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Adafruit's Circuit Playground app deciphers resistor codes, helps you remember Ohm's Law
If the names Phillip Torrone, Limor Fried and Collin Cunningham don't ring a bell then you probably need to hand over your geek badge. If, on the other hand, those names immediately make you sit up and pay attention, you maybe excited to hear the trio have just released the first Adafruit-branded app for iOS. Circuit Playground is a reference app for makers, hackers and tinkerers that helps you decipher resistor and capacitor values; calculate resistance, current or voltage; convert decimal, hexadecimal and binary values; and store PDF data sheets for ICs. The app is $2.99, but it comes with a $3 credit at the Adafruit shop, so it's kinda-sorta free. It's available for iPad and iPhone only, but an Android version is in the works. If you're an impatient Google fan, they suggest you check out ElectroDroid which performs many of the same functions and we can confirm is awesome. Check out the video after the break and hit up the source link to get Circuit Playground now.
Autodesk adds DIY site Instructables to its stable
Autodesk has really decided to embrace the DIY community recently. First the company launched 123D, a free design tool for hobbyists, now it's snatched up Instructables, an online repository for everything from quadrocopter plans to bruschetta recipes. There's no need for amateur inventors out there to worry about the acquisition, though -- it doesn't sound like much will be changing at the site. Makers will still own the copyright to their creations and the brand will be keeping its focus on user submitted projects, but the site's blog does promise that improvements are on the way thanks to the deeper pockets of its new owner. Most of the finer details of the purchase are still unclear, but there's some more info in the PR after the break.
Know Your Lore: Un'Goro and Sholazar, petri dishes of the Titans
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. There are two hidden bastions of life in its wildest, farthest variety on Azeroth. One lies far to the north on the continent known as Northrend. The other is far to the south amid the deserts of southern Kalimdor. Each lies surrounded by Titan complexes and the ruined remains of the same (Azjol-Nerub and Ulduar in Northrend, Ahn'Quiraj and Uldum in Kalimdor), and each is protected by powerful constructs keeping them inviolate. Indeed, only in these two places do the creations of the Titans freely act to preserve the equilibrium of the environment. In Un'Goro and Sholazar, life on Azeroth was developed. These were the experimental controls, the crucibles, the drawing boards, and the scrap heaps for all life. If the Emerald Dream serves as a kind of blueprint for the way Azeroth was intended to unfold without the interference of the Burning Legion or the Old Gods, then Un'Goro and Sholazar are the last places left where that blueprint is being followed. Linked not only by a common purpose but also by a massive Waygate, these regions have come under heavy attack from the servants of the Old Gods as well as the mindless hordes of the Scourge, testing their defense to the utmost.
Virtually Overlooked Week: Jason's picks
Virtually Overlooked has taken over Wii Fanboy! All this week, members of the staff will be outlining their personal picks for future Virtual Console releases. Growing up with gaming is an interesting thing these days. Many of you are part of the first generation that was quite literally born into a household with a gaming console, as I was. In my experience, if you start off in life gaming hard, you don't stop. Therefore, in the very near future, I will able to ask a random middle-aged man if he wants to go play Guitar Hero 4, and it won't be totally weird.Who am I kidding? This isn't Japan, and that guy will probably think I am, in fact, totally weird. But man, screw those non-gamers. The hardcore, like you and I, have tons of gaming memories, and thus we frequently long for the games of yore to be released on the Virtual Console. But they have not yet appeased my feral hunger, and thus do I lay these games out in a commanding fashion for Nintendo's minions to take note.You, of course, may gaze as well.
