Google Search Adds Graphing Calculator

Google will now show a graph of a function entered in the search box.  Here is an example for the sinc function.

The official google search blog gives more details on the new graphing feature.

If you want more than a quick graph, I recommend Wolfram Alpha.  Here is the output for the same function.

Here is my original post on Wolfram Alpha.

Microstick 2 Low Cost PIC Development Board

The Microchip Microstick 2 (a.k.a. Microstick II) is a development board with on board USB debug compatible with MPLAB with a socket that supports 16 and 32-bit PIC MCUs and 16-bit DSCs.  It is shaped and advertised to be about the size of a stick of gum, like the more powerful gumstix open source hardware.  The Microstick 2 sells for $34.95 US and includes a USB cable, headers for connecting to proto boards and 4 different processors that can be used for development: PIC24FJ64GB002, PIC24HJ64GP502, dsPIC33FJ64MC802, and PIC32MX220F032.

New Arduino Development Software Released

The Arduino blog has announced Arduino 1.0 now available.  This is a software update for the development environment used with the Arduino hardware.  This earlier Arduino blog post details the many changes and inprovements.

New BeagleBone Now in Stock

The new BeagleBone TI Am335x ARM  Cortex A8  development board is now in stock at  Special Computing for $79.95, here is a list of  the current BeagleBone distributors to check.  

Adafruit Industries will soon have them too and is selling a custom proto board for $9.95 that fits right on top of the BeagleBone called the proto cape.  For those unfamiliar, a cape is like a daughter board for the main board like a shield for an Arduino.  (My wife wants to know why there are daughterboards and motherboards, but not father or son boards, please leave a comment if you know the answer).

Radio Shack Arduino Competition

Radio Shack now supplies arduinos and select sheilds.  The electronics store is promoting a new DIY product selection and it's new website, radioshackdiy.com with The Great Create Arduino Challenge.  The deadline to submit an entry is 12/12/20011.  They are looking for your Arduino project photos and videos.  Prizes include $500 radio shack gift cards.

Xilinx Embedded Kit Discounted

Xilinx has discounted a few development kits including the Spartan-6 FPGA Embedded Kit available for $695.  It features the MicroBlaze core and Eclipse IDE for software development.  The included SP605 Evaluation board is a high-end platform with 10/100/1000 Ethernet, SFP transceiver connector, GTP port, PCI express x1 edge connector, DVI/VGA out, 128MB DDR3 and multiple I/O connectors.

TI Low Cost eZdsp Dev Kit Special Offer

The TI C5535 eZdsp dev kit is now available for just $55 through Oct. 24 Dec. 31, 2011 (extended).  Normally priced at $99, the kit demonstrates the low cost TMS320C553x ultra-low-power fixed-point DSP family which start at about $2 in production volumes.  The kit features the TMS320C5535 DSP, an on-board emulator for debugging, USB 2.0 with free software framework for HID and audio class, Code Composer Studio IDE and eXpressDSP development software, the DSP/BIOS kernel, audio I/O connectors, headphone with mic, micro SD slot, a small 96x16 OLED display,  pushbuttons and a 60 pin expansion connector.

The development board is supported by Spectrum Digital Incorporated. You can find all the documentation at the eZdsp5535 Support website. There you will find manuals, errata, schematics in pdf and orcad, gerbers, and layout info.  You can also download software and information for booting over SPI (the board will also boot over SD card).  An audio expansion board is listed, but only schematics and hardware information is provided at the time of writing.

According to the press release from TI, the included code composer studio is a full-featured version  normally priced at $495.  I expect the software tools will be limited to this processor family, but that would still be a good value.

EEWeb

Today my main website is featured on EEWeb as the enginering site of the day.  Aaron Clarke - List of DSP Resources | EEWeb

EEWeb is a electrical engineering community site with sections focusing on analog design, RF design, power management, embedded design, test and measure, components and PCB design.  There is also a forum, jobs and even an original electrical engineering comic.

Freescale Kinetis Challenge Seeks Innovative Embedded Applications for ARM Cortex-M4 Cores

The Freescale Make It Challenge: Kinetis MCUs is accepting registration until August 1, 2011 for embedded applications.  The winner will receive up to $11,000 cash in total prizes.  There will also be cash prizes for semifinalists and second and third place winners.  An online training session, a quiz and a design paper are required to enter.

Lattice MachX02 PLD Development Kit Limited Time Offer

For a limited time you can purchase a MachXO2 Pico Development Kit for $29.  Last year they had a similar offer for the Lattice XP2 FPGA Brevia development kit which is now selling for $49.  It supports designs with common interfaces like UART, SPI, I2C,  and LCD control with reference source code.  This link gives a complete list of XO2 reference IP.  The kit also includes design software and a USB interface for JTAG debugging.