The MagPi has posted their review of the 4tronix Zero Motor Shim board from issue 47. The largely positive review shows just how flexible the board is, especially considering it only takes up 6 GPIO pins. You can read the review here and get hold of the Shim from 4tronix here.
The Pi Podcast has just published their latest episode. This one features an interview with teacher (and all round lovely person) Hannah Mills as well as all the important news from the Pi world. You can listen to the Podcast here.
On a sad note, the team has also announced that this is to be their last episode due to other commitments. I’d like to thank them for their efforts over the past year or so – the Podcast has been one of the highlights for me and I will miss listening to it greatly. Good luck with whatever comes next, guys! 🙂
Frank and his team are organising a London Raspberry Jam to be held this Friday between 1pm and 4pm at 7 Dials in Covent Garden. Not too many details available at the moment as this will be a slightly ad-hoc type of Jam, but it’s sure to be a fun afternoon. Great if you have tech-y kids and want to get them out of the house for a bit! Get your free tickets here.
Myself and Tim are excited to announce that applications for Pi Wars 2017 are now being accepted. We had 140 teams (!) register their interest, which quite blew us away, and so we are expecting that competition for places at the event will be fierce!
If you would like to enter, please find the application form here.
More information about the event, which takes place on 1st-2nd April next year, can be found on the Pi Wars website.
DaftMike has created a miniaturised version of the classic NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) and used a Raspberry Pi to play retro games. At 40% of the original size, this is a lovely small build accomplished using a 3D printer. He has used an NFC reader to read mini cartridges which tell the Pi which game to play via an Arduino which actually reads the built-in tags. He added functional buttons and also adapted a gaming controller to communicate with the system. It really is a lovely build and you can read more about it here, on Mike’s blog.
Motorola and Element 14 have launched a development kit for creating add-ons for the new Moto Z mobile phone. As well as this kit, they’ve also announced that there will be a Raspberry Pi HAT adapter board (pictured above). It converts the Moto’s 80 pin interface into the Pi’s 40-pin and features a small prototyping area. There are also connectors in the right places for the Pi’s camera board and official display. As reported by Hackerboards.com, the software isn’t ready and you may need to port the code yourself, but it’s an interesting development. Read more here.
