Hasta La Gadget!

Need an excuse to get some cardio into your life? Can’t live without ye old internet? Thanks to Matt Grey and Tom Scott, the answer to your weight loss woes is pictured above. The aptly-titled Webcycle is essentially a sensor-laden fitness bike that requires users to pedal faster in order to snag more throughput. An Ubuntu-based laptop is wired up to an Arduino and an array of sensors that allow more bits and bytes to seep through based on how hard the rider is working. A simple slow pedal is all it takes to load mobile pages and text-heavy sites, but if you’re hoping to actually watch the video after the break, you’ll certainly need to kick things up a notch. Pure brilliance, we say.

[Thanks, Yoda]

Continue reading Webcycle provides pedal-powered internet, reason to dodge browser-enlarging Flash sites

Filed under: Laptops, Internet

Webcycle provides pedal-powered internet, reason to dodge browser-enlarging Flash sites originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve seen every manner of touchpad — multitouch, gesture recognition, no touch, LCD trackpads — if you can think of it, somebody has probably done a version of it. Take this particular one for example, which just might rank below even the touchscreen GBA in terms of practical usefulness — though, it’s not as if utility is a prerequisite of joviality, right? If you’ve been neglecting that DIY muscle of late, you owe it to yourself to check out the video beyond the break, which shows that a humble touchpad can learn new tricks. Oh, and if you feel extra inspired, the read link contains another video plus the necessary code for making the light show happen. Don’t say we never gave you anything.

[Via Hack A Day]

Continue reading Video: Arduino-powered touchpad mimics iPod volume control

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Video: Arduino-powered touchpad mimics iPod volume control originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This might have been a Crapgadget contender but for the fact it’s a homemade system and therefore deserves some kudos for the ingenuity shown. An irrepressible geek by the name of Thomas Edwards has concocted a system for communicating breathing over the interwebs — a surefire way to take your cyberstalking game to the next level. Employing an Arduino protoshield, AdaFruit Xport shield, Lantronix Xport Direct, and a Kestrel impeller to create the device, Thomas demonstrates a taste for obscure technology usually not seen outside of prototyping labs. Click through for video of a candle being blown out remotely, perhaps the one and only family-friendly use for an instrument like this.

[Via Make]

Continue reading Video: Breath-over-IP concept is a fun way to creep out your friends

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Video: Breath-over-IP concept is a fun way to creep out your friends originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What better way to remember all of those people who died when the moon and the stars were destroyed by the King of All Cosmos than a Memorial Day game of Katamari? Rather than continue to half-ass it with her PlayStation controller, hackster and NYC Resistor member Kellbot has put together a real life spherical controller, utilizing such items as a large mirror ball (sadly, the Yoga ball proved too pliable to roll on the ball bearings), a mouse, a gutted PS2 controller, a digital pot, and — of course — the world famous Arduino. Interested in building your own? Hit that read link to get all the details, but not before you peep the video after the break.

[Via Hack A Day]

Continue reading Video: Katamari controller hack for PS2

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Video: Katamari controller hack for PS2 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 May 2009 14:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Of all the things we are inclined to take for granted, the weary exhalation of air that is commonly referred to as a “sigh” easily tops our list (other things that we take for granted: our mother’s love and Laser Pink Floyd at the planetarium on Saturday nights). But not Instructables member mkontop, however: this guy is clearly fascinated by the theory, practice, and ramifications of sighing, even going so far as to build a device that not only monitors his breathing and measures his sighing, but then goes on to store the corresponding amount of exhaled air in a box nearby. To what end, you ask? Perhaps you can ask Marcel Duchamp next time he’s in town. Hit that read link to build one for yourself, but not before peeping that video after the break.

Continue reading Arduino-based ‘sigh collector’ is clever, pointless

Arduino-based ‘sigh collector’ is clever, pointless originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 May 2009 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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