NYC Resistor

This is a great new product SparkFun is selling. It’s called the ScreenKey RGB Graphic Button and is described on the site as follows: ‘The RGB24T can be programmed to display any text or graphics on its 36×24 pixel display. The programmable backlight can illuminate the graphic display with many different colors. With a simple microcontroller, you can change the display and backlight once the button is pressed. It’s an on-the-fly configurable, multicolor, multidisplay button!’

Here is the link to the Example Code so you can play with it and have some fun. More info at screenkeys.com

Its a bit expensive at $3000+sh but this thing seems to have every hand held tool you might need. - Link

I just received an email about ponoko.com. What is it you ask? I had a hard time trying to figure that out myself at first, but after toiling through the site to find the FAQ, I found out that it is a very cool application/product. Ponoko is a laser cutting site that allows you to design something to be laser cut, whether it’s 2d art or a 3d piece of furniture. They have great starter templates that you can download and use in multiple different applications. Then, when your design is ready you have 3 options: You can ‘Browse & Buy’, ‘Make & Sell’, or ‘Mingle & Share’. The site About page says the following:

Ponoko is the world’s first personal manufacturing platform. It’s the online space for a community of creators and consumers to use a global network of digital manufacturing hardware to co-create, make and trade individualized product ideas on demand. The ponoko.com marketplace connects creators, consumers, digital manufacturing hardware and service providers to promote, make and trade products on Ponoko and social networking websites.

I’m not sure how much the printing and laser cutting will cost, but it’s a great idea. Let’s hope people use it.

Drat! I’m not at home with my stack of electronics catalogues, how am I going to order that electronics part I need? Once I get it, wouldn’t it also be great to have a datashet and can I get that on my iPhone right now?

In steps Octopart, the electonics part search engine. Go try it. It’s a beautiful thing. - Link

When it comes to micro controllers most of us at NYC Resistor really love the Arduino—it’s fun, CHEAP, easy to use and it’s all the rage these days. So, when we found out about the new LilyPads ($19.95 from Sparkfun), wearable Arduino’s, you can imagine how excited we were. LilyPads are fully functional micro controllers that you can sew into clothing or any other type of interesting material. The board is based on the ATmega168V (the low-power version of the ATmega168). We’re currently working on some ideas and projects we can use our Lilypads for, right now we have a ‘belt that points north’ and a ‘heated jacket’ so we don’t have to worry about paying those heating bills this winter!

More info on the LilyPad

Does anyone know where we can find conductive thread for wearables? We’ve had trouble tracking it down here in NYC. Please leave suggestions in the comments!