Quad Fever!
Quadcopter fever has blown through SparkFun. I’m not sure where it started, but suddenly, it seems like everybody is flying around a cheap little quadcopter. The most popular model around here is the Estes Proto-X, a mere snip at $35-45US. It’s small size makes it nice for goofing off…
Your SparkFun January Caption Contest Is Here!
It’s time for the January edition of the SparkFun caption contest! The rules are as follows: Leave your best caption to the photo below in the comments section. The comments section is the only way to enter the contest. We will accept entries from the time this post goes live until January…
2014 SparkFun Class Listings
It’s the start of a new year, which means a fresh slate of educational offerings here at SparkFun headquarters! Over the past year, the SparkFun educational team has been hard at work refining old classes and creating all kinds of new ones. Today we are excited to announce the official slate…
Best SparkFun Videos of 2013
Over the past year, we’ve released somewhere in the neighborhood of 145 videos about all kinds of subjects, ranging from robotics to basics electronics theories. Odds are, you didn’t catch them all (maybe you did - in which case, nice work!) - so we’ve created a quick playlist with…
New Product Friday: Full Tilt
The second product post of 2014 has a little something for everyone. We’ve got a new sensor, a new Simon kit, new wire strippers, and some revisions of older products. Check out what we’ve got for this week! Last week we skipped the Robotics 101 video, but it’s back again this…
Enginursday: Exploring the Arduino/Intel Galileo
The list of official Arduino boards continues to grow, and, continuing with the famous-Italian-person trend, now includes the Galileo. The Galileo is Intel’s toe-dip into the Arduino waters. It features their Quark SoC X1000 – a 32-bit, x86 system-on-a-chip that can run at up to 400MHz…
According to Pete: Current Mirrors
It’s time again for your prescribed monthly dose of According to Pete (Dokter’s orders - tssssss), and this time around, Pete is discussing and demystifying current mirrors! Current mirrors are used to regulate the current of one component or circuit with the current of another, and Pete…
Hacker-in-Residence: BeagleBone Shields
Josh Datko is SparkFun’s newest hacker-in-residence. We’re very excited to have him here for two weeks, where he’ll be working on building a shield for the BeagleBone Black to add security to your projects! Without further ado, here he is: Josh’s favorite movie is…
SparkFun Live - The Party Button - Is Today!
Today is the day for another edition of SparkFun Live! You can find the live video at 5:00 p.m. Mountain Time here. In today’s episode SparkFun Engineer Shawn Hymel will guide you through building his “party button.” You can learn more about his project in this preview video: If…
New Product Friday: Gearing up for the New Year
Hello everyone and welcome to 2014! It’s a bit too soon to tell, but it seems like it’s going to be a great year filled with new products, videos, and an occasional pun. I apologize for skipping the Robotics 101 video this week, but many people are on vacation (myself included) during…
Enginursday: Bling in the new year!
Another year gone, and if you’re anything like me, you’re thinking hard about what you want from the next one! For me, that means reflecting on the parts of 2013 that meant the most to me, and how I’m going to bring more of that energy into the new year. In 2013, I spent a lot of…
Happy New Year!
It’s hard to believe, but another year has come to an end. 2013 was a great year at SparkFun, and we’re endlessly grateful, as always, to have another 365 days of this amazing community’s support behind us. Once we got past the shock of discovering the blank cardboard at the end of…
Reminder: SparkFun Live! - The Party Button
This your final reminder! On Monday, January 6th at 5 p.m. (MT), we will be hosting our second episode of SparkFun Live! In this episode, follow along with SparkFun Engineer Shawn Hymel as he builds a “party button.” If you’d like to build your own, we’ve put together a…
Innovating in Quality Control
Here at SparkFun, we have long prided ourselves on implementing uncommon solutions to common problems. Our hotplate reflow skillet method is one (in)famous example. Another is our pogo bed test jigs that we use to test every one of our designs. An array of pogo test jigs. Which brings us to…
New Product Friday: Design-O-Mite!
Hello everyone! I don’t want to bum you out, but this will be the last New Product Post of the year, so enjoy it. But don’t worry, we’ll still have tons of new products for 2014. But for now, here’s your last batch of the year. Be sure to check out the tutorials for the…
Enginursday: The Littlest Hackers
When I was a wee lad, back in the late Cretaceous, you could pretty much count on my Christmas presents not staying intact for more than a day or two. I loved presents that let you make things, like Tinkertoys, Legos, and art supplies. And I tried my best (and probably failed miserably) to grin…
December Caption Contest winner!
Welcome back, we hope your holidays were high in both merritude and brightness! You guys remember long ago last week when we posted a caption contest? Well the votes are in and Christmas isn’t over for one of you, so let’s all raise a paper cup of leftover, room temperature holiday party…
Teardown: Nest Protect
Merry Christmas everyone! We hope everyone has a great holiday season, whether you celebrate Christmas, Festivus, Hanukkah, or nothing at all. You may remember back is 2011 when Nate busted open a Nest thermostat to have a look at its inside bits. We liked what we saw! So much so, in fact, that we…
ElectriCute - Holiday Edition
Today, we have a special holiday edition of ElectriCute - our e-textiles specific video series starring our own wearables guru Dia Campbell. In today’s episode, Dia, Nick Poole and Baby Jenna create a “Krampus Stocking.” It’s a bit dark, but a pretty cool project. Check it…
Prepare for Episode 2 of "SparkFun Live"
We received a great response to our last “SparkFun Live” video episode - so we’re doing it again! This time around, SparkFun Engineer Shawn Hymel will guide you through building a party button. What’s a party button, you ask? Check the video: The event will take place at 5…
Recent Comments
Member #528941 / 5 hours ago 1
Wow. I found the u.fl to rp-sma adapter for $1 shipped on ebay. I am totally going to try this! Thank you for posting this! Literally going…Member #134773 / 19 hours ago 1
Hey, the opening screen gets me to “dispense” an insult: “Are you not wise enough to realize when the change to Daylight Savings[sic] Time…Member #134773 / 19 hours ago 1
This isn’t really relevant to Friday’s post, but the thing about the Hater-matic “live build” is saying Mar. 11 at 3:00 PM Mountain STANDARD…Member #528713 / 24 hours ago 1
A website must be user-friendly for all devices, and when it comes to mobiles, the means of navigating the website need to be adaptable to…
stilldavid / 1 day ago 1
Read up on the FAR-101 regulations. So long as you build a payload to specification there is no paperwork required, however you must avoid…einro / 2 days ago 1
My Tenergy AA-AAA charger blinks to show power on. Off when empty. Steady red when not charged. Flashing red when something is wrong. Then…CVBruce / 2 days ago 1
Was there any FAA paperwork to fill out or clearances needed?
Member #528713 / 4 hours ago 1
A website must be user-friendly for all devices, and when it comes to mobiles, the means of navigating the website need to be adaptable to…Re: Introducing the SIK Capstone Contest