All those people also have access to the source code. Which in turn can be used for evil also.

Apparently, there are these bots that are sending (bad English) comments that “seem” to be relevant. But they’re not… And WordPress pushes these to the trash folder. That’s nice, but we get an email for each one. And, we are aware that this option can be turned off… We kept it on for the real comments.

In the last 24 hours, there has been over 60 spam comments posted to our site. And I can’t help but think WHY? Why aren’t people using their time and energy to figure out real problems instead of making problems for others. It’s really a shame, and quite antisocial.

So, we chopped out the code that even allows comments. It’s sad, but at least we have our social network tie-ins: Google+ 1′s, Twitter, and Facebook.

Mainly, it’s a cable that fits into that little port under most cars since the later 90′s.

There are a few apps that will run with the cable:

• goLink (free, iPhone/iPod Touch)
• mpgLINK (free, iPhone/iPod Touch)
• ReadyLink ($4.99, iPhone/iPod Touch)
• DashCommand ($49.99, iPhone/iPod Touch & iPad)

Or, you can download the open source Objective-C programming library for iOS from Michael Gile on github: https://github.com/FuzzyLuke/OBD2Kit and collect and use the data coming in from the cable who started-up FuzzyLuke.

More information and example for the ODB2Kit on Michael’s website: OBD2Kit – Open source automotive diagnostics library for iOS

The iPad app needed to capture, store, and manage twenty second video clips. And then upload the videos to a intermediary server via 3G but only after the user voted Yea or Nay on the video clip.

After upload confirmation, the intermediary server (that we developed also) lets users vote Yea or Nay for each of the video clips the iPad 2 users (only) voted Yea on.

Finally, the double-Yea video clips are batched uploaded to a video distribution cloud… Which, then is pushed to the Budweiser Facebook: Flags of Freedom promotion page.

Total mission success!

The girls in the screenshot are from the Dallas team. They uploaded a ton of videos, and are one of the top teams!

After a couple hours I come to terms with most general home thermostats suck. Like 1990′s technology compared to todays. Stuck in the past.

Then I found a WiFi enabled thermostat by Radio Thermostat.

Sure, this might not be for the average small home. But these 2 Radio Thermostats are remotely accessible and programmable by using a straight forward RESTful web service.

Radio Thermostat Product Page
RESTful API Documentation

Now I just need a grip of remotely controlled vent louvre’s…. hmmm

Don’t get me wrong, we do like all of our digits, but I’m kinda tired of lifting my hand up and off whatever to do something else. Especially when I’ll just return my hand to that last position it was at before to continue (typing code). It’s a vicious cycle.

There are a few things I can initially think of that would be nice to not have to do with my hands while typing:

• Adjust or mute music volume
• Switch between virtual desktops
• Switch to an application
• Etc. Etc. Etc.

So I thought, what the best place to start? Brain wave recognition!

Btw, this is a pretty big subject. People go to school for a really long time to learn about the inner workings of any brain. And those wonderful scientists are probably just scratching the surface. I wonder sometimes if the old saying that humans only use ~10% of the brain’s potential is true? I’m not sure what that actually means. But, I haven’t heard that in a while, so hopefully this was the comprehension percentage of what was actually going on inside the noodle.

Possibly, a lot of the advancements in the understanding of the human brain has been recently due to Functional MRI technology. They’re kinda like a CAT scan only in motion. FMRI’s are cool when observing how the brain works in various situations, scarry when advertising agencies use them to see what kind of response/effect their commercials do to people.

So, about a year ago I decided to figure out some hands free computing myself. First step, find the most efficient way into brain wave detection as possible. Then figure out next step to achieving my goal.

Hello Mindflex.

Yep, a fun toy brought to you by Mattel. You concentrate or relax your mind to adjust (with your mind) a fan that hovers a ball up and down, and you turn a knob to send it through a maze.

Check it out: http://mindflexgames.com.

The reason for the Mindflex was that I quickly found an excellent way to “get into it” online. I love the internet.

Have a look at Frontier Nerds’s article and video on How to Hack Toy EEGs. They totally got me started in this adventure. So, they taught me to tap into the Mindflex which was surprisingly quick. All I had to do was solder a few leads into a Nerosky daughter card.

Totally cool, and that article also had the code to hook up to Processing and display the data.

This was a lot of fun. But the problem was, the device had a baud rate of 9600(slow) and it was fixed. It would update the brainwaves every shy second. Not really good for pattern matching algorithms. Yes, algorithms are you’re friend.

So… I needed a new device that would capture at a higher resolution and possibly have an SDK that I could utilize.

Hello emotiv EPOC.

This headset one lean mean brain recognition machine. Totally awesome… Check out more info here at Emotiv.

This baby has 14 channels, 2 gyro’s and one heck of an SDK. Works great on our game dev station. They even have training software to essentially make a box move where you want on the screen. Excellent for parties.

Probably the best example of what this headset can do. Check out this video of a car being driven using the emotive EPOC headset

Plus, they’re going to (eventually) come out with an Objective C SDK soon!

That video is awesome. The software that they’re using comes with the Research Headset package. Obviously that car has some gear on it to work with the headset. It’s not quite a video game controller quite yet. Soon it will be.

More to come on this! Probably with some open source software so you can work on saving your wrists.  ;-)

The Jim Dunlop 0.88mm picks are my favorite. They have just enough flexibility and the entire logo area has a grippy texture. With that grip you can tell when it slips. Which means less “…dropped my pick” fiascos mid song.

That means that loose energy over time… Like, if you recharge it… It looses energy regardless if you use it. That device you have in your drawer… Yep, it’s using energy – you’re essentially killing polar bears.

Eneloops are different. They were designed to be distributed with compact digital cameras… So you would have a dead camera when you took it out of the drawer after 3 months. Yep, it happens… Sux when you cannot take more than 3 photos.

These Eneloops, they are much better. They don’t self-deplete like anything close to these Target bought rechargeables. Eneloops have over 1500 recharge cycles, most energizers have 300 + they self-deplete. Dude.

There is hope for our imagination and it comes from Minecraft.

Minecraft is a game about placing blocks to build anything you can imagine. At night monsters come out, make sure to build a shelter before that happens. It also has music by C418! So far 7,950,627 people have registered and 2,219,567 people bought the game. [http://www.minecraft.net/]

Minecraft is a sandbox construction game, inspired by Infiniminer, and created by Markus Persson, the founder of Mojang AB. The game involves players creating and destroying various types of blocks in a three dimensional environment. The player takes an avatar that can destroy or create blocks, forming fantastic structures, creations and artwork across the various multiplayer servers in multiple game modes.

Minecraft is currently in beta, available to players for €14.95 (~$21/~£13). Beta singleplayer and Beta multiplayer, when purchased, can be played in the user’s web browser, or using the downloadable client. Minecraft Classic is available to play for free. Minecraft development started around the 10th of May 2009, pre-orders for the full game started being accepted on the 13th of June 2009. Minecraft’s official release date is planned to be the 11th of November 2011. [http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Minecraft_Wiki]

This is a view of the current world running on our server. We have installed a mod to increase the textures sizes to 128px from 16px.

This application loads in H.264 videos as well as Flash (.swf) content. The user can move icons to new locations, and double-tap them to open.

This application is currently running on a 65″ Samsung touchscreen in the main lobby of Lishen in Beijing, China.

Inside you’ll find an Arduino Diecimila with a Sparkfun MIDI Shield. The shield stack is aligned to the wide side of the box where I’ve dremeled openings for the power and USB ports. The device can also be run from a 9 volt battery that fits snugly between the shield stack and the opposite side of the enclosure.

Future improvements will include MIDI over USB for Plug and Play capabilities and a smaller container…though the current box does fit in the hands nicely. Maybe even hook it up to a brainwave monitor…

Supplies:

1. 2x PS2 mice pads
2. Midi in/out
3. USB or 9V Power
4. Arduino Diecimila
5. Sparkfun MidiShield

The challenge:

• * Input form two PS2 mice and translating it to MIDI
• * Communicating MIDI with computers or keyboards

The design of the arduino is elegant and effective. The entire shield stack only takes up a third of the space available in it's ABS component box.

View of the TouchTwoMidi with the top off.