Rather than keep making new posts about random electronics shit, I'm making the Rolling Electronics Thread of Doom.
Item 1: Open-source (in every sense, including hardware) logic analyzer. http://dangerousprototypes.com/2010/04/27/logic-sniffer-quick-start-video/
Mine just came in the mail and it's pretty cool.
It's good for debugging hardware ("Is my chip outputting what I think it's outputting?") and for decoding other hardware ("I know this is SPI but how do I emulate it")
http://ucapps.de/
This site has been doing stuff with the MIDIbox for a while. It's probably single-handedly responsible for my interest in electronics. They have a really good community and there's a lot of information.
http://www.solarbotics.net
Found a really good site with reference materials on robotics. The library has good low to mid level descriptions of electrical and mechanical parts - learned a lot about stepper motors here.
Just discovered this site a few minutes ago after ordering a couple Sparkfun breakout boards for a wireless chip:
http://www.schmartboard.com
They make "prototyping" boards for those of us who might need to play around with a chip only available in surface mount form but don't want to go through making a PCB for the entire project.
In particular here are a collection of boards where you solder surface mount components and the board provides through-hold soldering holes for the pins:
http://www.schmartboard.com/index.asp?page=products_so
They claim the boards are easier:
http://www.schmartboard.com/schmartboard_dc_ez_instructions.pdf
The price seems to be good enough as far as I know the alternatives are designing and etching/ordering PCBs or paying Sparkfun/etc a premium for a breakout board. (Please feel free to correct me on this one!)
Posting thread from one of our local electronics gurus on DC Motor PWM control.
http://softsolder.wordpress.com/2010/07/11/dc-motor-speed-control/
http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/MSP430_LaunchPad_(MSP-EXP430G2)?DCMP=launchpad&HQS=Other+OT+launchpadwiki
Neat dev kit for $4.30. Shipping is free for now. They seem to be getting hammered at the moment, but I intend to order one as soon as I can get into the store.
EDIT: It seems that orders are now being directed to Mouser or Arrow. I've seen the price listed as $4.30 and $5.xx and shipping may not be included anymore. Still, pretty cheap.
EDIT: Or I'm not paying enough attention. Get them here.
http://colinkarpfinger.com/blog/2010/ordering-pcbs-designed-with-eagle/
via Hack A Day
http://puppetcircuits.wordpress.com/
These guys are doing some neat stuff.
http://hackaday.com/2010/05/26/sound-card-driven-servo-motor/
clever.
http://vimeo.com/10437744
awesome project made out of fairly simple components
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Qt5CtUlqY&feature=player_embedded
Nice tutorial on soldering a QFN (Quad Flat Nolead) surface mount. Probably not something anyone here will be tackling soon, but interesting and well produced, and a good view into how to do complex surface mount stuff with simple tools.
http://hackaday.com/2010/05/04/print-toner-directly-to-a-pcb/
2mil traces? Shit yeah.
http://redwirellc.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=58
for those who saw the super-eye-bleedy project board I had at the last saturday event, these are those LEDs.
I ordered 25 of them, some of which I can make available for those who want them. I'm not sure what is needed to solder them, yet.
Google today said it teamed with iRobot to create a family of Android applications for the iRobot Ava mobile robotics platform.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/google-irobot-team-build-robot-apps
Another article with pictures:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20061651-264.html
Secret knock detector door lock - arduino based with source code: http://grathio.com/2009/11/secret_knock_detecting_door_lock/