The Cardboard project is Google’s attempt to bring inexpensive VR to its operating system using items you can find around home or buy at a hardware store or order online. Those include actual pieces of cardboard (an extra large pizza box will do), lenses, magnets, velcro, a rubber band and, if you like, an near-field communications (NFC) tag, which will launch Cardboard automatically. Combine those ingredients with a ruler, glue, scissors and an X-acto knife, and you’ve got yourself a makeshift virtual reality headset. Detailed instructions are available on the Cardboard corner of Google’s developer site.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
