Looking outwards- Arduino Parts

MicroView by Geek Ammo

There are so many different fancy gadgets for the Arduino, but this one stuck out to me as something that would help me as I get the gist of physical computing and as a visual person. The MicroView would be great for rapid prototyping, being able to see real time what the Arduino is thinking without connecting it to your computer (no serial port or usb cables). I could use it for displaying what would normally be displayed on my laptop, defiantly icing for project that requires graphics and mobility. This could be used to collect data from people popcorn style from off the street. It has a development board with an PMOLED (passive matrix organic light emitting diode) screen that can be programmed, and can do anything that an Arduino pro can do.

FONA by Ada fruit

FONA has a GSM cellular module that can send and receive voice, text, SMS and data. Using FONA has two major advantages in my view. First, I can use FONA to send and receive data from the physical world, not like an actual phone would. Any information that can be collected by an Arduino can be distributed, for example, in an interactive installation a person can have their “results” texted to them. This allows more privacy, or to get the  “special treatment” feel. Second, FONA is a cheaper and way easier alternative to buying a crappy phone and trying to work through that, also, alternatively, I wouldn’t have to use my own phone number in this hypothetical installation. To put it super broadly, I can build my own phone and let that give me freedom to do whatever I need to do.