In summer time it is easy to get burned by sun especially on the beach. It is hard to track when sun is too active or when to stop sunbathing. To keep things right it is better to use a sunburn alarm which measures sunlight UV intensity level.

Prototybe is based on Propeller Platform SD along with LCD UI module. There is no need for some expensive UV light sensors – they used simple UV LED connected backwards – this way sensed wavelength is equal to generated light. Alarm also encounters skin type, sunscreen if used – these are entered before starting device. Be safe and have fun!

Probably clocks got most attention from embedded hobbyists. This one is pretty interesting and unusual as it is based on three analog multimeters. One is dedicated to display hours, another minutes and third seconds.

Multimeters are driven by PIC 16F628A microcontroller which also tracks time internally. Anyway clock is well designed there would be no problem to hang it on the wall.

If you have a bunch of spare LEDs don’t throw them to the drawer- better build something cool like this snake game. There are actually three same projects but with different color of LED. So it makes easier to decide which one looks nicer.

Game is designed around PIC 16F877A microcontroller. It has 144 running LEDs and all necessary electronics only with DIP connectors for easier prototyping. It even plays sound. Why limit yourself with snake game? – There is also a Tetris clone. Or even you can write your own game or application.

How about making a high tech scooter? It’s actually pretty easy to do with some extra cash. Well seems this project isn’t very cheap, but ads real value to regular scooter. So called Scooterputer has some hardware on it that is based on Arduino Duemilanove. First of all it has a touch screen – no need for buttons. Other things include: temperature sensor, DS1307 time and date RTC chip. Additionally there is an accelerometer and finally GPS and GSM chips.

With this entire periphery computer is able to monitor battery voltage, track time and date, sense environment temperature, measure lean and gauge, track speed and trip distance. With GPS you get compass and position data. With GSM module Arduino is able to send SMS along with latitude/longitude data, heading, speed, and a time stamp data. Also GSM module acts as security system if unauthorized use of scooter is detected.