Musical umbrella delivers 8-bit tones

 

An umbrella is supposed to keep you dry from those rainy days, and it too, would be able to ensure your skin does not get sun burnt at all when it is scorching hot out there during the summer. At this year’s Amsterdam-based Music Hack Day, a couple of intrepid hackers who hail from Berlin did figure out a way to create a musical umbrella which is capable of producing a random series of lo-fi 8-bit tones.

These tones are triggered the moment a raindrop strikes the outer surface of the umbrella’s canopy, and since the results are totally random and abstract, you will hear different tunes all the time, and chances are just like snowflakes, you will not find the same two tunes at any time. What your ears will hear would be something akin to what the first generation Nintendo Game Boy is capable of churning out. To know more about how this particular musical umbrella works, read on after the jump.

The gist of the umbrella works this way – whenever raindrops strike the outside surface of the umbrella canopy, they will be transformed to tones thanks to the presence of a dozen piezo pickup sensors which are taped to the underside of the umbrella. These piezo pickup sensors are fully capable of responding to vibration, where they are then sent over to an Arduino Uno, which is actually a cheap and open source micro-controller that is popular with hackers and hobbyists. Not only that, it will in turn be hooked to a couple of speakers.
The Music Hack Day event was originally held in the London offices of U.K. newspaper The Guardian three years ago, and the movement has since spread to Berlin, Amsterdam, Boston, Stockholm, San Francisco, Barcelona, New York and Montreal, where over two thousand participants and sponsorship from notable music-tech companies are the attendees.
There is still no indication that this musical umbrella will be sold to the masses, but the umbrella’s creators, Alice Zappe and Julia Lager, decided to come up with a new and improved version of their Music Hack Day prototype.

Commercial Free DVR – How can it Survive?

I watch a few less commercials on television these days. I just fast forward through them. In the old days commercials were when you went to get snacks or put the clothes in the dryer. I’m hard pressed to think of a television commercial that I have seen in the last 6 months that I was glad I watched. Maybe I just missed all the good ones, for all the things I really wanted… that would be my luck.
DVR’s have made it easy to just fast forward through those irritating blurbs about junk you don’t need, and they can condense your half hour shows into a quick 20 minutes, and now, The Dish Network is offering a brand new auto-skip feature on it’s DVR’s that actually lets viewers press a single button to eliminate all the major network commercials altogether, no fast forwarding required. Could this be the future of TV?
How will the TV networks stand for this? Another company, Replay TV offered a similar service and was promptly sued for offering a commercial skipping feature. The company has since filed for bankruptcy. As much as I LOVE the idea of skipping annoying commercials, it seems like services like these attack the very underpinnings that make TV a profitable business, after all, why else would TV networks be making all those intelligent and provocative programs for us?
I don’t know the future of Dish Network’s Hopper Feature, but television commercial viewership has to be way down already with the number of digital recording devices in most homes these days, does the fact that you can eliminate commercials altogether somehow make it worse than the fast forwarding that we’re already doing? I guess lawsuits will be inevitable. Could network television be in danger? I guess the real question is, how do you think they are going to make us pay?

Mini iPad? Isn’t that just a Maxi iPod?

 

If it were not for Apple products I’m not sure the technology rumor mill would be quite as much fun as it is now. There is always some hush-hush secret project going on, with an undisclosed release date, that wouldn’t bother me so much if I hadn’t just purchased the latest gizmo only to find out that there was something neater, cooler, smaller, faster or, with better battery life just around the corner. So let me tell you what might be, in case it saves you from some future disappointment.

Have you heard about the Apple iPad Mini? I hadn’t, so I did a little research, and this is what I came up with… The iPad Mini is most likely a reality and already set to go into production, it will have a smaller-than-8-inch screen, ditching  the retina display in favor of oxide TFT technology, have a differently positioned camera, and will be offered at a lower price point than the regular iPad we all know, and love. (or despise in favor of Android devices, but that’s a whole other post)

It seems like all the excitement will start this fall, maybe as early as September, when Apple may begin rolling out not only the brand new, diminutive iPad, but the new iPhone (4G/LTE?) as well. I wish I had more details to give you. Oh wait! Sources are also leaning towards a $250 to $300 price point. Come on guys, what do you know? and will you be standing in line for the baby iPad?

Sleep Phones – Count Sheep to your Favorite Tunes

I’m up till all hours of the night. I feel more productive at night and it’s just the way I’ve always been. That being said, my husband goes to sleep early and gets up early, I use headphones so I don’t disturb him (and so I can hear over his snoring). Have you ever fallen asleep with headphones on? or earbuds in? I think my right ear is still a little sore.
Check out Sleep Phones, developed by a doctor, these soft, moisture wicking fleece headbands actually contain ultra thin and removable speakers that can plug into most of your audio devices, leaving others completely undisturbed, and your little ears in cozy comfort.
Sleep Phones, dubbed “pajamas for your ears”, are especially designed with falling asleep in mind. Sleep Phones won’t fall off, allow you to lay on your back or your side and produce some fabulous sound. Perfect for listening to soothing music, relaxation tracks or even meditation or hypnosis tapes. And don’t they say you can actually learn while you’re sleeping? It might just be time to brush the dust off those Spanish language CD’s.
Simply plug the Sleep Phones into your music system, like an MP3, iPod or CD player and relax. If your device has an alarm feature you can use the Sleep Phones for that too… Which is especially useful if you have to get up earlier than your spouse and you’re thoughtful enough to let them sleep in.
Sleep Phones come in a deluxe version that includes volume controls and “play and pause” functions starting at around 55 bucks, and at their website, sleepphones.com they have CD’s and accessories all designed to finally get you a good nights sleep.

iPhone 360 Degree Panoramic Video Lens

When it comes to the iPhone’s camera, it has long reigned as the undisputed champion of cameras found in smartphones, although new challengers such as the Galaxy S3 as well as the slightly older HTC One series are worth their salt as well, especially with the latter being able to capture stills while you are recording a video simultaneously. Well, what are some of the ways where you are able to extend the functionality of an iPhone camera? Why, throwing in its fair share of accessories, that’s what! With the $79.95 iPhone 360 Degree Panoramic Video Lens, it pretty much says it all.
You will soon be able to shoot some great looking panoramic shots and video, thanks to a similar technology that is found in U.S. Army surveillance cameras. This particular lens relies on a curved mirror which is capable of gathering light from all directions, where it will reflect it back into the iPhone’s camera so that video recording in all directions can happen simultaneously without the need for processor intensive image stitching afterwards. Each purchase comes with a free app that will automatically calibrate the focus, adjust the exposure, and enable you to pan and tilt the viewing perspective up to 360º on the horizontal plane and up to 80º on the vertical plane. I expect to see more creative shots on your Facebook account after getting this!