Arduino & LoL Shield Pong, New Prod...

Have we all had our fill of Maple syrup and/or fireworks? With Canada Day and Independence Day behind us, we can get on with our regularly scheduled "look at all the new stuff we've brought in" programming. Truth be told, today is actually the start of the Calgary Stampede. Apparently, that's a pretty big deal in this town, but luckily for you this writer/newsposter-guy doesn't own a cowboy hat, and is therefore immune to the Stampede's allure. It's kinda like a reverse tin-foil hat, where you're fine without it on, but as soon as you wear it, all the Cowboy brainwaves get directly channeled into your mind. Anyways, on with the show. We do have some new products, but first, check this action out:

We met Mike at the Vancouver Maker Faire, where he was a volunteer for the event. He recently sent us the above photo to show us what he was working on: A playable Pong game using an Arduino and LoL Shield setup within a SAFE. Well, we only received this one image, so we assume it's actually animated/moving (if you close your eyes, it's pretty easy to imagine that single pixel bouncing back and forth). Anyways, what's really neat is that in order to make it playable, he tweaked the setup to include two buttons and a beefy trimpot for controls. Apparently it even plays Invaders. We're pretty impressed - thanks for sending it in, Mike! If anyone else has a cool project that want to show off, please let us know. We love seeing what all y'all are workin' on (Oh no! Cowboy fever is creeping its way into my vocabulary!).

"That thing uses a LoL Shield? What the heck is that?!". It's an internet meme generator for your Arduino - simply hook it up, and Twitterfy what shows up to create an instant online sensation! Actually, it has little-to-nothing to do with any of that stuff. Instead, it's actually one of our "new"  items (and by that we mean "it was released semi-recently, and we've neglected to announce it on our home page up until now") that has found its way into our inventory. Keep reading about it and a hand full of other awesome products below:

• LoL Shield - Orange - An assembled Arduino shield that features a charlieplexed 9x14 grid of programmable SMD LEDs (126 total).
• LoL Shield Kit - Green - A build-it-yourself version of the LoL shield with green LEDs, for those of you that like to solder. A lot.
  
• LoL Shield Kit - Red - A red version of the green LoL shield above, which is a green happy-fun-soldertastic-time version of the above Orange shield.
• Solarbotics Arduino Freeduino Enclosure (SAFE) - A fancy box made of laser-cut acrylic, designed specifically for accommodating an Arduino/Freeduino and shield.
• Video Game Shield - An Arduino add-on shield to make your own video games, including graphics, text, sound effects, and music.
  
• ChipQuik SMD Removal Kit - A powerful desoldering tool that makes removing even the smallest surface mount package a breeze.
  
• Programming the Propeller with Spin - A book! With words, and diagrams, and charts, and pictures! All sorts of useful.
  
• Ardweeny Shield - Put your Ardweeny onto a prototyping shield, and add regular shields to it.
  
• Micro USB Breakout Board - Takes the hard-to-use micro USB jack and mates it with a small PCB that breaks it out to 0.1" pitch holes.
• Netduino - 32-bit open source electronics platform using the .NET Micro Framework with a rich development environment.
• Netduino Plus - Expands on the impressive 32-bit open source Netduino by adding ethernet connectivity and an SD card socket.
• Netduino Mini - A breadboard-friendly of the impressive Netduino development platform that uses .NET micro framework.
• 433 MHz RF Transceiver - This easy to use and low cost module is capable of sending and receiving serial data wirelessly between microcontrollers or to a PC.

...aaaaand that's it for this week. Take care everyone!