Hasta La Gadget!

If the only thing standing between you and a full abandonment of physical media is the tedious task of ripping all of your CDs and DVDs, boy have we got the Lego-based gadget for you. Paul Rea whipped up this little beauty — it’s an Arduino-powered Lego arm that swings to pick up a disc, deposit it in the drive and then drop it (perhaps a bit too literally) into a finished pile. It’s not quite perfect — the arm is a bit loud as it moves, and anyone who’s ever owned CDs or DVDs may likely grimace as the thing tosses finished discs into a pile, but it’s an entertaining break from what can ultimately prove an arduous task.

Continue reading Lego CD / DVD ripper lets you drop your physical media — literally (video)

Lego CD / DVD ripper lets you drop your physical media — literally (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Plenty of tales have cropped up through the years focusing on the roots of Arduino — a tiny circuit board that holds a special place in the heart of every modern-day DIYer — but a recent expose from the folks at Ieee Spectrum has a behind-the-scenes look that’ll impress even historians. Massimo Banzi is the name, and Bar di Re Arduino is the place. The former is hailed as an Italian cofounder of the project he dubbed Arduino in honor of the latter, and in time, four more folks would join him to create what would become a complete gamechanger in the universe of homegrown electronics. We’ve covered initiatives built on Arduino for years here at Engadget. Everything from sigh collectors to early warning systems for pastry chefs has been built around the platform, and the story of how we got to the place we are now is a fascinating one. We won’t introduce any spoilers here — tap that source link below to enjoy at your own pace.

How Arduino got its start: a behind the scenes revelation originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We already know that Siri can send texts, check the weather or find you a restaurant, but did you know she can also fetch you a beer. Well, sort of… with a little hacking. The folks at Redpepper dreamed up Beeri, an RC truck that cracks open a can of brew whenever it receives a tweet instructing it to “pour.” Since you can text updates to Twitter (40404) and Siri can text, that means it’s perfectly simple to tell Beeri it’s Miller time. Whenever the Arduino embedded in the truck detects a mention with the word “pour,” it drives forward, slamming a beer can into a puncture wall that drips into a funnel, filling a cup beneath the table top. It’s a pretty ingenious system, and you can see it in action after the break. We just hope Beeri has a day job — looking at all that head, it’s clear she wouldn’t last a day as a bartender.

Continue reading Beeri: Siri’s new best friend cracks open a cold one (video)

Beeri: Siri’s new best friend cracks open a cold one (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All right, so technically this isn’t a Rube Goldberg machine (it doesn’t actually perform a task, merely loops endlessly), but the spirit is the same. Students in the Media Interaction and Design program at the University of Applied Sciences FH Johanneum in Graz, Austria strung together a pile of Arduinos to create a chain reaction of unbelievably geeky proportions. Seriously, you just need to watch the video — you know you’re in for a treat when you get Homer Simpson, Darth Vader and Hello Kitty in under one minute. Don’t waste any more time here, hit that read more link and watch more Arduino’s than you can shake a stick at work in tandem.

Continue reading Pile of Arduinos hooked up in Rube Goldberg-esque chain reaction (video)

Pile of Arduinos hooked up in Rube Goldberg-esque chain reaction (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 03:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There isn’t actually much new about this awesome DIY project, but it’s the way it brings the various parts together that has us impressed. Designed by Instructables user XenonJohn, with help from software developer David Findlay, the Magic Music Table RFID was designed to let a child with a disability select albums to play back from an iPod touch playlist. The iPod is connected to an Arduino, which tells the device to start playing a particular track based on a selection made with RFID cards. The whole setup is built into a coffee table and the RFID tags are sandwiched inside clear plastic blocks with the album art. You can see it in action in the video after the break and, if you’ve got the patience and skill, you can build your own using the directions at the source link.

Continue reading Arduino, iPod and RFID make beautiful, accessible music together (video)

Arduino, iPod and RFID make beautiful, accessible music together (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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