Way to go interactive-matter that is my kind of project for sure. Working with SMD is one of my favourite things electronics has had to offer. I really like how it has a professional look to it and well… space invaders…we all know how great that is.

Posted at 5:16 pm on Apr 14th, 2009 by Spork

“Working with SMD is one of my favourite things electronics has had to offer”

freaking masochist… Do you also enjoy jabbing your eyes with hot pokers?

Posted at 5:21 pm on Apr 14th, 2009 by amk

it’s called myron reducto syndrome. we like to make things small … tiny tiny
… small. ;)

Posted at 6:51 pm on Apr 14th, 2009 by charlie

I like SMD cos its easier to solder/desolder

Posted at 8:02 pm on Apr 14th, 2009 by rasz

I hate when people use euros as scale markers. That’s total disrespect for real european currencies.

Posted at 9:33 pm on Apr 14th, 2009 by geoff defloor

Nice project. Although I kinda got my hopes up a little too high from the title: I thought someone had figured out how to *play* space invaders on a display like that. :) Still, I love the formfactor. I can’t wait to see something this small support the bidirectional “touchable” LED concept. It could make for an interesting game platform.

And yes, I like SMD devices too. I just wish I could fit them into a breadboard without an adapter. Oh well.

Posted at 9:39 pm on Apr 14th, 2009 by punmaster

I hate when people use euros as scale markers.

So do I. could they post a pic with something next to the Euro so I can see how big that is? :)

Posted at 9:49 pm on Apr 14th, 2009 by pmac

@ rasz

“I like SMD cos its easier to solder/desolder”

than what …spliting atoms?

Posted at 11:27 pm on Apr 14th, 2009 by Jack

“I hate when people use euros as scale markers.”
I do that sometimes.
Reason is that everybody in UE will know how big the object is.
If we will ever have a global currency I would use it.
In the photo it is not there as a currency, but as a reference item that as many people as possible will know how big it is, and maybe have one in their pocket.

Posted at 2:32 am on Apr 15th, 2009 by madaeon

I have euros in my pocket and have a good idea of the size of that thing. thank you!

Posted at 2:47 am on Apr 15th, 2009 by ragnar

I don’t have euros in my pocket, i’m simply glad to see you.

Posted at 5:34 am on Apr 15th, 2009 by strider_mt2k

How big is a euro?
about half the size of a 64 led array.

Posted at 5:40 am on Apr 15th, 2009 by MRE

I’ve never been to Europe and have never seen or held a euro so I have no idea how big that is…

maybe a better universal marker would be to place it on your computer keyboard, since keys are roughly the same size place to place and if they’re viewing this on the internet then they have a keyboard right under their hands already.

Posted at 5:56 am on Apr 15th, 2009 by twistedsymphony

The euro coin is about the same size of a two euros coin, only a bit smaller, you insensitive Americans!!!

No, seriously, it’s exactly 23.25 millimeters in diameter. :-D

Posted at 6:50 am on Apr 15th, 2009 by none

EUROs are crap anyway.

Posted at 7:44 am on Apr 15th, 2009 by liebesiech

To solve the size mistery: The matrix is 32mm long/wide which is 1,26 inch.

Posted at 8:24 am on Apr 15th, 2009 by interactivematter

if you want to measure something, or show it’s size, i’d advise using a ruler. not coins, or keyboards, or matches (my preference).

Posted at 9:23 am on Apr 15th, 2009 by aoeu

“I hate when people use euros as scale markers. That’s total disrespect for real european currencies.”

“To solve the size mistery: The matrix is 32mm long/wide which is 1,26 inch.”

I hate when people use inches to tell me the size of something. But what are the real european currencies?

Posted at 9:37 am on Apr 15th, 2009 by niun

ah and i forgot: this is a really cool project. Can anybody tell me, is it a double layer pcb only?

Posted at 9:39 am on Apr 15th, 2009 by niun

Yes, it is an double sided PCB. It wa hell to cram everything on one board – so an single side version would be next to impossible.

Posted at 9:47 am on Apr 15th, 2009 by interactivematter

@ niun
Real European currencies: Guilders, marks, francs, pesos, crowns, etc. Bring them back!

Posted at 10:05 am on Apr 15th, 2009 by nebulous

No, don’t bring them back! It’s only money, I wish we would have one currency worldwide. call it C-Bill, Coins, something, I don’t care it’s just freaking money. do you sleep with your money, or why is it so important to you how it’s called?

Posted at 11:57 am on Apr 15th, 2009 by ragnar

@none hey we are simple american folks here what is this millimeter you speak of?

Posted at 1:02 pm on Apr 15th, 2009 by kyle

after living 9 years in us I still don’t understand why people continue to use inches and etc. It hard and not natural to use them, hard to calculate, hard to visualize size and this unit just don’t fit with mathematics

Posted at 4:04 pm on Apr 15th, 2009 by therian

Matches would be a bad idea to compare size, they come in various sizes from tiny to quite large.
We should use a universal thing, like the moon, although of course you’d have to scale up the pictures a bit to fit it in in real-size :)

Posted at 6:45 pm on Apr 15th, 2009 by Wwhat

I’ve lived in the US my entire life, so you certainly can’t accuse me of being inherently biased against the US unit systems. But metric is simply more useful and more intuitive, and anyone who has ever done any type of science will hopefully agree. As for currency, the same mentality goes. Today’s business world is too international, especially with the internet being what it is, to be using a thousand different arbitrary exchange systems. We’d all be better off, and economies would be far more stable, if we had a universal currency based on a real-world commodity (such as gold) instead of overinflated numbers pulled straight out of a government’s asshole.

Well there’s my rant. :) On a more practical note, why not use an iphone as a scale comparison reference? It’s not an end-all solution to measuring units, but at least we’d all know how big the damn thing was. :P

Posted at 7:37 pm on Apr 15th, 2009 by punmaster

i’m surprised so many people dont know the size of a euro, clearly it’s about 75% of a 8×8 LED Matrix ;)

Posted at 10:47 pm on Apr 15th, 2009 by cptfalcon

so….. what does it do?

Posted at 11:11 pm on Apr 15th, 2009 by billhates

“so….. what does it do?”

The LED matrix or the Euro?

Posted at 2:37 pm on Apr 16th, 2009 by neuron

“Unfortunately, no one can be told what the LED-Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.”

:P

Posted at 7:37 am on Apr 17th, 2009 by Wwhat

Incidentally, I know americans are ecstatic about the iphone, but in europe it’s not that hot, and I for one have never seen one in person.
Someone suggested the disposable lighter as universal object to me, but now with the anti-smoke fascist being so succesful and I hear it even being illegal in canada for instance for people under 16(?) to buy a lighter, so even that would not work.
I think a PSP would be more universal than an iphone, except there are now 2 versions.

But wait a sec, here’s a solution: keyboard keys, while typing I realise they are almost everywhere the same size AFAIK, and you can pry one out for the picture! Plus everybody that visit the internet knows them.

Posted at 7:48 am on Apr 17th, 2009 by Wwhat

I like using standard “AA” 1.5V alkaline batteries for size comparison. Same size everywhere in the world, everyone knows it.

Or just place the object in the palm of your hand then take picture (needs a quiet hand though, and not usable if you got huge or tiny hands maybe)

;)

Posted at 1:04 pm on Apr 17th, 2009 by ACentauri

How about using the standard measurement unit of say, a ruler? If its in inches/mm doesn’t really matter, its not exactly rocket science to convert them!

Posted at 8:50 pm on May 9th, 2009 by aw4lly

A one world currency would have to be issued by a one world bank… and considering national currencies like the US Dollar have already fallen into the hands of private banks, and the European Union was pushed as a way for the Rothschilds to further gain political control in Europe, it very quickly become obvious that a world currency is simply a way for a single group to obtain world domination….

Posted at 11:07 am on May 17th, 2009 by Basic A.

“i know americans are ecstatic about the iphone, but in europe it’s not that hot, and i for one have never seen one in person.”

Haha.. there are plenty of iPhones in Ireland and UK, loads.

Posted at 5:25 pm on May 17th, 2009 by ak77

“i hear it even being illegal in canada for instance for people under 16(?) to buy a lighter” That’s ridiculous. Anyone can buy a lighter in Canada. I should know, ’cause I live there. You can’t buy tobacco under 18, but that’s just common sense.

Posted at 10:07 pm on May 18th, 2009 by ???