element14 and Ben Heck Spread the Love with a Valentine's Day Digital Candy "Tweet Heart" on "The Ben Heck Show"

Show fans invited to join element14's community for a chance to win Ben's "Tweet Heart" build for a lucky sweetheart

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Feb 06, 2012, 03:01 ET

CHICAGO, Feb. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- With Valentine's Day on the horizon, element14, the first collaborative community and electronics store for design engineers, and modding guru Ben Heck, spotlight love by building an oversized digital candy "tweet heart" with an LED display on the latest episode of "The Ben Heck Show."

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(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120206/CG47702)

"As a self-proclaimed geeky bachelor, this episode was the perfect opportunity to tap into my romantic side and build a fun, waistline-friendly project designed to melt the hearts of women everywhere," said Ben. "Nothing says 'I love you' like a sweet tweet on Valentine's Day."

Inspired by traditional candy conversation hearts, Ben transforms an empty, heart-shaped candy box into a unique display of LED signals that stream special messages for a hypothetical sweetheart. After connecting a dot matrix LED to an Arduino Uno microcontroller, he implements a unique code designed by longtime friend and programmer, Chris Kraft, to transpose Twitter messages directly from a specific Internet-based Twitter feed onto the LED display of the heart.

"Collaboration and communication are not only fundamental values for the element14 community, but also key ingredients for a successful relationship," said Kevin Yapp, chief marketing officer, Premier Farnell. "By using electronics components from element14 and collaborating with a programmer to enhance the project, Ben helps technology enthusiasts vividly display affection for their Valentines."

Show fans are invited to join the element14 community for a chance to win Ben's "tweet heart" featured on the show, as well as send Ben a challenge for a future build. Fans can also participate in element14's "We Love Innovation" survey questions during the week of Feb. 6 on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ to share their opinion on the latest trends and what they love about electronics.

About "The Ben Heck Show"

"The Ben Heck Show" is a bi-weekly online television series aired in English that's dedicated to the science and art of system and hardware modding with a global audience of design engineers, students and electronic enthusiasts. Now in its second year, the show has already attracted more than 3 million views. Sponsored exclusively by element14, each episode spotlights Ben's mods of popular electronic devices while educating viewers on the underlying technology powering each project.

About element14

element14 is a high-service distributor of technology products and solutions for electronic system design, maintenance and repair. It brings together the latest products, services, and development software, all connected to an innovative online engineering community where purchasers and engineers can access peers and experts, a wide range of independent technical information and helpful tools. When researching a new technology, designing an electronic product, or looking for parts to repair an existing system, they can rely on element14 to find the answers and parts they need to keep projects on the fast track, right from the start.

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SOURCE element14