Plants liven up any space by adding a sense of airiness and life. That is – of course – when you don’t forget to water them, and they shrivel up and die. I am very bad at remembering to water plants. That is why I built this self-watering plant to do it for me. Using a soil sensor, and an Arduino-controlled water pump, I have created a system that will never forget to do it.

 

Instead of remembering to water my plants when the soil goes dry, I only have to remember to once and a while refill the water reservoir. In this way, I have decreased my obligation to these plants and put it off to a much later date. Perhaps further iterations of this device can be connected to a rain barrel so that I won’t even have to worry about refilling my reservoir, and the entire system can be fully automated. [Link]

I/O Experimenter Board - PCB Version

If you are tired of connecting the same I/O devices every time you prototype a new project then this board could save you a lot of time. All the necessary pins of the devices on the board are accessible through headers that allows easy connection of the board to a breadboard circuit or other development boards (Arduino, etc) using jumper wires. [Link]

Arduino Leonardo vs Uno

The Arduino team is now shipping their latest creation – the Leonardo. It is the first Arduino to use Atmelʼs ATmegaXU4 series chip with built-in USB. This change is big and it has big benefits. In addition to the built-in USB, it offers more digital and analog pins. This comprehensive guide gives you the details you need to know to start using it – pinout differences, hardware capabilities, new software libraries and more. [Link]