ReadWriteWeb

Arduino, the open source electronics platform with the adorable name, announced the beta availability of its version 1.0 today, 6 years since it was forked from the nearly 10 year old Wiring platform. Wiring released its 1.0 just three weeks ago.

As these platforms, which turn consumers into creators, reach this important milestone, are people really using them? What's the community around them like? What is the state of the Maker-o-Sphere, if you will? Looking from the outside, it appears that there is a thriving market of DIY electronics, that education is a high priority for the Maker community and that there's no shortage of new developments coming to light all the time. I thought I'd take this opportunity to share a few examples.

The history of nerds automating their potables goes back a long way, even before claims about who invented the Internet. The latest chapter has been written by the geeks from RedPepper. They have invented Beeri, the first Siri interface for pouring a beer. Or, as its creators say, "the thought leader of beer pouring." This is just the latest dream job for Siri, it seems.

Arduino, "an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software" and aimed at artists and hobbyists, this morning launched a new Labs website to host experimental products, code libraries and community efforts.

The first two Labs projects are the Mega ADK, a software and hardware package built with Google to facilitate the creation of Arduino peripherals on top of the Android platform and the GPRS/GSM Shield, a hardware/software add-on built with Spanish telecom giant Telefonica and made to enable SMS, voice and TCP communication over the General Packet Radio Service.

At Google IO today, Google announced the availability of the Android Open Accessory Development Kit, a new way to extend the Android platform so that other devices can be controlled via phones or tablets. Similar to the SDK, the ADK will allow hardware developers to take advantage of Android so that the OS can control or monitor external devices.

Android Open Accessory will allow an external USB hardware accessory to interact with an Android-powered device. This means that when an Android phone or tablet is in accessory mode, that connected accessory can be controlled. There have been some other external USB devices that can connect to Android, but until now their capabilities have been limited.

Over the weekend there was a hackathon held to promote the Internet of Things (IoT), when real world objects get connected to the Internet. The event was run by London-based IoT platform company Pachube. So what got created at this hackathon and what does it tell us about how the Internet of Things is progressing?

I took a look at a number of the projects that were worked on. In this post I'll highlight three, two from the U.K. and one from NYC. What all 3 projects show is that development around the Internet of Things is still very experimental. Perhaps too experimental. While there was lots of creativity on display, in all honesty I was hoping to see more projects that showed commercial potential. So I have to ask, as an open question at the end of this post: is there enough commercial activity currently happening in IoT?

Internet of Things (IoT) is a term for when everyday ordinary objects are connected to the Internet via microchips. The technologies include sensors, RFID and smartphone standards like NFC. The use cases are still evolving, but over 2010 we saw large organizations like HP and IBM build out impressive platforms for the Internet of Things. We also saw companies as diverse as Nike and Pachube enjoying success with consumer applications based on these technologies.

Here are our picks for the top 10 Internet of Things developments of 2010. On Page 1 of this post we detail 5 large scale developments (3 specific trends and 2 IoT platforms). On Page 2, we select the 5 best consumer products for IoT. These include a product that connects your car to the Internet, an internet-connected shoe and a self-described "Cisco for small things."

This week is National Computer Education Week, aimed at recognizing the crucial role of computing in today's world and at supporting efforts to boost computer science education at all levels. The event purposefully coincides with Grace Hopper's birthday tomorrow. But it also happens to come the same week that the Program for International Student Assessment has released its data about student performance and finds that, compared to others worldwide, U.S. students get a C for math and science.

Arduino, the programmable platform of sensors and corresponding device controls, will add ethernet connectivity and a web store of built products, the company announced this weekend.

Arduino is one of the best known companies enabling others to create what's called the Internet of Things, network connected physical-world devices with web interfaces. The organization announced a number of new hardware and software developments forthcoming in the short and medium term in a blog post on Friday.

Views of the trailer for the documentary about the physical computer known as Arduino spiked radically yesterday, suggesting that anticipation is high for the movie, said to be coming this summer.

Arduino refers to the open source hardware and software intended for artists, designers, and tinkerers of all kinds to build objects or interactive machines. The Arduino microcontroller was designed to be inexpensive and easily programmed - boards can be built by hand or purchased preassembled for as little as $20, and the software can be downloaded for free.

Ever since Jeff Han demoed his Multi-Touch Workstation at the 2006 TED Conference, the world has been waiting for a high resolution sensory work experience. As a generation of hunched night creatures with intimate knowledge of our chiropractors, we've suffered and conformed to our traditional interfaces for too long. Touch was the future of workstations. But as articulated by ReadWriteWeb, the upcoming Apple tablet is not the workstation of the near future. It simply isn't practical. For those of us who still want to gawk at the cool regardless of its practicality, here is an assortment of 2009's most interesting interfaces.