own, check it out on Thingiverse.

Circuit Playground Star Tree Topper

 

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Adafruit Weekly Editorial Round-Up: November 3rd to November 9th, #TubmanStamp at the Smithsonian, Adafruit Holiday Shipping Deadlines 2019 and “Arcade Game Typography” Book Review

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ADAFRUIT WEEKLY EDITORIAL ROUND-UP

We’ve got so much happening here at Adafruit that it’s not always easy to keep up! Don’t fret, we’ve got you covered. Each week we’ll be posting a handy round-up of what we’ve been up to, ranging from learn guides to blog articles, videos, and more.

BLOG

DSC 1912

Harriet Tubman stamp on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History #tubmanstamp

The Harriet Tubman stamp is now on display as a part of the Smithsonian’s The Value of Money exhibition at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. The Smithsonian joins the International Slavery Museum in putting the Harriet Tubman stamp on display to the public.

Check out the full post here!

More BLOG:

Keeping with tradition, we covered quite a bit this past week. Here’s a kinda short nearing medium length list of highlights:

Learn

Desktop Dumpster Fire

Having a bad day? With the press of a button and your small desktop storage container erupts into flames, creating a perfect visual representation of how life often feels, and a cathartic way to express oneself.

See the full guide here!

More LEARN:

Browse all that’s new in the Adafruit Learning System here!

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Adafruit Weekly Editorial Round-Up: September 15th to September 21st, Celebrating the Adafruit Discord Community, National Hispanic Heritage Month, All the Internet of Things – Ep. 5 and more!

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ADAFRUIT WEEKLY EDITORIAL ROUND-UP

We’ve got so much happening here at Adafruit that it’s not always easy to keep up! Don’t fret, we’ve got you covered. Each week we’ll be posting a handy round-up of what we’ve been up to, ranging from learn guides to blog articles, videos, and more.

BLOG

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14,000 THANK YOUs! Celebrating 14,000 members in the Adafruit Discord Community!

Together as a community, we reached over 14,000+ humans thank you! We share projects, coordinate events, make new friends, build open-source together like CircuitPython, we’ve worked really hard to make this a special place for everyone to share their projects, code, and things they make.

Join today! https://adafru.it/discord

Check out the full post here!

More BLOG:

Keeping with tradition, we covered quite a bit this past week. Here’s a kinda short nearing medium length list of highlights:

Learn

Magical Cardboard Craft Obsidian Sword

This guide takes you through the process of creating your own fantasy weapon that begins to glow as soon as you pick it up.

The design for this sword is taken from the Cartoon Network animated series ‘Steven Universe’.

See the full guide here!

More LEARN:

Browse all that’s new in the Adafruit Learning System here!