MindKits News and Blog

Hello all, just a quick email from the team at MindKits to wish you a very Merry Xmas and have fun tinkering over the break.

Woohoo ! WE ARE OPEN THROUGH THE XMAS PERIOD AND ACCEPTING ORDERS!!


We do great gift vouchers. They get emailed to you instead of a box as above but showing a pile of 1's and 0's just didn't seem to do the gift vouchers justice.


Last Minute Shopping and Vouchers:
If you order today (Tuesday 22nd) we're told that orders will still make it Auckland wide tomorrow and NZ wide on Thursday.
We also have vouchers which will be automagically emailed to you if you're looking for that last minute pressie for the techo friend or partner.
 http://www.mindkits.co.nz/_product_47975/Gift-100
 http://www.mindkits.co.nz/_product_47975/Gift-50
 http://www.mindkits.co.nz/_product_47975/Gift-20



Xmas Hours:
We figure that if you're like us you'll be wanting to do a spot of tinkering over the break so we're bringing the entire MindKits stock with us to the Coromandel where our awesome shipping company has a depot and will be picking up deliveries daily. So, it will be business as usual and we'd be happy to ship your orders.



New Stuff and Last Minute Gifts and Kit For Holiday Tinkering: 

Woohoo...Freebies! Lots of goodies for free when you buy an Arduino Duemilanove

We're feeling generous after running the Auckland MindKits Arduino Beginners Workshop on the 22nd/23rd August so we feel it's time to offer something a little special for you. For a very limited time we're going to make buying an Arduino from MindKits fantastic value!

Not only will you get your Arduino Duemilanove but we'll give you the freebees listed below at a value of $17

 1) 'Arduino Handbook'
Add a note into your order for the 'Arduino Handbook' we'll send you a hard copy of the Arduino Reference Handbook with sample circuits and common programming examples to make learning and using the Arduino even easier.
This is an openly downloadable handbook but we've done all the hard stuff by getting it printed and made into a lovely looking booklet for you which you'll receive free when you purchase an Arduino Duemilanove from MindKits (don't forget to request it in the notes and despite the picture below being of an Arduino NG it's still perfectly applicable).


2) Free Shipping
Yep, thats right, buy an Arduino USB/Duemilanove from MindKits and we'll ship it to you for free. This also means that anything else you buy in the same order ships for free too.

3) Free goodies bag of components
When we started tinkering we found a set of 13 resistors and components that were used in nearly every project but when they weren't close at hand it was a real pain in the a**. Solved! You get a little pack-of-win with every Arduino you buy from us.



4) Jumper Wires - Free!
The Swiss Army Knife of electronics; these little puppies are so useful that we feel everyone should have a set ready to go.
You'll receive a set of 15 jumpers which is enough to get you started and on your way. There's even a mix of the essential black and red ones :)


5) Our heartfelt gratification
The team at MindKits would like to thank you very much for your support and for helping us grow with such a frenetic pace over the last 8 months.
Your purchases so far have enabled us to run outreach programs to build community around Arduino and robotics. We're here to make it easy for people such as yourselves to learn and gain support so we put money back into the community and offer our time free. We're not simply a webshop that aims to drop product and run.

Here's what your support enables us to work toward:
-Working with NZ schools to bring Arduino into the classroom for keen learners
-APC Magazine published how-to and tutorial for beginners
-Arduino Users Group - Auckland
-MakerSpace in Auckland (work in progress) - Space for Tinkerers to tinker and learn
-CoLab partners to build community by growing technology awareness and events
-MindKits Arudino Workshops (funded also by participants)
-More to come including competitions and guest speakers....keep an eye out.

Your support is greatly appreciated by all of us here at MindKits.

Regards,
Tim
MindKits Chief Ninja

Arduino Duemilanove USB Board Price: NZ$48.00 excl GST In stock: 18  Qty:

I do have to laugh when I think about this last weekends (8/9th August) tinkering at the Mindkits Beginners Arduino Workshop in Wellington. It wasn't just that we had a bunch of guys from Weta (makers of Lord of the Rings for those who've lived in a cave all their lives) who ate up information and digested it effortlessly like Jo Seagar after the 40 hour famine or the moment that I looked up to see Matt Mueller throwing his SLR camera up in the air connected to a triple-axis accelerometer so it would take a picture at the top of the arc.


Matt Mueller from Weta with his SLR/Tri-Ax photography contraption. It worked too...!


Although all of those moments did make me laugh it was the echo of the promise our supervising Massey representative (Tanya) made to the head of department that "There's nothing that can go wrong loaning the room to Tim at MindKits for the weekend. We're just tinkering, no soldering irons, no fire and no problems. What could go wrong with that?". Shortly after I was reminded of that promise I turn around to see Matt Sloan with a lighter under a thermistor connected to an Arduino and in turn connected to a servo. There's a puff of smoke that wafts without hurry across his vision and he exclaims - "Wow, shit, smoke" and rips the wires from the board in one spasmodic motion.

Shortly after he plucked his courage up again as if investigating just how much magic smoke really is in all this electronics kit and does it again -  "that really makes it move" he exclaimed as the servo sounded it's chattering death throws and Matt steadfastly held the flame to the thermistor like a branding iron to an animal.


"If you haven't broken it, you haven't tinkered hard enough" - no idea who said it but I repeat it often as a MindKits mantra. Matt certainly put this into play.


It was a successful day with a strong focus on getting hands on and learning by experimentation and from what I've heard from the team so far everyone had fun and learned a lot. They all went home with a great set of kit to get them started and lots more fun to be had. Now that's the way to learn.


Frank and Kara playing with a home made pressure sensor and a servo


Small Plug for August Auckland Workshop if you're interested:
http://www.mindkits.co.nz/arduino_course-AK.html




All work and no play..pffft...it was the weekend so time for a pint at the Southern Cross



Tim
MindKits Chief Ninja

At the beginning of July MindKits ran it's first ever Arduino Course in Wellington and it sold out within 8 hours. So, for all those people who we couldn't fit into the last course or for those wanting to spend two days learning how to master the Arduino and build your own projects we'd love to see you join us for this one.

You'll receive over $85 work of kit, learn stacks about robotics, arduino, electronics and sensors and at the end of it you'll walk out with your very own project. It's a lot of fun too and we will probably end up at a nearby pub after the first day for a beer and to regale the efforts of the day.

The last course ended with students making a morse code trainer, a level sensing Arduino that controlled a servo and a furry animatronic arduino that responded to light....all from two days of learning.

This course brings together all the needed skills to enable you to build your own project from the ground up.

More information can be found below (please don't delay as classes are filling fast):

Auckland
http://www.mindkits.co.nz/arduino_course-AK.html

Wellington
http://www.mindkits.co.nz/arduino_course.html

The team at MindKits are so pleased to have teamed up with Auckland University of Technology to be able to offer budding tinkerers the chance to build upon their Arduino knowledge at a day long workshop.

Tim from MindKits will be popping in to say hello and have an opportunity to meet with some of you so it'll be a good opportunity to ask any questions you have, request new products or just share your ideas with us. We love tinkering and are tinkerers ourselves so we cant wait to see you there.

Email AUT at the address in the poster below but CC Tim at MindKits.com to let us know you're interested and we'll be sure to come say hello.

Thanks for all your support and I wish you all the best with you Arduino learning and tinkering.

Regards,
Tim
MindKits Chief Ninja

 

 

 

 

I just hate it when I'm on the verge of finishing a world changing Arduino based robot and that vital 220ohm pull down resister just isn't anywhere to be found so we've alleviated that problem by putting together a bag of 13 of the worlds most essential resisters, capacitors, and an LED for your bot building pleasure and available for a limited time. Now when you reach for the component we hope it is more likely to be there thanks to MindKits.com.

For a limited time we're giving you a goodie bag on all orders $50 and over (including GST and shipping) so its not hard to get one.

Thanks for supporting us through our first few months and for all the fantastic feedback we've read from people loving locally availible Arduino at reasonable prices. With support like we've seen so far, we're here to stay.

Tim
MindKits Chief Ninja

The Makezine guys have been busy and have produced a great set of Arduino starter videos which are perfect for introducing yourself to the essentials of building with the Arduino. Pretty much everything mentioned in the videos is available in the MindKits store so knock yourself out and have fun learning!

You can check them out below or on the MindKits.com tutorials page here

• Make Magazine - Arduino 101 - Introduction to Arduino + LED

• Make Magazine - Arduino 101 - Button

• Make Magazine - Arduino 101 - Fun With The Arduino Starter Kit

• Make Magazine - Arduino 101 - The Protoshield

• Make Magazine - Arduino 101 - Potentiometers and Servos

And as always if you have questions or need a hand then don't hesitate to contact us.