Everyone has a bad day right? Monday was a particularly bad day for the folks at Sparkfun. Customer support tickets started piling up, leading to the discovery that they had shipped out as many as 1,934 MicroViews without bootloaders.

MicroView is the tiny OLED enabled, Arduino based, microcontroller system which had a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign earlier this year. [Marcus Schappi], the project creator, partnered up with SparkFun to get the MicroViews manufactured and shipped out to backers. This wasn’t a decision made on a whim, Sparkfun had proven themselves by fulfilling over 11,000 Makey Makey boards to backers of that campaign.

Rather than downplay the issue, Sparkfun CEO [Nathan Seidle] has taken to the company blog to explain what happened, how it happened, and what they’re going to do to make it right for their customers. This positions them as the subject of our Fail of the Week column where we commiserate instead of criticize.

First things first, anyone who receives an effected MicroView is getting a second working unit shipped out by the beginning of November. Furthermore, the bootloaderless units can be brought to life relatively easily. [Nate] provided a hex file with the correct bootloader. Anyone with an Atmel AVR In-System Programming (ISP) programmer and a steady hand can bring their MicroView to life. Several users have already done just that. The bootloader only has to be flashed via ISP once. After that, the MicroView will communicate via USB to a host PC. Sparkfun will publish a full tutorial in a few weeks.

Click past the break to read the rest of the story.

So what went wrong? The crux of the problem is a common one to manufacturing: An incomplete production test. For many of their products, Sparkfun loads a single hex file containing the production test and the optiboot bootloader. The test code proves out the functionality of the device, and the bootloader allows the customer to flash the device with their own sketches. The problem is the bootloader normally connects to a PC host via USB. Enumerating a USB connection can take up to 30 seconds. That’s way too slow for volume production.

Sparkfun opted to skip the bootloader test, since all the pins used to load firmware were electrically tested by their production test code. This has all worked fine for years – until now. The production team made a change to the test code on July 18th. The new hex file was released without the bootloader. The production test ran fine, and since no one was testing the bootloader, the problem wasn’t caught until it was out in the wild.

The Sparkfun crew are taking several steps to make sure this never happens again.They’re using a second ATmega chip on their test fixture to verify the bootloader without the slow PC enumeration step. Sparkfun will also avoid changing firmware during a production run. If firmware has to change, they’re planning to beta test before going live on the production line. Finally, Sparkfun is changing the way they approach large scale production. In [Nathan's] own words:

Moving from low volume to mid-volume production requires a very different approach. SparkFun has made this type of mistake before (faulty firmware on a device) but it was on a smaller scale and we were agile enough to fix the problem before it became too large. As we started producing very large production runs we did not realize quality control and testing would need very different thinking. This was a painful lesson to learn but these checks and balances are needed. If it didn’t happen on Microview it would have happened on a larger production run someday in the future.

Everyone has bad days, this isn’t the first time Sparkfun has lost money due to a mistake. However, they’re doing the right thing by attacking it head on and fixing not only the immediate issue but the underlying thought process which allowed the problem to arise.

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As some of you have already noticed on our social channels, we are thrilled to announce a new partner in the Arduino at Heart Program: MicroView, the first chip-sized Arduino compatible that lets you see what your Arduino is thinking using an OLED display.

Microview, by Geek Ammo, is versatile as it meets the needs of beginners and experts alike.

For beginners the MicroView is the first Arduino to ship with built in tutorials. Beyond the tutorials, the MicroView’s OLED display helps to visualize what the microcontroller is doing. You can print print debug messages straight to the OLED display without needing to connect to the Arduino IDE. The immediacy of being able to see live sensor values makes the whole experience so much easier.

A rich library saves experts time by allowing them to quickly display Strings, Counters, Gauges, Sliders, and Bitmaps with only a couple of lines of Arduino code.

Marcus Schappi, Geek Ammo CEO, told us:

“We’re proud that MicroView has been accepted to be part of the Arduino at Heart Program. By basing the MicroView on the architecture of the Arduino Uno, we’re standing on the shoulders of giants. We can’t wait to see what people make with the MicroView.”

Their Kickstarter campaign is really going well, but the campaign only has a few days left, so get in quick and back the MicroView now so you don’t miss out!

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Off-white business cards with Silian Rail lettering are so passé -- these days; it's all about creativity. This Game Boy look-alike, for instance, demonstrates its creator's skills in one fell swoop: It doesn't just display a résumé, it's also a simple gaming handheld that can play Tetris. The device was made by Oregon programmer Kevin Bates, who calls it the Arduboy, because it uses a barebones Arduino board (the tiny computer also found inside Kegbot and Fish on Wheels) connected to an OLED screen. To make the hand-held gaming experience as authentic as possible, he also equipped the card with capacitive touch buttons, a speaker and a replaceable battery that lasts up to nine hours.

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Via: Boing Boing

Source: Bateske

Chances are you've clutched a lightsaber or two in your time, whether that be an inexpensive imitation of the iconic Jedi weapon, or a deluxe model. You may even be a veteran duelist, but unless you're willing to commit murder with a Star Wars toy (or, someone else could just score the bout, we guess), then the dance always ends with no true victor. If you think that something with a name like Sabertron can't solve this dilemma, then these aren't the swords you're looking for. Just launched on Kickstarter, the idea of Sabertron is pretty simple: foam sword, electronics to detect blows, LED scoreboard above the grip. The current prototype uses an Arduino board with accelerometer to register hits, with Xbee handling the wireless connection so swords know when they've merely collided, and when to shut off LEDs after an opponent's successful strike. Also, a control panel and screen built into the grip lets you pick between different game modes for one-on-one combat.

During the year, LevelUp intends to created a chest/back mounted scoreboard with proximity detection that'll allow for multiplayer battles, with other accessories for the Sabertron range expected later. While it's aimed at Star Wars fans and live-action role players primarily, only a fun-sponge would be incapable of enjoying a few rounds of Alliance vs Empire with a buddy. And, with early bird pledges of $99 getting you a pair, breaking the will of Jedi scum doesn't have to break the bank.

Filed under: Misc

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Source: Kickstarter (Sabertron), LevelUp

Oh, the lowly box. It spends most of the year being broken down, stashed away and pulped, but one day a year, it gets its moment to shine (at least in the UK and various Commonwealth Nations). Consider the ShoeboxCNC a continued celebration of the cardboard vessel, a kit you build from the box it arrives in. The router is an Arduino-controlled CNC fabrication machine you can put to use for all sorts of things that require an arm that moves on the X Y and Z axes - from cookie frosting to picturing painting (with varying degrees of success, of course). It's not exactly a heavy duty router or miller - more the sort of kit you'd expect from something made out of cardboard. Still, it looks to be a fun weekend activity for burgeoning makers - or a nice classroom project. The company's just opened up its Kickstarter, hoping to harness a bit of that spirit of giving. $250 will get you a kit scheduled to be delivered around this time next year, for an early Boxing Day celebration.

Filed under: Peripherals

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Source: Kickstarter

Capacitive sensing isn't limited to your smartphone. In fact, you can use contact with human skin (or any other conductive surface) to trigger almost any circuit. And the Touch Board from Bare Conductive wants you to combine your DIY spirit with the ability to turn practically any surface into a sensor. At the heart is an Arduino compatible microcontroller (based on the Leonardo) with a few extras baked in, including a Freescale touch sensor connected to 12 electrodes and an audio processor for triggering MIDI sounds or MP3 files. While you can simply trigger the electrodes by touching them or connecting them to any conductive material, such as a wire, the Electric Paint Pen really opens up the input possibilities. It's just like a paint marker, often used for small scale graffiti, except it spits out conductive black ink that can turn a wall, a piece of paper or almost anything else into a trigger. In fact, it's preloaded with a bunch of sample sounds on a microSD card so that you can simply paint a soundboard out of the box.

The Kickstarter startup has already more than quadrupled its target funding, but there's still a few days left to get in on the fun. For £45 you can get a Touch Board (with microSD card), an Electric Paint Pen and your choice of either a micro USB cable or a rechargable lithium battery for your untethered projects. And, since its pin compatible with most Arduino shields, you can add even more capabilities to the Touch Board for more complex projects. For example, pop on a relay switch shield, like the one included in the £100 light switch kit, and you can turn your lights on and off or tackle any other high-voltage project on your wishlist. And, since the Electric Paint can also act as a proximity sensor, you could potentially build a dimmer that brightens the room as you bring your hand closer to the wall. For the requisite sales pitch and demo, check out the video after the break.

Filed under: Misc

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Source: Touch Board (Kickstarter)