Gadget Gangster Open for Project Submissions
Nick McClick
Posts: 1,003
Hey guys;
Gadget Gangster is now accepting project submissions and Designer signups.
Just go to www.gadgetgangster.com and click on 'Share your project'. You can sign up as a designer, pick up a Designers Pack, & post your project.
The plan is to accept project submissions for 3 or 4 weeks & begin marketing to builders at the begining of November. We've booked media placements to support the launch and we'll also be showing off your projects at the SF Maker's Faire.
The site is still a W.I.P., and will be until we launch for Builders; just let me know if you have any problems, and don't be surprised if parts of the site change between now and November.
If aren't already familiar with Gadget Gangster, designers can post any electronics project using our inventory of components, and builders can order the parts required for your project from us - We share 20% of sales with the designer. More info is on our site - www.gadgetgangster.com.
Our support forums won't be up until November, so you can send feedback straight to me (nick *at* Gadgetgangster.com) or reply to this thread.
Thanks!
UPDATE - I'll give designers a free 4-pack of project boards to get started. Just sign up here.
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Parallax Forums RSS Feeds: Prop, Basic Stamp, SX, Stamps In Class, Javelin, Robotics, Hydra
Gadget Gangster - Share your Electronic Projects - Now Accepting Project Submissions!
Post Edited (Nick McClick) : 10/20/2008 6:03:46 PM GMT
Gadget Gangster is now accepting project submissions and Designer signups.
Just go to www.gadgetgangster.com and click on 'Share your project'. You can sign up as a designer, pick up a Designers Pack, & post your project.
The plan is to accept project submissions for 3 or 4 weeks & begin marketing to builders at the begining of November. We've booked media placements to support the launch and we'll also be showing off your projects at the SF Maker's Faire.
The site is still a W.I.P., and will be until we launch for Builders; just let me know if you have any problems, and don't be surprised if parts of the site change between now and November.
If aren't already familiar with Gadget Gangster, designers can post any electronics project using our inventory of components, and builders can order the parts required for your project from us - We share 20% of sales with the designer. More info is on our site - www.gadgetgangster.com.
Our support forums won't be up until November, so you can send feedback straight to me (nick *at* Gadgetgangster.com) or reply to this thread.
Thanks!
UPDATE - I'll give designers a free 4-pack of project boards to get started. Just sign up here.
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Parallax Forums RSS Feeds: Prop, Basic Stamp, SX, Stamps In Class, Javelin, Robotics, Hydra
Gadget Gangster - Share your Electronic Projects - Now Accepting Project Submissions!
Post Edited (Nick McClick) : 10/20/2008 6:03:46 PM GMT
Comments
· How do we order individual parts ? Like LEDs ?
·
P.S. Several places you make mention of a DE-9 connector. I assume you mean DB-9 connector ?
Bean.
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"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."·Dumbledore from Harry Potter
www.iElectronicDesigns.com
Post Edited (Bean (Hitt Consulting)) : 10/11/2008 10:46:36 PM GMT
I don't want to sell individual parts, as it makes it too costly / time-consuming to send out packs. A few options;
1 - I get many of the parts from mouser, if you're just looking for a single part, you can pick it up from them. For the LED's, they're right here. If you look at the current inventory,
2 - You can order the Discretes Pack. I know that has a few things in addition to the LED's, though.
3 - I'm also open to adding a few more packs. Do you have a suggestion, maybe a 'Basics Plus' pack with Resistors, Caps, and the cheap discretes from the discretes pack?
Also, we tweaked your original project board design (here). How do you think they came out?
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Gadget Gangster - Share your Electronic Projects - Now Accepting Project Submissions!
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I am 1011, so be surprised!
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For custom PCB's, if you drop ship them to me, I can sell them with your project, just shoot me an email (nick *at* gadgetgangster.com) to work out the details.
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Gadget Gangster - Share your Electronic Projects - Now Accepting Project Submissions!
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Gadget Gangster - Share your Electronic Projects - Now Accepting Project Submissions!
If you'd like to post a project, you'll almost certainly need our project boards. These are the project agnostic PCB's that your project should utilize.
I've been selling the boards to designers for $13 for 4 boards. I've sold a few, but I can understand your reluctance to fork over $13 (+$6 shipping) just to get started.
So, here's my offer: Sign up as a designer, and I'll mail you a pack of boards, free. All I ask is that you use them to post a project. I'll send you 2 of the Full Boards and 2 of the Half Boards. I've got about 50 boards packs I can give out. International shipping is fine, too.
You can find out more about the project boards here
&
Sign up here
Nick
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Parallax Forums RSS Feeds: Prop, Basic Stamp, SX, Stamps In Class, Javelin, Robotics, Hydra
Gadget Gangster - Share your Electronic Projects - Now Accepting Project Submissions!
Flyer's attached. Whatdathink?
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Parallax Forums RSS Feeds: Prop, Basic Stamp, SX, Stamps In Class, Javelin, Robotics, Hydra
Gadget Gangster - Share your Electronic Projects - Now Accepting Project Submissions!
-Phil
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'Still some PropSTICK Kit bare PCBs left!
Be sure to put a horizontal preforation along the top of the tickets. I hate it when it tears away half the page. I've signed up! Still probably be a while before I can submit anything though. (A month? 1/2? I don't know: that's the problem with "impoverished engineering students": time is an issue.) Still, I'll get there.
If a dup post shows up like this one i am sorry i thought i posted it but it did not seem to show up so i am going to send it again so here it goes
Nick McClick
I signed up at your website the other day and posted a project i am trying to do. I just found out i need to build a circuit to run some things the require more power than my board will produce. I was wondering when the boards kit that your are giving away will be shipped. I am now in need of a good breadboard and this could not have come at a better time. If you can let me know when they will ship so i can plan things out. I would really appreciate it
@Phil - thanks for the spelling lesson [noparse]:)[/noparse] I'm glad I solicited advice before printing.
@SRLM - It does take time to design a project! We're working on a web-based dynamic how-to creator that should make it a little easier. We'll also publish reference designs. Not much we can do on the software front, but there's always the object exchange.
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Gadget Gangster - Share your Electronic Projects - Sign up as a Designer and get a free 4-pack of Project Boards!
clever nick by the way.. Send me an email to prking62@gmail.com for the information you need. it is in the planning stages yet. I have to make a choice of controllers weather to use the BOE. HWB, a Propeller Board that i have from a third party distrib. from over seas or a ARMmite board from Coridium Corp. I have to build a circuit that i am not sure how to build due to the fact i am just above a beginner in electronics but i alway jump in over my head and bang my head against things read ask question and experiment to learn. I have multisim from ni a student version is only 40 us so i will be getting that next month i hope. so i will supply the info i can. Please do not be alarmed by the fact that i am not so skilled in electonics i just started 2 and 1/2 months ago and i am building circuits and am collecting parts and such and learning more every day. I was a network engineer for more than 15 years and little programing experience in my time. so i just need some time and projects to do. I will learn. I am also taking classes at the local community college to augment all of this. Sorry to be so windy but just for your info.
Now You Know. LOL i am disable as well so i have a lot of time to devote.
thanks for reading and by now i hope you are not shaking your head. LOL
Badger
OBC
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New to the Propeller?
Getting started with a Propeller Protoboard?
Check out: Introduction to the Proboard & Propeller Cookbook 1.4
Updates to the Cookbook are now posted to: Propeller.warrantyvoid.us
Got an SD card connected? - PropDOS
It's just an Idea, but I thought it might attract designers and certainly help people (like me) get started.
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Pi Guy
We offer 20% of your project’s sales price as an incentive for you [noparse][[/noparse]to] design badass projects. More details will be available shortly.
Under the·FAQ question "What's the cut of my action?"
Sorry to act like an English teacher, just trying to help get your site ready for Nov. 5. (I'm excited!)
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Pi Guy
Post Edited (I LIKE PI) : 10/21/2008 2:06:19 AM GMT
I agree with Roboluvr i am one that cant pay attention either. I need a few darlington arrays at the moment can cant afford them at the moment . I know they are very cheep chips, but any expenditure at the moment even a couple of dollars would be very damaging to my budget i am on disability income with a special needs child and a student to boot. Maybe being a student that can prove that they are in electronics classes. Either way Roboluvr idea is a very good one for us poor beginners. With a promise we will help other beginners when we are well on our way. The more people like me that are hungry to learn and then can get things we need it will motivate us a lot.
Badger
your answer to Roboluvr 's post came through while i was posting mine just to let you know. I am also very windy as well LOL
Badger
A lot of my inventory is 'borrowed' from the Parallax store. You can pick up materials from them pretty easily.
What do you think of the new project listing page(here)? It's Ajax-ey & we'll also have a 'most recent projects' RSS feed. Still needs a few more things, though, like pictures & sorting. Search is coming up, too.
I want to recognize designers that contribute more, so I've created a 'Rank' (here's an example). Not sure if this is the best way to do it, but I think builders will see rank as a flag that 'This guy's projects are awesome / fun & he helps out on the support forums'. I need to figure out some rules on Rank, but I'll give everyone who signs up before we launch a 3(Soldato), and a 4(Capo) to anyone who posts a project.
Another question; What fields do you want for your profile page? I have location, bio, & interests. Anything else?
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Gadget Gangster - Share your Electronic Projects - Sign up as a Designer and get a free 4-pack of Project Boards!
Post Edited (Nick McClick) : 10/21/2008 7:45:13 PM GMT
I think that the rank emphasizes quantity too much versus quality. You are bound to get people who submit one project after another in an attempt to get the revenue. It's possible that some of these designers will be submitting good projects, in which case there is nothing to worry about.
·
Never mind. If done right, I think a ranking system will help filter out the poorly designed projects and tell your customers that you can differentiate between good projects and bad projects. However, a couple of my thoughts. The following is based on ranks of 1 = low, 5 = high.
·
1 - A new designer who submits their first project should be given due consideration for any of the project levels: don't just assign him a 1 because he's new. It should be possible, for really good projects, to get a·5 on the first time.
·
2 - Ranking should not be affected negatively by sales (aka low sales don't bring it down) but positively by high sales (a very popular device). This allows for projects that cater to fringe crowds (like, perhaps, a geologist or veterinarian) while still allowing popular projects to be beneficial. Also, a products sales is not necessarily a reflection on the products design: it could be well made, but people just don't have use for it. That doesn't make it a poor product.
·
3 - Periodically feature projects so that they can get better ratings if that is what builders want.
·
4 - Provide a feedback area for each project, where, among other things, builders can rate the project. For this, it would probably be best to have a questionnaire style, with perhaps ten questions (How good were the directions, what would you improve, etc.) So that a customer gives a more accurate feedback rather than a blanket score (1 - This project was terrible or 5 - Loved it! with no 2,3,4 in between)
·
5 - Give·a bias towards the more recent projects. We all learn, and with time a designer can get better at what they do. So the older, perhaps not as well designed, projects should not be weighted as heavily as a newer, more perfect project. This gives people a clean slate feel, yet still with constraints.
·
6 - Keep the interface simple. I'm not sure what a "Soldato" is or means, and likewise with "Capo". Yet a score of 5 is immediately evident that this denotes a good designer.
·
·
Other notes: for fields, perhaps a website link. Also, I quite like the photographs that this forum supports. It gives it friendliness, and also makes it faster to find you own last post. Have you seen the Sparkfun Forum? That forum is very dry and dull, since it's pretty much all black and white, filled with text. Not to be too harsh, but that is the direction I think your website is proceeding. Perhaps when you get some pictures it will liven up, but at the moment it feels a bit monochromatic with the high rate of color repetition. I'd like to see more blue and green and photographs. It doesn't even matter too much if the photographs are off subject. For example, both the Parallax home page and the Sparkfun home page have lots of pictures, usually with their products being used. Something like that would make Gadget Gangster very friendly. Since you'll be getting each designers location, a map with pins of each would be nice.
Looks like I've rambled on too long again...
I think I need to step back and organize my goals;
1 - Encourage fringe projects
These projects may not sell in high volume, but they drive activity and liquidity. They grow the pie for everyone.
2 - Reward pre-launch projects
I want to reward designers for posting a project while I'm still gettting started.
3 - Reward good behavior
I don't require designers to assist on the support forums, but I'd like to reward them if they do.
4 - Help builders find the best projects
Designers who post well-documented, most fun projects should stand out.
After a builder orders a project, they'll be able to review it. What if we use those average scores instead of a generic 'rank'? So we ask the builder 'How was the project's documentation?', 'How was the project's support?', etc. So, your 'rank' would look like;
Support ***/*****
Documentation **/*****
Creativity ****/*****
and so on. We'll probably have to figure out 4 or 5 key axis of ratings. It won't be driven by sales volume, which is a good thing (do builders care how well your project sold?).
To encourage fringe projects, I could highlight or feature them in project listings.
Not sure how to reward pre-launch projects. I want to do something significant, as it's critical for success. Until there is significant site volume, it's a risk of your time and energy to post a project. I want to reward you for taking that risk. What would be a good reward?
- Bounty for submitting a project ($100)
- Contest for coolest project submitted before launch ($1000)
- Special acknowledgment on your profile page
- 50% Revenue share for projects submitted before launch
- Your project featured on the site
- What else?
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Gadget Gangster - Share your Electronic Projects - Sign up as a Designer and get a free 4-pack of Project Boards!
Post Edited (Nick McClick) : 10/21/2008 10:43:30 PM GMT
Since you're in the area I assume that you'll also consider:
Santa Clara University
San Jose State University (& the library that's shared with MLK)
UC Santa Cruz
San Francisco State University
Check into community colleges too.
Miscellaneous ideas:
Maybe the TechShop in Menlo Park?
Intel Museum in Santa Clara?
The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose?
HSC Electonic Supply (a.k.a. Halted) - don't they have a bulletin board?
Does Fry's have a bulletin board? I've never noticed one. They carry Parallax products - maybe accidently drop some flyers near them
Does Weirdstuff Warehouse have a bulletin board?
Maybe try to contact the SVFIG guys - they seem to cover this type of project. (see meeting minutes online)
Buck's in Woodside - I've never been there, but have heard that it's interesting. Gumstix apparently had a mention in the menu.
Make an appearance at Super Happy Dev House - I've never gone, but #28 might be a chance
Too late for the De Anza Electronic swap meet, but maybe the one in Livermore? A little far, unless you need some parts.
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I am 1011, so be surprised!
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I made a number of suggestions for components to stock, on your site. If you need specific part numbers, or alternate part numbers, let me know.
BTW I signed up as a designer, a few days ago; can I get in on the free designer board 4-pack?
Brian218
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This post is a work of art. Variations in spelling and grammar are intentional, artistic endeavors that add value to all of mankind.
Yep. I sent a pack out to you yesterday.
@tpwman - the EEPROM's will be sent to builders pre-programmed. Yeah, Prop-plugs would drive up the cost of kits way too high. ALSO - Sign up so I can send you a pack of boards!!!
Keith - thanks for the list! I was going to visit SJSU & Halted. I just thought to look up the De Anza swap meet last week.
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Gadget Gangster - Share your Electronic Projects - Sign up as a Designer and get a free 4-pack of Project Boards!
A 2.1mm connector is ideal; it seems to be the most commonly used size. Voltages of 3.3, 5 and 12 would be the most useful IMHO.
Also, do you have access to low cost, but custom injection molded plastic, epoxy or fiberglass? I have an idea for a project that I think would sell, but would require a small, low heat, heating element to be imbedded inside of a small piece of plastic.
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This post is a work of art. Variations in spelling and grammar are intentional, artistic endeavors that add value to all of mankind.
What's your project idea? Maybe a dollup of that plastic will work.
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Gadget Gangster - Share your Electronic Projects - Sign up as a Designer and get a free 4-pack of Project Boards!
· I have a suggestion...
· I have ordered the PCB pack and the BASICS pack. But the project I have in mind requires parts from the other packs. I don't want to buy all the designer packs just to get one part.
· What I would suggest, is that you allow developers to submit a project parts list, schematic, description and maybe a prototype picture. Then you send them the parts to build two of them (they get charged of for the parts of course). Then the designer can take pictures using the SAME EXACT parts that the builders will be getting in their kits. And the designers can be 100% sure the kit will work with the parts you will be providing to the builders.
Bean.
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"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."·Dumbledore from Harry Potter
www.iElectronicDesigns.com
·
···· If you want to make a project that can have multiple capabilities (like a inexpensive hydra with many games you don't want to release the code for) you could always make eeprom cards that are pre-programmed and can just slide into the project to give it new capabilities. Since·it would·require the original device, you can tell people on the page for it they need to first buy the original device or it won't work. And Nick, something that would help if people did this would be to·have subprojects that are part of the main project, but can be purchased differently. For example, you could·buy an led screen with a small keypad for displaying messages, but if they buy the subproject which is a larger keypad, they won't have to do as much work to display messages. Also, if they don't want to spend extra money on the unnecessary keypad, they don't have to and can buy it with the smaller one.
I hope I make sense on the whole subproject idea, it is a little strange but I think it would make many projects more appealing to customers and give designers more abilities to make and sell what they want.
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Pi Guy