Dumbest Kit Ever

Post test messages here

Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
gamerfreak
 
Posts: 64
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2008 6:57 pm

Dumbest Kit Ever

Post by gamerfreak »

Far worse than the blinky Christmas tree...I found this going through some junk boxes at the lab at school....

Image

adafruit
 
Posts: 12151
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:21 pm

Re: Dumbest Kit Ever

Post by adafruit »

haha that totally sucks

Sokkan
 
Posts: 240
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2007 12:56 pm

Re: Dumbest Kit Ever

Post by Sokkan »

ladyada wrote:haha that totally sucks
No, it's totally awesome! I want one! :D

User avatar
amberwolf
 
Posts: 310
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 2:42 am

Re: Dumbest Kit Ever

Post by amberwolf »

If you can insert the output wires thru your ear *just right* into your brain, you can even make it actually work. :)

magician13134
 
Posts: 1119
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2007 9:17 am

Re: Dumbest Kit Ever

Post by magician13134 »

Haaa, can you get a picture of the back? Is it a real PCB back there, a rats nest or what?

gamerfreak
 
Posts: 64
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2008 6:57 pm

Re: Dumbest Kit Ever

Post by gamerfreak »

magician13134 wrote:Haaa, can you get a picture of the back? Is it a real PCB back there, a rats nest or what?
GAH, I left it out on a bench last Friday and its gone now. I couldn't find it this morning.

But yeah, its a full out etched PCB. Its like 3"x4" too.....what a waste.

lou
 
Posts: 91
Joined: Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:39 am

Re: Dumbest Kit Ever

Post by lou »


adafruit
 
Posts: 12151
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:21 pm

Re: Dumbest Kit Ever

Post by adafruit »

oh nooo! busted :)

magician13134
 
Posts: 1119
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2007 9:17 am

Re: Dumbest Kit Ever

Post by magician13134 »

Actually... that's kind of neat. It tells you what mood you're in, I wasn't able to gather that from the original picture... But if you need a circuit to tell you your mood... Hee hee, I want one now.

User avatar
macegr
 
Posts: 293
Joined: Fri Apr 04, 2008 4:46 pm

Re: Dumbest Kit Ever

Post by macegr »

What kind of attitude do you have today? With this kit you won't need to even think about it! All you need to do is place your finger on the sensor wires and the "Happy Face" and "Sad Face" LED eyes will glow. When you remove your finger only one set of eyes will stay on indicating your attitude.
For the female version you're just supposed to solder a wire across the sensor wires. Heyooooooh!

gamerfreak
 
Posts: 64
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2008 6:57 pm

Re: Dumbest Kit Ever

Post by gamerfreak »

magician13134 wrote:Actually... that's kind of neat. It tells you what mood you're in, I wasn't able to gather that from the original picture... But if you need a circuit to tell you your mood... Hee hee, I want one now.
Nah its random. The little potentiometer lets you adjust the probability either way.

Tallscreen
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jun 03, 2009 5:22 pm

Re: Dumbest Kit Ever

Post by Tallscreen »

I have joined this forum simply to say, that's the funniest thing I've seen in ages! I have literal tears of laughter running down my face!

Also, this reminds me of the kind of 'project' you used to get in electronics hobby magazines all the time when I was young, to try and get kids interested. It worked at the time because LEDs were relatively new and cool, but this is just hilarious!
:)

User avatar
westfw
 
Posts: 2008
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2007 1:01 pm

Re: Dumbest Kit Ever

Post by westfw »

this is just hilarious!
I dunno. There was a panel of kit-makers at Maker Faire, and one guy (whose name and product I missed hearing, sorry) was lamenting the fact that his neat electronic combination lock sold a total of 17 kits, while his trivial LED-thing was doing pretty well (even though he originally considered it silly to even offer in kit form.) I guess it's complicated.

I would say that the "urge to make" ought not be discouraged, nor should you denigrate those kit makers who feed that urge even at the simplest levels. It's like making fun of small children because they're not reading Shakespeare, or making fun of childrens' book authors because they don't write like Shakespeare.

I'm happy that Adafruit will never do a blinking Christmas tree kit, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a place for such kits...

User avatar
macegr
 
Posts: 293
Joined: Fri Apr 04, 2008 4:46 pm

Re: Dumbest Kit Ever

Post by macegr »

having to understand stuff definitely cut into our sales at Maker Faire, even in a geek-rich environment. It was definitely a wake up call for us to provide not only useful components, but ready to use kits.

adafruit
 
Posts: 12151
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:21 pm

Re: Dumbest Kit Ever

Post by adafruit »

Well this is the Ramblings forum....this is where you can vent and ramble and be a freak!

Anyways, theres nothing /inherently/ wrong with simple kits but man, I dislike kits that are not only simple but have no particular use or are 'dumb' when they dont have to be. For example, it looks like this circuit just oscillates between "happy" & "sad". There's no schematic so I may be wrong but if thats so then with not much more circuitry, it could have been a basic GSR sensor and could actually -sense- whether the user was bored or excited (which is, granted, a little different than happy/sad).
I mean, an "attitude selector" kit that randomly tells you whether you are happy or sad is pretty useless.
So, yeah. I -will- make fun of this kit! Even the cointoss/dice-rolling kits have some practical purpose and might be used for and they cost about the same amount. I like kits that when you're done with 'em they dont get ignored or thrown out!

So there :lol:

Locked
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.

Return to “Test Message Forum (closed)”