radio shack

On any given day you can find a miniature multimeter in my pocket. These devices are the equivalent of a Leatherman for electronic enthusiasts. (The Leatherman would be in my other pocket.) Most of the time, I want to check the voltage of a deep-cycle battery in my electric-vehicle or troubleshoot a problem with a solar photovoltaic system. But multimeters do things like current measuring, resistance and continuity, which make them handy for solving problems ranging from home wiring to electronics repair. (For more on what do do with one, check out Ladyada's multimeter tutorial on adafruit.com). I've used a number of "portable" units over the years, and while many are anything but, one jumps out as my solid favorite. Here's my take on a few popular units.

Among the friends we've been making over in the PopSci booth at Maker Faire include the guys from Octoparts—an aggregate search engine for electronic components. If you've ever tried to buy resistors, capacitors, or any other component on the Web, you know how obscure and confusing some of these ordering sites can be—if you don't know your part number, you're often out of luck. With Octoparts, just type in what you're looking for and find the best price. In the works is an online app to save and share your parts list for your project. Now that Radio Shack has  almost entirely moved out of the components trade in their stores, Octoparts is a new tinkerer's dream. —John Mahoney

Time: 1 hour

Retail Cost: $43.94 (includes free coffee and cookies)

MJB coffee: $3.50


Pepperidge Farms Pirouette: $6


Copper wire: $1, Radio Shack


N-Female panel connector: $10, electro-comm.com (RF Industries part no. RFN-1022)

If you've ever thought it'd be cool to make your own robot but didn't because your options were Legos (ho-hum) or fabricating one from scratch (who's got the time?), listen up: RadioShack's new Vex Robotics Design System (vexrobotics.com) is the ultimate compromise. The $300 kit contains more than 500 parts, including steel plates, motors, radio receivers and a six-channel remote. What to build? That's up to you.