The Analog Hardware Startup

Kudos for launching a product. I had a similar concept but my approach was different (and unlike Michael Una I didn't actually go through with it)

I got an email in January from JameCo (electronics retailer/distributor) which has a story on building your own optical theremin[1] which turns out they have re-published an instructables page [2] where the author simply implemented another circuit which he found on the internet[3]. (the page is gone but the internet archive kept it)

Its a fun circuit, I'm wondering now if someone entered it in the 555 timer contest.

I figured this would be a great $9.99 Maker Shed kit, you could sell them to O'Reilly for $3.00 (making 100% markup) they could sell then for $9.99 and discount them to $7.50 on sale days. I'd probably make the circuit board shaped to fit easily into a Altoids tin.

[1] http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/PressRoom/theremin.html?CID=BBD... [2] http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-An-Optical-Ther... [3] http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20050313211004/http://www.o...

That's a pretty cool little toy!

I think the trailer should be flipped upside down: start with playing it, then explaining how it works. It's cool that there are few controls, but starting off by talking about the battery compartment isn't nearly as impactful as the demo.

The laser eyes totally caught me off guard.

smarttrip!