Farnell element14 featured an exclusive launch of Verbatim’s Velve Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) development kit on its stand at this year’s Arc Show held at the Business Design Centre in London between the 29th February and the 1st March.

Farnell element14 is the first distributor to stock the new kit that adds to its already comprehensive range of solid state lighting products, technologies and know-how that includes high power LEDs, LED modules, power supplies and drivers plus thermal management, optical and interconnect solutions.

Supplied in a protective case with easy-to-use software, the Verbatim Velve kit is designed to enable lighting designers to quickly evaluate the benefits and wide range of effects offered by OLED lighting. These include tunable colour (RGB) light, exceptionally fast response times, wide viewing angles, excellent colour reproduction and contrast levels, and high Brightness. OLED technology is highly compatible with the growing demand for extremely thin and lightweight lighting designs. Low power consumption makes it especially useful in battery powered portable applications, and also addresses the environmental demand to maximise efficiency and minimise energy use in fixed applications.

“OLED technology is an exciting and versatile technology that lends itself perfectly to a wide range of lighting applications in different market sectors,” said Paul Ward, Opto Manager, Farnell. “We are excited to be the first distributor to offer the Velve product and were encouraged by the positive responses from lighting designers at the ARC show regarding the demonstration unit’s simplicity, and how it could be easily linked to products from other leading companies in the solid state lighting sector.”

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element14 is giving Raspberry Pi fans around the world a chance to win one of three of these hotly desired gadgets.

Launched today, the global “Raspberry RoadTest” Challenge poses the question: “What innovation will you create using the amazing Raspberry Pi computer?” Designers and enthusiasts can enter the challenge by signing up on the Raspberry RoadTest page on the element14 Community and submitting ideas for the innovations they would create using this credit card-sized computer. The winner will be chosen on “Pi Day” – 14th March 2012.

element14 RoadTest has become increasingly popular among community members. Members receive a device to test and review from element14, then blog about their developments, discoveries and innovations on the community as well as their own blogs and forums. These blogs and reviews are used by other designers to connect with each other and be inspired.

The Community has has experienced a 30 fold increase in traffic since the recently launched element14 Raspberry Pi Group and product launch last week. Additionally there have been over 30,000 downloads of the operating system software – amassing over 30 Terabytes of file transfers.

More information on the “Raspberry RoadTest” Challenge can be found at www.element14.com/roadtest. To join Raspberry Pi conversations visit the element14 Community.

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In the year 2000, Benjamin J. Heckendorn, a.k.a. Ben Heck, built his first mod, a vintage, portable Atari 2600 Video Computer System. Today, element14, the first collaborative engineering community and electronics store for design engineers and electronics enthusiasts, and the prominent modding guru, give the original gaming console a face lift, incorporating more efficient and modern design elements on the latest “The Ben Heck Show” episode.

“This episode, in particular, was quite nostalgic and definitely tugged at my heart strings a bit,” said Ben. “It was an amazing experience to take a step back and see how my work has evolved. I am thrilled to be able to make a career out of what I love, and honored to share my knowledge and experience with fellow designers and techies-at-heart.”

Ben takes a stroll down memory lane and deconstructs his original portable Atari 2600 mod to determine the best approach to apply a new, up-to-date design and feel. Ben walks viewers through the entire build – from taking apart the Darth Vader Atari 2600 system, to installing new resistors and simplified soldering techniques. The final project is a sleeker, more advanced version of his original design, complete with digital volume controls and an enhanced LCD screen.

“Ben’s latest project showcases the impact that new technology can have on designs – just look at the progression of Ben’s mods over the years,” said Kevin Yapp, chief marketing officer, Premier Farnell. “element14 supports all efforts to utilize innovative technologies to enhance design projects, which is evident in the design tools and resources provided on the community, as well as through our own collaborative partnerships with industry trend-setters such as the inventors of the affordable, credit-card sized Raspberry Pi computer.”

Fans of the show are invited to join the discussion online at element14 to enter for a chance to win Ben’s revamped portable Atari 2600 gaming device for endless gaming at home or on-the-go.

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element14 today announced a global distribution deal with the Raspberry Pi Foundation to offer its ground-breaking credit card sized computer. The element14 Community will support the conversations, debate and sharing of knowledge and information from the anticipated flood of enthusiastic developers and first-time programmers keen to get the most from their Raspberry Pi.

Harriet Green, CEO of Premier Farnell, the company behind element14, said: “This partnership brings together the world’s biggest online design engineer community with one of the most exciting electronic/embedded computing products to be launched for decades. We believe it will provide the catalyst for a programming revolution. The opportunity to engage a new generation of engineers and computer experts is very much in our sweet spot as a company. Through our element14 Community we will encourage everyone from developers, modders, coders and programmers to discuss, share and develop their ideas and fully utilise the game-changing potential of the Raspberry Pi computer.”

There has been real excitement in the marketplace around the launch of the Raspberry Pi computer, a device that takes its lead from a history of iconic educational-targeted computers that influenced the adoption of automation in industry, science and research from the late 1970s. Today design engineers and would-be coders across the world are clamouring to get their hands on the device to see how it can be modified and what innovative programs can be created to run on it.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a charity formed and supported by some influential computing minds and businesses. It believes in the need for more developers to understand what truly goes on ‘under the hood’ of a computing device and is convinced there is a need to rely less on development tools and power hungry layers of code. The element14 Community has been supporting design engineers for over two years and offers organic support, expert advice and information to all members and a platform to share ideas and examples freely.

Eben Upton, co-founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, commented: “The decline in core computing skills is something we really want to address with Raspberry Pi and the way the element14 Community supports developers of all skill levels makes it a really strong partner in tackling this issue. Overcoming the students’ fear of programming for the first time is a critical step in unlocking the full potential of the smartest people in any industry. I have no doubt that having the support of a community of like-minded developers will be a catalyst for success.”

Robert Mullins, co-founder of Raspberry Pi Foundation, and Harriet Green, CEO of Premier Farnell, talk exclusively on video about why the computer was created, how element14 can support and why this is such a game changer in computing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gky68aE578

The distribution agreement, which will see Premier Farnell distribute in all its territories under the brands of Newark element14 in North America, Farnell element14 in Europe and element14 in Asia Pacific, offers the education-aimed computer available for just £22 or $35. Units are available for pre-order from 29 February on a first come first served basis and bundles of essential ancillary products such as cabling and power supplies have been added to the line-card to simplify users purchasing needs. See one of the first unboxing to “hello world” videos here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BbufUp_HNs

Initially the Raspberry Pi will be sold in one uncased configuration – the Model B – which has two USB slots, 256MB of RAM, HDMI slot, SD memory card slot and an Ethernet port. This will be followed later in 2012 by the Model A which has 256MB RAM, one USB port. Raspberry Pi breaks new ground with a selling price of just $35 for the ‘Model B’, and $25 for the ‘Model A’. As a result the market opportunities in all areas of the world are huge as well as providing access to a wealth of literature and software, as well as a unique opportunity to start to learn coding and programming which has been created on a Fedora OS.

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element14 and modding extraordinaire Ben Heck use a bit of reverse engineering to transform an old-school InfraWave oven into an engineer’s ultimate reflow tool on the latest episode of “The Ben Heck Show.”

The latest segment covers the many intricate steps required to build a reflow oven, from deconstructing an InfraWave oven, to attaching a thermocouple, to mounting the solid state relay (SSR) control. Special guest Chris Kraft also stops by to give a hands-on lesson in pairing an SSR with an Arduino Max6675 integrated circuit to help gauge the oven’s temperature.

“I had a lot of fun with this show for a number of reasons,” said Ben. “Not only was I able to hang out and collaborate with my good pal, Chris Kraft, but together we were able to engineer a staple in any design engineer’s ‘tool belt’ – a handy reflow oven for those hard-to-mount components.”

The final build is a budget-friendly solder oven featuring an LCD screen and controller case that is both creative and handy; enabling engineers to easily apply small surface-mount components to PCB circuit boards that generally can’t be done by hand.

“Ben’s latest project uses a bit of creativity and engineering resourcefulness to turn an ordinary oven into an extremely useful tool,” said Kevin Yapp, chief marketing officer, Premier Farnell. “It shows you there are no limits to innovation when you combine a good design idea with helpful peer collaboration.”

Fans of the show episode are invited to join the discussion online at element14 to enter for a chance to win Ben’s custom soldering oven for hours upon hours of soldering fun.

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With the aim of boosting innovation in the electronics industry, element14, a collaborative global electronics community from Premier Farnell plc  has launched the Icarus Design Challenge for engineers to develop a two-way communication system between the ground and a weather balloon high above the Earth. One designer will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to meet and get their system tested with Robert Harrison, the brainchild behind Icarus, a project that has revealed some of the most stunning visuals of Earth and the stratosphere ever produced. The winner of the challenge will also choose the image that will go up with the Icarus weather balloon to be photographed on the fringes of space.

At present Icarus can only send communications in one direction – from a device that transmits coordinates to the ground station using 50 baud radio teletype (RTTY). The challenge set by element14 is to develop a system that will enable reliable two-way communication, over a distance in excess of 50km. The communication requirements are minimal in terms of data volume, and may be as low as one character per second. A detailed list of design constraints is available online along with entry terms and conditions.

“We’re looking to integrate a two-way communications system, primarily due to safety issues,” said Robert Harrison. “For instance, if the balloon is drifting to an undesirable location such as a big city, an airport or the coast, it would be great to send a signal requesting the mission to abort. Additionally it would be nice to initiate some experiments when conditions are favourable. By launching this competition I aim to tap into the expertise harboured by the element14 community.”

“Innovation is the key element for any project we undertake at element14 and this project with Robert just demonstrates how we are constantly embedding innovation at all levels,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community, element14. “With this bespoke challenge, we are very excited to see how we involve engineers and come up with an excellent design solution. With the addition of a two-way communication system, we are also hoping that the Icarus balloon will be able to tweet and send back pictures in real time of its trip.”

Feeling innovative? To enter the Icarus Design Challenge, simply go to the element14 community to submit the circuit design and specification via private message to RHarrison1971 no later than 9 March 2012. Be sure to follow us @element14 for tweets from the weather balloon in the lead up to its launch. The winner will be announced in the element14 Icarus group by 26 March 2012. The components required by the winner to build a prototype will be supplied by element14.

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element14 has revealed the biggest technologies that have the potential to revolutionise electronics and the one product engineers can’t do without out of a survey conducted across all its social media channels. The “We love innovation” poll that was conducted for a week starting 3rd Feb captured responses from over 4,500 element14 facebook, twitter and Google+ fans and provides interesting insights into the world of electronics technology.

More than 50% of the respondents chose the IPad as the one electronics product they love and can’t do without. This was followed by the Amazon Kindle, the iPhone and the Playstation. Which is further complemented by Sensing, which was voted as the biggest technology with the potential to revolutionise electronics in the future, followed closely by LED Lighting, Robotics and medical electronics.

Sensing has increasingly become critical in terms of enhancing the ways in which humans interface with technology. Sensing technology facilitates intuitive human interactions with devices such as smartphones and without these in this use, we would be restricted to more mechanical methods of interface, which wouldn’t allow for things like miniaturisation which is critical going forward. The technology is also significant in terms of industrial applications, including areas like factory automation, the international space programme and alternative energy, and will be one of the driving technologies in medicine as we move towards noninvasive diagnosis and treatment.

The 2012 Olympics also turned out to be an interesting theme where the majority of respondents chose embedded as the technology that will be a highlight this year, followed by Sensing, Green IT and mobile and wireless. This was particularly interesting given the latest announcements around wireless spectrum demands during the games in London this year. Embedded technology in the games can be combined with Sensing to be used in various areas like monitoring athletic performance or prosthetics for paralympians.

“Our bespoke “we love innovation” poll was an initiative to gauge the current perceptions the electronics design community has around various technologies and to look at what design engineers love the most,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community, element14. “The results do show some interesting trends within the industry and the technologies that will spearhead the future, which is where key innovations will become even more significant.”

RoadTest continues to be the favourite element14 Group to assist with design work and the biggest challenge faced by electronic design engineers is the time involved in initial design stages so element14 will be looking at ways how the Knode and the Drawer can be used as solutions to overcome such challenges.

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With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, element14, the first collaborative community and electronics store for design engineers, and modding guru Ben Heck, spotlight love by building an oversized digital candy “tweet heart” with an LED display on the latest episode of “The Ben Heck Show.”

“As a self-proclaimed geeky bachelor, this episode was the perfect opportunity to tap into my romantic side and build a fun, waistline-friendly project designed to melt the hearts of women everywhere,” said Ben. “Nothing says ‘I love you’ like a sweet tweet on Valentine’s Day.”

Inspired by traditional candy conversation hearts, Ben transforms an empty, heart-shaped candy box into a unique display of LED signals that stream special messages for a hypothetical sweetheart. After connecting a dot matrix LED to an Arduino Uno microcontroller, he implements a unique code designed by longtime friend and programmer, Chris Kraft, to transpose Twitter messages directly from a specific Internet-based Twitter feed onto the LED display of the heart.

“Collaboration and communication are not only fundamental values for the element14 community, but also key ingredients for a successful relationship,” said Kevin Yapp, chief marketing officer, Premier Farnell. “By using electronics components from element14 and collaborating with a programmer to enhance the project, Ben helps technology enthusiasts vividly display affection for their Valentines.”

Show fans are invited to join the element14 community for a chance to win Ben’s “tweet heart” featured on the show, as well as send Ben a challenge for a future build. Fans can also participate in element14’s “We Love Innovation” survey questions during the week of Feb. 6 on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ to share their opinion on the latest trends and what they love about electronics.

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Visit http://www.element14.com to see the full episode!

element14 has teamed up with Microchip and Matrix to introduce the new PIC18 Flowcode Developers Kit. This innovative development and demonstration kit is designed to offer a hands-on, easy approach to electronics design using Flowcode, one of the world’s most advanced graphical programming languages for microcontrollers.

The development platform is based on a Microchip PIC18F26J50 low power, 8-bit PIC18F26J50 microcontroller, and is integrated with temperature sensor, capacitor touch sensor and potentiometer to help developers verify programs designed using Flowcode.

“The new PIC18 Flowcode Developers Kit is an innovative, fully featured yet low cost solution designed to help developers realise their designs in working hardware,” says Mike Powell, Technology Development Manager, Premier Farnell. “Optimised for Flowcode development, the board has several expansion options, it can be used as a black box and is mounted with a PIC 18 device that is low power, but high performance.

The competitive advantage of Flowcode is that it allows those with little-to-no programming experience to create electronic systems in minutes. Flowcode supports code generation for the PIC® (PIC12, PIC16, and PIC18 series ), PIC24 and dsPIC® series of microcontrollers. The professional edition includes drivers for a range of sub-systems including LCDs, keypads, seven-segment displays, ADC and PWM, as well as communication protocols including I2C, SPI, RS-232RS-232, Zigbee and TCP/IP, among others.

Flowcode is compatible with Microchip’s PICkit programmer as well as third party programmers. It is also compatible with the HI-TECH C compiler. A ‘Lite’ version of Flowcode 4 is included in the kit.

For more information visit element14.

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