New Product, Closed for Good Friday

Dave Hrynkiw
April 5, 2012

Fun fact: Tomorrow is Good Friday. By default, that means for the other 51 weeks of the year we experience Bad Fridays. We're not quite sure what exactly makes them so undesirable per se, but because the chance to celebrate a Good Friday comes around so infrequently, we've got to act on it, dangit. So we'll be closed Friday April the 6th to, uh... Do whatever it is you do when you're not celebrating Bad Fridays. We'll resume answering emails and filling/shipping orders on Monday. But because the postal service is closed to celebrate The Monday After Good Friday, orders by small packets shipping won't be going out until Tuesday. Our other courier options (UPS, Purolator, FedEx, etc) will be heading out on Monday.

In other news, our Ardweeny GVS Backpack Name-o-thon 5000 has come to a close. Thanks to everyone that has submitted - we'll be going over all of the entries we received and will announce a winner next week.

And now onto your weekly new produ- what's that? It's been TWO weeks since our last supposedly weekly product post? Unacceptible! Inexcusable! Reprehensible! And all sorts of other words ending in 'able'! (...inflatable?) To make up for the half-month drought of new stuffs, we'll do a mongo-post to get all caught up:

Parallax Laser Range Finder (LRF) Module 6in Digital Calipers
$14.99

Chances are, when you want to measure something you want it to be accurate. This is where a handy-dandy set of digital calipers becomes handy...dandy.
4 Wheels & Motor Upgrade Kit Wheels & Motor Upgrade Kit
$2.00

This surplus wheel set comes with one motor, two sets of wheels (two standard, two wide plastic studded tires and plastic hubs) and four guide rollers.
Coobro Geo Kit Coobro Geo Kit
$75.00

Yes, it's a hand-held GPS. No, it's not like a Garmin or other hand-held. Why? Because YOU build it, and it fulfills a different task! No map display, just a pointer which way to go! Use the Coobro Geo to help you find geocaches, store and navigate between hot fishing spots, complete a scavenger hunt, or simply help you find your car after a hike.
Parallax makes the Arduino BoEBot-Friendly! Robotics Shield Kit (for Arduino)
$119.99 USD
/ $125.98 CAD
Parallax makes the Arduino BoEBot-Friendly!
Parallax Board of Education Shield (for Arduino) Board of Education Shield (for Arduino)
$29.99 USD / $31.48 CAD

Leveraging the popular "Board of Education" system, Parallax has added Arduino to fold! Plug the Board of Education Shield into your own Arduino for convenient breadboard prototyping and servo ports, with no soldering required. Arduino programmers who appreciate Parallax's breadboard-friendly sensors and  accessories will find them even easier to use with this shield.
Sure Electronics Low Power 3-Axis Accelerometer Module Sure Electronics Low Power 3-Axis Accelerometer Module
$12.95

The Sure Electronics 3-axis low-power accelerometer features only 10-bit (still good!) resolution, but the price is excellent!
Redpark Console Cable Pololu MinIMU-9 Gyro, Accelerometer, and Compass
$59.00 USD / $61.95 CAD

You want to know where you are in space? The Pololu MinIMU-9 does it all - an L3G4200D 3-axis gyro and an LSM303DLM 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis magnetometer onto a tiny 0.9″ × 0.6″ board.
Pololu Dual VNH5019 Motor Driver Shield for Arduino Pololu Dual VNH5019 Motor Driver Shield for Arduino
$59.95 USD / $62.95 CAD

Pololu is known for some killer motor driver technology. They're bringing their mojo to the Arduino! Dual robust VNH5019 motor drivers take 5.5 to 24 V and punch out a continuous 12 A (30 A peak) per motor, or a continuous 24 A (60 A peak) to a single motor connected to both channels.
SparkFun EasyDriver Stepper Motor Driver SparkFun EasyDriver Stepper Motor Driver
$14.95 CAD

SparkFun's collaborative effor with Brian Schmalz makes the EasyDriver stepper motor driver compatible with anything that can output a digital 0 to 5V pulse.
Adafruit 8-channel Bi-directional Level Converter - TXB0108 Adafruit 8-channel Bi-directional Level Converter - TXB0108
$8.00 USD / $8.40 CAD

Because the Arduino (and Basic Stamp) are 5V devices, and most modern sensors, displays, flash cards and modes are 3.3V-only, many makers find that they need to perform level shifting/conversion to protect the 3.3V device from 5V.
PCA9306 Level Translator Breakout PCA9306 Level Translator Breakout
$6.95

Sometimes, voltages collide. When you have parts that expect/speak at different voltage levels, you have to build a mediator to smooth things out. This SplarkFun BOB-10403 uses PCA9306 two-channel bidirectional voltage-level translator on a nice, small breakout board.
SparkFun VCNL4000 Infrared Emitter Breakout SparkFun VCNL4000 Infrared Emitter Breakout
$9.95

We've had an eye on this Vishay sensor for a while - smart, tidy, and small. Thanks to SparkFun for breaking it out so you can use this to measure ambient light, and physical proximity in a single sensor!
Adafruit Monochrome 128x32 OLED Graphic Display Adafruit Monochrome 128x32 OLED Graphic Display
$18.25

These are tiny, sharp, and most impressive OLED monochrome displays! Just about 1" diagonal, made of 128x32 individual white OLED pixels, each one is turned on or off by the controller chip.
Adafruit RGB Backlight Positive LCD 16x2 + Extras (Black on RGB) Adafruit RGB Backlight Positive LCD 16x2 + Extras (Black on RGB)
$14.95

This is a fancy upgrade to standard 16x2 LCDs, instead of just having blue and white, or red and black, this LCD has black characters on a full color RGB-backlight background!
SparkFun RFM22 433MHz Tranceiver Shield SparkFun RFM22 433MHz Transceiver Shield
$29.95

SparkFun has mounted a RFM22 433MHz ISM FSK transceiver module to a shield. What's it do? Let you do a cheap point-to-point (and basic mesh networks) using 433MHz!
SparkFun Basic 16x2 Character LCD - RGB Backlight 5V SparkFun Basic 16x2 Character LCD - RGB Backlight 5V
$14.95

This is similar to other 16x2 character LCDs that you've seen before but with one vibrant difference: The backlight is actually an RGB LED.
Antenna GPS 3V Magnetic Mount SMA Antenna GPS 3V Magnetic Mount SMA
$12.95

Magnet mount antenna for GPS modules operating at 3V. Designed for use with automobiles - the magnet will hold the antenna in place at speeds greater than 100mph. 5 meter cable terminated with standard male SMA connector.
V.Torch Antenna GPS Embedded SMA V.Torch Antenna GPS Embedded SMA
$11.95

This V.Torch VTGPSIA-3 embedded antenna is designed to mate with GPS units with a IPEX/MMCX connector.
SparkFun Venus GPS with SMA Connector SparkFun Venus GPS with SMA Connector
$49.95

This small SparkFun breakout board features the Venus638FLPx GPS, which outputs standard NMEA-0183 or SkyTraq Binary sentences at a default rate of 9600bps (adjustable to 115200bps), with update rates up to 20Hz!

Well, with this schwack-load (a scientific unit of measurement, we'll have you know) of new stuff we're pretty sure that we've upgraded from 'Good Friday' to 'AWESOME Friday'. And on that note, we're off to enjoy ourselves a long weekend. Happy Easter, everyone!

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