Computers & Mobile

The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for digital gadgetry, open code, smart hacks, and more. Processing power to the people!

Making gestural music with the iPhone

My friend, experimental musician, media artist, and director of the Culture Lab at Newscastle University, Atau Tanaka, has tweaked up some iPhones to transform them into gestural musical devices. Here he performs with Adam Parkinson: In a duo, with one in each hand, they create a chamber music, 4-hands iPhone. The accelerometers which typically serve […]

Nexus One/Arduino SmallSat satellite test launch video

Nexus One/Arduino SmallSat satellite test launch video

Matthew Reyes sent word that the RocketMavericks launch event on Saturday in Nevada’s Black Rock desert was a resounding success. Traveling 28K feet aboard James Dougherty’s Intimidator-5 rocket was a payload consisting of a Nexus One/Arduino SmallSat. Matthew and his cohorts Chris Boshuizen & Will Marshall are championing the use of smartphone components to lower the cost of deploying a satellite and expect it to become even more affordable with every revision.

Open-source, software-based GSM cellphone network

Open-source, software-based GSM cellphone network

In plain language, we are working on a new kind of cellular network that can be installed and operated at about 1/10 the cost of current technologies, but that will still be compatible with most of the handsets that are already in the market. This technology can also be used in private network applications (wireless PBX, rapid deployment, etc.) at much lower cost and complexity than conventional cellular.