Everyone loves Top Gear, or as it’s more commonly known, The Short, The Slow, And The Ugly. Yeah, terrible shame [Clarkson] the BBC ruined it for the rest of us. Good News! A show featuring the Dacia Sandero drones will be filling the Top Gear timeslot. And on that bombshell…
More Arduino Drama! A few weeks ago, Arduino SRL (the new one) forked the Arduino IDE from Arduino LLC’s repo. The changes? The version number went up from 1.6.3 to 1.7. It’s been forked again, this time by [Mastro Gippo]. The changes? The version number went up to 2.0. We’re going to hold off until 2.1; major releases always have some bugs that take a few weeks to patch. Luckily the speed of the development cycle here means that patch should be out soon.
Need an ESP8266 connected to an Arduino. Arachnio has your back. Basically, it’s an Arduino Micro with an ESP8266 WiFi module. It also includes a Real Time Clock, a crypto module, and a solar battery charger. It’s available on Kickstarter, and we could think of a few sensor base station builds this would be useful for.
[Ben Heck] gave The Hacakday Prize a shoutout in this week’s episode. He says one of his life goals is to go to space. We’re giving that away to the project that makes the biggest difference for the world. We’re not sure how a [Bill Paxton] pinball machine fits into that category, but we also have a Best Product category for an opportunity to spend some time in a hackerspace… kind of like [Ben]’s 9 to 5 gig…
[Jim Tremblay] wrote a real time operating system for a bunch of different microcontrollers. There are a lot of examples for everything from an Arduino Mega to STM32 Discovery boards. Thanks [Alain] for the tip.
45s – the grammophone records that play at 45 RPM – are seven inches in diameter. Here’s one that’s 1.5 inches in diameter. Does it work? No one knows, because the creator can’t find a turntable to play it on.
Are we betting on the number of people who don’t get the joke in the second paragraph of this post? Decide in the comments.
@ Arachnio $25 for international shipment i.e. from $25 to $50 + customs? Thanks but no thanks.
Blame the US postal service for systematically eliminating all affordable outbound international shipping options over the last 15 years.
Hating on the USPS was old when hating on Arduino became common. I’m sure there are other companies shipping internationally out of the USA. In light of that I’m not sure how the lack of affordable outbound international shipping is solely the fault of the USPS. Chances are pretty good, that any previous “affordable” rates the USPS canceled, weren’t an affordable service for the USPS to provide.
I can send a 300g parcel via SAL small-packet service (handled as airmail between countries but surface-priority on each end) from here in Japan to the US for slightly over USD3, or USD5 for first-class small packet. Of course, small-packet service in the US was discontinued years ago, even before parcel post. Cheapest option for sending the same package back is USD13.41.
???
As a Canadian when I order from U.S.A. I ask for USPS shipment because it is the cheapest.
how about using USPS first class international?
The 2010 ePacket deal has lost the US Postal service tens of millions. And makes small-scale commerce between the US and most foreign countries a one way street due to shipping cost.
Chinese manufacturers have the biggest advantage in shipping into the US. They can ship a package into the US for less than half the cost of me shipping a package of the same weight into the next city.
https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2014/ms-ar-14-002.pdf
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/09/12/the-postal-service-is-losing-millions-a-year-to-help-you-buy-cheap-stuff-from-china/
http://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/letters/blog.pl?/pl/2012/4/1334191984.html
http://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping-Returns/Why-is-China-to-US-shipping-cost-so-much-cheaper-than-US-to/td-p/2838826
The Short – Hammond
The Slow – May
The Ugly – Clarkson
Have I got it? Not too sure about the last two though ;-)
I think they are referring to iOS updates as the joke.
Or parhaps just the phrase “…forked the IDE”, a little play on words perhaps.
(Yes I know also valid terminology, but puntastic none the less)
Clarkson presented the first season of UK Robot Wars. Trufact. No one remembers it though as Craig Charles took over soon after and stuck with it for years.
huh really?
I have a very slight vague recollection of that, r u sure it wasn’t just the pilot he did?
Wasn’t it hammond who hosted that?
Incidentally, I hearr BBC will have clackson host a upcoming episode of ‘have I got news for you’, makes you wonder why they fired him then huh?
They were going to but last I heard he pulled out. His expected to appear in the next series though.
Hm, 30ish turns on the phonographs mean they have about 40 seconds of audio (30×45/60).
So it’s 1960s Hit Clips. Cool.
To play it, a Panto-o-graph-o-gramm-o-phone needs to be built.
It might play on an old talking doll mechanism. The ones where you pulled a string were essentially a small phonograph.
Hey, at this rate, the Arduino IDE will be replacing Eclipse in a few weeks!
I think IntelliJ already did……
The joke was in the second paragraph? I thought it was in the first paragraph. Top Gear slot to be filled by “Airheads” (*Butt).
{In the spirit of the Hackaday tradition of using square brackets to highlight names, would you consider pointing out your jokes using curly brackets? It would just make things easier for everyone.}
{That’s the best idea I’ve ever heard}
ROFL
Grammmophones played at 78 RPM and have one small (1/4″) pin in the middle of the turntable.
33’s (LP’s) played at 33 RPM lol and had a one small (1/4″) pin in the middle of the ‘turntable’ (not gramophone).
45’s (Singles) had a breakout section in the middle of the record for the larger 1″ pin in the middle of the turntable. The 1″ post for the middle of the turntable was an optional piece that no one ever fitted because then you have to remove it again to play a 33 (Long Play) so no one ever broke out the middle section of a 45’s for this reason.
Both 33’s and 45′ were stereo so they played on a stereo turntable. Of course gramophones were stereo to, you can tell by the dual horns on top of them Duh. (NOT). 78’s were mono!
And I’ll bet Mr Benchoff wont see the pun I am having in the first sentence.
PS: The HAD tag is wrong to.
LPs actually played at 33-1/3 RPM for some reason. I never saw a 45 record with a breakout section — mine all came with large holes. There were some dedicated portable players for 45s, but turntables usually came with a round plastic plug that slipped over the spindle to allow playing 45s.
yep your right 33 1/3 RPM or a third of a 100 RPM.
Also I looked up the history of 45’s and where I am there were either released with a breakout section or a 1/4″ pin. I did see that in other placed you were stuck with the 1″ hole.
From pete’s link –
The small post was 17/32 of an inch (not 1/4) and the large hole was 1 1/2″ (not 1″)
My parents had a rather large console record player that used those 1″ holed 45s. The one inch bit was for an autoloader that would let you stack 10-12 or so 45s on top of the spindle that would be dropped one at a time for play. The arm would hit the end of groove, automatically retract, drop the next 45, and start playing.
Here’s a thread with details, scroll down a bit for pics and more details: http://www.lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=2785
And why was that hole so big? To avoid licensing fees… http://ajournalofmusicalthings.com/why-is-the-hole-on-a-45-rpm-record-so-big/
That’s awesome! Thanks for the link!
The break-out section in 45’s was for Jukeboxes – which had auto changers and were designed with a much larger guide hole. Some/most 45’s only had this circle pressed as a dent so you could line up a standalone punch to punch the large dia hole.
You could buy a special insert to get the hole back to normal size. This design is now a classic iconic shape.
E.g. http://www.45rpmrecordadapters.com/
The large breakout was for jukebox spindle use, the autoloaders used a larger hole in the record to fixture the loading mechanism on a carousel jukebox.
Some 45s came with a segment you could push out, although this isnt universal as some record labels refused to relase for jukebox use. And you could always spot 45s that were ex jukebox because they were missing the centre and needed the plastic centre spiders to be bought if you wanted to use them in a normal record player. However also a sign they could be heavily worn and sound a bit off so their value was much lower.
If you happen to have a carousel jukebox, you can take a normal 45 and cut the centre hole bigger with a tool called a dinker. I turned my own up on my lathe, and punched out the centres in some rarities because well, records should be listened to, not kept in the packets never to be used, and my only deck is a wurlitzer silhouette I bought cheap & broken, originally to gut to make a fancy mp3 player, then found I could repair it mechanically and decided against butchering it.
More than you ever wanted to know about vinyl and 45s. And Im far from a record collector, I threw all my original ones in the bin back in the day when I first managed to convert them to mp3 on a early 486 pc, its just funky to watch this big mechanical beast rotate and move arms and slide discs round inside through the window.
I have a record player & record that small – look up the novelty ‘laugh box’. it’s actually an analog disk & player
the disk is about that size (maybe closer to 2.5 inches, I’ll have to have a look). You can still find them sometimes online. I am not sure of the motor rpm, it’s a simple dc motor runs off of 1.5 v D cell. You could easily tweak it
for the right rpms.
The joke is that the development cycle is short because the only development taking place is incrementing the version number. It’s a fairly high quality joke, as HaD goes. ;)
So. None of you will probably believe me but my grandmother has a record the size of a quarter that plays on a record player with a little fiddling. It says “thank you” over and over. She says it was given out at a grocery store opening. I’ll get her to find it for me and take a picture.
Inre: rtos for ucontrollers
Okay, I’ve been to the Github, and a lot is listed under his /examples, but where do I find descriptions of how to use them or what to expect?
You can send me a message. I have write it and I am in the process to write more documentation.
Anyone need help can go to this page https://hackaday.io/project/5262-nos and ask your questions, I will help everyone.
Thanks
Is this the correct place to gripe about how the BBC overreacted to a stupid minor incident and ruined what is certainly one of the most successful TV shows of all time?
No?
Okay, I won’t say that the BBC overreacted to a stupid minor incident and ruined what is certainly one of the most successful TV shows of all time.
Sorry.
I guess if they want to throw away 50 or 60 million English Dollars every year, they don’t need much of an excuse. Does seem like a silly thing to do though.
As a man named Josh, I am ashamed right now.
It’s the BBC. Their survival is not dependent on advertising dollars, but on a tax dollars. Just like the CBC in Canada.
Stop saying dollars! I mean I was ashamed because Josh said “English dollars.” Americans have dollars. Austrailians have dollars. Canadians have dollars.
Britain has POUNDS!
Maybe lunch wasn’t the problem…Maybe Clarkson needed a cig. Not saying his actions were Okay but I’ve seen people do stupid crap from a nic-fit.
Is this the right place to reply that Clarkson is known in Britain as an obnoxious, xenophobic knob who happens to host a funny TV show that the BBC has managed to sell to lots of other countries who don’t know much at all about the hosts? That this isn’t the first time that he’s lashed out at crew, but that actually punching a production assistant isn’t a minor event; it’s a crime.
Oh, it is?
Good, ’cause this sarcastic posting is just as bad as trolling.
This is exactly right. As a fan of the show, I’m disappointed it’s getting pulled. Maybe he BBC could have sanctioned him without firing him.
On the other hand, constant verbal abuse punctuated with the occasional physical asassault is completely unacceptable. Clarkson may be a riot but as stars the world over learn time and again, that doesn’t excuse you from your actions.
I don’t understand why people are so angry at the BBC when it was clearly all Clarkson’s fault. He ruined the show by loosing his temper and physically assaulting a co-worker. Anyone that punch’s a colleague should expect to loose their job.
Over-reacted? Minor Incident? Seriously? I can’t think of any workplace where you could hit someone and not be on a disciplinary at least, and given Clarkson’s very public “last warning” that he was on, I don’t see there was any other option for the BBC – they would have been in contravention of their obligation as an employer. If there is a grain of truth to the nature of the abuse he apparently dished out for half an hour before and after said punch, then that would probably have been enough, given the nature of previous issues he had.
And I say that as someone who watched the show every Sunday night, but fear not, it’ll be on Sky soon enough, so the 2010s remake of Last of The Summer Wine will be back once more.
I bought my little sister a talking Santa Clause doll that used a record about this size. “HO, HO, HO, MERRY CHRISTMAS!” Then she burst into tears… ’73 or ’74 holiday season, might have even been J.C. Penny’s… The record could be changed out, and the player gripped it from both sides so it could play even when tossed across a room.
It was not BBC that ruined the show. It was Clarkson behaviour. He thinks to be a pro and behave like a 18 years old starlet.
Play the record on this doll
http://paranoia-girls.tumblr.com/post/102501292940/apocrypha-leonora-talking-record-player-doll
here’s a link to the bag of laughs tear-down. the disk inside looks a lot like flozki’s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc56hvMXjdc
I saw an item on TV where they said vinyl is incredibly popular at the moment, made me wonder if people stream their records to their apple watches then play it through bluetooth to one-ear headsets.
I get a bit cynical at times.
Needs a domain like wax.ly
[Ben Heck] gave The Hacakday Prize a shoutout in this week’s episode. Whoa.