$89 ODROID-U2 dev board with 1.7GHz quad-core Exynos now shipping

When it was announced back in December of 2012, the ODROID-U2 looked like a pretty impressive little developer board for just $89. Now that it’s shipping to Hardkernel customers around the globe, early reports from some users seem to indicate that the Exynos-powered ODROID is indeed a very solid performer.

The ODROID boards probably won’t ever attain the same kind of success as the Raspberry Pi. At more than three times the price, the ODROID-U2 is aimed at users that want a little bit more than an inexpensive board for building DIY electronics projects. The RasPi is capable of much more than taking home automation requests from Siri or playing Minecraft, of course, but it obviously can’t match the ODROID-U2 in terms of sheer processing power.

Its 1.7GHz quad-core Exynos chip is still on par with what you’ll find in today’s high-end smartphones and tablets. Android runs quite smoothly on the board, and according to developer Rui Carmo the ODROID-U2 “blows [his] Raspberry Pi setup out of the water in terms of speed and flexibility.” Carmo has a full suite of apps running on his ODROID, including all the top Android web browsers, remote desktop tools, and even the AIDE for building his own Android apps right inside Android (how meta).

Android is, however, designed primarily for touchscreen devices. Certain actions are difficult to pull off using only a mouse and keyboard — like zooming in and out. However, the extra “oomph” provided by the 1.7GHz Exynos and 2GB of RAM means the ODROID -U2 is also quite capable of running Ubuntu or another ARM-based desktop Linux distribution.

For just over $120 when it’s all said and done (you’ll probably want to purchase the AC adapter and an eMMC module), the ODROID-U2 is well worth investigating for kiosk-type setups, media centers, or even for a secondary workstation on your desk. Just make sure the tiny, black heatsink doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.

Open-source, DIY quadcopter Crazyflie is super tiny, super speedy

We’ve seen small quadcopters, and we’ve seen do-it-yourself quadcopters, but this new quadcopter from Bitcraze combines both a very small size with the pat-on-the-back feeling you get from completing a do-it-yourself project.

As mentioned above, the Crazyflie is quite tiny, measuring in at just 9cm x 9cm and weighing around 19 grams, and comes in two different versions, with the difference being the amount of sensors available on the unit. Bitcraze notes that there currently isn’t firmware for the unit with the extra sensors yet — keyword “yet.” There are two commercially available units: the Crazyflie Nano Quadcopter Kit 6-DOF ($149), and the 10-DOF ($179), both of which include a USB radio dongle and accompanying 2.4GHz antenna.

The quadcopter can fly for up to seven minutes, and the lithium polymer battery takes around 20 minutes to charge through a standard USB dock.

Bitcraze has also made the quadcopter open-source, releasing firmware source code along with the Crazyflie schematics. Considering the Crazyflie is a DIY kit, it comes with a bunch of pieces, including the radio, control board, motor mounts, coreless DC motors, propellers, the battery, and antennas. What isn’t included in the kit, but required to run the unit, is a PC, a PS3-compatible controller, and a micro-USB cable for charging. The only tools required for assembly are a soldering iron, solder, a tweezer, and hot glue. Of course, you should also bring some DIY expertise if you don’t feel you have much of that.

The Crazyflie is available for pre-order from January 31 to February 18, with shipping expected to begin on April 25. If you’re interested in making a pre-order, or simply want more information on the project, head on over here.

Volume And Noise Radio Reads Tweets

If you are tired of reading people’s tweets yourself on Twitter,check out the Volume And Noise radio. It was created by artist Sean Hathaway as part of a social-media-themed project and it brings the old world of radio together with the new world of Twitter.

Modder builds silent HTPC, puts it in an N64 case

Many people choose to build their own PCs, but only a few dare to encase them inside of a retro gaming console. This modder built a HTPC in the shell of an Nintendo 64. It's also a hackintosh.