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John Beans

Member Since: January 19, 2009

Country: United States

  • Add a USB port to your ring binder. Locate your wireless charging rings thoughtfully on each page so that when you plug in your ring binder, all of your projects recharge. (Each project having a recharge circuit, of course).

  • Not even quadraphonic sound can Talk To The Hand.

  • Bummer you guys weren't doing soldering class this time. Both my boys were looking forward to it. They were big fans of the Simon I brought home a couple of years ago. We had to settle for soldering a couple of LEDs on a robot pin at the Make: booth outside.

  • I like the system we have: we all give up a little privacy (and occasionally our time and attention) to help catch people who rip other people off.

  • Step 1: Cut a hole in the box. Step 2: Put your junk in the box. Step 3: Make her open the box.

  • Nate, very nice. But for what it's worth... ...did you try to optimize that antenna trace, or did you just figure it was so short it didn't matter? I notice you hung your inductor off a bit, instead of planting its tail on the main trace as is best practice (the hanging off part becomes part of the antenna).

    You can download AppCAD for free and tweak that antenna trace for better performance, too. For instance, if the board thickness is 0.062", dielectric constant Er=4 (depends on material your fab uses), trace width=0.05", and copper is 1oz (0.0014" thick) then the resulting impedance of that microstrip at 1.575 GHz is about 80 ohms. The goal is 50 ohms, so you're squandering signal on a tiny 0.1" long trace... I'm just saying, shame to waste it. Again, for what it's worth. I'm no RF engineer, though I've forced myself to learn as much as I can for an upcoming GPS product.

  • "You BETTER not have messed with the creamer in the break room..."

  • "Dude, no, still not thirsty."

  • I agree with others, the Top 10 could have been chosen better.
    I Like:
    - Unlocked lock (seems universal)
    - Chip icon (ditto)
    I Don't Like:
    - Gears (nerdy, but not relevant)
    - English words, acronyms (not universal, cryptic)
    - Fisting chips, butterflies (see other submissions)
    - "Copyleft" (an arcane, English-centric play on words)
    So my favorites are the couple that include chips with unlocked locks on them, but didn't make the Top 10. They seem just right.

  • I use the BMP085 in my product line.
    1. Good for "sip," but not for "puff," since it reads +9000M to just -500M above sea level. A little puff (-500 meters worth, which is tiny), but not much. It's more of a vacuum sensor than a pressure sensor.
    2. You'd need a tube. If you sucked in its general direction, even from fairly close, you'd get no decent signal. If you blew, you'd get a lot of turbulent noise.
    3. At its lowest resolution, the fast you can sample the BMP085 is 222 samples/sec max.
    4. Heating the chip is a bad idea. Better to keep the moisture out with a convuluted path and/or filter material.
    My two cents.

No public wish lists :(