hypnocube

Store Fixed

Gene — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 06:11:12 +0000

Apparently an update to our store module had broken the shipping plugin, which had the side-effect of not showing the checkout button (since those don’t show until you’ve selected shipping and are ready for checkout.) Everything should be working again.

Store borked

Gene — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:16:18 +0000

Our store module seems to have gone and borked itself. As a result, currently it’s impossible to check out. Hopefully I’ll be able to sort this out sooner rather than later, but in the meantime if you just have to have some Hypnocube goodness please contact me and I can send you an invoice via Paypal or Google Checkout.

Unreachable contacts

Gene — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:47:59 +0000

Every once in a while I get a question from via our contact form that when I try to answer, the supplied email address bounces. This is frustrating, since I then have no way of letting the person know that they probably mis-typed their address (besides broadcasting a message here and hope they see it – oh look!) The contact form is set up to immediately send an automated response, so if you don’t get that there’s a good chance that there was a problem with the provided email address. So if you recently contacted us and didn’t receive any response, please try again! (I’m looking at you, D. Kim )

4Cube kits back in stock

Gene — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:48:44 +0000

Yay!

4Cube kits out of stock

Gene — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 03:32:08 +0000

Unfortunately the switches we use for the 4Cube kits is out of stock from our supplier until mid February; I’m going to see if I can’t find some suitable replacement, but worst case the kits will be out of stock until the end of February. (Well almost – there’s actually one kit in limbo right not as the buyer’s card was rejected by Google, so depending on how that gets resolves it might come back but it won’t last very long.)

It’s Aliiive!

Gene — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 09:55:36 +0000

The new site design is up, replacing the old clunky cobbled-together site. We now have newfangled technologies such as… shopping carts! Galleries! Contact forms that don’t pretend it’s not working!

Not everything is completely fleshed out yet through, so content is still thin in places. Everything should be functional however (if you find something that isn’t, please let us know, along with what browser you are using. Thanks!)

Oops and an Apology

Gene — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 03:01:44 +0000

So recently we’ve started producing a manufactured 4Cube (as opposed to our previous kit and hand-built versions.) ThinkGeek carries them now. They’re much (much!) cheaper for those who can’t or don’t want to build a kit. Heck, they’re significantly cheaper than even the kits. Which is all pretty awesome. But as we hadn’t launched it on this site yet, information about it doesn’t appear here… Which has apparently led some of you to quite understandably confuse the new version available on ThinkGeek with the old still here. And for that I apologize. While the core Cube is much the same, there are some important feature differences, namely the lack of USB connectivity and forward/back buttons. So if you were expecting them on the new Cube, I can understand you might be upset. Sorry.

Now, for the hacking minded amongst you, we didn’t entirely cripple the new Cube in terms of hackability. The firmware on it still fully supports the protocol used by the old Cube, and while there is no longer a USB-UART bridge on board, the UART pins are exported on the PCB. So you can connect your own USB-UART bridge, RS232-UART bridge, or another microcontroller to it and have full control over it. I’ll write up a quick tutorial on how to go about doing that shortly.

As always, if you have any questions feel free to contact me.

8Square temporarily dead

Gene — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 02:31:35 +0000

Sadly, the frame that we’ve been using for the 8Square has been discontinued by the manufacturer, and we’re about out of stock of them. I’m looking for a suitable replacement, but there really aren’t many small, deep, shadow boxes like that that also aren’t too expensive. So I’m temporarily going to close ordering on the 8Squares, although they’ll be back in some form even if it’s in all it’s naked glory.

Happy New Year!

Gene — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 10:10:10 +0000

To ring in the new year, we’ve got some new prices:

We recently updated the 4Cube to eliminate the expensive USB module and instead implement USB functionality through a second PIC microcontroller. Power is also now through the USB, and our international customers will be glad to find that the power adapter now accepts up to 240VAC so a transformer is no longer required (just a physical plug adapter if your outlets differ from the US style.) So we’ve lowered the price of 4Cube kits to $150. I’m going to make it retroactive to all December orders, so people who ordered recently will be getting a refund to the lower price.

We’re also knocking back the finished prices. In addition to the cost savings of the kit, I’m now having a friend of mine do the construction; it’s not China, but it’s cheaper labor than yours truly . I will still be doing a final inspection to ensure everything is constructed well before shipping.

The 8Square design hasn’t been updated yet, since we don’t move as many of those units, but we’ve lowered the price to be in line with the 4Cubes since otherwise it would seem unbalanced.

My new year’s resolution: be more efficient at getting stuff out the door. Starting with the ^&@#$ oft-delayed 8Cube. I will have an update on that shortly.

Blast it

Gene — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 20:59:48 +0000

We have realized that the last set of 4Cube cases we drilled we used the wrong size bit for the USB plug opening, and the cable we provide won’t fit. It’s pretty close, and you could make it fit with a little work with an xacto knife, but of course we don’t expect you to have to do this. If your kit is affected, please contact us and we will send you a replacement cable (provided that we can find one that fits) or a replacement case. Alternatively if you would like to fix or get a replacement cable yourself we can refund you $15. I apologize for any frustration caused by our error.