How To Celebrate Arduino Day
Are you ready for Arduino Day this Saturday? Find an event near you, sales online, or a new project.
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Tag: sparkfun
6 Stages from Replication to Innovation in 3D Printing
Here’s what happens when Ben from Sparkfun Education, a PhD psychologist, and a 3rd grade teacher talk about technology and innovation in education.
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The Mothership: A Visit to the New SparkFun Building
The shipping department was full of dudes with asymmetric facial hair on skateboards. An engineer had picked up about a thousand Keva planks and on an upstairs wrap-around counter space, there was a crowdsourced build going on — in which you could tell the crowd had higher than the average bear’s level of design thinking skills. Strung on a wall was a DIY art piece made of light bulbs and wire that was set to ripple in response to sounds. A trigger-operated race car track wound underneath a 7-foot tall version of one of those wooden dinosaur skeleton kits.
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Boulder, Colorado Invaded, Overrun by Makers, Hackers, Ne’er-Do-Wells!
Whether here. there or elsewhere, let’s put some tools in our kids’ hands and get the Ziploc bags ready.
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Kickstarter Alert: MOSS Dynamic Robot Construction Kit
I love good robotics and electronics Kickstarter projects. I recently had the MOSS Dynamic Robot Construction Kit come along my desk, and I have to say I am impressed by what I see.
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NoCo Maker Faire: Exactly What I Imagined a Maker Faire to Be!
This past weekend my family and I made a two-hour trek to Loveland, Colorado, for the state’s first-ever NoCo Mini Maker Faire.
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Saying “Neigh” to Equestria Girls
Which is all to say that, despite GeekMom Kelly’s charming review of the recent release My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, I am going to suggest that parents steer clear of this franchise. In a country where women are increasingly primary wage earners for their families, I say: Give girls the skills they need to get stable, lucrative jobs. America, put that Equestria Girl back on its pink shelf! Instead, I offer this short selection of fun, empowering, alternative gifts for little girls.
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SparkFun Autonomous Vehicle Competition
SparkFun’s annual Autonomous Vehicle Competition is coming up in less than two months. I’ve been watching the competition, or results, online since their first year in 2009. It has been exciting to see how the robots have changed over time with faster, smarter, and flying autonomous vehicles necessitating more classes and bigger challenges.
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Sparkfun Tutorial: Switch Basics
Check out this cool tutorial on switches from the folks over at Sparkfun.
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Pulse Width Modulation – SparkFun Electronics Tutorial
Want to learn more about the Pulse Width Modulation, or PWM, capabilities of your favorite microcontroller? Check out this great tutorial from the folks at SparkFun Electronics all about PWM!
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SparkFun Electronics Presents According to Pete – Filtering
Have you ever wanted to understand electronic filtering better? Here is a favorite According to Pete segment from SparkFun Electronics that addresses that topic in one of the best, easiest to understand, descriptions I’ve ever seen.
Continue ReadingA One-Stop List for Geek-Friendly Cyber Monday Deals
Here’s a roundup of some of the best deals for geek shoppers on Cyber Monday.
Continue ReadingSparkFun’s Kickstarter Aims to Bring DIY Electronics to the Masses
SparkFun’s Department of Education has launched a Kickstarter Campaign to bring STEAM education to all 50 states through a National Tour. Help them reach their $150,000 goal by December 19 and make electronics part of our nation’s basic curriculum. …
Continue ReadingAdd Electronics to Your Halloween and Enter the First SparkFun Costume Contest
Learn a few easy ways to add electronics to your Halloween costume.
Continue Reading5 Questions for SparkFun’s Engineering Roundtable (GeekDad Weekly Rewind)
SparkFun Electronics has been spreading the maker ethic through tutorials, kits and unique products to help make your hardware hacker dreams come true. On August 13th, SparkFun added The Engineering Roundtable to their lineup. The Engineering Roundtable features three of …
Continue ReadingEstablishing the Ultimate GeekDad Reference Shelf
When I get started on a new project or endeavor, I become a voracious consumer of information. I start reading everything I can get my hands on that will introduce me to that subject and give me a good foothold. …
Continue ReadingSparkFun Electronics Unveils a New Education Site
One of the most important tenets I live by is that education never stops. A quick way for something to catch my attention is to have an area marked with words such as “tutorial,” “learn,” “guide,” and all those other …
Continue ReadingSparkFun Puts D&D Dice Up Your Sleeve
The folks over at SparkFun Electronics have a post up detailing a recent creation from their e-textiles sage Dia. A LilyPad Arduino-powered Dungeons and Dragons dice gauntlet. The gauntlet allows you to select the type of roll you want to …
Continue ReadingThe GeekDad Arduino Guide: Introduction
A couple years ago I heard people start talking about something called an Arduino. This was before I started writing for GeekDad and my life was pretty busy with work and family so I relegated the term to a part …
Continue ReadingSparkFun Free Day Returns for Round Three With More Money And Different Rules
This Wednesday, January 11, is SparkFun Electronics’ third annual Free Day. If you’ve never participated before, you’re missing out on a lot of sparks and a lot of fun. What’s SparkFun? A great site where you can buy nearly 2,000 components and electronics. It’s like the RadioShack of the 21st century, if you think of […]
Continue ReadingSparkFun’s Free Day 2012 Is Coming January 11th!
SparkFun is doing it again. On January 11, 2012, they will be giving away $100 gift codes to 2,000 lucky electronics hobbyists. The prizes will be awarded randomly, and are good for 60 days. Free Day started in 2010 as …
Continue ReadingSparkFun’s ProtoSnap Development Boards Are Great for Solder-Phobic Makers
A while back the good people at SparkFun asked GeekDad if any of the writers would like to try out their new ProtoSnap line of Arduino-compatible development platforms. Since I have been interested for some time in learning how to …
Continue Reading10 Takeaway Lessons From Maker Faire New York
Last weekend the kids, husband, and I attended the 2nd annual Maker Faire New York at the New York Hall of Science in Corona, Queens. We were all blown away by the experience–I spent the weekend happily geeking out: touching stuff, pushing buttons, exclaiming repeatedly to anyone who would listen This is what our SCHOOLS […]
Continue Reading10 Take-Away Lessons From Maker Faire New York
Last weekend the kids, husband, and I attended the 2nd annual Maker Faire New York at the New York Hall of Science in Corona, Queens. We were all blown away by the experience–I spent the weekend happily geeking out: touching …
Continue ReadingSparkFun To Host 3rd Annual Autonomous Vehicle Competition
On April 23rd, a hundred or more robot geeks will descend upon Boulder Colorado for the 3rd Annual Autonomous Vehicle Competition hosted by our friends at SparkFun. Last year’s event saw over 20 teams with upwards of 400 spectators. This …
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