Last week we had two local students here for work experience.
Tom and Jacob are in to electronics, so we decided that a couple of projects would be the best way to engage them.
We tried to instill the importance of working to a deadline, and also to be able to work to a specification.
Overall, they did exceptionally well.
The first project was to develop a device which could send a GPS coordinate by Text (SMS). This being part of a larger ongoing project called "where is my car"

The basic idea is that when you leave the supermarket, the first thing you do is to impersonate a meerkat and crane your neck to try and spot where you parked your car!
The device we are working on allows you to text your car and receive directions to it.
This can be further developed to work as a lo-jack system, giving you the location of your car, and override of the ignition system should it be stolen.
You can see how this is coming along here
As it stands, you can send it a text, and it will return its coordinates. Why not give it a try. text the word "Location" to "07580 012305" and it will respond.

The second project is for a local Airsoft game zone. It involves sending data over an FM link to keep the scores of two teams. This is still in development, and we are working closely with the Airsoft guys to get this to do exactly what is needed.
At present we have a range of over 150m and can send serial data reliably in both directions.
More on this when it is completed. watch this space....

The electronic project kit is still proving really popular, 140 being sent in one order to a school in Adelaide, Australia. We have given a sample to a local school, who are looking at launching an electronics module to 180 students. They are considering the Night Light project, and will most likely do this as a soldered circuit rather than breadboard.
You can see the project and many others on our free projects pages

On a final note, while things are a little quieter due to the great weather, World cup and Wimbledon, I am finding occasional moments to work on a new animation. My first attempt at 15 seconds long, is showing on youTube, and getting a good few hits.

 Far and away the most popular video we are running is the "How to use breadboard" video.