The very definition of irony
The very definition of irony is the letter from Dish Network informing me of my $5/month rate hike arriving in the mailbox the same day that my brand new HDHomerun (http://www.silicondust.com/) showed up. Delicious.
Gadgeteer socket library
After the first batch of modules I made, it was discovered by me and others that the footprint I used for the Gadgeteer socket didn't leave much room for soldering. For the second batches, I altered the footprint and extended each pad out 1mm to give a bit more room to get a soldering iron in there. I was asked if I was willing to share the footprint, and of course I am, so here it is.
Hobbyist LCD screens
Why are all the hobbyist LCD screens so expensive? Even the dinky little HD44780-driven character displays seem like a high-margin item for all the usual suspects. It seems to me that there are devices everywhere with these screens in them, so these screens must be available from somewhere.
Here's a Kickstarter project I'd like to see
On Kickstarter, the "please-donate-to-me-because-I-have-an-idea" website, one popular and recurring theme is to provide the "next Arduino" platform. In nearly all cases, this involves an ARM Cortex-M* microcontroller on a small breakout board. ARM breakout boards, however, are a dime a dozen. Any fool (yours truly first in line) can whip one up from a datasheet and a little Google-time. There are enough frighteningly powerful Cortex microcontrollers out there that it's time someone did something about it.
Better late than never
I've got a couple modules produced that I now need to sell off before the wife makes me throw them out, and I thought I'd put a couple other convenient items there that people might need. There are currently only the two modules, but look for a couple other little things in the coming days.
Update on the OneWire board
I used 4P4C (so-called "RJ-9") jacks, which was a big mistake, because they're much harder to find, and the associated cables are not commonly available in junk boxes. 4P4C is what is commonly used for handset cords (the curly ones). I updated the design to use 6P4C (so-called RJ-11/14/25) jacks (the commonly-used wall-to-phone cable), and also made the board Gadgeteer compliant, and the result is much more satisfactory. There's also a footprint for a DS18B20 temperature sensor onboard. This solves the most common use case all in one solution.
The Arduino Uno schematic, critiqued
I came across this question on electronics.stackexchange today. Olin Lathrop, whose opinion I have come to respect deeply over the course of many informative answers, posted this in his answer:
On mobile phone operating systems
It finally came time to retire the Touch Pro 2, which, I believe, is one of the last ever released Windows Mobile devices. I’d only ever used Windows Mobile 5/6 devices before, and only ever devices with a physical keyboard, so it was a natural choice at the time. It was underpowered even then (devices with 700+ MHz processors were already available, or maybe even 1 GHz), but it had the WM6 and the keyboard that I wanted, so I grabbed it.
First board returned from DorkbotPDX
It's a one-wire interface board for connecting sensors using RJ9 jacks. It was a quick little design, and I haven't populated a board yet. I'll post another picture when I do. It'll be a good chance to put to work the new soldering station.
Idea for an interesting new project
Pan+Tilt, servos, low-power laser (or highly focused red LED?) module, add it all together, and you should be able to get hours of fun.