General

Leif and I are now able to play Pong over the Internet. It’s not perhaps the best example of the venerable video game, but the paddles do move nicely up and down as we twist the potentiometers that are attached to our XPort boards. Rather than use the text-based network commands in Processing, we decided […]

This is the XPort hooked up to a potentiometer so that it can accept input for the Pong game paddle. Each controller will be contacted by a Processing program, after which the controller will stream ADC values from the PIC, via the XPort, across the Internet and into Processing. Here is the first draft of

This program in Processing simply opens a connection to an XPort, on its default port. We just tried it and it works. The next step will be to add a function that reads a byte of data, sent from the PIC. // rob@faludi.com // This program receives information from an XPort PIC board it may

After much hand wringing, I seem to have solved an out of memory error in Processing, specifically “java.lang.OutOfMemoryError”. Here’s the fix: 1. Quit Processing. If Processing is running when you make this change, it won’t work. 2. On the Mac, go to Users, then your home directory then Library, then Processing, then preferences.txt. That’s: ~/Library/Processing/preferences.txt

We selected two generalized note-storage programs to review for this assignment in analyzing interaction models, StickyBrain and TopXNotes. StickyBrain (notes, diagram) was: Generally exploratory Space oriented (objects? tools? tasks?) Weak modality Generalized Novice users Lean forward (with some lean back) Context unaware TopXNotes (notes, diagram, alternate view) was: Somewhat directed Object oriented (less rich object)

Yesterday I created a set of helping hands for soldering from the fine guide on Instructables. The first version (1.0) came apart at the base crimp, so I’ve soldered that connection (v1.01). In general I think the issue is needing a smaller gage of ring lugs. The base is quite stable so the test will

Carlos Borges and I shadowed a father-daughter trip to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan and made a report of our findings. We also put together a draft research plan.

Eric Fino has achieved the world record score on my Social Genius game, formerly held by ITP instructor Dan Shiffman. Eric’s apparently got both the social wherewithal and the obsessive compulsion that it takes to be great. Congratulations! photos by Angela Pablo

As an alternative to diddling with MAC, IP addresses and routers, it would be great to just toss some network objects into a space and let them find each other. The concept has roots in Berkeley’s SmartDust. The basic kit from Crossbow is tempting, though not cheap…

To create an enjoyable interaction for a child and adult over distance–a networked toy–it seems essential to provide a rich communications medium. No matter how enjoyable the toy is, nothing purely physical can replace the sound of a child’s voice or the secondary channel of body language. Therefore, we’re beginning to explore the GM-862 Cellular