The Amp Hour #11 — Ardui…no Dave This Week?
NOTE: I apologize about the sound quality on this recording. Thanks to the Zoom H1 autogain (very bad thing) and recording in a cubby like desk at my house (nearly as bad as the autogain) I sound like a mouth breathing, key pounding cubby troll. I’m very sorry and I tried to fix it best I could. If you hear the occasional ramp up of background noise or mouth breathing, forgive me.
So did my Dave Jones impression fool you? No? I thought it was pretty bad as well. Dave is unfortunately under the weather and was not up to doing a show this week. In all honesty, he is rightly saving his voice for his upcoming trip to the US! Very exciting for him! And of course very exciting for Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory, as Dave Jones will be attending his taping! I know I’d be pumped!
Anyway, we were very lucky to have Jeff Keyzer of Mighty Ohm join me in Dave’s stead this week. Jeff explained more about his background during the show, so onto the links!
- Shoutouts!
- To you! Thanks to the 1000+ people that have listened to our podcasts!
- Thanks to Jon at TronixStuff for linking me to Silicon Chip magazine.
- Jeff suggests Elektor magazine out of Europe. Similar style magazine.
- Thanks to William at HackersWorkbench for linking here!
- Jeff was one of the first to receive an Arduino Uno board.
- The ATmega8U2 is a big difference to the board, people are already hacking it.
- It uses a USB to Serial stack written by Dean Camera.
- Some issues but good response from the Arduino team.
- “Getting Started with Arduino” by Massimo Banzi is a great starter book.
- But not as great as Jeff’s new book with Mitch Altman will be!
- Getting young ladies involved in electronics is usually a matter of applications more than how it’s taught.
- How else can we get kids interested in STEM?
- Who else can we get engineers interested in twitter? (BBC article on social media)
If we missed anything or if you have other magazines that are similar to Silicon Chip or Elektor, please leave them in the comments. Thanks again to Jeff for helping out this week!
NOTE: I apologize about the sound quality on this recording. Jeff actually went out of his way to try and get a good setup but then I go use my Zoom H1 with the autogain on (very bad thing) in a cubby like desk at my house (nearly as bad as the autogain). I’m very sorry and will try to fix it next week.
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Thanks again for the interesting podcast and the shout-out… except for the dodgy Australian accent
I love Circuit Cellar (http://www.circuitcellar.com/), which is a US based magazine. CC has been brought by Elektor.
GJ Jeff.
Years ago i used to read everything except The Serviceman’s Log. These days when i buy it i go straight to The Serviceman’s Log.
Leo might frown at his publication being copied but it’s great exposure for Silicon Chip magazine. Anyone that likes 25W to 250W amplifiers will really enjoy it
Elektor was still on the newstands in Australia the last time i looked. I have seen Circuit Cellar articles elsewhere but i don’t remember if we used to get it here before the buyout or not.
I’m all for contextual learning in any area where it’s practical. I remember a science club for kids when i was younger had events where you could in the safety of their labs, pull apart electrical/ electronic stuff and the lab techs would explain what things were and how they worked.
It’s easier i think to have the context and the whole picture then work backwards. As they say, it’s a lot easier to put the puzzle together when you have the lid with the picture of the puzzle.
I think the modular circuit by circuit approach the radio shack kits took while still getting you to achieve something mildly interesting was great. I think my minds eye still imagines LCR,LED & transistor circuits in the unmistakable bold blank ink on ever browning white paper schematics of the Radio Shack kits.
I think there is something wrong with the audio server. I’ve been trying to listen via the widget and then trying to download the this podcast and it’ll play for about 2-5 min and then cut out and just stop, and the download all seem to stop downloading between 5mb-10mb in size. To rule out my network/isp I even used my mobile phone (g1) and attempted to listen via the “listen” app from google with the same results, I hear the chris’s fake intro a bit of small talk then the audio just stops. Would really like to listen in as I’m always curious about arduino news!
thanks,
-david
Personally I read Everyday Practical Electronics, which seems to feature silicon chip articles. Its a UK based magazine but I get it from Malmö station where they also sell the UK Elector and the swedish Allt om electronik, which is the native swedish magazine that was bought by Elektor
Whohoo, Elektor reader reporting in.
The magazine is written in The Netherlands. It’s a nice magazine with a main focus on embedded stuff and some interesting hobby projects. Definitely a good read.
Chris (and Dave too!) -
Thanks for having me on the show!
Jeff aka mightyohm
Great show guys, thanks to Jeff for filling in at such short notice!
I’ve been to the Exploratorium in San Fran and I have to agree it is a most excellent “hands on” place to learn.
Yes, EPE republish many Silicon Chip articles, by arrangement. Silicon Chip now have 3 full time project designers on staff, plus the likes of Jim Rowe, Greg Swain, and Leo himself (all former editors of Electronics Australia magazine!).
I started on the Tandy 50-in-1 Kits too:
http://www.eevblog.com/2010/01/16/eevblog-54-electronics-when-i-was-a-boy/
Dave.
Dave, thanks for letting me fill in for you! I enjoyed talking Arduino (and talking, and talking, and …) and it was a lot of fun to chat with Chris.
Best show ever, More Jeff in the future please!
Have you seen this, it was announced at makerfair.
http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Clint/NET-Gadgeteer
I’m not still quite sure what exactly it encompasses so too early to say if it’s Arduino competitor from Microsoft or what it exactly is.
[...] about active filters for a side project (where the motivation is showing off the side project and becoming “internet famous”) and I started thinking about how similar my current situation is to my former schooling. And all [...]
Here in Ontario, CA we have the ontario science center and i have taken my step daughter there. its a good way to fool the kids into learning something while at the same time doing something physical and changing that holds on to the child’s attention.