TURN A £.50 MICRO:BIT INTO A POMODORO TIMER
The BBC micro:bit is a very versatile little computer. Although it’s designed and marketed with a focus on introducing kids to coding, it’s capable of far more than mere programming exercises. The second-generation hardware, released last October, has an impressive range of onboard sensors, including a three-axis accelerometer for detecting motion, a magnetometer for orientation, a temperature sensor, a microphone and a speaker. Bluetooth is also built in, so you can program it using mobile apps and transfer your code wirelessly – and the board can be bought from Pimoroni for just £13.50 (pcpro.link/322microbit).
With all that onboard, it might sound like a rival to the Raspberry Pi, but it’s not powerful enough to run a graphical operating system: it uses a 32-bit processor running at 64MHz and has a mere 128KB of RAM (the same amount as the BBC Master system, released in 1986).
What it can do is run MicroPython – which means it can perform many of the same tricks as other single-board computers. We’ll use MicroPython – and the 25 LEDs built into the board – to turn the micro:bit into a geeky but practical Pomodoro timer.
WHAT IS POMODORO?
The Pomodoro technique is a working method that’s designed to enhance your productivity by alternating between 25-minute chunks of work and five-minute breaks. It was devised by management
