Category: tools

This is a light emitting diode (LED) lead that has been bent so that when it is pushed into a solderless breadboard the bent parts create an effectively larger wire diameter that causes the internal spring metal sheets to grip tightly. Without this bending some solderless breadboards would hold the unbent wire too loosely, creating an intermittent connection that is the bane of existence for electronic prototypers.

What could be easier? Uh, actually, what could be harder? Here’s a great example of how the lack of standards or any real regulatory influence on US cell phone vendors has resulted in the situation where I’m sure it will be easier to write down my current phone contacts and then enter them into the new phone vs finding the magic to transfer them via SIM/Bluetooth/etc. Or at least that’s my conclusion after a half hour poking around through the old/new phone menus, searching the Internet, etc.

I know, this is why you pay the bucks and have somebody at a carrier office or Radio Shack take this off your hands. It’s hard being cheap.