Prototype This Premiers Tomorrow

October 14, 2008 by Eliot 21 Comments

Discovery Channel’s new show Prototype This premiers tomorrow night at 10e/p. Every week the team will construct a new piece of unique machinery. The schedule for the first six episodes has already been published.

Mind Controlled Car, October 15
Boxing Robots, October 22
Traffic Busting Truck, October 29
Get Up and Go, November 5
Waterslide Simulator, November 12
Six-Legged All Terrain Vehicle, November 19

We initially reported on the show in August because it featured Defcon badge designer [Joe Grand].

UPDATE: [Joe] will be posting all of his schematics, source code, development notes, etc.

Wiimote Guitar Effects Control

October 14, 2008 by Caleb Kraft 17 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmuggHx_H5Y]

[Rob Morris] sent us this video of his Wiimote based guitar effects. Similar to our post yesterday about using the Wiimote to control a synth, he is using changes in orientation to effect the sound. He starts off with simple pitch modulation, but later in the video he’s doing, uh, we’re not sure but its kind of cool.

Maker Faire Austin Is This Weekend

October 13, 2008 by Eliot 8 Comments

Maker Faire Austin is happening this weekend, October 18 & 19, 2008 at the Travis County Expo Center in Austin, TX. Maker Faire is a showcase of all things DIY. You’ll see robots, sculptures, live performances, and other wonders including many of the projects we cover here every day. We enjoyed our time in San Mateo earlier this year and the show keeps getting better and better. You can see photos from previous events on Flickr. If you’ve got a chance to go, take it.

Columbus Day: What Are You Working On?

October 13, 2008 by Eliot 50 Comments

Wow, Caribbean Conquest Day is such a dull holiday. If it’s a holiday at all: we’re at work today and you probably are too. We decided to post what we’re working on in hopes of breaking out of our holiday slump. Pictured above are two IR illuminator boards we assembled this weekend. We bought the kits from BG Micro. We’re planning on testing their camera blocking ability once we come up with a ~13V portable power source.

That’s what we’re doing. What have you been working on lately?

(If anyone can find a source for the welding goggles in the picture, we’d love to hear it.)

Controlling A Doepfer Modular Synth With A Wiimote

October 13, 2008 by Caleb Kraft 4 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHOS2zg-0nI]

The Wiimote has turned out to be very versatile indeed. This video shows someone using it to control his modular synth. There is not a lot of artistic jamming going on, but explains in fair detail how to set it up. If you want to see Isadore getting down, check this out.

[thanks Louis]

Vocal Mouse Control

October 10, 2008 by Caleb Kraft 15 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXmccs4GIqI]

Absolutely fascinating. The University of Washington is developing a vocally controled mouse interface. We’ve seen vocal control of the computer before, but it is usally responding to specific commands and words to carry out tasks such as opening files. This system uses different vowels and sounds to create cursor motion. You can see the same system used in the video above to control a robot arm as well.

[via BotJunkie]

Gizmodo’s Guide To Smartphone OSes

October 9, 2008 by Kimberly Lau 10 Comments

Gizmodo’s in-depth look at smartphone OSes provides you with the pros and cons of each, allowing you to make an educated decision, if you’re in the market for a phone that also has email, a web browser, a calendar, and a decent contacts manager. If you’re attracted to the open source Linux-based Android by Google, you’ll also have to keep in mind that there aren’t that many business features. Other contenders include the Blackberry by RIM, which is great for email, but is completely closed and proprietary. The Apple iPhone is very pretty but lacks some basic features. They cover Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Palm Garnet too. It’s certainly a handy guide since most people haven’t used all six.