Supernova of Electronics

Dave Hrynkiw
October 14, 2011

Here at Solarbotics, we like to celebrate things. And today we're remembering a supernova that took place in the Ophiuchus constellation and was observed by German astronomer Johannes Kepler back in 1604. That poor star, it was taken before its time. So to commemorate the memory of that star, (aptly named SN 1604, but we call him Steve), we're showing off some of the latest and greatest from the office:


Roving Networks' RN-XV Wi-Fi Module

Useless Box Upgrade
The Roving Networks' RN-XV Wi-Fi Module is a super-cool wifi module that fits in a standard XBee footprint, so it's compatible with a large range of accessories. The RN-XV gets you a Wi-Fi connection to your project and rocks a 32 bit processor, crypto accelerator, power management unit, and a fistfull of other handy features. Well, the masses have spoken, and it looks like everyone loves the new Useless Box with hinges. Everyone, that is, except for those who's stuck with the last version. Well, we're proud to give you a hand (or hinge, rather) getting your Useless Box up to date with an upgrade kit. We'll set you up with the panels, mounting screws and (of course) hinges to do the conversion. It'll make your box more fancily useless than ever.
   
EFX-Tek Starter Kit EFX-Tek Clearance Sale

If, for halloween, you want to turn your house into a dazzling display of light of animatronics that would keep even the grim reaper from stopping by for candy, you'll be glad for our new clearance items. EFX-Tek's lineup includes boards and accessories for building and controlling props. The following items are 10-20% off:

Herbert ProjectIn other news, this past week Dave, our El Presidente, wondered what would happen if he were to take Herbie the Mousebot and the new Brutusbot, and mash 'em together into some sorta unholy abomination. Well, he decided to find out and ended up with Herbert - a modern day, robot-mouse-meets-tank-platform Frankenstein. It's a surprisingly simple hack, just involving removing the motors from Herbie and wiring in the motors from the Brutusbot in their place. All of the sudden you have a light-seeking, obstacle-avoiding contraption that looks like... A tank with a mouse on top. You can get the instructions from the Brutusbot's resource section.

...and with that, we must part for another week. Our (peculiar) ode to that long-lost star in the Ophiuchus constellation has drawn to an end, so we'll  let you go out and enjoy the fall weather. So long Steve. You'll be missed.

MORE POSTS

December 1, 2017
Christmas/New Years Holiday Hours

This is a quick note to announce our holiday schedule, which is going to be as follows. At Solarbotics: Friday, December 22 - Offices open til 4pm Monday, December 25 - Tuesday, December 26 -- Closed Wednesday, December 27 & Thursday, December 28 - Offices open 9am to 5pm Friday, December 29 - Offices open til 4pm Monday, January 1 - […]

April 12, 2019
Courier Shipping Services Broken

Purolator is one of our more popular couriers, and they've recently rolled out an update that we thought wasn't going to affect our website. Guess what? Why yes; yes it has. And on a Friday afternoon, we are unable to get anybody on their end to help us pin down the error location. That's not […]

March 31, 2015
MakeFashion Tech Gala Photos

Solarbotics just attended the MakeFashion Gala here in Calgary. It was a glowing show of glowing lights and wearable technology. Check out the photos in our Flickr stream. Photo courtesy George Dimitrov Photography Among all the other wonderful things we've seen using our string LEDs before, there was nothing quite as intense as these outfits. […]

June 12, 2001
Tilden Interview - Video 2 Teaser

As an exercise on our video editting station, we compiled a quick 5 minute teaser of an interview we had with Mark Tilden on all manner of BEAM topics. View it As a 8.2meg Windows Media WMV file (15fps, 160x120) As a 1.8meg Real Media RM file (15fps, 160x120)

Solarbotics Ltd Logo
Solarbotics has been operating for more than 25 years, bringing electronics know-how and supplies to both the electronics professional and hobbyist. We'll be happy to help you too!

Solarbotics, Ltd. is not responsible for misprints or errors on product prices or information. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.

Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.