Our teardown of R2-D2 shows what’s inside this little droid with a big personality. One of the hot new toys released in advance of the new Star Wars movie is R2-D2 by Sphero, the same toymaker that developed the BB8 for the 2015 Star Wars sequel called The Force Awakens. As with the BB8, R2 […]
Teardowns
Teardown: The Apple Sport watch
Apple recently came out with the Series 3 version of its watch. We can get an idea of how the Series 3 goes together from a teardown analysis of Apple’s earlier Sport model. The Sport model we analyzed has an aluminum case but the watch is also available in stainless steel. It measures about 39 […]
Teardown: The super-adjustable Ketra A20 LED bulb
Ketra unapologetically charges $100 for its A20 LED bulb, and the bulb needs a controller to work. Here’s what you find inside the bulb that makes it worth the premium price. A tunable A20-style LED light bulb from Ketra, in Austin, Tex., may be the world’s most expensive classic LED bulb. It lists at about […]
Video Teardown: Could Mr. Robot have really hacked the Steel Mountain HVAC system?
TV viewers who tuned into episode five (having the catchy title “eps1.4_3xpl0its.wmv”) of Mr. Robot watched the main character employ a hack that destroyed magnetic tape data backups held at Evil Corp.’s Steel Mountain facility. Technology-literate viewers might wonder whether the events of episode five could really unfold in real life the way writers envisioned […]
Teardown: The electronics of Hello Barbie
Parents leery of privacy invasion have little to fear from Barbie, whose language skills mainly reside in the cloud. There’s been a lot of discussion in the media about privacy and home appliances that listen to conversations. The Hello Barbie doll is a voice-enabled toy that has been part of the controversy. It uses Wi-Fi […]
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Teardown: Inside the Anki Overdrive racecar set
Robotic race cars make clever use of software and infrared optics to follow lines slyly hidden on the track. Leland Teschler, Executive Editor The Overdrive starter kit we analyzed contains sections of track that can go together in various ways and can even include jumps. An interesting feature of the track is that its sections […]
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Anki Overdrive racecar set appeared first on Microcontroller Tips.
Teardown: The Garmin Forerunner 220 sport watch and heart monitor
Chest-mounted electronics do a more accurate job of counting heart beats than do optical sensors on the wrist. That’s one of the conclusions to come out of a close look at this sport watch aimed at runners. Leland Teschler Executive Editor A sport watch from Garmin called the Forerunner 220 is basically a runner’s watch […]
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Video Teardown: What’s inside Ikea’s TRADFRI smart lightbulb?
A new LED bulb from the furniture maker Ikea of Sweden comes with its own remote controller which mounts to the wall and uses Bluetooth to switch the bulb on and off, adjust bulb color temperature and dimming level. One interesting point about the bulb: It uses two separate strings of LEDs, apparently as a […]
Teardown: Inside a $50 smart phone, the Blu R1 HD
The online retailer Amazon made headlines when it introduced a super-inexpensive smart phone from Blu Products in Miami called the R1 HD. The media splash arose because Amazon Prime members could get the phone for as little as $50 if they were willing to put up with seeing ads on the phone’s lock screen. With […]
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the Blu R1 HD appeared first on Microcontroller Tips.
Video Teardown: Inside the Osram Lightify LED smart connected light
How do you rig up an LED bulb so it works on the internet of things? That’s the question we try to answer in this teardown of a smart LED bulb and gateway from Osram Sylvania. In a nutshell, it is a tale of two different technologies with the LED bulb power functions built […]
