Hasta La Gadget!

In today’s episode of “But will it run Zork?” a chap named Ulysses got the vintage game to run on a TDD (telecommunications device for the deaf) — a project he built to show off at the Bay Area Maker Faire last weekend. In a move we truly respect, he hunted down a rotary phone lifted straight out of the era when Zork was conceived (that would be the late ’70s / early ’80s). Then, he modified a modem so that the acoustically coupled TDD could be interfaced — transmitting at a slow 45.5 baud to make it easy for even ponderous readers to keep up, one line at a time on the TDD’s narrow display. Once this was sorted, things weren’t exactly smooth sailing when Ulysses started fitting the compressed Zork story file into the system. At first, he tried using an Arduino Pro and an Arduino Mega, but found that neither had enough memory to accommodate the compressed Zork story file. Ultimately, he took a different tack and settled on an embeddable FitPC. We’d love nothing more than to see this thing in action, but in lieu of a video we highly suggest carving out a few minutes and perusing Ulysses’ photo blog at the source link.

Telecommunications device for the deaf gets hitched to a rotary phone, hacked to run Zork originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 May 2011 10:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some emotional robots dip deep into the dark recesses of the uncanny valley, where our threshold for human mimicry resides. Emoti-bots on the other hand, manage to skip the creepy human-like pitfalls of other emo-machines, instead employing household objects to ape the most pathetic of human emotions — specifically dejection and insecurity. Sure it sounds sad, but the mechanized furniture designed by a pair of MFA students is actually quite clever. Using a hacked Roomba and an Arduino, the duo created a chair that reacts to your touch, and wanders aimlessly once your rump has disembarked. They’ve also employed Nitinol wires, a DC motor, and a proximity sensor to make a lamp that seems to tire with use. We prefer our lamps to look on the sunny side of life, but for those of you who like your fixtures forlorn, the Emoti-bots are now on display at Parsons in New York and can be found moping about in the video after the break.

Continue reading Emoti-bots turn household objects into mopey machines (video)

Emoti-bots turn household objects into mopey machines (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 May 2011 06:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week’s Gadget Lab Podcast is packed with Android announcements, hackable hardware and a teensy new smartphone you may dig (if you can fit your thumbs on it).

Staff writer Mike Isaac went to Google’s annual I/O developer conference this week, and came back with a ton of Google news, not to mention an armload of free swag. Mike joins senior editor Dylan Tweney to talk about what he saw, including a taste of the new version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich.

They also show off the limited edition Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 given out to I/O attendees, some of which are already going for big bucks on eBay. Our verdict: it seems an awful lot like an Android-powered iPad.

Next, the crew looks at Google’s new Accessory Developer Kit (or ADK), which you can use to make stuff that will interact with your Android device. Just imagine: one day you may be able to make sure your front door is locked from the comfort of your smartphone. Is there no bottom to man’s level of laziness?

And this week, we got to play with Samsung’s version of Google’s Chromebook (although we couldn’t take it home). It’s an update version of the CR-48 web-only notebook released in beta last year. Though the Chromebook isn’t out yet, we liked what we saw.

Finally, Gadget Lab intern Christina Bonnington stops by to give her take on HP’s latest smartphone release on AT&T’s network, the Veer.

Like the show? You can also get the Gadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you don’t want to be distracted by our unholy on-camera talent, check out the Gadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Lab video or audio podcast feeds

Or listen to the audio here:

Gadget Lab audio podcast #115

http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gadgetlabaudio/GadgetLabAudio0115.mp3

Sure, it looks just about like every other Arduino board found at Maker Faire, but this one’s special. How so? It’s Google-branded, and not only that, but Google-endorsed. Shortly after the search giant introduced its Android Open Accessory standard and ADK reference hardware, a smattering of companies were already demonstrating wares created around it. Remote-control robots? Check. Nexus S-controlled gardens? Check. A laughably large Labyrinth? Double check. It’s already clear that the sky’s the limit with this thing, and we’re as eager as anyone to see ’em start floating out to more developers. Have a look in the gallery for close-ups of the guts, and peek past the break for a video of the aforementioned Xoom-dictated Labyrinth.

Continue reading Google’s Arduino-based ADK powers robots, home gardens and giant Labyrinth (video)

Google’s Arduino-based ADK powers robots, home gardens and giant Labyrinth (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 10:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We don’t do a whole lot of reporting on ancient weaponry here, because, well, it’s a little dated — but throw in an Arduino and a servo, and you’ve got our attention. Take, for example, this miniaturized trebuchet. Constructed from a series of click-in-place pieces known as Blocklets, the little launcher is basically a standalone slingshot. With the addition of the aforementioned components, however, it becomes a motorized annoyance for anyone and anything that stands in its way. The folks behind the tiny trebuchet tested its capabilities against a sculpture similarly built from Blocklets, but we prefer the challenge of a moving target. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait to get all medieval with this thing, as Blockets haven’t quite made it out of the funding stage yet.

Blocklets’ Arduino-powered trebuchet could be your cat’s worst nightmare (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 08:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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