Nerd Stalker

Very exciting times in maker land. At the recent Maker Faire, we sat down with the Atmel team of Bob Martin and Henrik Flodell as they tell us about the new Arduino Zero Board with the Atmel 32bit ARM Cortex-M0 processor. As they tell us in the following video, it is exciting times to be a maker as Atmel helps bring low-power, performance and integrated debugging capability to the Arduino. Check it out!

At the recent Maker Faire, we were able to get some insights of the Maker movement over the last 10 years from Atmel's 'Maker' nerds - Bob Martin and Henrik Flodell. Bob and Henrik discuss how microcontrollers have evolved to powerful/affordable/smaller and which is now fueling the Internet of Things (IoT). Check out their thoughts.

This month we explore agile thinking as it pertains to startups and entrepreneurs. We catch up with Taffy Williams of  Startup Blog  and Examiner.com for his insights on his article on "4 Agile Thinking Skills for Entrepreneurs." Taffy covers the  skills Keep up the pressure, Adjust plans as needed, Try something different and Get feedback . Give it a watch!

Guest Post by Christopher Gil Google & Client Blog “These technologies can make life easier, can let us touch people we might not otherwise.” So said the late Apple visionary and driving force, Steve Jobs. Yet a walk down one of the main drags of San Francisco’s Mission District reveals two worlds attempting to coexist. At 24th and Valencia, scores of young tech workers clutch strongly brewed coffees as they wait for the bus to take them to the Silicon Valley offices where the world’s next great thing is being developed. Few conversations are had, with most focused on answering their twentieth text on an already-overworked smartphone, even though it’s just 8am. A short two blocks away on the corner of 22nd Street, a line just as long has formed at the neighborhood Social Security office. A disheveled woman in a wheelchair fronts the queue, already clutching the pen she’ll need to fill out the reams of paperwork that can possibly garner enough federal funds to keep her–one of...

Heard of ROBLOX? Of course, especially if you are in the 10-18 year old demographic. ROBLOX is the leading Massively Multi-player Online (MMO) game engine which enables young people and the young-at-heart to develop, play and monetize online games. We caught up with David Baszucki , CEO and co-founder of this popular MMO game platform at the recent Maker Faire - Bay Area. David discusses ROBLOX and some interesting ROBLOX news like Developers Exchange Program, upcoming Android release and how Movie brands are using the ROBLOX platform. Check out his video!

In this Nerd Stalker podcast with Adolfo Foronda and Greg Veloria, we talk all things Maker Faire. In this episode we talk about CAD software, Mecca Fire Dragons, DIY, maker education, drone technology and more.

Tangible Play is creating a New Play Movement with the launch of its inaugural product Osmo built around its proprietary Reflective Artificial Intelligence technology. Osmo aims to unleash the boundaries of the screen and expands the playing field onto any surface in front of the connected tablet by turning any real world objects - pen, paper, clay, blocks, etc. into a digitally connected game piece that interacts with the digital device. Osmo comes with three interactive games built from the ground up called Newton, Tangram and Words, that all use Osmo's Reflective AI and encourages creative thinking and social interaction. Osmo officially launches on May 22, 2014, using crowdfunding to raise $50,000 to help complete manufacturing of the product and garner early feedback. The device will retail for $99, but presale backers will get discount pricing starting at $49 (limited availability). Special discounts include $5 off for every friend you refer. Osmo is expected to start...