Tuesday, January 27, 2009

    Cast Your Vote and Decide Who Wins in Microchip's PIC32 Design Challenge

    Microchip's PIC32 Design Challenge needs your help deciding which designs advance to the final round.

    Phase 1: 398 designs submitted

    Phase 3: 32 remain today

    Your vote decides which 8 continue on to Phase 4!

    Vote for your favorite at the PIC32 Design Challenge....maybe you'll win a prize! You can also view contestant's videos, source code, schematics, BOM's, etc.

    Prizes for visiting: View two or more designs each week to become eligible for the weekly prize giveaway. The current prize offering is a MPLAB ICD 3 In-circuit debugger.

    New prizes are coming in February such as SparkFun's UBW32 and Olimex PIC-P32MX

    Olimex PIC-P32MX:



    SparkFun UBW32:

    Thursday, January 22, 2009

    Save the Date for MASTERs 2009: July 27-August 1 in Phoenix, AZ

    I saw this article in the Microchip microSOLUTIONS eNewsletter. Can it be time to start preparing for MASTERs already?
    Are you starting a new project or even a new job? Do you need to expand your skill set in today’s competitive marketplace? Are you interested in learning about new technology?

    Since 1996, Microchip’s annual Worldwide MASTERs Conference has expanded to offer additional technical classes and networking events designed specifically for the embedded-engineering community.

    This event offers product and technical training presented by engineers for engineers. With over 90 classes to choose from, whether your training needs are basic, intermediate, or advanced, we have a class to enhance your skill set.

    Don’t miss out on the largest gathering of Microchip experts, partners and users at the 2009 Worldwide MASTERs Conference!

    July 27 - August 1, 2009 • Phoenix, AZ
    Learn more at www.microchip.com/MASTERs

    Sunday, January 04, 2009

    Meebo.com adds support for MySpace and Facebook chat services

    Web-based chat company Meebo has announced that it now supports MySpace and Facebook's instant-messaging services. That adds to a lineup that already includes Google Talk, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Instant Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, and ICQ.

    [via webware.com]

    Grammar Pet Peeve: Loose versus Lose

    One of my biggest pet peeves on web forums is the misspelling of the word "lose" as "loose". I admit that I've made the mistake myself before, and I always kick myself in the behind when I do. Granted, not everyone on the Internet is a native English speaker, but I find that native English speakers make the mistake as much as anyone. This blog post by Eric Pinder explains the difference between the two words well.