text:
Das Desktop-Werkzeug zum Verwalten von Git-Repositories ist nun Open-Source-Software und integriert zwei neue Git-Befehle.]]>
Flash photography is, of course, nothing new. There is a reason photography studios use incredibly bright lights — it's the only way to get a good photo without increasing the exposure time. High-speed flashes are often used in situations where motion blur is a concern, such as when capturing sporting events. But when things are moving really fast, commercial flash units often fall short. Gerritsen likes to take ballistic photographs of bullets striking glass, and built a ballistic chronograph to get the timing down right. But standard speedlight flashes still couldn't keep up, and introduced motion blur.
His solution was to build his own LED flash that could respond extremely quickly with a sufficient brightness. To do that, he used 12 Cree XLamp LEDs along with the capacitors, MOSFETs, and a boost regulator to drive them. Those are controlled by an ATmega328P microcontroller. All of those components are housed in a 3D-printed enclosure. The capacitors are energized before the shot, and are then set to discharge at the proper time. The flash goes off for just one microsecond, which is perfect for this kind of photography. By timing the flash and camera's shutter release just right with the trigger pull, Gerritsen is able to take beautiful photos of extremely fast-moving bullets.
This DIY High-Speed LED Flash Is Perfect for Ballistic Photography was originally published in Hackster Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.]]>
Compared to the ESP32 we know and love, there are a few differences. The ESP32-S2 uses a single core Xtensa LX7 core running at up to 240 MHz, where the current ESP32 uses either a single or dual core LX6. The differences between these cores is hidden away in marketing speak and press releases, but it appears the LX7 core is capable of many more floating point operations per cycle: apparently 2 FLOPS / cycle for the LX6, but 64 FLOPS / cycle for the LX7. This is fantastic for DSP and other computationally heavy applications. Other features on the chip include 320 kB SRAM, 128 kB ROM, and 16 kB of RTC memory.
Connectivity for the ESP32-S2 is plain WiFi; Bluetooth is not supported. I/O includes 42 GPIOs, 14 capacitive touch sensing IOs, the regular SPI, I2C, I2S, UART, and PWM compliment, support for parallel LCDs, a camera interface, and interestingly full-speed USB OTG support. Yes, the ESP32-S2 is getting USB, let us all rejoice.
Other features include an automatic power-down of the RF circuitry when it isn't needed, support for RSA and AES256, and plenty of support for additional Flash and SRAMs should you need more memory. The packaging is a 7 mm x 7 mm QFN, so get out the microscope, enhance your calm, and bust out the flux for this one. Engineering samples will be available in June, and if Espressif's past performance in supplying chips to the community holds true, we should see some projects using this chip by September or thereabouts.
(Banner image is of a plain-old ESP32, because we don't have any of the new ones yet, naturally.)]]>
[Adam]'s guide starts from a basic level, considering 3-axis CNC milling with the most commonly used tools. From there, a whole range of tips, tricks, and potential pitfalls are discussed to help new machinists get to grips with CNC milling. Everything from dogbone corners, to tool selection and feature heights are covered, as well as cost-saving techniques like minimising the number of setups required.
These are skills any engineer will learn in a hurry when approaching an experienced CNC machinist, but it's always better to go in forewarned and forearmed. Of course, for those eager to not just work with, but build their own CNC machine, we've covered that base too. Video after the break.
The idea to tackle the project came from seeing an animation of Mobius gears. Wondering if it would be possible to actually create such a thing, [elmins] got to work. The design is printed in 60 pieces, 30 each for the inner and outer parts. The entire assembly is printed in PETG, an unconventional choice but by no means unsuitable. 285 ball bearings help the rings rotate.
The gears use a standard involute bevel profile, though [elmins] suspects this could be an area of further optimisation. The parts were printed in an orientation to ensure the print lines run around the races, allowing for minimal finishing and smooth rolling of the bearings. This is a good study of just what can be achieved with some smart modelling and perseverance.
If you're thirsty for more madcap machining, consider exploring the concept of the Reuleaux triangle bearing.]]>
Of course, your GPS clock will always tell the right time, but it won't be really right. Your microcontroller will introduce all sorts of timing errors and jitter, so at best it'll only be nearly right. [Rick MacDonald] has been striving to quantify and minimise these errors in his OpenPPS project, which aims to be as accurate a GPS time and frequency reference as possible.
In a very comprehensive multi-page write-up, he details his progression, through the GPS modules he used, his experience with timing jitter when he used an ESP32 alone to process their output, and then his experiments with an FPGA and then temperature-compensated oscillators. It moves from being a mere description of a GPS clock into a fascinating run-down of both GPS timing itself and the development pitfalls he encountered along the way. At the end of it all he has a GPS clock in a smart 3D-printed enclosure which he admits as yet doesn't do anything more than tell the time, but as he points out it's a clock with minimised jitter, delay, and drift, and it remains an ongoing project that will evolve into a full-blown time and frequency standard.
If your taste in GPS clocks is far more simple, there are plenty of projects showing how a more basic one can be produced.]]>
Just plugging a USB dongle into the box isn't sufficient, an extra power supply is required as well as a minor bit of configuration. The IP address will be static so you might want to use an IP that your DHCP server won't hand out, or reserve the IP on your local network.
The Pluto SDR is an inexpensive ($150) student kit that can both receive and transmit (at very low power). There's a free book about it, too. By default, the device only operates from 325 to 3800 MHz — too high to receive the FM radio band, for example. However, there is a hack that not only makes the range from 70 to 6000 MHz, but also increases the bandwidth from 20 MHz to 56 MHz. It may not be totally "in spec" in the increased range, but it works fine to pick up FM signals, for example. The official page hints this only works with certain units, but we've known quite a few people to get it to work, so it will likely work for you, too.
In addition to increasing the frequency range, you can enable the device's 2nd CPU which is disabled by default. If you want to do a little more hacking, there's a custom firmware for it that turns it into a stand-alone streaming device — handy with the Ethernet hack. You can download PlutoWeb from GitHub.
Barn door trackers, also known as scotch mounts have been used by photographers for many years to cancel out the rotation of the earth. This causes stars to appear frozen in the sky and allows for photographs of very dim celestial objects. These trackers range from simple hand-cranked affairs to complex mechanical creations. [Emvilza] decided to have a go at designing and building his own tracker, using only basic tools, as he didn't have access to a CNC or 3D printer.
The tracker itself is built from wood, with metal hardware. [Emvilza] spent a ton of time designing the tracker using SketchUp. The carefully drawn plans ensured everything would fit together and operate correctly.
One of the toughest parts was accurately bending a threaded rod enough to make it work with the tracker, but not bind the drive system. The mount's motion comes from a threaded rod. The rod is driven by a stepper motor. Control and sensing is handled by an ATmega328 programmed using the Arduino toolchain. [Emvilza] learned Eagle and designed a PCB. Rather than etch a board, he simply built the circuit on perfboard, following his layout and traces.
The end result is a tracker that looks and performs great — just check out the images on [Emvilza's] site to see some examples. Not only that, [Emvilza's] well written documentation will help anyone looking to build a tracker in the future!]]>
People in many developing countries lack access to devices that we take for granted in "first world" countries. For example, a modern desktop computer is rare for the average person in most developing countries. But, in the past few years, it has become very common for those same people to have smartphones. That's because they're affordable, extremely versatile, and the infrastructure to utilize them is in place, while traditional internet services rarely are. Unfortunately, a smartphone's screen is too small to easily share information with other people, and groups of people in particular.
That's where Sustainabot comes in. It's a small 3D-printable robot powered by an inexpensive 8-bit microcontroller and a Bluetooth module. Users connect to the robot via an Android app, and can send simple pictures or diagrams to be printed. The robot will then drive around any flat surface and deposit whatever material is in its hopper, such as salt, sugar, sand, or any other granular substance. Its capable of drawing either dot-matrix images, or line drawings. The idea is that people in developing countries can use Sustainabot to draw presentation images using readily-available and sustainable materials, which would be especially useful for education.
Sustainabot Can Print Messages and Diagrams with Just About Any Material was originally published in Hackster Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.]]>
Engineers Andre Zenner and Antonio Kruger developed the shape-changing Drag:on VR controller to capitalize on air resistance and weight shifting to generate haptic feedback, giving a sense of object size and movement when handled. The controller self-transforms using a series of actuators to increase or decrease its surface area and mass distribution, allowing it to adapt to virtual interaction with different objects.
The Drag:on controller was designed using a wooden base with a custom 3D printed mount on the end to attach an HTC Vive tracker. On the opposite end of the controller are a pair of MG996R servo motors that actuate a flamenco hand fan connected to 3D printed arms, which are engaged by a pushbutton located in the controller's grip area. When either or both sides of the fan open and close, the controller's weight and air resistance is shifted, giving the user perceived haptic feedback of VR object scales.
Zenner and Kruger tested their Drag:on VR controller using several volunteers who were blind to the controller's design by wearing a VR headset and earphones. The participants were subjected to several VR scenarios where different sized object manipulation was the focal point, and the results show that the controller can successfully convey different object scales. While the tests were proof positive that weight could be expressed through a controller, it's not known if the engineers will develop a commercial version of the Drag:on.
Drag:on VR Controller Brings Haptic Feedback Using Drag and Weight Shifting was originally published in Hackster Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.]]>
Der Begriff Action-Cam steht für kompakte und robuste Videokameras. Neben einem stabilen und wasserdichten Gehäuse ist vor allem eine hohe Bildqualität wichtig.]]>
Geht es nach Frederick Brooks, gibt es keine "Silver Bullets" in der IT. Aber Continuous Delivery verspricht so viele Vorteile, dass es doch eine sein könnte.]]>
Der Beitrag Ausprobiert – La Sportiva Run Jacket Men erschien zuerst auf wurzlwerk.de | Run • Bike • Hike & more.]]>
Das Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+ löst seine pinkompatiblen Vorgänger CM3, CM2 und CM ab und bringt bis zu 32 GByte eMMC-Flash.]]>
Installationsanleitung für ADB:
Mit dem folgenden Befehl könnt ihr euch alle installieren Apps bzw. Pakete anzeigen lassen:
adb shell pm list packages
Wenn ihr euch sicher seid, dass ihr ein Paket löschen wollt, dann tippt Folgendes ein:
adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 package.name
Der Parameter
package.name ist der Platzhalter für die App bzw. Paket, das ihr löschen wollt.
Apps wie Facebook, Dropbox, Flipboard, Instagram, Weather, OneDrive und Co. könnt ihr problemlos löschen. Es gibt allerdings auch einige System-Apps, die ihr nicht löschen solltet.
In einem XDA-Thread gibt es eine Übersicht, die ihr euch im Zweifelsfall anschauen solltet.
--user 0.
Mitmachen: Unterstütze den Blog mit einem Dauerauftrag!]]>
Wie wichtig die Privatsphäre eines jeden Einzelnen ist, muss ich den Lesern dieses Blogs nicht erklären. Dennoch haben es diverse Protagonisten – allen voran den großen Tech-Konzernen – über die Jahre geschafft, dem Nutzer zu suggerieren, dass (übermäßiger) Datenschutz bzw. Gesetze zum Schutz der Privatsphäre im Grunde überflüssig seien.
Insbesondere der Begriff »Datensouveränität« wird gerne bemüht, um bestehende Schutzprinzipien wie die Zweckbindung und die Sparsamkeit im Umgang mit personenbezogenen Informationen auszuhebeln. Schützenhilfe bekommen die Lobbyisten der Datenindustrie ausgerechnet aus der Politik, die in den Kanon einstimmen und bspw. Big Data als alternativlose Zukunftstechnologie verkaufen. Nach der Vorstellung der Datenindustrie sind in diesem Kontext die zwei Grundprinzipien des Datenschutzes, die Datensparsamkeit und Zweckbindung, durch Datenvielfalt und Datenreichtum zu ersetzen.
Nachdem ich euch bereits aufgezeigt hatte, wie ich eine größtmögliche Datensouveränität im Arbeitsalltag erreiche, möchte ich im vorliegenden Beitrag nun auf den Privatbereich eingehen. Auch hier stehen mittlerweile genügend Alternativen bzw. Lösungen bereit, die es datenschutzsensiblen Anwendern ermöglicht, die Datenhoheit zu bewahren. Jedoch gilt auch im Privatleben: Für alle Daten, die ich mit anderen Teile, gibt es keine Garantie, dass die übermittelten / ausgetauschten Daten vom Empfänger sensibel behandelt werden oder direkt nach Erhalt in der Microsoft-Cloud landen bzw. die Kontaktdaten via Google-Konto synchronisiert werden. Folglich wird auch immer ein »blinder Fleck« bleiben, den man höchstens etwas verkleinern kann.
Aus Datenschutzgründen verzichte ich seit Jahren freiwillig auf Dienste oder Produkte aus dem Hause Google, Facebook, Microsoft und Co. Zugegeben ist das nicht immer einfach und kann auch ganz schön unbequem sein. Auf der anderen Seite ist es befreiend, wenn ein Großteil der eigenen Daten unter der eigenen Kontrolle verbleiben und man nicht zum gläsernen Menschen wird, dessen Sehnsüchte und Wünsche ein Teil einer mathematischen Berechnungsformel geworden sind.
Viele verknüpfen den Verzicht auf Facebook, WhatsApp oder andere datensammelnde »Errungenschaften« der Tech-Industrie mit einem Verlust bzw. einer Einschränkung des Soziallebens. Ich kann euch beruhigen: Der Verzicht darauf macht keinesfalls einsam oder führt in die soziale Isolation. Eurer Verzicht wird allerdings mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit den ein oder anderen Konflikt bzw. Diskussion mit anderen Personen hervorrufen, die der Privatsphäre einen geringeren Stellenwert beimessen als ihr selbst. Als Folge werdet ihr dann irgendwann mit Leuten in einer Kneipe sitzen, die gemütlich ein Bier trinken und sich unterhalten, statt allein vor eurem Smartphone.
Google-Kalender für die ganze Familie? WhatsApp-Gruppen für die KiTa und Familienchats? Bekannte und Freunde auf Facebook? All das gibt es bei mir nicht. Kein Unternehmen der Welt verdient so viel Vertrauen, als dass ich ihm freiwillig einen Einblick in mein Privatleben gewähren würde. Sobald mich jemand auf diesen Verzicht anspricht, antworte ich ehrlich:
Ich habe etwas zu verbergen!
Freunde und Familie kennen meine Einstellung seit Jahren. Da weiß jeder, über welche Kanäle ich erreichbar bin und dass ich zugunsten der Privatsphäre gerne mal die »unbequemere« Lösungen bevorzuge.
Auf neue »Welten« stoßen wir allerdings gerade im KiTa-Umfeld unserer Tochter. Hier habe ich schon oft zu hören bekommen, dass ohne WhatsApp praktisch »gar nichts geht«, da die KiTa-Leitung oder die Eltern quasi dauerhaft darüber kommunizieren und sich untereinander austauschen würden. Ehrlich gesagt kann ich darauf gut und gerne verzichten – und offenbar zählt die KiTa unserer Tochter zu einer der wenigen, die ihre Kommunikation unabhängig von WhatsApp organisiert. Sobald eine wichtige Mitteilung für alle ansteht, erhalten alle Eltern eine E-Mail. Fortschritte, Probleme oder Erkenntnisse die unsere Tochter betreffen, besprechen wir direkt beim Bringen oder Abholen mit einer Erzieherin. Und sogar Verabredungen mit anderen Eltern sind kein Problem – einfach mündlich direkt vor Ort.
Wer die größtmögliche Herrschaft und Kontrolle über die eigenen Daten anstrebt, der wird aus technischer Perspektive nach meiner Auffassung nicht um quelloffene Software (Open Source) umhinkommen. Im Privat- und auch Geschäftsumfeld setze ich für meine Systeme ausschließlich auf Debian GNU/Linux. Für mich zeichnet sich das Debian-GNU/Linux-Projekt insbesondere durch seinen offenen und transparenten Umgang mit Sicherheitslücken aus. Aufgrund der hohen Stabilität und Zuverlässigkeit eignet es sich sowohl für Server- als auch Desktopsysteme.
Insbesondere in der Smartphone-Welt sollte eine Problematik allerdings nicht unerwähnt bleiben: Die fehlende Überprüfbarkeit bzw. Transparenz der proprietären Hardwarechips (bspw. Basebands). Selbst wenn wir auf einem Smartphone ausschließlich quelloffene Software einsetzen, wird die Vertrauenswürdigkeit direkt von der zugrundeliegenden Hardware beeinflusst. Diese Überlegung führt im Kontext des vorliegenden Beitrags allerdings zu weit, da dies insbesondere dann relevant wird, wenn sich ein (staatlicher) Geheimdienst Zugriff verschaffen möchte. Die Kombination quelloffene Software und (halb-)offene bzw. proprietäre Hardware wird uns aber zumindest vor den allgegenwärtigen Datenkraken wie Google schützen.
Abgesehen von diversen Testgeräten für den Arbeitsalltag mag ich es privat eher schlicht und übersichtlich – gemäß dem Prinzip »Keep It Small and Simple« (KISS). Unsere Haushaltsgeräte (Fernseher, Kühlschrank, Radio, Waschmaschine etc.) sind allesamt »dumm« und somit auch nicht Teil des Internet of Shit.
Werfen wir zunächst mal einen Blick auf die IT-Infrastruktur:
Meine privaten Geräte (Clients) beschränken sich auf lediglich drei Geräte:
[1] Notebook:
Meine aktuelle Software im Überblick:
|Kategorie / Anwendungszweck
|ToDo / Projektmanagement
|qpdfview, MuPDF
|EPUB Verwaltung
|Simple Scan
|LaTeX, HTML, PHP etc.
|Firefox inkl. Addons vom Firefox-Kompendium, Tor Browser, Waterfox
|Thunderbird inkl. folgende Addons
|FTP bzw. Dateiaustausch
|Bit-Torrent Client
|Video- und Audioplayer
|Archive Manager
|Virtuelle Maschinen
|Netzwerk Mitschnitt
|OpenVPN, vpnc
|dm-crypt LUKS
|E-Mail Verschlüsselung
|Passwort Manager
|Desktop Umgebung
|XFCE über xfwm (Window Manager)
|Display Manager
|arc-theme (Theme), Vibrancy Colors (Icons), Arc-Darker (Stil)
[2] Smartphone:
Meine aktuellen Apps im Überblick:
|Kategorie / Anwendungszweck
|Internet / Browser / E-Mail
|Fennec, FOSS Browser, Firefox Klar
|K-9 Mail
|Tiny Tiny RSS (Client für TinyTinyRSS)
|Kalender- und Kontakte-Synchronisation
|BirthDay Droid
|Alarm bzw. Wecker
|Video- und Audioplayer
|Simple Gallery
|Netzwerk- bzw. App-Analyse
|Net Monitor
|Auto Airplane Mode
|Soziale Netzwerke
[3] Tablet:
Eine elementare Grundlage unseres Lebens ist der Austausch mit anderen Menschen. Am liebsten unterhalte ich mit meinem Umfeld (Familie, Freunde, etc.) in persona. Sollte dies nicht möglich sein verläuft die Kommunikation in erster Linie über einen Messenger. Alternativ erfolgt der Austausch via E-Mail, Telefon oder ganz selten noch per SMS.
Privat und auch beruflich nutze ich die Messenger Signal und Conversations – beide Messenger findet ihr ebenfalls in der Empfehlungsecke.
[1] Signal:
[2] Conversations:
Auf dem Notebook nutze ich für die Kommunikation via E-Mail Thunderbird. Folgende Addons sind bei mir aktuell im Einsatz:
Am liebsten ist es mir natürlich, wenn die E-Mail-Kommunikation verschlüsselt via PGP/GPG erfolgt. Leider ist dies mit nur wenigen Privatkontakten möglich und E-Mails werden meist unverschlüsselt versendet. Daher prüfe ich, ob zumindest die E-Mail-Server untereinander via TLS kommunizieren:
Received: from mailgate1.bwl.de (mailgate2.bwl.de [126.96.36.199]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) by mail.kuketz.de (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 0D43F5E8F3
Zumindest so ist einigermaßen sichergestellt, dass die E-Mail nicht gleich als »Postkarte« über das Internet versendet wird.
Kontaktiert mich jemand über sein Google-Konto oder nutzt Google-E-Mail-Services retourniert mein E-Mail-Server üblicherweise einen Hinweis auf Basis eines Sieve Filters für Dovecot:
This is an auto reply message of my e-mail server.
Please be aware that all sent and received e-mails in Gmail will be analyzed by Google. This is a serious privacy violation!
If you live in Germany consider to change your e-mail service.
Due to this privacy violation of Google I will read your e-mail but might not answer it.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Im Privatumfeld verzichte ich auf diesen Hinweis. Allerdings antworte ich demjenigen dann nicht per E-Mail, sondern suche eine andere Kontaktmöglichkeit via Messenger, SMS oder Anruf.
Auf dem Smartphone nutze ich die App K-9 Mail. Sollte ich unterwegs sein und eine verschlüsselte E-Mail erhalten, kann ich diese nicht lesen. Den privaten Schlüssel lagere ich auf einem Nitrokey, den ich ausschließlich auf meinem Notebook benutze. Persönlich lege ich ungern sensible Daten auf dem Smartphone ab. Dieses insbesondere deshalb, weil sich ein Android-System trotz verfügbarer und eingespielter Sicherheitsupdates nicht härten lässt, wie man es bspw. von Desktop- oder Server-Systemen kennt. Das bedeutet: Online-Banking, die Ablage von privaten Schlüsseln oder der Austausch besonders sensibler Informationen erfolgt bei mir niemals über das Smartphone.
Elementare Dienste wie E-Mail oder Webservices hoste ich grundsätzlich selbst. Selbstverständlich existieren auch vertrauenswürdige Anbieter auf dem Markt, die euch diese Arbeit abnehmen und die ihr grundsätzlich auch bevorzugen solltet, wenn ihr die Installation, Wartung und Betrieb eines Servers nicht gewissenhaft und fachmännisch durchführen könnt. Für mich zählt der Betrieb von Diensten allerdings zu einem wichtigen Baustein meiner Datensouveränität, den ich ungern externen Anbietern anvertraue. Also: Wenn ihr die Fähigkeiten habt es selbst zu hosten, dann solltet ihr das tun, gleichzeitig solltet ihr euch aber auch eurer Verantwortung bewusst werden, die ihr mit diesem Schritt eingeht. Ihr seid quasi Administrator und Anwender in einer Person. Alle anderen sollten einen Anbieter wählen, der den Dienst für euch hostet und damit mitverantwortlich für eure Datensouveränität ist.
Im Grunde hoste ich für private Zwecke nur eine handvoll Dienste:
|Kategorie / Anwendungszweck
|Selbst gehostet
|Web & E-Mail
|Postfix, dovecot & rspamd
|Baikal (Tutorial Baikal)
Hinweis: Baikal ist nur im internen Netz erreichbar und sollte nicht dauerhaft von »unsicheren« Netzen erreichbar sein. Da die Entwicklung eingestellt wurde, solltet ihr besser Radicale nehmen.
|Baikal (Tutorial Baikal)
|Tiny Tiny RSS
Eine Nextcloud hoste ich persönlich nicht, da mir diese zu viel Funktionen in einer Lösung vereint. Ich verteile meine Daten lieber auf unterschiedliche Dienste, die genau eine Aufgabe erfüllen, um das Risiko durch eine mögliche Sicherheitslücke gering zu halten. Oder anders dargestellt: Wird in einer Nextcloud-Instanz eine Sicherheitslücke ausgenutzt, sind im ungünstigsten Fall viele unterschiedliche Daten betroffen. Durch die Verteilung von Diensten bzw. Daten lässt sich dieses Risiko minimieren.
Für den ein oder anderen von euch kommt eine solche Nextcloud aber vielleicht genau deshalb in Frage. Immerhin unterstützt die Nextcloud viel Funktionalität unter einer Haube. In der Tabelle verlinke ich daher auf sogenannte Nextcloud-Hoster – das sind nichts anderes als Anbieter, die für euch eine Nextcloud-Instanz bereitstellen, falls ihr dies nicht selbst tun wollt bzw. könnt.
Sowohl im Geschäftsumfeld als auch Privatumfeld werdet ihr immer nur folgendes Ziel anstreben können:
Größtmögliche Kontrolle und Herrschaft über die (eigenen) Daten.
Die vollständige Kontrolle wäre ein Illusion. Es gibt einfach Bereiche, die ihr nur schwer kontrollieren bzw. beeinflussen könnt. Liegt euch eure Datensouveränität allerdings am Herzen, dann müsst ihr Entscheidungen treffen, Angebote auf den Prüfstand stellen und euch von eurer Bequemlichkeit verabschieden.
Insbesondere Journalisten, Autoren, Politiker aber auch anderen Personen fordern gerne öffentlichkeitswirksam »mehr Datenschutz«:
Dieses scheinheilige Getue hat selten zu einem nennenswerten Erfolg geführt. Unternehmen wie Google, Facebook und Co. verstehen nur eine Sprache: Die des Geldes – indirekt ausgelöst durch einen Rückgang der Nutzerzahlen bzw. Sanktionen, die auch wirklich ihren Namen verdienen.
Wir können nur dann etwas verändern, wenn wir aktiv werden und den schönen Worten, Drohungen und Forderungen auch Taten folgen lassen. Anstatt fortwährend »mehr Datenschutz« einzufordern sollten diverse Protagonisten vielleicht mal darüber nachdenken, was sie selbst verändern / tun können? Anbei habe ich ein paar Denkanstöße zusammengestellt:
Bei uns in Deutschland mangelt es nicht an Kritikern, die mehr Datenschutz einfordern, sondern wir haben einen Mangel an Personen, die es damit wirklich ernst meinen. An dieser Stelle ein Zitat von Matthias Claudius (1740 – 1815):
Beurteile einen Menschen lieber nach seinen Handlungen als nach seinen Worten; denn viele handeln schlecht und sprechen vortrefflich.
Der Fokus des vorliegenden Beitrags liegt auf der digitalen Welt bzw. mit welchen technischen Mitteln / Diensten die Datensouveränität gewährleistet werden kann. Dabei sollten wir allerdings auch andere Aspekte unseres Lebens nicht aus den Augen verlieren. Es gibt einfach Dienstleistungen, bei denen sind wir auf externe Anbieter angewiesen. Das fängt bei der Bank an, geht über die Autoversicherung, der Krankenkasse bis hin zu irgendwelchen Bonuskarten und Mitgliederausweisen. Vermutlich hat jeder von uns im Durchschnitt über 20 Verträge, Bonuskarten, Bankkonten und dergleichen. Dabei solltet ihr euch stets vor Augen führen: Diese Dienstleister speichern und verarbeiten eure Daten – sind für eure Datensouveränität also mitverantwortlich!
Wer schonmal von einem Datenleak betroffen war, weil seine Autoversicherung oder Online-Shop »gehackt« wurde, der wird, sofern er davon Kenntnis erlangt hat, vermutlich den Anbieter wechseln bzw. zukünftige Angebote genauer prüfen. Ihr solltet allerdings nicht auf einen Datenleak oder ähnliches warten, sondern bereits jetzt aktiv werden und eure Dienstleister auf den Prüfstand stellen. Dafür gibt es leider keine allgemeingültige Anleitung, wie ihr dabei vorgehen solltet. Ich habe euch ein paar Beispiele aus meinem Privatleben zusammengestellt, die aufzeigen sollen, welche Überlegungen ich mit einbeziehe:
Ethisch korrekt soll es sein und dabei auch noch die höchsten Ansprüche an Sicherheit und Datenschutz erfüllt werden. Nein, es ist wirklich nicht einfach einen Versicherer, Dienstleister oder Bank zu finden, der den eigenen Maßstäben gerecht wird. Ihr werdet daher nicht umhinkommen Kompromisse einzugehen – allerdings müsst ihr eben selbst entscheiden, welche dies sein sollen.
Was ich euch mit auf den Weg geben möchte: Der Schutz eurer Datensouveränität ist von vielen Faktoren abhängig, die oftmals nicht in eurem Einflussbereich liegen. Wenn ihr einen datenschutzfreundlichen E-Mail-Anbieter gefunden habt (bspw. mailbox.org) und eurer Smartphone ausschließlich mit quelloffenen Apps betreibt, dann seid ihr auf dem richtigen Weg. Konzentriert euch allerdings nicht ausschließlich auf den digitalen Bereich, sondern beleuchtet auch weitere Aspekte eures Lebens und prüft bestehende Verträge und Dienstleister. Entsprechen diese noch euren Vorstellungen?
Wer die größtmögliche Datensouveränität anstrebt, der muss zwangsläufig viele Bereiche seines Lebens auf den Prüfstand stellen. Die Devise lautet: Nicht labern, sondern handeln!
In Zeiten von Big Data ist es schwierig geworden, die eigene Datensouveränität zu bewahren. Zu viele Protagonisten bedienen sich ungeniert an unseren Daten und missbrauchen sie für ihre fragwürdigen Zwecke. Das Mitspracherecht, was mit unseren Daten tatsächlich passiert, haben wir bei den meisten Anbietern schon lange verloren. Wem die eigene Datensouveränität bzw. Privatsphäre daher am Herzen liegt, der wird nicht umhinkommen, privat und auch beruflich Konsequenzen zu ziehen. Wie umfangreich diese sind, dass muss natürlich jeder für sich selbst entscheiden.
Es liegt an euch, ob ihr weiterhin über Datenkraken wie Google und Co. schimpft oder lieber handelt. Dieses Handeln will ich ausdrücklich nicht allein auf technische Lösungen reduzieren, sondern ihr solltet ebenfalls zivilgesellschaftlich aktiv werden und eurer Unzufriedenheit eine Stimme verleihen. Kontaktiert eure Bank, wenn diese Tracker im sensiblen Login-Bereich einbindet. Zieht einen Wechsel der Krankenkasse in Betracht, wenn ihr überzeugt seid, dass die aktuelle Ausrichtung der elektronischen Gesundheitsakte dringend überdacht werden sollte.
Ihr könnt etwas für eure Datensouveränität tun, werdet euch dessen bewusst und handelt.
Privacy: Freepik from www.flaticon.com is licensed by CC 3.0 BY
Mitmachen: Der Kuketz-Blog ist spendenfinanziert!]]>
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Der Beitrag Rose Team GF Six Disc auch bekannt als Rose X-Lite CDX erschien zuerst auf wurzlwerk.de | Run • Bike • Hike & more.]]>
But, like a lot of other people who grew up closer to the 'golden age' of computing than the age the black rectangle of glass and brushed aluminium that lives in all of our pockets today, I have a soft spot for retro-computing.
So the arrival of core memory for the Arduino, designed and built by Jussi Kilpelainen, gives me a warm feeling of remembering an age I wasn't quite part of, if only just.
Core uses magnetic toroids, called the cores, threaded on wires, with each core representing just a single bit of information. The cores are magnetised in two different ways, clockwise or counter-clockwise, and the bit stored in a core is zero or one depending on that core's direction.
We are restoring an Apollo Guidance Computer. After 52 years it works perfectly except for the core memory (which unfortunately is a critical component). The computer was one of the first computers built from integrated circuits, using many, many dual NOR gate flat pack ICs.
— @kenshirriff
Core memory is actually fairly quirky, or at least different, than modern memory. While it is non-volatile, it preserves memory contents even when power is turned off, the process of reading the core causes the core to erase itself. It's also really rather power hungry, hilariously so compared to modern memory, and of course is rather vulnerable to magnetic fields.
While the whole idea might seem, and really is, impractical there is sense in the madness of building something like this in the modern age of computing. Disregard the nostalgia for simpler times, there is a reason that so many of us, are fans of retro-computing. It's tactile.
Anything beginners do with a modern computer is almost inevitably now abstracted away from how it works. Reaching deep down into the bottom of the machine, making it do what you want, is harder. Much harder.
Building, using, playing with, something like core memory is more tactile, and gives a different view of how things work than using a modern computer. It helps you get an understand what is going on inside our slabs of glass, silicon, and black plastic. One that's hard, these days, to get any other way.
Based on previous work by Ben North and Oliver Nash, Kilpelainen's shield comes as a kit, and yes, that means that you have to self-weave the core itself.
The Core Memory Shield for the Arduino cost $39.90 plus shipping and is available now on Kilpelainen's Tindie Store. Documentation for the kit is available online, including source code, schematics and a full Bill of Materials.
A Core Memory Shield for the Arduino was originally published in Hackster Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.]]>
Das C-Sky GX6605S kostet weniger als ein Raspberry Pi, kann aber (manches) mehr als ein Arduino – und drin steckt ein steinalter Motorola-Kern.]]>
Despite the enormity of this undertaking, YouTuber Tom Stanton decided to take on this challenge himself with a VTOL craft that features his own control scheme. It takes off with the two motors in a vertical bicopter configuration, with control provided by varying the angle of each motor, along with using the control surfaces to provide some steering when moving in relation to the wind. The craft can then transition to airplane mode, rotating each of the motors to a horizontal orientation.
Stanton would have used a KK2 flight controller board that can be set up for this kind of transition, but he's found these seem to be more and more rare. Instead, he's using a FrSky L9R receiver that is able to output SBUS and individual servo signals at the same time. Received data is pushed to a flight controller capable of controlling drones as well as fixed-wing aircraft, which then outputs signals to an ATmega32U4-based "Arduino" board. This outputs signals for the motor tilt servos and the motor speeds, while the wing and tail can be controlled directly. This means that if something were to happen to the custom hardware, the plane should theoretically still be able to be brought in for a landing.
While Stanton was able to pull this project off, he's quick to note that it's not for the inexperienced builder. Be sure to check out his video below to see how it was done, and code is available here if you think you're up for the task!
Custom RC VTOL Craft Build Is As Difficult As It Sounds was originally published in Hackster Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.]]>
Most synthesizers and MIDI controllers, by default, have buttons mapped in a way that makes sense on paper. They may, for instance, have the notes of a scale laid out linearly as the pitch rises. But, as anyone who has studied music theory will tell you, that's not how chords are actually played. Major chords on a piano can be played by using three fingers with two keys between each, and your left-most finger on the corresponding key, like G for a G Major. To switch to an F Major, you just move your hand so your left-most finger is on the F key.
Kord Kontroller makes it even easier; you keep your fingers on the same buttons, and simply use your other hand to switch between keys. If you want to add a fifth, you just push one more button that is always in the same position no matter what key you're playing in. Kord Kontroller has different modes built-in for finger positions and the layout of the key-selection buttons, which suit different styles of music.
That's all powered with an Arduino Leonardo, which acts as a MIDI interface to whatever you want to use to actually generate the sound — like synthesizer software running on your computer. The buttons are Adafruit Trellis 4x4 modules, and there are four of them for a total of 64 individual buttons. The enclosure is 3D-printed from Electronic_Grenade's LaunchPad Housing design. Kord Kontroller isn't available for sale, but you can use the provided code to build your own.
The Kord Kontroller MIDI Maps Notes and Chords Intuitively for Beginners was originally published in Hackster Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.]]>
This is a great place to begin the journey of learning electronics, but ultimately any real-world circuit will be more complex than those discussed in that first article.
In that article I focused on what are called passive circuits. Passive components include resistors, capacitors, inductors, transformers, etc.
An active circuit on the other hand uses more complex components like transistors. An electronic component is considered active if it allows the device to control the current in other parts of the circuit.
This article was originally published on PredictableDesigns.com. Predictable Designs helps startups, entrepreneurs, makers, and inventors develop new electronic products. Download their free cheat sheet 15 Steps to Develop Your New Electronic Hardware Product.
There are some equations in this article but please don't let those scare you away. The equations used are all relatively easy to understand and they will help give you a more fundamental understanding of the circuit being discussed.
NOTE: This is a long, very detailed article so here's a free PDF version of it for easy reading and future reference.
The circuits I'll cover in this article will be more complex than previously discussed, but these are still all relatively simple circuits. I don't want to overwhelm you and it's critical to start simple and slowly work up to more advanced circuits.
There are two broad classifications of transistors that we'll be analyzing: bipolar-junction transistors (BJT) and field-effect transistors (FET). Transistors can either be operated as digital switches, or used in analog applications such as amplifiers and power regulators.
For this introductory article I won't get into the low-level physics of these transistors which will likely only cause confusion, and instead the focus will be on their functionality and applications.
Let's first look at bipolar junction transistors which are so named because they are made of two diode junctions. A bipolar transistor comes in two flavors: NPN and PNP. The N and the P refer to whether the area of semiconductor silicon is doped negatively or positively.
A bipolar transistor consists of three pins: collector, base, and emitter. For an NPN bipolar transistor the current will flow from the collector to the emitter. For a PNP transistor the current will flow from the emitter to the collector.
For an NPN transistor to be turned on the base voltage must be greater than the emitter voltage. The opposite is true for a PNP transistor where the base voltage must be less than the emitter voltage.
In most circuits the emitter of an NPN will be tied to ground (or tied to a resistor that connects to ground), and the emitter of a PNP will be tied to the positive supply (once again possibly through a resistor).
A bipolar transistor has three regions of operation:
When operating in the active region the transistor acts as an amplifier. The voltage between the base and emitter pins (commonly called Vbe) controls the amount of current that flows between the collector and the emitter.
This is an exponential relationship so the smallest change in Vbe can have a huge impact on the collector current. Since this base-emitter junction is really just a diode the voltage (Vbe) will always be close to 0.7V. This relationship is governed by the following equation:
Where Ic = collector current, Is = reverse saturation current (a known constant on the order of 10−15 to 10−12 amperes), and VT is called the thermal voltage which is proportional to temperature (approximately 26mV at room temperature).
A bipolar transistor operating in the active region also provides current amplification. The current flowing through the base pin will be gained up by a transistor parameter known as β (beta) or sometimes hFE. This gained up current will then flow between the collector and the emitter. The equation for this is:
Where Ic =collector current, β is the current gain specification for the transistor, and Ib = the base current.
Finally, the emitter current for a BJT is equal to the sum of the base and collector currents:
In the saturation region a bipolar transistor is fully on and acts as a closed switch between the collector and emitter pins. Whereas, when in the cut-off region the transistor is fully off and acts as an open switch.
However, for digital switching applications I prefer to use field-effect transistors instead of bipolar junction transistors.
The other broad classification of transistors are called field effect transistors. Just as with a BJT, a FET has three pins that provide similar purposes. The control pin is called the gate (instead of base). The current in a FET flows between the drain (similar to the collector on a BJT) and the source (same as BJT emitter).
One of the most significant functional differences between BJTs and FETs is that the control pin (gate) is electrically isolated by an insulating oxide layer. No current flows into the gate as it does with the base of a bipolar transistor. A FET is purely a voltage-controlled device.
As with bipolar transistors, FETs come in two flavors: n-type and p-type. There are various types of FETs available, but the most common type are called MOSFETs. The MOS stands for Metal-Oxide Semiconductor and it simply refers to the insulating material that forms the isolated gate.
An n-type FET is commonly called an NFET, or an NMOS for n-type MOSFETs. A p-type FET is called a PFET, or a PMOS for p-type MOSFETs.
Field-effect transistors have three regions of operation:
An important parameter of a FET is what is known as the threshold voltage (Vt). This is the minimum voltage between the gate and source pins (called VGS) at which the device begins to turn on. If VGS is less than Vt then no current will flow between the drain and source. This region is known as cut-off or subthreshold mode:
In the cut-off region a FET acts like an open switch.
Once VGS becomes larger than the threshold voltage (Vt) then the FET will enter either the linear region or the active region depending on the voltage between the drain and source pins.
When VGS is greater than the threshold voltage, yet the voltage across the drain-source pins is less than the difference between VGS and Vt, then the FET is operating in the linear region.
When in the linear region a FET acts as a voltage-controlled resistor. In this region, if the gate voltage is large enough then the FET will act like a closed switch (i.e. low resistance resistor).
When VGS is greater than Vt, and the drain-source voltage (VDS) is greater than the difference between VGS and Vt, then the FET is in the active region.
When in the active region the FET can perform functions such as voltage amplification.
A bipolar transistor is known as an exponential device because of the exponential relationship between the output current and the control voltage (Equation 1) when operating in the active region.
On the other hand, a FET is a square-law device meaning the output current is proportional to the square of the control voltage (VGS) when operating in the active region. The equation for a FET is as follows:
where Id = drain current, and k' is a constant associated with the particular FET.
This has only been a very basic introduction to some of the fundamental concepts associated with transistors. Depending on how deep you want to go there is much more to learn. In fact, many books have been written that cover transistor physics and/or transistor circuit design.
Now that you have a basic understanding of bipolar and field-effect transistors let's put them to some use by connecting them up to form an electronic circuit.
A simple and common use for a transistor is to turn on and off an LED indicator. The circuit below shows how a bipolar NPN transistor and an NFET transistor can be used for this purpose. The square wave signal shown below may be an I/O pin coming from a microcontroller.
Many microcontrollers can source/sink a few milliamps of current so in some cases you could simply wire the LED directly to the I/O pin without the need for a transistor. But in cases where you need an LED current higher than your microcontroller can support then you would use a transistor switch.
When the square-wave signal (control voltage) is high then Q1 (bipolar NPN) and Q2 (NFET) are both fully turned on and appear as a closed switch. This allows current to flow through each LED. The resistors in series with the LEDs are used to set the current level that flows when the transistors are closed.
Note the resistor (R4) in the base of the NPN transistor. A base resistor like this is required on a bipolar transistor so as to limit current and prevent damage. Remember, the base-emitter junction on a bipolar transistor is just a diode.
As you likely already know a diode requires a current limiting resistor, and this is true with bipolar transistors as well. The voltage across the base-emitter junction is very close to 0.7V, so if you were to try to put 5V across this junction (without the base resistor) then it would cause serious damage.
An inverter is one of the simplest circuits that you can design. An inverter takes a 0 and turns it into a 1, or vice-versa. We're going to look at using only FETs to build an inverter.
The circuit shown in Figure 4 is just two inverters. The first inverter is formed from Q1 and R1, and the second inverter uses Q2 and Q3. Q1 and Q3 are NFETs, whereas Q2 is a PFET.
If the gate of an NFET is high (compared to its source pin) then the transistor is fully on and looks like a closed switch. When the gate is low then the FET is full off and looks like an open switch.
A PFET is just the opposite. If the gate is low, then a PFET is turned on. If it's high, then it's turned off. For a PFET the source will likely be tied to the positive supply.
When V1 is zero, Q1 is turned off and looks like an open circuit; that means the voltage at node V2 gets pulled up to the supply voltage at the top through resistor R1 because now Q1 is off. If V1 is high, now Q1 is turned fully on which pulls V2 to ground.
So if V1 is zero, V2 is one. If V1 is one, then V2 is zero. That's an inverter.
A better way to make an inverter though is by replacing the top resistor (R1) with a PFET. The problem with using a resistor for the pull-up function is that the pull-up current will be quite small. A small pull-up current means the output of the inverter will be slow to change from a zero to a one.
The response of this first inverter will be asymmetrical. It will pull node V2 down really quickly through Q1, but it will be much slower to pull V2 high. This problem is eliminated by using a PFET instead of a resistor for this pull-up function.
For the NFET/PFET inverter (Q2 and Q3), when it's input voltage (V2) is low, the NFET is turned fully off and the PFET is turned fully on. So the output voltage (V3) will be high.
On the other hand, if V2 is high, now the PFET is turned off and NFET is turned on, so V3 is pulled low. You put a one in, you get a zero out. You put a zero in, you get a one out. It does the same function as Q1 and R1, but with symmetrical rise and fall times on the output.
Finally, we're going to look at a circuit with a bipolar transistor, or specifically an NPN.
As previously discussed in Equation 2, Beta is the current gain for a bipolar transistor. For example, if Beta is 100 and the base current is 1uA, that means the collector current will be 100uA, and the emitter current will be 101uA.
For the circuit shown in Figure 5, the current flowing through R1 into the base gets gained up by the Beta, and then that flows through R2.
If you wanted to calculate the output voltage of this circuit, the first step is to calculate the base current. To do this you need to find the voltage drop across R1, and then use Ohm's Law to calculate the current. The left side of R1 ties to the supply voltage, and the right side goes to the base of the NPN.
Remember, the base-emitter junction of a bipolar transistor is just a diode junction with a voltage of approximately 0.7V. So to calculate the base current you would use the following equation:
To calculate the collector current you simply multiple the base current by the transistor's Beta as previously shown in Equation 2.
The current flowing through resistor R2 is equal to the transistor collector current. To calculate the output voltage of this circuit you now need to calculate the voltage drop across R2 and simply subtract that from the positive supply voltage:
This is a really simple circuit that doesn't have much real-world use but it introduces you to some of the fundamentals of bipolar transistors.
This article has introduced you to the very basic concepts of active transistor circuits. The types of circuits that can be built using transistors are really quite breathtaking. Transistors are at the heart of every electronic device.
That being said, since the invention of the integrated circuit (IC) the need to design complex, discrete transistor circuits has been reduced mostly to engineers designing IC microchips.
However, there is still a need for a basic understanding of transistors, and many designs will use a few discrete transistors. But most designs now tend to use integrated circuits instead of discrete transistor circuits for any complex functions.
Unless you plan to become an IC designer you will likely only need an introductory understanding of transistor circuits.
If you enjoyed this article please share it or if you have any questions just leave a comment below and I will answer your questions.
Originally published at predictabledesigns.com.
Introduction to Transistors was originally published in Hackster Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.]]>
South Berkeley Electronics recently released their new HAT — the PiDog2, designed to provide a hardware watchdog and power management options to any 40-pin GPIO Raspberry Pi (except the Model A). Sometimes Raspberry Pi's crash, whether it's a coding error, heat or application related, and while the board is capable of resetting itself, it can't turn itself off or on. What's more, any peripherals connected to the Pi will continue to draw power even if you shut down the OS.
Potential crashes and power issues limit the Pi from being deployed remotely, as they need to be physically rebooted. The PiDog2 HAT solves those issues, as it can shut the power off to the Pi after a certain period has passed, and can perform a complete power-down after a clean shutdown. It can also power the Pi back up after a specified time, and even provide the Pi with measurements of 3.3V and 5V power supplies.
As far as hardware does, the PiDog2 is outfitted with an ATtiny84 microcontroller, P-FET power switch, micro USB port, JST connectors (12V battery monitoring), 40-pin Pi header for connecting to the Pi and debug headers. It also sports a 4-pin header with 2X grounds (5V switched/unswitched), 2x3 ICSP connection (for programming AVR), a pair of status LEDs, and reset button.
According to South Berkeley Electronics, the PiDog2 functions by inserting a MOSFET between the 5V USB connector and the Raspberry Pi, enabling it to turn itself off and on. The board is programmed to appear as 32-bit registers with various countdown timers and control bits, and SBE offers a Python library (on GitHub) that allows you to interact with those registers for adjusting those parameters.
The PiDog2 is now available on South Berkeley Electronics' Tindie page for $20, but be forewarned; it does require some soldering before it can be used with the Raspberry Pi.
The PiDog2 Brings a Hardware Watchdog and Power Management to the Raspberry Pi was originally published in Hackster Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.]]>
Ein Touch-Display verleiht so manchem Raspi-Bastelprojekt den letzten Schliff; bei Bildqualität, Ansteuerung, und Montage gibt es aber große Unterschiede.]]>
The design is explained in the video below, including a demo at around 5:00 of both the micro and full-sized servo version of the rig. Linear travel is based only on timing, so if precision is needed, you'll have to consider other options — or perhaps add some sort of encoder or linear travel sensor to the rack.
For simple movement, however, this looks like a great design, featuring only three downloadable 3D-printed components. For an idea of where to use it, you might check out Potent Printables' mouse droid that we featured here. Not only does it scurry around, but uses this type of linear actuator is used to push a side hatch open, revealing a hidden marquee display inside.
[h/t: Reddit]
Hobby Servos Converted to 3D-Printed Linear Actuators was originally published in Hackster Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.]]>
With all the attention going toward ESP32 boards with camera integration as of late, it's nice to see the SoC getting some love for audio applications with the ESP32-Audio-Kit. Earlier this year, Espressif unveiled their ESP32 LyraTD MSC HDK designed for smart speakers and appliances. Shortly afterward, the company dropped a similar board — the ESP32-LyraT for voice recognition projects, and now we have access to a third option for IoT audio projects with the latest release.
The ESP32-Audio-Kit is based on Ai-Thinker's ESP32-A1S with most of the interfaces located at the edge of the development board for easy access. As far as hardware goes, the ESP32-Audio-Kit is outfitted with a dual-core Xtensa LX6 CPU (520Kb SRAM, 8Mb of PSRAM), micro SD slot (up to 64Gb of storage), and 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.2 LE. Audio ports are many and include 3.5mm headphone jack, 3.5mm line-in jack, a pair of 2-pin headers for left/right speakers (up to 4Ω/3W output), and a couple of built-in microphones.
Expansion options include headers for I2C, UART, SPI, PWM, and an unpopulated header for JTAG with micro USB port for UART access. It also features six user buttons, as well as 5V/2A via micro USB, and support for 3.7V Li-ion battery via 2-pin header for power options.
The ESP32-Audio-Kit is compatible with Espressif's ESP-ADF framework, which offers support for Google's Assistant and Amazon's Alexa, and costs just $16.90 (currently on backorder). Seeed also supplies plenty of documentation on their product page, where you'll find schematics, demos, and user guides.
Seeed Drops New ESP32-Audio Development Kit for Audio-Related IoT Projects was originally published in Hackster Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.]]>
Morserino-32 recently launched on Kickstarter, and has already exceeded its funding goal. It's built on the Heltec ESP32 LoRa development board, which integrates a SX125x LoRa chip and an OLED display with the standard ESP32 module. It has a pair of built-in capacitive touch paddles for keying messages, a audio jack input for decoding Morse code messages or using an external paddle, and a line-out jack for communicating over the internet. You can even use the LoRa module to communicate with other Morserino-32 users within range.
The real selling point, however, is the inclusion of training and practice tools. Morserino-32 has many built-in programs to practice with, including an Echo Trainer where you repeat back what you heard, and a Code Generator so you can practice keying the displayed codes. The speeds of all of the modes are completely adjustable, so there's no reason to feel overwhelmed if you're new to Morse code.
Morserino-32 will be on Kickstarter until November 6th. A basic kit without a case costs €64 (about $73), or €80 (about $92) with the case. Rewards should ship in December.
Practice Your Morse Code Skills with the New Morserino-32 was originally published in Hackster Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.]]>
The NanoPi Duo2 fixes some of the issues the original board suffered, including replacing the dodgy XR819 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi chip with an AP6212 module. As far as hardware goes, the board sports a quad-core Cortex-A7 processor (Mali-400MP2 GPU), micro SD slot (up to 128Gb of storage), Ethernet, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, and Bluetooth 4.0 LE with chip antenna and an IPX connector for external antenna.
The Duo2 is also equipped with packs an I/F connector for OV6540 camera, micro USB OTG port, and a pair of 16-pin breadboard-compatible headers with UART, SPI, I2C, MIC, Line Out, CVBS, Ethernet, 5V, 3.3V, GND, and 2X USB Host ports.
To accompany the NanoPi Duo2, FriendlyElec designed an IoT-2G Application Carrier Board to provide the Duo2 2G cellular application support for any number of IoT projects. The board features a quad-band GSM/GPRS module, a pair of USB Host ports, Serial/Ethernet ports, audio in/out, IPX to SMA Wi-Fi converter and micro USB power input/switch.
For the software side, the NanoPi Duo2 supports FriendlyCore 16.04, Linux-4.14-LTS, and U-boot-2017.11. FriendlyElec's NanoPi Duo2 is now available for $19.50, and the IoT Application Carrier Board will set you back another $10. Of course, they also have a host of add-ons for the Duo2 if needed, including a heat sink, 16Gb micro SD card, and a 2.0 megapixel Universal USB camera module (among many more).
Tiny NanoPi Duo2 Outfitted with Camera Interface, Wi-Fi, and Optional IoT-2G Board was originally published in Hackster Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.]]>
Enter the joint project between [DHL and Wingcopter] dubbed Parcelcopter 4.0. The half plane, half helicopter drone design was recently tested over a six month period by making medical supply drops to Ukerewe island located in the middle of Lake Victoria. The remote island is home to roughly 400,000 people and many areas around the isle remain out of reach to traditional delivery vehicles. The island's closest southern port is separated from mainland Tanzania by a four hour trip by barge and over six hours by road which makes drone delivery a potentially life saving option.
The Wingcopter drone itself is capable of vertical take off and landing (see 1:53 in the video below) while holding up to 9 lbs inside the thermally insulated cargo hold on the underside of the craft. It is controlled via 3G and/or 4G LTE, and according to the manufacturer website is capable of flying up to 60 miles on a single charge. Tests showed the drone made the nearly 40 mile trip across Lake Victoria in an average of 40 minutes.
It is interesting to see a real world commercial application seemingly ready to meet the needs of a vastly under served community. There are certainly many tests left to go before drone delivery goes into wider use, but thanks to this project the Parcelcopter 4.0 is 1400 air miles closer to that future.
While similar to the use of copper tape laid out by hand, as covered by us last year, the big advantage of using a cutting plotter is that it allows one to create much more complicated traces similar to those you would expect to see on a factory-made PCB. Since cutting plotters translate a 2D design into very precise movements of the cutting blade, this allows for sharp angles and significantly thinner traces, allows designs from EDA software like KiCad or Altium to be quickly translated to physical boards.
Enterprising hackers might consider the possibility of using this approach to make two-sided, and even multi-layered boards. The copper is produced separately from the substrate which opens up the potential for using uncommon materials like glass or paper to host the circuits. The main limitations are the transferring of (very delicate) copper structures and creating vias without damaging the traces.
As a comparison with traditional PCB fab processes, the photo exposure and etching (or laser exposure and etching) process requires the creation of masks, UV exposing a board, etching, cleaning and so on. The simplicity of copper foil traces has led to many experimenting with this approach. Would you want to use this additive process, or are there refinements or alterations you would make?]]>
Electrically, the machine resembles a three-axis CNC machine, with an Arduino Nano controlling a trio of stepper motors using DRV88825 driver boards. The first stepper motor pulls the wire over a series of five straightening rollers, while the second causes the bending assembly to pivot — allowing for 3D capabilities. The bending assembly employs a third stepper motor to bend the wire in the proper direction, and a servo motor actuates a rack-and-pinion system to push the bending tool in a position to make contact with the wire.
The build process can be seen in the video below, and although it's revealed at the end that the machine is having some problems getting a proper grip on the wire to be bent, it's still quite a clever concept. Files for the mechanism can be found here, and if you'd like to see what inspired this contraption, you might also check out the D.I.Wire Bender.
Automatic 3D Wire Bending Machine was originally published in Hackster Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.]]>
Eine Platine wertet analoge Sensoren aus, der Retro-uC belebt Retro-Hardware neu und Pi Supply will den LoRaWAN-Einstieg vereinfachen.]]>
While there are already a few solutions to this problem out there, [Martin Raynsford] wasn't too thrilled with them. Usually they put the ESP8266 in Access Point mode, allow the user to connect, and then ask which network they should authenticate with. But he didn't want his projects to require an existing network, and figured he could do just as well making a field-configurable AP.
Using it is simple. Once the ESP8266 starts up it will create a new network in the form of "APConfig XXXXXX", which should be easy enough to find from your client side device. Once connected, you can go to a simple administration page which allows you to configure a new AP name and encryption key. You even have the option to create an open AP by leaving the "Password" field blank. Once rebooted, the ESP8266 will create a new network with the defined parameters.
[Martin] has also included a "backdoor" to let anyone with physical access to the ESP8266 board create a new open AP that can be used to reconfigure the network settings. During boot up there is a brief period, indicated with specific blinks of the LED, wherein you can hit the reset button and trigger the open AP. This keeps you from getting locked out of your own project if you forget what key you gave it.
If you're not one to go the austere route, take a look at some of the more robust solutions we've seen for easier end-user setup of the ESP8266.]]>
Some projects are for work, some are for fun, and some, like this entirely 3D-printed camera pan-tilt gimbal, start out as work and then turn into fun. As professional digital FX artist [FlorianH] tells the tale, he was in need of such a rig for some motion-control work. Buying off the shelf is always an option, except when it's boring, so [Florian] invested an untold number of hours in front of Fusion 360 meticulously designing every last part, except for some bearings, the NEMA 17 steppers, and some fasteners.
Ten One hundred hours of printing later and the device was ready for assembly and a quick test, which showed that this thing is smooth as silk.
And the pirate snuff-vid? That was just for fun, and we enjoyed it immensely. [Florian] assures us that none of the explosions were added in post; all are practical effects, done with flash cotton and a bit of powdered charcoal. We asked – you know, for reference.
We've featured lots of pan-tilt rigs before, using everything from hobby servos to purely mechanical linkages. But this one has a certain flair to it that we really like.
In the over three decades since [Sophie Wilson] created the first ARM processor design for the Acorn Archimedes home computer, the architecture has been managed commercially such that it has become one of the most widely adopted on the planet. From tiny embedded microcontrollers in domestic appliances to super-powerful 64-bit multi-core behemoths in high-end mobile phones, it's certain you'll own quite a few ARM processors even if you don't realise it. Yet none of those processors will have been made by ARM, instead the Cambridge-based company will have licenced the intellectual property of their cores to another semiconductor company who will manufacture the device around it to their specification. ARM core licences cost telephone-number sums, so unless you are a well-financed semiconductor company, until now you probably need not apply.
You will still have to shell out the dough to get your hands on a core for powerful chips like those smartphone behemoths, but if your tastes are more modest and run only to a Cortex M1 or M3 you might be in luck. For developers on Xilinx FPGAs they have extended the offer of those two processor cores at zero cost through their DesignStart Programme.
It's free-as-in-beer rather than something that will please open-source enthusiasts, But it's certainly a fascinating development for experimenters who want to take ARM for a spin on their own gate array. Speculation is swirling that this is a response to RISC-V, but we suspect it may be more of a partial lifting of the skirts to entice newbie developers such as students or postgraduates. If you arrive in the world of work already used to working with ARM IP at the FPGA level then you are more likely to be on their side of the fence when those telephone-number deals come up.
Thanks [Rik] for the tip!]]>
Fujitsus Esprimo G558 setzt auf Coffee-Lake-CPUs mit bis zu sechs Kernen und lässt sich auch hinter Monitoren montieren, die ihn sogar speisen können.]]>
Eine leicht zu transportierende und platzsparend zu verstauende Antenne für den Funkempfang von UHF-Satelliten musste her – so mein Gedanke, nach dem ich versuchte, meine vor langer Zeit gebaute Satcom-Antenne mal eben von A nach B zu transportieren.
Zur Erinnerung: Die "Jagd" nach Signalen von Militärsatelliten im UHF-Bandbereich ist eine durchaus spannende Sache. Doch um die Jagd gelegentlich aufzunehmen ist eine Antenne mit festen Strahlern, Direktoren und Reflektoren einfach zu unhandlich und nimmt zudem viel Platz weg.
Die Idee
Vor diesem Hintergrund ist mein folgend beschriebenes Antennen-Projekt entstanden: Eine faltbare Turnstile-Antenne für UHF (Mottenfrequenz: 255.550 Mhz), basierend auf der im Internet kursierenden Bauanleitung von I6IBE. Doch statt starrer Strahler/Reflektoren-Elemente bediene ich mich für die Konstruktion der Elemente einem Metall-Maßband, aus welchem ich die Kreuzdipole, die Reflektoren und Direktoren anfertige.
Die Umsetzung
Als Boom für die Antenne nutze ich ein 20x20mm Vierkant-Alu-Rohr. Die Halterungen für die Antennen-Elemente, die aus dem Metallmaßband hergestellt sind, habe ich in CAD extra konstruiert und in PLA (0,2mm Layer-Höhe, 80 Prozent Infill) mit dem 3D-Drucker angefertigt.
Die Einzelteile der faltbaren UHF-Antenne. Nicht im Bild sind Schrauben, Muttern, Elemente, SMA-Buchse und die Koaxkabel.
Die 50 Ohm-Kabel sind RG 174, die Anpassungsleitung besteht aus 75 Ohm-TV-Koax-Kabel. Die von I6IBE angegebenen Längen für das Koax sind einzuhalten. Um die 90 ° Phasenverschiebung der Kreuzdipole für die zirkulare Polarisation zu erreichen, ist eine ¼ Lambda-Schleife anzufertigen – RG58 ist jedoch mit Phasenverschiebungsschleife für den vorhandenen Boom einfach zu sperrig, daher nutze ich das dünnere RG174 für die 50 Ohm-Kabel.
Am unteren Ende des Booms ist ein Endstück für die Aufnahme einer SMA-Buchse angebracht, dieses Teil ist ebenfalls aus PLA gedruckt, genau wie auch die Stativhalterung, in der ein passende 1/4"-UNC-Mutter eingepresst und verklebt wird.
Das Ad-on: Ein abnehmbares Direktoren-Segment
Um den Antennengewinn zu steigern, habe ich abweichend von der Konstruktion von I6IBE noch ein Direktoren-Segement als steckbares Teil entworfen. Die Direktoren haben dabei einen Abstand zu den gekreuzten Dipolen von 260 mm (das entspricht 0,15 Lamda). Die Direktoren-Elemente sind, wie bei Yagi-Antennen üblich, 5 Prozent kürzer als die Elemente des Dipols.
CAD-Modell: Es zeigt die Halterung für das Direktoren-Element, welche auf dem Kreuzdipol-Haltekreuz sitzt.
Der Zusammenbau
Zunächst habe ich die Bohrungen für Schrauben der Elementhalter mit einem 4,1mm Bohrer in den Elementen angebracht. Anschließend lötete ich die Lötfahnen an die Kreuzdipol-Elemente. Es folgte die Montage des Reflektoren- und des Dipolelements. Nach dem Zuschnitt der Koaxkabel und deren Verlötung untereinander wurden diese schließlich mit den Dipol-Elementen verlötet. Daraufhin wurden die Kabel in das Boom-Rohr eingefädelt und schließlich die SMA-Buchse in das gedruckte Endstück montiert und letztlich mit dem Koax-Strang verlötet. Die Kunststoffteile habe ich in einem letzten Arbeitsgang mit UHU Hart am Alu-Boom verklebt.
Die beiden Hälften der Element-Halter. Die Unterteile (rechts) sind für Reflektor, Dipol und Direktor nutzbar. Das Oberteil (links) für Direktor und Reflektor. Für den Kreuz-Dipol ist ein gesondertes Druckteil nötig.
Das Stahlmaßband wird mit einer Blechschere zugeschnitten. Jedes Element ist zunächst 5% länger und wird später iterativ nach entsprechender Messung verkürzt.
Der Kabelstrang aus Phasenverschiebungsleitung und Anpassung. Der Strang verschwindet später im Boom der Turnstile.
Die fertige Antenne
Material zum Bau
Für die Turnstile-Antenne werden benötigt:
1 Stück Al-Vierkantrohr 20x20x440mm
8 Stück M4x25 Schrauben mit Muttern
1 Stück 3m Metallmaßband (16 mm Breite)
1 Stück 1/4" Mutter (UNC)
1 Stück SMA-Einbaubuchse
4 Stück Lötfahnen
RG-174 50 Ohm Koaxkabel
75 Ohm TV-Koaxkabel
Isolierband oder Schrumpfschlauch
Kleber zum Befestigen der Kreuzhalterungen am Vierkantrohr (Uhu Hart).
Sparylack (schwarz)
Die Druckteile stehen bei thingiverse zum download bereit.
Für das Direktoren-Segment wird folgendes Material benötig:
1 Stück Al-Vierkantrohr 20x20x257mm
4 Stück M4x25 Schrauben mit Muttern
1,2 Meter Metallmaßband (16mm Breite)
Die Druckteile stehen ebenfalls bei thingiverse zum download bereit.
Test der Antenne
Im Betrieb zeigt die um ein Direktoren-Segment ergänzte Version der UHF-Turnstile einen Gewinn von ca. 2-3 dB gegenüber der Turnstile-Antenne ohne Direktoren-Segment.
Der Test der Antenne (ohne Direktoren-Segment) ist sehr vielversprechend gewesen. Mit dem Antennen-Analyzer habe ich bei 255.550 Mhz ein VSWR vom 1,591:1 gemessen. Die Impedanz (Z) liegt laut Messung bei 43.73 Ohm. Im praktischen Betrieb ergab sich mit der Turnstile-Antenne ein SNR > 20 dB (RX-Setup: Turnstile mit LNA4All, Airspy R2), wobei sich eine sehr gut verständliche Voice-Modulation (NFM) zeigte.
Die Messung der Turnstile mit Direktoren-Segment hat beim Messen ein VSWR von 1.534:firstname.lastname@example.com Mhz und eine Impedanz von 44.99 Ohm gezeigt. Die am Airspy-SDR gemessene Verstärkung liegt bei ca. 2-3 dB gegenüber der Turnstile ohne Direktoren-Segment.
Die Antenne hat nun ihr einheitliches Farbkleid bekommen:
Horrido und stay tuned!]]>
– Scope:
– Focal Length:
– Focal Ratio:
– Field Flattener:
– Focal Reducer:
– Exposure: in seconds
– # SubFrames:
– Mount:
– Camera:
– File Type: RAW / FITS / JPEG
– White Balance:
– Filters:
– SQM or Sky Brightness:
– Observing Location:
– Ambient Temperature:
– Humidity:
– Sky Conditions: Haze / High Clouds / Passing Clouds / Wind
– Transparency: Use thumb test in day, or judge by extinction altitude: Terrible / Bad / OK / Good / Great
– Seeing: Terrible / Bad / Decent / Good / Incredible
– Calibration frames: Type and number of each: Darks x 16 / Bias / 64 / Flats / 64
– Software used for Calibration: DeesSkyStacker / PixInsight / Other
– Software used for Processing: PixInsight / Photoshop
– Special Processing Techniques: SMI / DHPL / Decon / Star Reduction / Other
– Sigma combine parameters:
– Working Color Space: sRGB / Adobe / ProPhoto RGB / Don't know what you are talking about
– Monitor Calibrated? Yes / No / Hardware Calibration / Software Calibration / Don't know what you are talking about
– Experience Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
– Goals: Just get something in focus and correctly exposed / Best on the Planet – this is a spectrum and you can pick anywhere between these two on any scale you want.
– Mount: Mach1GTO
– R.A. Balance: Perfectly balanced (or Lifting weight on the East / What's Balance?)
– Dec Balance: Perfectly balanced (or Lifting weight on one side / What's Balance?
– Autoguiding? Autoguided / Unguided / Manually Guided
– Off-Axis Guider: not used
– Autoguider Scope: Astro-Tech AT65EDQ with 2x Televue Barlow
– Autoguider Camera: Lodestar X2
– Autoduiger Camera Pixel Scale: x.x"/px
– Autoguider mounting method: Double rings on main tube, additional ring on focuser drawtube
– PHD Parameters:
– Guiding Exposure: 5 sec
– PHD Dec set to: auto, dither on
– PHD Guiding Algorithm: Default
– PHD RMS: RA: 0.27 (0.56″) Peak: 0.81, (1.65″) with guidescope set to 840mm in PHD2
– PHD RMS: Dec: 0.31 (0.64″) Peak: 0.93, (1.89″)
– PHD RMS: Tot: 0.43 (0.88″)
– PHD Osc Index: 0.28 with RA AGR set to 90, Hys set to 10, minmo to 0.25
– PHD Dec set to Auto, Agr to 100, minmo set to 0.25
Notes: Snow on the ground. Had some focus drift, don't know if it was because lens dewed up forgot to plug in antidewers, then hit with hair dryer; Refocused at 10:49pm. PEM apparently disabled in APCC for first couple of hours, turned on at 11:02pm, clouds at 1am, stop shooting ngc 3628. Incredible fireball lit up the ground at 11:26 p.m. edt like nuclear explosion – Missed it. (I was looking at my feet… wondering why they are cold). 3:49 a.m. edt ANOTHER fireball lights up the ground! This time even brighter! Missed it – This time I'm sitting in the car with the heater on.
This is what I posted on Cloudy Nights.
It REALLY helps to have this info when trying to help you figure out your problem instead of us having to ask for it every time. And you should be recording all of these things (except the last three) for every image you shoot anyway.
It also REALLY helps if you post an image of your problem with enough resolution to actually see what the problem is. If you can't post the full-resolution image to Cloudy Nights because of their space limitations, get yourself a free DropBox account and use that and post the link to the image.
This is the information that I record for every image. I just create a template file and use it every time I go out. Some stuff, like scope and camera, doesn't change that much, so I leave those filled in already.
This article explains how to use DeepSkyStacker in 7 easy steps.
DeepSkyStacker allows you to shoot multiple shorter exposures and combine them to equal one really long exposure with a much better signal-to-noise than a single image.
It's that time of year again. Like clockwork it's the annual drop from GoPro of new action cameras. This year they've launched three new cameras – the Hero 7 Black, Silver, and White. These three new cameras will replace all existing cameras in their lineup with the exception of the GoPro Fusion 360° camera.
This review is all about the new Hero 7 Black, which is their top-end camera (the 'Black' naming/branding has historically always been their top model each year). Like most years, GoPro tends to be more evolutionary in updates than massive shifts. This year is no different. Which doesn't mean these changes aren't worthwhile. The Hero 7 Black gets a significant update to stabilization (which they call HyperSmooth), while also getting a new hyperlapse mode called TimeWarp. Atop that, the microphones no longer suck, and the photo mode handles colors and fast speeds better. But there is quite a bit more under the hood that is driving these changes.
I've taken about 90GB of photos and videos over the last week with the Hero 7 Black. All across a variety of conditions, leading me to feel that I have a pretty good handle on how well it works (and where it stumbles). Like always, once I'm done with these media loaner units, they will be returned to GoPro. Thereafter I will go out and get my own cameras through normal retail channels. I use GoPro units day in and day out for the vast majority of running/cycling content you see here, so I'll dive into whether or not the Hero 7 is worth the upgrade.
With that, let's get to the details.
We are going to dive right into all the newness of the Hero 7 Black itself. Some of these features are also on the Hero 7 White and Silver, but I simply haven't had enough meaningful hands-on time with those units to put together a similar list. Also, as usual, I try and dive a bit deeper into what's new and unique from a behind the scenes standpoint. Thus, the best way to do that is to check out this video below as I think it may be one of the best video productions I've done in terms of all the details and footage/etc… Well, I hope so anyway.
But, if text is your thing (like mine), here's my bulletized list with perhaps a touch bit more detail:
– Added HyperSmooth enhanced stabilization (sorta halfway between previous stabilization and a gimbal)
– Added ability to smooth 4K/60fps footage with HyperSmooth (previous limit was 4K/30)
– Added 1GB of RAM to use for processing (which is where most of these features come from)
– Uses exact same GoPro GP1 image/graphics processor and associated camera optics as Hero 6 Black
– Added TimeWarp for hyperlapse style video time lapse
– Completely revamped user interface on back of camera
– Added new portrait mode for videos/photos (similar to taking video/photos with your phone in portrait mode)
– Added ability for both front and rear menus to rotate to portrait orientation
– Added short clips option (specifies an automatic 15s or 30s recording duration and provides a visual countdown)
– Added photo self timer option (such as 3s or 10s duration until a photo is taken)
– Added SuperPhoto (somewhat replaces HDR photos in past, but handles movement better)
– Fixed microphone distortion related issues (tries to reduce audio tunneling type sounds)
– Added Apple MFI integration (for iOS users, makes pairing/connectivity far cleaner/faster)
– Added Livestreaming (720p livestream via WiFi access point or cellular to Facebook or RTMP output)
– Added GoPro Karma Grip/Gimbal and GoPro Karma Drone support
– Added Speed/Map/G-Force/Track overlays directly to mobile app (no need for desktop anymore)
– Added new resolutions (1440p/120fps, 960p/240fps, 960p/120fps, 720p/240fps)
– Added two new voice commands (GoPro Capture and GoPro Stop Capture, which just starts whatever mode you're in)
– Added on-camera scene detection for white balance automation. Can now detect underwater/snow/urban/beach/forest situations (plus face/smiles)
– Added ability to enable/disable slow-mo on preview playback on camera itself
– Changed edge of lens cover to tapered, which should minimize scratched look of lens edging
– Re-instated ability to change GoPro name in app/WiFi pairing. Finally!
– Set the default video mode to 1440/60p (in 4:3, yes, for real)
Of course, everyone will focus on HyperSmooth and TimeWarp, with perhaps a side of live streaming, but in reality most of the cool geekiness is under the covers. In terms of negative changes on the Hero 7 Black, I haven't actually seen any. Instead, GoPro appears to have saved those impacts for the Hero 7 Silver and White, which got a full smacking of ugly. First, they took away two key elements! One being the front-facing LCD screen on both units, and then, removal of the swappable batteries (it's all built-in now. Ouch.):
Second, neither camera is leveraging the GoPro GP1 chipset, which means it's more or less just another rehash of the GoPro Hero 5 Black. Sure, they've got the new user interface, but beyond that, upgrades are slim pickins. For example, they lose the ability to connect to a GoPro Karma gimbal/drone – and odd way to drive less revenue in accessories. But, I suppose we can save all that for those reviews down the road. After all, this review is about the Hero 7 Black, and things are definitely more positive on that camera.
Like most tech companies, GoPro rarely changes their box design – and that's true here as well with the GoPro Hero 7 Black. You could easily substitute a Hero 6 Black box and probably not even notice the difference. Still, readers of this site probably would notice – thus, I'm here to deliver the goods:
The back and sides of the box show off all the tech spec nuances, though not in quite as much detail as the previous section.
The unit can easily be seen through the little plastic greenhouse atop the box. In fact, the GoPro is actually bolted to a makeshift tripod of sorts. Well, a plate, but it makes for a handy GoPro stand that's free.
If you crack it all open and place the parts on the table, here's what you have:
Going through each of the parts, we first have the camera and the battery. It uses the exact same batteries as the GoPro Hero 5 and GoPro Hero 6 series. So if you've got those batteries handy, you don't need to buy more.
Then there's the mounts. There's both a flat adhesive and a curved adhesive mount, both of which connect up to the small base GoPro mount that in turn connects to the GoPro frame/cage that holds your camera.
After that, you've got the USB-C charging cable, again, the same as the Hero 5/6 cameras.
And finally, there's some stickers:
Oh, and also both a quick-start guide and a safety guide. You won't need the quick-start guide after this review, but I suppose the safety guide will tell you more about the dangers of making poor life choices and the impact it may have on your camera (or your person).
I'm going to quickly go through all the GoPro basics in this section. For the most part, things haven't changed a ton here in terms of how the Hero 7 works compared to past units. That said, the entire user interface has been redesigned – so that is notable. But first, the battery and SD cards. Gotta start there.
The unit accepts/supports micro-SD cards up to 256GB (select cards), which is a change from the Hero6 Black which only officially supported up to 128GB cards. The batteries remain the same as past GoPro Hero 5 and Hero 6 units. Not only that, but my testing of 3rd party batteries confirmed those worked just fine as well. Given they usually cost half that of GoPro's batteries, that's nice to see nothing has been blocked there.
Battery life seems about the same as before. In my case I'm mostly shooting 4K footage, and it's roughly an hour per battery.
When it comes to the user interface, GoPro aimed to simplify the modes and try and make things more obvious. Everything boils down to three core modes: Timelapse, Video, and Photo. You can swipe through these modes using the touchscreen on the back. Or, the mode-button on the side.
Alternatively, you can use the GoPro voice commands to change modes as well. In fact, there's even two new voice commands with the Hero 7 – 'GoPro Capture' and 'GoPro Stop Capture'. These commands will start/stop capturing in whatever mode you're in. So if you're in video mode, they'll start that. Or if in timelapse mode, that instead. Here's some of the commands:
The main point of the redesign of the menu was to make it easier for users to figure out the impacts of settings changes. For example whether or not going from 1080p/60 to 1080p/240 means they'll lose HyperSmooth (they will). That's all prominently displayed on the resolutions page that's one tap away.
Meanwhile, advanced settings like GoPro's ProTune options are still there, just now on the main resolution/settings page – so it's less steps than before.
You can swipe-down from the top to access the overall preferences page, and they've bubbled up some of the more common settings in there onto a one-tap menu. So things like turning on/off the audio beeps no longer takes you 43 levels deep in the menu.
Additionally, when it comes to reviewing your footage on the camera itself, you've now got the option to actually toggle into Slow-Mo mode from higher frame rate footage (like 120fps), rather than playing it back at full speed.
Next up is the new Apple MFI integration (Made for iOS). That means that if you have an iOS device you'll get a slightly better experience than before. It's most noticeable when you first pair the GoPro, as the entire thing only takes a second or two, versus the somewhat cumbersome process before.
But even besides that – everything just seems smoother when I want to access content on it. There's less lag and the 'just works' factor is slightly higher than before.
Like before you can access settings for the camera from the app, as well as preview footage. Nothing much has changed there:
And within that 'nothing much has changed' realm is the unfortunate reality that with more and more GoPro files being HEVC/H.265, you can't preview any of the recorded files unless you download the entire thing to your phone first. You can preview while actively recording, but once you stop there's no option to preview/stream the file until you download it. I don't entirely understand why GoPro has gone this way. After all, that was sorta the entire point of the smaller thumbnail resolution files they've long since had.
Still, besides that annoyance – the entire GoPro App/GoPro Device relationship is clearly improved over before. But I'll dive into that more later in the post.
Next, one of the 'major' new features on the Hero 7 is the ability to shoot in portrait mode. When you rotate the camera on its edge, it'll automatically go into that mode. Both the front and rear displays will orient themselves properly, and the footage you capture will be 'vertical' style footage (akin to that shot on a cellphone in vertical mode):
Lastly, nothing has changed when it comes to the GoPro mounts. And in the case of the Hero 7, it retains precisely the same exterior shell as the Hero 5/6, as well as all the same frame/case aspects too. That's good news for those of us with a large collection of GoPro parts and bits from the last two generations. And of course – the underlying GoPro mount has remained the same since the beginning as well.
(I'm splitting a few of the new features out into separate sections. This is something a bit different than my older reviews. Partially because I like to mix it up to keep me entertained, and partially because I think you basically just want the details on the new stuff. I've covered all the basics in the previous section, which are pretty much the norm for all GoPro action cameras over the last half a decade or so.)
HyperSmooth is GoPro's new branding for their new stabilization option within the Hero 7 Black (the Hero 7 White/Silver don't have it, just regular stabilization). This new option supersedes the existing electronic stabilization of the Hero 5/6 series. In GoPro's own words, it is designed to offer 'gimbal-like' stabilization. Now, while I appreciate that generosity, I can save you the trouble and tell you that's a very optimistic way of looking at it. Frankly, no, it doesn't offer gimbal-like stabilization.
But, it does offer better stabilization, and in some cases – substantially better.
The way it works is that GoPro is leveraging an additional 1GB of RAM on the camera itself to do predictive scene analysis. They're trying to figure out what you're about to do based on all the sensor data they have on board. For example looking at speed via GPS, accelerometer data, and also the makeup of the scene itself by analyzing what's in it (some of that is already leveraged for GoPro's Quik application to do things like face and smile detection). Essentially, in my discussions with them they noted it was about being more proactive with stabilization rather than reactive in the way they handle it today.
And no matter how it may actually be occurring behind the scenes, it does seem to be doing the trick. When you go to enable stabilization it's actually just an on/off toggle:
But in reality, there's three options that the system is iterating through, in order of best to worst:
1) HyperSmooth: This being for supported resolutions, such as 4K/60fps and a slew of others. It's the smoothest (and newest).
2) Electronic Image Stabilization: This is for some modes that don't support HyperSmooth, like 1080p/120fps, but do support this stabilization mode.
3) No stabilization: This is for modes such as the 240fps options that they simply can't handle the processing on. So there's no stabilization here.
As a user, you don't actually have an option between #1 and #2 above. It's either on or off. However, if you choose a frame-rate that has no stabilization, it will tell you as such.
Otherwise, it'll show at the bottom a little icon that indicates stabilization is enabled (seen next to the rising sun icon, that's for low-light):
You can also select to turn-off stabilization as well, in the event it's causing problems for your use case – or if you've got something like a gimbal. Speaking of gimbals, for lack of anywhere else to stick it, the GoPro Karma Grip gimbal and Karma drone both got updates for the Hero 7 cameras so that they're fully compatible. While that may sound trivial, it's good to see – even on the drone. I still routinely use my GoPro Karma Grip gimbal, and will continue to use it as well for certain use cases (in my case, taking videos of cycling GPS computers and watches while riding/running).
So how good is it? Well, I've stuck a pile of samples into my main video up above that you can check out. They're roughly in the first 2-3 minutes of the video, so super easy to find. Overall I'd say it's definitely noticeable for use cases like running, where you can very clearly see the sharp 'drops' when the existing EIS stabilization on the Hero 6 fails but the Hero 7 HyperSmooth nails it smoothly. On mountain biking it's a bit more of a blend. In most terrain it's quite a bit better, but in some cases it's just so-so better. I've found no cases where it got worse.
Also, it's definitely worth pointing out that as part of all this the GoPro Hero 7 now supports stabilization of 4K/60fps videos, and at HyperSmooth settings. Whereas previously the GoPro Hero 6 didn't support 4K/60 stabilization, which really showed in tougher settings like mountain biking or any sort of fast moving action where you wanted the faster 4K frame rates but couldn't get the stabilization beyond 30FPS.
Next up is the new TimeWarp feature, which the rest of the world calls Hyperlapse. This gives super-stabilized time-lapse videos, ideal for longer duration moving subjects/settings. Meaning, if you just want to take a video of the sunset, this really isn't the option for you. Instead, it's ideal for doing something like a long drive or walking through a marketplace.
For most all Hyperlapse type implementations (no matter the company), the goal is to figure out a way to stabilize the footage so that each frame of the video has the same orientation. In effect it's replicating that of a gimbal. But not only the same orientation, but also typically a smooth and seamless movement as the camera pans through different subjects. And finally, the best implementations look at things like rate of speed and movement to even out points where the camera might linger for a while or focus on something.
In order to do this you have to switch away from just taking still photos and merging them together, which is what GoPro has historically done. When doing still photos you can't easily do that type of scene analysis for super-clean results. Whereas by taking video and having the internal sensor data around orientation/acceleration, they can account for that in real-time. In fact, if you compare side by side a video time-lapse on a GoPro Hero 6 to that of the TimeWarp feature on the Hero 7, you'll see that the Hero 7 is recording video while the Hero 6 is simply taking photos at the interval you specified.
With TimeWarp on the Hero 7 Black (it's not on the Silver/White) you go into the time-lapse page and select TimeWarp (the top/default option). From there you can select the resolution (4K or 1080p for 16:9, and 2.7K or1440 for 4:3), though it'll always be in wide-only viewing angle.
After which you select how fast you want the scene to be sped up. These are intervals of 2x, 5x, 10x, 15x, or 30x. Next to each option it'll tell you roughly how many seconds of footage you get for a 5-minute recording:
Note that this will vary a bit if the camera thinks you're stopping to highlight something. That allows you to focus in on a sign or other object in the scene by pausing for a few seconds, which creates a bit of a stop-animation style moment in your Hyperlapse.
As part of all of this, you'll end up with super-stable Hyperlapse footage. Be it hiking, driving, or even mounting biking – it's really darn impressive. I've put together a huge sampler reel of footage that you can check-out here. Note that if you open the link in YouTube and look at the description of the video, you can click any of the timestamps to jump to whichever of the 13 or so different comparison sections you want:
While the driving one is probably the most scenically cool, there are other potential cool uses. For example, the hiking bit where I did a partial rotation highlighting the sun coming through the trees, as well as when I rotated myself at the mid-point of the bridge was probably the most 'potential-revealing' option. In the case of the hiking one I simply held the camera in front of me. Whereas in the case of the driving one I mounted it to the front of my rental car. For the mountain-biking it was mounted on the front of the bike.
Ultimately the look and feel of the TimeWarp is far better than a simple time-lapse video or even sped-up video footage. By leveraging the HyperSmooth functionality within TimeWarp, they're effectively doubling down on smoothness, and it certainly shows. Note, all TimeWarp videos are expected at 30FPS (either 4K or 1080p for 16:9, or 2.7K/1440 for 4:3).
It's funny, in some ways – photos are actually the feature I use most on my GoPro's. It's because when I'm out running, riding, or swimming (or whatever else in life), I'm far more likely to share photos on Instagram or other social platforms than I am videos. So if there's one feature that I know the pitfalls of the most, it's GoPro's photo capabilities.
Of course, in general they work well. But one feature that hasn't worked super well on the Hero 6 Black is the high dynamic range modes, which aimed to stitch together multiple copies of a photo to produce a more vibrant photo. The challenge with that was that it'd often produce ghosting artifacts on anything with a fair bit of movement – such as running or cycling (or even kids running around). Inevitably you'd forget you had enabled this, and then find out later on that Casper was in your photos.
So GoPro aimed to solve that with the ever-so-humbly named feature 'SuperPhoto'. This function essentially takes over the decision tree of whether or not to utilize a given photo technology while you're taking the photo. So it looks at accelerometer/movement data to determine whether or not you're doing something that it can handle. If it can't, it won't try and apply that particular feature to the photo, and instead will use a different feature.
Within SuperPhoto there's effectively a few different levels of functionality. All of which rides atop scene recognition. The camera is now intelligently detecting what's in the scene and then how to deal with it. If it can do HDR, it'll go ahead and do that. That's a best case scenario.
But if it can't, it'll instead do local tone mapping. Previously it would do global tone mapping of colors across the entire frame, where that could sometimes result in wonkiness. Now it's going to focus on specific aspects of the photo to correct instead.
In practice, this basically means I'm getting better and more clear photos. And it's easy to see. Here's a quick gallery of a few photos I've taken over the last week. These are straight out of camera – with no corrections in any applications:
GoPro says that compared to the Hero 6 you'll also see increased noise reduction as well as improvements in low-light. I'd say I've seen marginal low-light improvements, but I suppose every bit helps.
In addition to the improvements in the images itself, they've finally added a photo timer. This allows you to set either a 3-second or 10-second timer delay until a photo (or series of photos) is taken. This is a biggie for me since I'm constantly using the photo interval mode to get selfies and such. As a result, I no longer have to sift through a crapton of photos to find the right one.
Once you trigger the timer it'll display a count-down on both the front and rear of the camera:
Beyond this, the remainder of the photo aspects are all the same. So all your usual options for burst and such remain as before with the Hero 6 Black.
GoPro has two main apps when it comes to their cameras. There's the main 'GoPro' app, which is the one you'd use to configure your camera's settings, preview shots, and download footage. Then they also have 'Quik', which is a quick video editor of sorts that can produce automated snippets and clips. GoPro has steadily improved Quik over the years, and that's true to some degree here as well.
But let's start with the GoPro app itself, and the big change: The ability to do overlays of metrics like speed or g-forces from the mobile app itself.
Back two years ago GoPro added a GPS to the Hero 5 series, as well as accelerometers. They then added some super basic capabilities to their desktop software (as part of an acquisition of DashWare). In general GoPro's desktop app was never anywhere near the level of Garmin's VIRB Edit suite when it came to date. And it still isn't today.
However, what GoPro did finally do today is make it so it's silly-simple to add some basic overlays of data to your videos totally from your mobile phone (as opposed to requiring the desktop. Once you've downloaded the clip to your phone you can select six different overlays:
– GoPro Logo
– Speed graph
– GPS path track/line
– Map (from Apple Maps)
– Speedometer (with compass)
– G-Forces (with direction)
Here's the list of them in landscape orientation:
You can add any individual element or all of them. Your choice. I do find it easier to add in the vertical orientation because otherwise you can't get them dragged to the bottom of the screen as it tries to delete them.
Once done you simply click next and you can save or export your video to whatever you want. Even better is that it'll even do it at the original resolution.
So in my case I edited this video from 4K/60fps footage and exported it as such. Winning!
Also, while we're talking about the base GoPro app, you can now name your GoPro cameras again. You used to be able to do this prior to the Hero 5/6 cameras, but that wasn't an option for them. That option has now returned for the Hero 7 cameras. You can see side by side how it still looks for the Hero 6 cameras with the pre-populated name:
Now as I mentioned there are improvements to Quik as well, but those in actuality mostly come by way of improvements to how the camera is detecting scenes. The Hero 6 cameras could previously detect faces and in particular the moment you smiled. This is how the Quik app could put together videos that seem to capture the most exciting/fun/etc moment. Additionally, they leveraged data from the accelerometers and GPS for moments like jumping or speed increases. All of which could be seen as exciting moments.
But the Hero 7 Black increases the scene detection aspects to now detect specific scene composition. They can detect underwater/snowy/urban/beach/forested scenes. The goal here isn't to find your best bikini shots, but rather to allow Quik to do white balance correction more appropriately. It's sorta giving Quik a bit of a head-start on things.
Now in my case I mostly had forested scenes, and the white balance was on-point to begin with. So I can't really say whether or not it's doing a ton different. But since it appears my next Canadian destination got snow in the last few days, and I've got some warm beach weather after that – I'll be able to dive into that in more detail later on.
Finally, I want to briefly mention live streaming. As of today, that's not yet lit-up on the platform. It sounds like that'll be at least a few days away if not a week. So I haven't been able to test that piece, but will definitely do so once they turn it on.
I did however get to see some previews of how it works and look at some footage. The way it works is that once enabled you can go ahead and stream to either Facebook Live or RTMP. RTMP would allow you to connect it to other platforms like YouTube, though, that's a bit more cumbersome than it needs to be.
You'll notice the 'Live' option in the lower right side next to the other modes on your camera:
Nonetheless, the streaming will only be at 720p (though it will keep at 1080p copy of the footage on the SD card). While streaming you do get HyperSmooth applied, which is definitely a plus. So that'll help with stabilization.
The Hero 7 Black can either utilize your phone's cellular connection, or it can directly connect to any WiFi access point that doesn't have a login screen (so hotel wifi or the like won't usually work). However, things like portable hotspots would work well. In fact, once you've created the pairing from the GoPro to the hotspot, there's no need to have the phone involved at all. That's definitely a plus.
I'm looking forward to testing this bit down the road once ready, but I also feel like 720p streaming it somewhat underwhelming in today's world. Certainly there should always be the option to 'downgrade' to 720p, but there should definitely be a 1080p option for users that have the connectivity to do so. After all, 1080p streaming is the norm for platforms like YouTube, and they can even stream at higher resolutions as well. Still, it's a good first step.
One of the most touted features of the Hero 7 is the new microphone design. This design is heavily driven by a change in the waterproof membrane that covers the microphone ports. Previously the Hero 5/6 were susceptible to a weird wind-tunnel distortion style sound, especially in the frame/case. This would result in audio that sometimes had a hollow-sounding echo to it as well.
In my testing, the Hero 7 is definitely improved in this area. Over the last week I was unable to get any footage that produced that same wonky sound. Which isn't to say the Hero 7 audio is perfect, as that's not the case either. But there's no question it's the best of the Hero 5/6/7 range.
Some folks might compare the audio to the Hero 4 and previous range. But that's not really a fair comparison, since the Hero 4 and previous wasn't waterproof by default. And it's that important point that differentiates the Hero 5/6/7 from other cameras that may have better microphones. Take for example the oft-compared Sony action cameras. True, they have generally better audio. But what's not usually mentioned is they aren't waterproof. So to that end, the $50 microphone I usually use is also better than both – but it's not waterproof either.
Here's a complete video where I compare audio against the previous Hero 5, as well as a slew of different scenarios from mountain biking to water to high-winds and running.
Note that like before you can optically enable separate microphone .WAV file recording so that you can have one .WAV file exported alongside the video that includes each of the three individual microphones (this can be helpful in higher end productions, but I wouldn't recommend the setting for normal consumer use).
Finally, it should be noted that if you want to use an external microphone with the Hero 7 you can do so. But it requires the same bulky and heavily cumbersome adapter as before. Personally, this is a non-starter as it's just about as large as the camera itself – and that's before you attach a microphone. Ideally GoPro would open up their cameras to 3rd party USB-C microphones, so that other entities can bypass the oversized dongle. Or even better: Just allow Bluetooth microphones, like the Garmin VIRB 30 does. That'd solve everything (and is fully within the capabilities of the Hero 5/6/7 Black range).
Note that for the moment this chart is focused on comparing the Hero 7 Black to the Hero 6 Black and the Garmin VIRB Ultra 30. I'll add in the GoPro Hero 7 White and GoPro Hero 7 Silver soon, once I've got legit hands-on time with them. To date, my only hands-on time with those two units was getting a few brief exterior shots that you see above. So stay tuned on that front!
In any event, I've got boatloads of cameras in the DCR product comparison tool (for those that I've reviewed). So you can mix and match your own product comparison tool charts there if you'd like as well:
|GoPro Hero7 Black
|Garmin VIRB Ultra 30
|GoPro Hero6 Black
|Copyright DC Rainmaker - Updated September 22nd, 2018 @ 3:16 amNew Window Back to less results
|Sept 27th, 2018
|Aug 31st, 2016
|WiFi Builtin
|Yes (2.4Ghz/5Ghz)
|Yes (2.4Ghz/5Ghz)
|Bluetooth to Phone
|Recording Light
|GPS builtin
|Altimeter builtin
|Water Resistant
|131ft/40m within case
|Video Preview Screen
|Voice Control
|GoPro Hero7 Black
|Garmin VIRB Ultra 30
|GoPro Hero6 Black
|Recharges via
|Removable battery
|Recording Time
|1hr 4K / 2hr20m 1080p30
|2 Hours
|1hr 4K / 2hr20m 1080p30
|Secondary attached battery
|Only via USB
|Only via USB
|GoPro Hero7 Black
|Garmin VIRB Ultra 30
|GoPro Hero6 Black
|Storage Card Type
|Maximum Card Size
|256GB (select cards)
|GoPro Hero7 Black
|Garmin VIRB Ultra 30
|GoPro Hero6 Black
|Records 360* Video
|24/25/30/60 fps
|24/25/30/60 fps
|24/25/30/48/50/60/100/120 fps
|24/25/30/48/50/60/100/120 fps
|24/25/30/48/50/60/80/120 fps
|24/25/30/48/50/60/80 fps
|24/25/30/48/50/60/80/90/120/200/240 fps
|24/25/30/48/50/60/80/90/120/200/240 fps
|50/60/120/240 fps
|50/60/120 fps
|25/30/50/60/120/240 fps
|25/30/50/60/120/240 fps
|Automatic Image Rotation
|Yes (also, portrait mode for video/photo)
|Image Stabilization
|Yes - up to 4K60
|Yes - up to 4K30
|Looping Recordings
|Timelapse Mode (constructs timelapse video)
|Travelapse/Hyperlapse Mode
|Pro Settings Mode
|GoPro Hero7 Black
|Garmin VIRB Ultra 30
|GoPro Hero6 Black
|Internal Microphone
|Supports Bluetooth Microphones
|Pro mode with seperate tracks
|GoPro Hero7 Black
|Garmin VIRB Ultra 30
|GoPro Hero6 Black
|Timelapse Mode (photos on interval)
|Burst Mode
|Up to 30 photos/second
|Up to 30 photos/second
|Continuous Shooting Mode
|Concurrent w/video mode
|Records 360* Photo
|Pro Settings Mode
|RAW photo creation support
|Yes + HDR Modes too
|Yes + HDR Mode too
|GoPro Hero7 Black
|Garmin VIRB Ultra 30
|GoPro Hero6 Black
|Skiing Mode
|Control from sport computer
|ANT+ Sensor Connectivity
|Bluetooth Sensor Connectivity
|ANT+ Profile Types
|HEART RATE, SPEED, CADENCE, TEMPERATURE, POWER (+ Bluetooth OBD data)
|Overlays sport data on recording
|GoPro Hero7 Black
|Garmin VIRB Ultra 30
|GoPro Hero6 Black
|App platforms available
|Use as remote control
|Stream live video preview
|Record video from camera
|Multi-camera live control/preview
|GoPro Hero7 Black
|Garmin VIRB Ultra 30
|GoPro Hero6 Black
|App for computer
|VIRB Edit (Mac/PC)
|GoPro Hero7 Black
|Garmin VIRB Ultra 30
|GoPro Hero6 Black
|Remote control button/key
|Diving case
|Mount Types
|GoPro Hero7 Black
|Garmin VIRB Ultra 30
|GoPro Hero6 Black
|Head Strap
|Helmet Strap
|Suction Cup
|Chest Harness
|Wrist Strap/Housing
|Roll Bar
|Curved Adhesive
|Flat Adhesive
|Adjustable Mounting Arms
|Device Connections
|GoPro Hero7 Black
|Garmin VIRB Ultra 30
|GoPro Hero6 Black
|USB Connector Type
|Composite Video
|With adapter
|Adapter Available
|With adapter
|Audio 3.5mm Stereo Mic
|With adapter
|Adapter Available
|With adapter
|GoPro Hero7 Black
|Garmin VIRB Ultra 30
|GoPro Hero6 Black
|Amazon Link
|Clever Training - Save a bunch with Clever Training VIP program
|Clever Training - Save a bunch with Clever Training VIP program
|GoPro Hero7 Black
|Garmin VIRB Ultra 30
|GoPro Hero6 Black
|Review Link
|GoPro Hero7 Black
|Garmin VIRB Ultra 30
|GoPro Hero6 Black
|Copyright DC Rainmaker - Updated September 22nd, 2018 @ 3:16 amNew Window Expand table for more results
|Sept 27th, 2018
|Aug 31st, 2016
|WiFi Builtin
|Yes (2.4Ghz/5Ghz)
|Yes (2.4Ghz/5Ghz)
|Water Resistant
|131ft/40m within case
|Recharges via
|Recording Time
|1hr 4K / 2hr20m 1080p30
|2 Hours
|1hr 4K / 2hr20m 1080p30
|Secondary attached battery
|Only via USB
|Only via USB
|Storage Card Type
|Maximum Card Size
|256GB (select cards)
|24/25/30/60 fps
|24/25/30/60 fps
|24/25/30/48/50/60/100/120 fps
|24/25/30/48/50/60/100/120 fps
And don't forget that you can mix and match and make your own product comparison charts in the product comparison tool here.
There's no doubt that GoPro has improved upon the Hero 6 lineup. While the top-level specs may not sound like a lot has changed, as you can see, there's actually more than meets the eye. The TimeWarp feature is super cool and really does make a big difference over more conventional time-lapses. And the enhanced stabilization from HyperSmooth is definitely noticeable – especially when you get to the frame rates previously not supported like 4K/60.
The bigger question is whether or not it's worth it for folks coming from a Hero 5 or Hero 6 Black. And that's a tougher question. I think there's pretty substantial benefits for Hero 5 Black users, but I'd be less inclined to say it's worthwhile for Hero 6 Black owners. I think it'd come down to what specific features you tend to use the most.
For example, if you're mainly shooting 1080p footage, there's not much benefit for something like 4K/60 stabilization (even though HyperSmooth will help your 1080p footage too). Same goes if you don't use or care about the microphones much, the changes there won't help. I think you'll see a noticeable change between the Hero 6 and Hero 7 when it comes to photos – but again, if you're not shooting lots of fast action photos you probably won't care. Or, Instagram will fix your coloration anyway.
Still, I'll likely shift over to the Hero 7 Black as my 'daily driver'. I've found the better integration with iOS to be rather nice. A very high 'just works' factor. And as one who uses the mics on the GoPro quite a bit for ad-hoc videos – the fact that I can actually trust it now is big for me. Oh, and I like 4K – so being able to stabilize at higher frame rates is useful to me too. But to each their own.
With that – if you've got any questions feel free to drop them below. And thanks for reading!
I've partnered with Clever Training to offer all DC Rainmaker readers exclusive benefits on all products purchased. By joining the Clever Training VIP Program, you will earn 10% points on this item and 10% off (instantly) on thousands of other fitness products and accessories. Points can be used on your very next purchase at Clever Training for anything site-wide. You can read more about the details here. By joining, you not only support the site (and all the work I do here) – but you also get to enjoy the significant partnership benefits that are just for DC Rainmaker readers. And, since this item is more than $49, you get free 3-day (or less) US shipping as well.
GoPro Hero7 Black – Use VIP to get 10% of your purchase price in points back
Additionally, you can also use Amazon to purchase the GoPro units (though, no discount). Or, anything else you pickup on Amazon helps support the site as well (socks, laundry detergent, cowbells). If you're outside the US, I've got links to all of the major individual country Amazon stores on the sidebar towards the top.
Thanks for reading!
Mit dem Einplatinenrechner Raspberry Pi hat eine Bastlerin ihre Strickmaschine ins 21. Jahrhundert geholt und einen spektakulären Wandteppich gestrickt.]]>
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Fair warning that [Human Controller] doesn't provide much detail on this build other than pictures; even translating the Japanese web page doesn't offer much more information. But there are pictures, plus the video below, which reveal the engineering masterpiece encased within the standard sized Rubik's cube. The internal mechanism of the original cube had been replaced by a spherical assembly around which the cube's faces rotate. The sphere, which appears to be 3D-printed, houses six motors and gear trains, along with a microcontroller board and what appear to be Hall sensor boards to detect the position of each face. Everything is wired up with magnet wire to keep bundles to a minimum size, and buried deep inside is a LiPo battery pack. A disassembly video offers further clues to this ingenious device's inner workings.
Once the cube senses that it has been scrambled, it sets to work on the solution, walking all over the table in the process. It's clearly not just recording the scrambling steps and playing them back in reverse; the video below shows far more moves to solve the cube than the 15 it took to scramble it.
While we're always impressed by marvels of speed like this robot with a 637 millisecond solve time, putting everything needed to solve the cube inside it is a feat worth celebrating. Here's hoping that a build log shows up soon to satisfy our need for details.
Thanks to [jackw01] and [rasz_pl] for the heads up.]]>
Hayabusa2 untersucht den Asteroiden Ryugu nicht nur aus der Ferne, sondern hat auch insgesamt drei Lander mitgebracht. Die ersten beiden sollen nun landen.]]>