Haptic feedback is everywhere now, made popular by smartphones. So I decided to include a haptic controller to improve the user experience on the capacitive touch screen.

​I tested three haptic motors on the DRV2605L controller: one ERM and two LRA, one of which branded as a genuine replacement Taptic Engine for iPhone 6s.

Read the full story at I²C Haptic Controller.

The previous years saw a wave of mergers and acquisitions on the silicon industry. Microchip acquired Atmel, NXP and Freescale merged, Qualcomm failed to buy NXP, among others M&A projects.  
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Now, boards manufacturers are consolidating and reshuffling their offers too.

​Intel discontinued all its boards (Galileo, Edison, Joule, Curie), Particle bought RedBear, Punch Through Design stopped selling the Bean boards. Those join the list of former historical providers like Wiring and LeafLabs. The alternative object-based Cosa framework hasn't released any new version since January 2016.

​In the meantime, Arduino is slowly transitioning from 8-bit to 32-bit, and exploring other technologies like FGPA. Teensy goes upscale with more powerful MCUs. Texas Instruments continues to enrich its wide range of LaunchPad and BoosterPack boards, especially with IoT capabilities. 
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​What will the future hold?