Coaster Controlled HTPC
posted Nov 9th 2009 2:00pm by James Munnsfiled under: home entertainment hacks, wireless hacks
These days, HTPCs are becoming more and more common, however controlling the content elegantly can be a painfully annoying problem. Roteno Labs have come up with a wonderful solution they call the RFiDJ. Similar to the RFID phone we covered earlier, they used a set of picture frame coasters and mounted descriptive pictures as well as unique RFID tags in each one. When a coaster is placed in the sensor area the server begins streaming that particular selection, including local news, This Week in Tech podcast, and other specific albums. Roteno Labs even managed to include a “shuffle” tag which would play content randomly out of a library. The end result is very well put together, excellently documented, and there is even a working video after the break.
“I am attempting to simplify the interface to my music”
This looks cool and everything, but surely a more “simple” way to interface with your HTPC would not involve creating a physical coaster for every playlist/streaming source you might have.
3 or 4 mouse/key-presses a day have been replace by what I assume are fairly expensive devices for the role they really play. Awesome toy, but total fail on the cost to benefit ratio IMHO.