Ucontrol - Universal Remote Control for your Uniden Scanner

Mike's revealed more about his project:

You will now be able to control your Uniden scanners with a remote control. Most if not all menu functions on the scanner will be ported over to the remote control. 

So if you want to hold on a channel, raise the volume or even use the direct entry you can do so with almost any remote control you choose. 

We have not decided if we will add this to the remote head hardware or make this a standalone add on to the scanner itself. This will all be open source so as soon as we finish the testing you may do what you like with it. We are calling it "Ucontrol"

Here is a quick sample of the Ucontrol in action.

AnyTone Tech: Pricing

TERMN-8R

Dual Band (6 Band RX) (VHF/UHF) GMRS, MURS, Amateur (Ham), Commercial Portable Two-Way Radio:

$138.89

OBLTR-8R

Dual Band (VHF/UHF) GMRS, MURS, Amateur (Ham), Commercial Portable Two-Way Radio:

$98.89

NSTIG-8R

Dual Band (VHF/UHF) Amateur (Ham), Commercial Portable Two-Way Radio:

$68.89

ANILE-8R

Single Band UHF Portable Commercial Two-Way Radio

$46.89

IoT: Neo Smart Jar

So there was the crockpot and now there are smart jars. I don't see them getting much traction at $99 for a pair.

Via The Blaze.

Microsoft Water

Google: Earth Apple: Air Amazon: Fire Microsoft: Really needs to make something called water…
— Dr. Sheldon Cooper (@SheldonSaid) March 6, 2015

There's An App

...for that.

My trash company is urging me to download their app. I have to draw the line somewhere, and this is where it is.
— Michael Arrington (@arrington) March 6, 2015

Homebrew Uniden Scanner Enhancement

Mike's got a new project:

"Richk107 and myself have come up with another great hardware design. It will fill the gap for a needed piece of hardware left out in all Uniden scanners.

We all know our past endeavor called "Uniden homebrew remote head" was a real success and without Rich it would not be possible.

This new device will be totally open source. The schematics, The code & all the needed hardware will all be posted here. This new hardware design will cost you no more then $20-$25 depending on how your source your parts which i will also list. 

Hopefully Uniden will wake up and start adding this to all of its future radios...Stay tuned"

Xiegu X108: Future II

So the X108 is not going away after all:

"I have just received some further info on the production of the X108 from a reliable source. Xiegu are continuing the production of the X108 and theirs no plans to stop doing so...I have asked if both versions will be produced ie standard and deluxe versions..I am awaiting an update on this so will keep you all posted with any further developments on this..

Wayne 2e0bvj"

(Last Thursday's post about the X108's possible demise.)

Shatner Stole Nimoy's Bike

A great story...


Via IJReview.

Spark Electron

The Spark Electron:

"The Electron is a tiny development kit for creating cellular-connected electronics projects and products. It comes with a SIM card and an affordable data plan for low-bandwidth things. 

Imagine a cellular-connected Arduino, but with a more powerful processor and a SIM card. It also comes with Spark's development tools and cloud platform for managing and interacting with your new connected hardware."

Specs:

- STM32F205 ARM Cortex M3 microcontroller
- 1MB Flash, 128K RAM
- Cellular modem: U-Blox SARA U-series (3G) or G-series (2G)
- 36 pins total: 28 GPIOs (D0-D13, A0-A13), plus TX/RX, 2 GNDs, VIN, VBAT, WKP, 3V3, RST
- Board dimensions: 2.0" x 0.8" x 0.3" (0.5" including headers)

Data plan:

"You don't need 4GB of data for a connected product, and you also don't need to spend $40/mo. We've negotiated global low-cost data plans for low-bandwidth products. Here's the story:
- $2.99/month for 1MB (approx. 20,000 messages per month)
- $0.99/each additional MB
- No contracts"

AnyTone Tech: TERMN-8R and OBLTR-8R Video

A quick video from AnyTone Tech...