Hello everybody!

It's about three weeks since our last update, and a lot has happened since then, so here's a just-before-you-stuff-yourself-to-the-gills-with-turkey-update from Team Triggertrap:

The Price Drop

The Triggertrap Shield for Arduino (known as TT-K) was priced at $75, but we discovered that it was less expensive to produce than we had calculated, so we're dropping the price to $49+postage going forward. Note that this is the price for a Triggertrap Shield without a 'duino, so for those of you who ordered one at $70, you can raise your glass in the knowledge that you're still getting a great deal, despite the 33% price drop.

The Triggertrap device (known as TTv1) remains priced at $125+postage.

Other news highlights

A lot of you were wondering if you can use the Triggertrap to photograph lightning. The answer is 'yes'; there's an easy way (that works with the standard Triggertrap, without any modifications - simply turn on the Ambient Light sensor, and it works!), and a harder way that involves using two cameras firing alternately. 

We have published the Triggertrap User Manual. You probably won't need it, and if you're anything like me, you'll never even look at it. But if you get stuck, it's there, in the interwebs.

For those of you who ordered the Triggertrap Shield for Arduino (or 'option B', as we called it in the Kickstarter pitch), we've started putting together the build guide. For now, there's an interactive parts explorer and an introduction video. Expect the how-to guides to start showing up on Triggertrap.com in the next few weeks.

We did some speed tests of the Triggertrap. It's fast. How fast? This fast.

We created a 'breathalyser photo booth', powered by the Triggertrap, that will only trigger your camera if your blood alcohol level is above a certain level (read more)

We have published the specifications for the Triggertrap Aux port, in case you want to create your own sensors, or integrate the Triggertrap into your own projects. 

We added support a load of new cameras; the Triggertrap can now trigger nearly 300 different cameras.

We tried to find out how long the batteries in the Triggertrap will last. In Timelapse mode, we're probably looking at around 5 months(!) of use. No, that's not a typo.

Our PayPal account was 'limited' by PayPal, and they're holding the money from the pre-orders hostage. Deeply inconvenient but that's the way of PayPal, apparently. Don't worry though, the Kickstarter money is safely in the bank account of Seeed Studios, who is manufacturing the Triggertrap for us as we speak. 

We came up with a load of crazy ideas for sensors you can use to trigger your Triggertrap via the AUX port.

Shipping date

Nothing changed here, but since it's a frequently asked question it bears repeating; we're still expecting 'around Valentine's day' for the Triggertrap device, and 'March 2012' for the Triggertrap Shield for Arduino. 

Staying in touch

We're already talking to a lot of you on Twitter, Flickr and Facebook; join the fun!

One more thing...

Enjoy your holidays!

If you're of the Christmas-celebrating type, then have a very merry Christmas indeed, and if you're not, well, have a great couple of weeks at the end of the year anyway! 

Stay awesome, stay inspired.

~ Team Triggertrap (Haje, Noah, Michael, and Ziah)