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It has a beat you can dance to- rand()% is an automated net radio station streaming real-time generative music. All audio is generated by algorithmic software applications and programs written by sound artists and programmers. [
Recharge any battery?
I’m thinking of getting a non-recharable battery recharger to recharge all my alkaline batteries- apparently, with chip controlled recharging of “disposable” alkaline batteries, you can recharge all the batteries you’d normally throw away. Has anyone out there tried one of these before I plunk down $40? Seems like a great investment if it works. [via] Link.
Read ebooks on the Juicebox
The Juicebox is a cheap (under $25 in some stores) music, video, photo viewer from Mattel aimed at kids. There are some hacking projects going on, and we’ll have some articles on that soon, but here’s a good how-to on putting ebooks on one using JPEGBook which makes images from text and you view those on the Juicebox. Link.
x0xb0x Kit
Flickr member Jonnay posted some photos documenting the building of an x0xb0x kit. (A DIY monophonic synthesizer that emulates the Roland TB-303). The x0xb0x is not just another MIDI-controlled TB-303 clone. x0xb0x is a full reproduction of the original Roland synthesizer, with fully functional sequencer. The x0xb0x is one of my favorite projects, it’s open source hardware at its best. Link.
Jonah Peretti interview on Gothamist
Interesting interview with Jonah Peretti, Director of R&D at Eyebeam, last statement looks promising! “We recently finished construction and are in the process of outfitting the lab with electronics benches, a 3D printer, a laser cutter, and workstations for hackers, designers, and artists. The lab will be dedicated to public domain R&D — our code will be under GPL, our media will be under Creative Commons, and we will publish DIY instructions for hardware projects”. Link.
The Destruct-O-Tron
A long time after having lots of fun fun blowing stuff up with the high-energy capacitors from the Surge Generator, I came across a few more caps, which with the originals, makes up a total of 220uF at 5KV (some of the newer caps had a lower voltage rating than the original 6KV ones). I decided to build them into a box with a charging supply to make the setup slightly safer and easier to use. Link.
Linux on iPod » Photo/4G/Mini Speedups, OGG
Good news on the iPod Linux front, it looks like full MP3 playback will hit the next builds, along with being even closer to play OGG on most iPods soon. Video playback with audio is expected soon as well. Here’s our video of a few generations of iPods on Linux. Thanks Michael! Link.