Today is iRobot’s first day of trading on the NASDAQ stock market under the symbol “IRBT.” iRobot’s PackBot Tactical Mobile Robot will be the first robot in history to ring the NASDAQ stock market opening bell (iRobot makes the Roomba as well as the PackBot Tactical Mobile Robots). Link.
“In today’s hectic and noisy world, we are all searching for a little peace and quiet. Well, you might not be able to slip off to a tranquil forest for an hour or two, but you can block out background noise with the Noise-Canceling Headphones. The theory behind this project is that by picking up ambient sound with a microphone and reproducing it out of phase, we can actively cancel or “null” out background noise. In fact, several commercially available devices perform the same function. However, by building your own headset, you can add features not otherwise available and have fun while doing it!” Thanks Nyte! Link.
“Comprising four 4 ft. x 8 ft. modules, the dance floor boasts 1,536 long-lasting and low-power-consuming LEDs that light to 4,096 different colors. Students are using substances as common as aluminum foil to achieve special effects. The dance floor, which makes use of one-half mile of environmentally friendly ribbon cable, can be controlled wirelessly by remote clients, thus facilitating visual interactions that were not possible in previous designs.” [via] Link.
MAKE Flickr photo pool member Pete Hidle posted up his amazing Etch-a-Sketch turntable project, he writes “Dualing Etch-a-sketch makes music by taking information from the Etch-a-sketch dials and translating it into digital information. That information could be used for anything, but in this example it turns it into techno music, using the Max/MSP software from www.cycling74.com. It was presented as part of Platform05, a review of live art in the North-East of England. Further information can be found [here] and some pictures from the opening night can be found at flickrmeets UK.” Link.
Some folks are using Apple’s new media application Front Row on non-iMac Macs and others might want to use their trusty Griffin USB Airclick (A RF transmitter/reciever, I use this for all my presentations). Here are some hacked up drivers for using the Airclick with front row over on MP3car.com. [via] Link.
It looks like a lot of users of the T-Mobile Sidekick received a pretty nice “over the air update” Friday and throughout the weekend. AIM was updated, UI evolution arcade was added for Sidekick I users, Yahoo Messenger was added and many navigation, device, web, email and camera enhancements. Overall, looks like a nice update. Link.
Jake writes “When the temperature controller on my $50 garage-sale hot tub failed I balked at springing for another electro-mechanical thermostat so I built this one using junk box parts with the help of that classic: The Engineer’s Mini Notebook – Op-Amp Projects from Radio Shack.” Link.
