Arduino

The New York Port Authority had egg on its face recently when a stranded jet skier managed to breach JFK International Airport's security perimeter and walk across several runways.

Raytheon, maker of the $100 million Perimeter Intrusion Detection System, has some explaining to do.

But it's not all bad. Inspired by the breach (and Shark Week), Justin Huynh and friends at engineering firm Liquidware have concocted their own intruder alert system for far fewer bucks.

Essentially, it's a simple laser tripwire that sends alerts to Twitter when activated. So far, it works with toy sharks and not hapless jet skiers. … Read more

It's the app game that won't go away. Angry Birds Space is still sitting pretty on the App Store's top paid apps chart, but how many times can you pull back a virtual slingshot before you start pining for something more?

Students at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design have given Angry Birds a whole new dimension with the creation of a physical slingshot controller for the desktop version of the game. … Read more

Here's a high-tech dress that's tailor-made for the red carpet.

Emily Steel, a student of industrial design, digital photography, and fashion at New Zealand's Victoria University of Wellington, has stitched together a garment using slide film, LEDs, and a LilyPad Arduino, a set of sewable electronic components. … Read more

Drinking beer requires a certain amount of supervision. Regardless if the experience is self-monitored or kept in check by our peers, keeping a close eye on the proceedings is usually a good idea. While a free-flowing fount of beer may seem like a good idea (because it is), sometimes it's probably best to be kept under lock and key. Or in this case, under an NFC reader.

Google employee and home-brewer Paul Carff designed the KegDroid as a novel way to dispense beer. Users gain access into the system by using their own individual NFC tag or badge. Using … Read more

If your world isn't already complex enough, or if you're just a control freak, it's time to add some ninja to your life.

Sensor-equipped platforms called Ninja Blocks are designed to bring the Internet of things to a ubiquitous, open-source reality.

The result of a recent successful Kickstarter project that raised more than $100,000, Ninja Blocks obey simple "if this, then that" commands to add functionality to your environment through the Web.

For instance, when your friends are playing on Xbox Live a Ninja Block could trigger an action in your living room, like turning on a lamp. Or a Ninja Block could text your phone when a package is delivered to your door. You could also activate household lights or electronics via your Ninja by talking to Siri. … Read more

For Bryan Duxbury and Adam Ellsworth, a shared interest in DIY Arduino projects and a conversation at a Christmas party led to a pretty bright idea and an unexpected side business.

The two San Francisco residents are the creators of the Interactive 8bit Question Block lamp--a Super Mario Bros.-inspired piece of home decor. For fans of the game, the lamp should instantly look familiar, as it resembles the blocks that Mario hits to earn coins and other loot. The design alone already makes it pretty cool, but that's not where the fun ends.

To turn the light on or off, you must punch (actually, a gentle tap is enough and recommended) the bottom of the block, and every time you do so, it makes a coin sound just like in the video game. On every eighth tap, you're rewarded with the 1-Up sound. It's a piece of Super Mario Bros. come to life.

This project may never have seen the light of day, however, had it not been for a chance meeting at a company Christmas party. … Read more

Weather forecast icons can be cryptic. There's only so much that can be communicated by a picture of a gray but-not-too-gray cloud with some raindrops and a sun poking out behind it.

All you really want to know is, "Am I going to freeze my nuts off out there?"

Enter the Cryoscope, an invention that allows you to feel the temperature of tomorrow's forecasted air.

Created by Robb Godshaw, an industrial design student at Rochester Institute of Technology, the Cryoscope uses an aluminum cube to house a heat sink, a thermoelectric-cooling Peltier element, and a cooling fan, all operated by an Arduino controller that receives forecast data from a Web-based app. … Read more

With Twitter Peek getting the ax, you're probably wondering, "Now what will I use to post my tweets?" How about the Tworse Key?

Yes, forget your smartphone, tablet, and laptop. The telegraph key is the wave of the future for sending tweets via Morse code. We jest, of course, but this hack is seriously one of the coolest things we've ever seen.

Tworse Key is the brainchild of Martin Kaltenbrunner, who submitted this amazing project to Hack A Day. Kaltenbrunner created the standalone device using a built-in Arduino Ethernet board and an integrated standard LAN cable (cleverly covered in cloth to give it a more old-fashioned look) to connect to the Web. … Read more

Move over Clapper. There's a new way to control your lights, and it's way cooler (not to mention quieter).

The Luminch One is an interactive lamp that you can turn on and off simply by waving your hand. Created by Francisco Castro, the lamp features an Arduino (an open-source electronics platform) connected to infrared distance sensors that track your hand.

Waving your hand above the Luminch One will turn it on or off, while hovering your palm over the lamp and then moving it up and down will adjust the brightness of the bulb. … Read more