New Product Friday - Pre-Yule Log Special

Hello loyal SparkFun readers! It's Friday again, so of course that means we're going to have more new products. We have a lot of useful products this week, so let's get to the video and then the list of products.

When I first heard about the Go-Between Shield I didn't quite understand the purpose. But the more I thought about it, it makes a lot of sense. The benefit to using a shield is convenience. If you take that away, you might as well just make your own shield. We love seeing products like this because it shows how a simple idea can be pretty useful.

One of the problems with using multiple shields is that they don't always use unique pins. Shields can end up sharing the same pins and then you can't use them together. This can be frustrating because there's not a good way around it, until now. The Go-Between Shield allows you to effectively reassign pins from shields so you can make just about any shield compatible with other shields. Using solder jumpers you can easily change the routing of the pins.

Remember these motorized pots for awhile back? We used these to create Mechan-O-Pong. However, it could have worked a little better because the ones we've been carrying have an audio taper. If you're looking to do something a bit more linear, we now carry the motorized slide pots with a linear taper as well. They're the same form factor, but just with a different taper.

When we announced the GP-2106 GPS module several weeks back, we knew it would be a tough sell without a breakout board. Thankfully, we now have one which makes using the module infinitely easier. The GP-2106 Breakout Board allows you to access the tiny connector and use standard 0.1" spaced headers for easy prototyping.

I always end up having several simultaneous projects that I'm working on. Because of this, I've learned it's that you can't have enough jumper wires. These jumper wires are the same ones we include in the SIK and are nice to have around. They're a little 'wimpier' than the others that we carry, but they work well and I use them all the time. They're a bit more flexible and I've even used them as permanent wires in protoboards and such.

We've been carrying the BlueSMiRF Gold for a long time now. We have a small revision which makes some minor changes and now breaks out PIO4. Other than that, it's the same board as before. The BlueSMiRF Gold is the classic way to connect your project to any Bluetooth enabled device. Just don't use it for evil.

ICs don't last forever. Without warning, a manufacturer decides to discontinue them. This happened with the Venus634LPX IC. It was a popular low cost GPS module. It was replaced with the Venus638FLPX-L. We've since updated the Venus GPS Logger to include the new version of the IC. Thankfully, it's pin-compatible so it didn't need a lot of revising.

In addition to the Venus GPS Logger, we've also revised the Venus GPS with SMA connector as well. It uses the new IC and remains essentially unchanged. Check the notes on the product page for some of the new features on this new IC.

In addition to carrying the new Copernicus II IC, we now have a breakout for that module as well. The Copernicus II DIP Module breaks out all the pins on a handy breadboard-friendly package and even includes an SMA connector for an antenna. If you need to prototype this GPS , the DIP module might be the easiest way.

And lastly, we have a new class to talk about. For Valentine's day, wouldn't it be nice to make something for your loved one rather than picking out some generic card for them at Walmart the day before? Our Plushbot Class teaches you how to make your very own plushbot for your better half. Chicks dig stuffed animals and secretly, so do guys. Check out the description to register and get more information.

Ah, another new product post complete. As always, thanks for reading. We have something special for you next week, so be sure to check back! See you next week.