Maybe this has been suggested elsewhere, but it would be great if there was a way for me to add items to a “watch” list (kinda like a wish list, or the “autonotify” feature when it’s out of stock), so that I’d get an email if a product I’m using is moved to “Retired”, or if a new version of it comes out. I have a project that uses several LIS302s, and I had no idea that the breakout board had been retired until I was about to order a bunch more. I moved over to using the ADXL345, and I’m having a few problems with it when I notice that a new revision of the Breakout Board for that just came out. Being notified of this would be really helpful, and seems like it would easily fit with the existing autonotify/wish list features of the web site. It would be even better if it gave me the option to “watch” an item whenever I bought one, but that might be a little overwhelming when I order a lot of stuff.
We don’t have a feature like this for individuals in the works. What we do have is the list of various feeds. I think what you are looking for would be available under the Product Changes feed.
I will suggest a “watch” feature as you describe for future development, though.
We’ve added individual product feeds. They’re not officially listed anywhere yet, but if you add ‘/changes.rss’ to the end of any product URL, you will get a feed specific to that item. For example:
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9950
is the Arduino UNO. If you go to:
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9950/changes.rss
you can subscribe to any changes made to that products description or relation to other products. If an item is retired, the description will be changed to reflect that.
Will this provide the information you wanted?