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SparkFun will be closed on Tuesday, November 5th to support our team in being able to go out and vote! Orders placed after 2 pm MT Monday, November 4th will ship on Wednesday, November 6th. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Friday is your indicator that it's time to talk about new products. As always, we have some cool new stuff for you.
ReplaceMeOpen
ReplaceMeClose
OK, you got me, I wasn't really in the jungles of South America. But we did have the GTE knobs custom made. And they DO go to eleven, so there's that. Also, if you're looking below for the Cubelets, we mentioned them last week and you can find them all here.
I'm not saying all other knobs are inferior, but if you get any other knob, you're going to be doing a disservice to your project. Most knobs only give you a range of 10 units, but the GTE knobs go up to eleven, giving you one more. Get that extra push over the cliff, get the GTE knob. You deserve it.
It seems like everything needs to be 'connected' and 'smart' these days, why not your watch? The MetaWatch connects to your phone via Bluetooth and let's you keep it in your pants (your phone). You can check your emails, calendar events, tweets, and all that other stuff the kids are into these days. It's also open-source, so you can hack it to do whatever you want. They come in black and white, and we have a cool teardown and tutorial to give you a better idea of what they can do.
The CEE (Control Experiment Explore) by Nonolith Labs is an open source analog multitool that lets you measure and control voltage and current. With the CEE you will have a two channel, two-quadrant, three-digit source measure unit in the palm of your hand. Simply plug the CEE into your computer via Mini-B USB, run the multitool's user interface (Pixelpulse), and start controlling and exploring the voltage and current of whatever is connected, it's that simple!
We wanted a simple webcam to use with the pcDuino, so we got this. It works well with Linux, is small, and simple. Its resolution is 1024x768, which works well for object detection and such. You can of course also use it as a webcam.
Let's heat things up a bit. No, seriously. We have a new heating panel this week. It operates up to 12V and can get up to 500 degrees F (or 2.6*10^2 C for all my metric peeps). These cost a bit more than our other heating pads, but they get a LOT hotter and don't warp under high heat.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaand, I'm done. That's all we have for this week. But, as I say every week, we have even more new products next week, so check back. Thanks for reading and see you then!
That is the best youtube preview frame I have ever seen.
I was disappointed there was no guitar playing in this episode.
It was my absolute pleasure.
Every Friday New Product Post is like another April Fools: a combination of hilarious products with funny in-depth demos, sprinkled with a bit 'o witty screenplay. Kudos! I wonder how many people are actually going to use that webcam for its intended purpose....Also, that's pretty high res for a camera of that style.
Is anybody else looking at that black Metawatch, and thinking:
"Kitt! Come around the back of the building and pick me up."
"Yes Michael, I'll be right there!"
What about zero? I really wish there was a SAZ knob... that stands for Starts At Zero, in case you were wondering.
The whole concept of "zero" is far too philosophically burdensome to trouble this knob with. How can nothing be something? GTE knob don't care. He is too busy twirling forward into elevenity.
Electronics control knobs (volume, intensity, etc) tend to start at 1, or a set minimum because the amplifier setup normally has a minimum beneath which the function is essentially unusable, or difficult to achieve with stability. So, they start at '1' with the next step down from that being 'Off.' Also, variable feedback topologies tend to start at unity gain and just go up from there. A logical alternate numbering scheme would be logarithmic scale, with '0' being unity gain, attenuation being negative numbers, and amplification being positive numbers, which you see in some applications. So fret not, the 'goes to 11' knob is replacing a '1 to 10' knob anyway. Personally, even without a numeric correlation between the dial and a real number characterizing the circuit's output, I like to have that 'extra ten percent' so I can design a circuit that will marginally overdrive, if needed, with the 11 reminding you that it's operating outside of normal bounds. It would be nice to have a (defeatable) stop at 10, to avoid accidental overload. :-)
Yes just about to post this. Sorry Robert, no mas, Tremendo fracaso. You were conned, big time.
While the Knobs do go to 11 they start at 1 so still 10 units of stuff not 11.
See image in the link below.
http://filmedge.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/11dial.jpg
no, 0 is just 'off'. If you must turn something off, you can just use a simple on/off toggle switch.
What if only need .5. How you going to get there?
An encoder with DAC. Of course, you should never go to eleven with a DAC: the DAC rolls over to -32,762 and creates create a large amount of anti-electrons.
Si! Uno mas, dude, uno mas.
Spinal Tap! :)
This one goes to 11.
On your next trip, how about looking for non-marked knobs (no line, or any other position indicator) that fit COM-10982 (doesn't need to be clear; preferably aluminum)? I've looked online for hours, and have only found ONE style of knob that isn't marked (for $4 each).
In the next month I'm taking a trek through the Mongolian highlands. I hear they have some really cool knobs there.
...must...resist...knob...jokes...
Keeping with the 80s movie theme, if you meet the Dalai Lama in your travels, "Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-lagunga"
If? He's a big fan of the Friday Product Posts (I assume...)
un mas
I love the presentation of the 11 knob! Highly amusing.
Finally, my search is over! Knobs that go to eleven- suddenly everything seems right in the world.
Not really see my other post. :-(
But these go to eleven. And that's one more than ten, isn't it...
But it starts at 1 not 0 so still 10 units
who cares!!! these knobs go to eleventy!!!!
don't worry, i'll buy some in your honour
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_to_eleven
And when you're ready for twenty .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKVgqcLwlfQ#t=9m
I know I'm kind of a bother about this, but do you have an idea of when the RN-52 breakout might be ready? Even an estimate? Is it going to be a week? a month? five months?
it's coming. I'd put it at a month or so?
Thank you!
Is this the SparkFun wish list? I want a CC3000 breakout board...
And, I see a bug filed in engineering. We're checking it out, thanks for the suggestion.
If you absolutely need one NOW Adafruit has one: http://www.adafruit.com/products/1469
you can always use the feedback form at the bottom and send it to tech support. they can forward it on to engineering.