Jameco's Newsletter: February 2012

Jameco Puzzler: Electronic Intercom
By: Forrest M. Mims III

Consultant Ed Brown was retained by the Minimalist Electronics Society (MES) to design an electronic intercom that would allow the group's president and secretary to speak to one another between two tiny structures that served as their offices. The only condition was that the intercom must be as minimalist as possible. A conventional intercom would require a pair of conductors, which was one too many.

DIY Capacitor Tester
My Story: Lance Summers

Throw away your magnifying glass! You won't need it to sort through your Capacitor Grab Bag with this easy but very handy DIY cap tester. Not only does this project provide a great chance to hone your soldering skills, but you'll also come out with an accurate, fully functional, capacitor testing measurement tool.

Building your own capacitor tester couldn't be easier.

Jameco welcomes the contributions ofits customers. Frankly, we think what you write is more interesting than anything we could write. Share your electronic component story, project, or challenge, and we'll share it with the world. Send your story to MyStory@Jameco.com

Greg's Corner: I'm All Fired Up!

I took a business writing class once. I don't remember much about the class other than writing for business was all about being boring. I think sometimes we misinterpret "boring" to mean "mature". Ultimately this class was trying to point out that good business writing requires minimal emotion in order to build more trust with the reader. When a company exudes excitement, does that say the company is immature and not to be trusted? After working in businesses for almost 30 years, I've come to the conclusion that boring businesses frequently win, but I've also learned enough about myself to know that I hate boring.

Years ago my first performance review said it all, "Greg needs to be less emotional in the office".

Read about my inability to control my emotions.

If you ever get fired up by Jameco (either in a good or bad way), I want to know about it. Drop me a note and let me know what gets you fired up.

DIY: Build a Programmable LED Cube By: Ari Dubinsky

Let this LED Cube build be the gateway to your own magical light show. Paired with music, the creative display options are endless and entertaining. Ari leads you through his step-by-step creation with tips on a better cube, options for more capability and how to get you started with programming options.

Don't be left dancing in the dark. Build your own light show.

One Click Documentation for your BOMs

PartsList, a new tool from Arena, is the fastest way to create and share clean, fully documented BOMs. With one click, PartsList turns any list of parts from multiple sources into a purchasable BOM you can share with doc control, purchasing or potential vendors.

Jameco Catalog 122

Jameco is excited about the possibilities of 2012 and hopes you are too. Our new catalog’s cover features the Aurora Borealis and in it we introduce some of our newest products from Newhaven, Saleae, Liquidware, Arduino and more. See what electronics has in store for you.

Order your FREE catalog today to see what you're missing.