This is the circuit for the prototype of KidVac, a toy that amplifies a child’s inhalation using a vacuum, so that they can “suck” up objects for fun. Here’s the first draft of code for the microcontroller.

This is a first-draft prototype of a slider control for a shower. The control is intended to move easily between warm and cool, with a double-reversal of direction required to select very hot or very cold water. The control utilizes some fundamental interactive properties. Water temperature is mapped to up and down, and constrained from

Caught a showing of “Uncle Jimmy’s Dirty Basement” on Saturday night at Bowery Poetry Club. A hot rock ‘n roll set that’s one part performance art, two parts nasty puppets and far more entertaining than a Broadway show with just as many cues. Highlights were the Chuck Bob Marley improv and the scary puppet of

In class today we discussed a project that created an audio link between the distant apartments of two close friends. Even though they were located in different cities, hearing the ambient audio from the other’s apartment created a connection that in some ways simulated the person being in an adjacent room. I wonder how creating

A new battery charger for a new semester at ITP. The LaCrosse Technology BC-900, doesn’t just have a cool name, it also features a display that shows complete information on the batter charging process. It can handle both AA and AAA NiMH rechargeables in four totally separate banks. That means while one batter fast charges,

David Shulman and I created a time lapse animation of the two of us eating lunch. Add a little sepia tone and a few special effects…voila! It’s art, or the next best thing.

We made a video about a guy who fell in love with his Physical Computing breadboard. Well maybe it wasn’t quite love but whatever it was didn’t last very long.

Here’s our animation storyboard for Majic Glasses.

midiDim Originally uploaded by Professor Shiny. We now have the basic sensing and dimming functions completed, using the MIDI dimmer and three photosensors over TCP/IP. The effect is excellent when the refresh rate is high. If we decide to go with a less frequent refresh rate, then a smoothing algorithm will need to be added

XPort Twins Originally uploaded by Professor Shiny. Here’s the two XPorts mounted on a single breadboard. One communicates with the other over TCP/IP and it finally works. Things I learned that I’d like to remember next time: Instead of sending inverted serial like we send to the computer from the PIC, the XPort is expecting