I was going to return home from visiting family in Brooklyn (Washington) by the normal route of cutting across from Aberdeen towards Montesano and up the canal, but read the signs for home instead, and took the coast. Was good timing though, needed a restroom break just as the sun was setting and we were approaching Ruby Beach. So took a few minutes to go down and watch the event in the fog.
More pictures in the photo gallery.
So, I did another Surface Mount demo for the Seattle Robotics Society this past weekend, and had sampled a new audio amplifier IC to show how small things can get when transitioning to surface mount. I think maybe this was a little too far.
This is the bog standard LM386 0.3W Audio Amplifier IC, nothing special, hasn’t changed since the early ’80’s. Nestled into the Pin 1 indicator dot though, is the new 3.2W Maxim MAX98304 Audio amplifier IC for use in high power speakers for laptops, tablets and smart phones. Ten times the output power capability, and would fit in the mounting hole for a single pin of the old workhorse.