blog@SchmartBoard

Solder by Numbers

As a child, did you use color by numbers or paint by numbers?  If you had the basic skill of painting or coloring within the lines you could make pretty good art.  Well, what if basic soldering skills allowed you to create a masterpiece?  SchmartBoard will soon officially announce Solder By Numbers.  We have created a new concept called SchmartSchematics that use a color and number system to show you exactly where to solder components on SchmartBoards to create a particular circuit.  While their are hobby kits out there, they do not allow you to Use SMT parts.  They also are not much of a challenge...all the correct parts have an exact number of holes to use.  Take a peak at the new SchmartSchematics program and let me know what you think.  We plan to have many more circuits up soon.  We alsowillhave a program for SchmartDevelopers to be able to upload circuits in a similar manner.

An endangered species!

Yes, never mind the obscure species of grass that is endangered...our concern is the small electronic component retailer.  Don't get us wrong....we love Mouser and our online sellers as well.  When a seller with a retail location sells SchmartBoardd though, our technology can be introduced personally by a SchmartBoard evangelist who carries us, believes in us and verbally promotes us. They also understand our technology and can talk to everyone from the novice hobbyist to the seasoned engineer.  Some examples of these resellers are Anchor Electronics in Santa Clara CA, Tanner Electronics in Dallas TX, Active Tech Electronics throughout Canada, Circuit Specialists in Phoenix AZ....I'm sure I'll hear from some who I have not mentioned here!  We value these distributors and are always happy to work with them when we are approached by them.  Should you know of a local retailer who should carry us, please tell them to contact us.  BTW, we just signed a small new retail location in Downtown Toronto.  Creatron, Inc. can be found at 255 Collge Street in Toronto.  If you visit, let them know Schmartboard sent you.

Collegiate SchmartBowl Contest

With the Schmartie awards finished...I'm kind of bored.  So this weekend I thought about a new contest.  Many of our boards are sold for education.....so we are having a contest for students and educators.  We are asking participants to tell us in text, photos or videos about their experience with SchmartBoards.  I am always getting e-mails like this already, so why not reward people for letting us know how much they enjoy SchmartBoards? We will give our 10 favorites a notebook bag with the SchmartBoard logo and professor Schmart embroidered in it.  We use these internally here at SchmartBoard.  Recently I had 3 interns working for me from Handong University in South Korea.  They really seemed to love their new notebook bags!  It got me thinking....and presto, now we have a contest.  It will end on May 31st...good luck!!

Announcing the 2nd Annual Schmartie Winners!!!

Schmartie Award participants, as a part of the SchmartDeveloper program, posted electronic circuit designs with a bill of materials that included the correct SchmartBoards (prototype boards) to the company's "SchmartDeveloper" website. The grand prize winner receives a $1000 cash prize, and SchmartBoard will manufacture and market a SchmartModule product with the winners name on it.  In addition, the winner will receive a commission on each of these product sold.

The circuits, and information about the winners and other applicants can be found at www.schmartdeveloper.org.  The winners of the contest are:

Grand Prize- Giannis Kedros of Thessaloniki, Greece - Wins the grand prize (see above) for his Serial to USB Module

2nd Prize - Charles Wenzel of Austin, TX USA wins a DSO8502 500Mhz Digital Oscilloscope from Link Instruments for his Low Jitter Quadrature Clock

3rd Prize - John Day of Toronto, ON Canada wins a Weller WD1002 Soldering Station from Cooper Tools for his USB to Serial and 12C Module

Honorable Mention  - Daniel F. Ramirez of Amherst, NH USA wins a Parallax Boe-Bot for his Schmart DC Motor Controller

Honorable Mention - Russell Pead of Littleton, MA USA wins a Parallax Boe-Bot for his TTL Test Board

Honorable Mention - Robert Gatt of Port Fairy VIC, Australia wins a Parallax Boe-Bot for his IR Proximity Detector

The criteria used to choose the winners were originality, how well SchmartBoard technology was used in the design, how useful the design is in the real world and marketability of the design.

Co-sponsors of the contest were Nuts & Volts Magazine, Servo Magazine, Cooper Tools, Link Instruments, Jameco Electronics, Mouser Electronics, Fry's Electronics, Circuit Specialists, Intellect Lab, Parallax and RB Technology.