Cool Tools is offering a prize to the person who submits the best review of an Enthusiast Source. Let’s call it The Enthusiast Sources Contest. Before the web, knowledgeable buyers shopped with mail order catalogs. You could sit at home and purchase all kinds of merchandise rarely seen in your neighborhood shops or mall stores. These specialty mail order stores usually catered to niche customers, offering cool things for every type of hobbyist and enthusiast. The major problem was finding these cool catalogs in the first place. Usually a friend of a friend had to introduce you to one.
Today, of course, websites have replaced mail order catalogs. But while search engines have made finding a prospective niche store a little easier, it still sometimes requires a recommendation of a friend to find an esoteric or reliable source.
I am looking for the best sources for enthusiasts. These online sources would be the best website that offers a deep selection in a very narrow field, with fair prices and service. Often (but not always) these specialty stores are also valuable sources for information, community, advice, and tips. There are many online forums where enthusiasts hash out preferences and brag about their gear. On the other hand some Enthusiast Sources are simply extremely knowledgeable vendors who cater to enthusiasts.
We have some favorites we are going to enter and if you think Adafruit is a good “Enthusiast Source” – please enter us in the contest! We love providing information, community, advice, tips, tutorials, forums, weekly videos, photos, tweets and more!
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: MicroPython v1.24.0 is here, a Halloween Wrap-up and Much More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
That photo looks like Akiba. This time last week I was there… *sigh*