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Giant wall console lets you Game & Watch while you wait
Before there was a 3DS and DS -- heck, before there was a Game Boy, there was Game & Watch, Nintendo's portable, sometimes dual-screened gaming line from the '80s. But while the gaming giant has long since moved on, nostalgia for their platform-based frustration lives on in the form of this large piece of interactive wall art, a case that uses an Arduino and Python script to bring folks with a little spare time the sort of retro gaming that will make them long from the graphical power of the original NES. Check out more images of the device in the Source link below.
Google set to introduce Dart, a new structured programming language
It's a bird, it's a plane -- it's Dart, Google's soon-to-be-released computer language for structured web programming. Having hoarded dart-related URLs for the past couple of months, Google's confirmed the (previously) secret project on the Goto International Software Development conference website. A couple of Mountain View's finest will make the announcement official in the keynote at the event on October 10th, when presumably we'll find out what it can do. Dart makes a nice addition to Go, JavaScript and Python in Google's coding bag-o-tricks, but there's room for one more -- we're looking at you, Spot.
Arduino, iPod touch turns an LCD into a browser-based sketch pad (video)
Of all the Arduino projects we've seen 'round here, this is certainly one of them! Using nothing but a Graphics LCD, an Arduino, and a WebSocket server he wrote using Python / Tornado, this young engineer created a system that allows him to connect to the server with his iPod touch (or any browser, we suppose -- although he's apparently only tested this with Chrome on his desktop PC) and draw a design on the web browser. In turn, his movements are recreated on the LCD. Pretty mean feat, if you ask us. If you'd like to marvel at his code -- or even try it out for yourself -- hit up the source link. If not, be sure to at least check out the thing in action. Video after the break.
Kinect hack lets you reenact Big piano scene (video)
The only limit to the applications Kinect can be put to is imagination. The more of it you have, the more things you can use the peerless Xbox 360 peripheral to achieve. To wit, some eager chaps have put together the Keyboard Anywhere hack, which employs a little Python and the libfreenect library to offer up a piano keyboard on any flat surface of almost any size. You can practice your Mozart concertos on a desk, or, as they so ably demonstrate, imagine yourself as a young Tom Hanks skipping along on the FAO Schwarz floor piano in the movie Big. It's all up to you.
Linden Lab investigates new/updated technologies for Second Life
Over the last few weeks, Linden Lab staff have been talking about a few upcoming Second Life projects during their in-world office-hours sessions. Now the Lab has always been quick to stress that the accuracy and reliability of information obtained through those venues is questionable, and that we shouldn't assume that anything said at them is actually accurate. With that in mind, we went back to the Lab about several identifiable (or at least apparent) projects to get the skinny on them and find out what's actually happening with them, and where they're at.
Sikuli can automate any UI by taking screenshots
This is pretty impressive --of course there are already lots of ways to automate actions on your Mac, and odds are that you may have messed around with scripting or Automator more than once before. But Sikuli is a new app that makes automating as simple as taking screenshots. Instead of programming actions, all you have to do is put screenshots of the particular UI items that you want to automate in a list, and then the app will use visual cues to do whatever you want it to do. Not only does it make things much easier when actually writing scripts, but it also gives you countless options in terms of automation -- the app can automate any app that has a graphical user interface, because all it has to do is recognize that GUI on your screen. That includes web apps, too -- like I said, the possibilities are endless. And since it's developed with Jython, you Python experts can insert any Python code that you like in the scripts as well. The whole thing is an MIT project, so it's available for free across all platforms, including OS X, Windows, and Linux. If you've been looking for an automator that'll do any rote task for you, give Sikuli a try. [via LifeHacker]
Video: Wiimote controlling a 15-ton grapple
We've seen the Wiimote used to control plenty of wild things, and to be perfectly honest, we're pretty unimpressed with most of what we see these days. This video, however, made by an Australian with a lot of heavy equipment on hand, is truly awesome. The 15-ton grapples themselves are impressive, elegant pieces of machinery, and using Python to link the Wiimote up as controller via Bluetooth is really just icing on the cake. It's got a sweet soundtrack, to boot! Video is after the break.[Via Slashgear]
Python skin-covered HOON headphones likely to get PETA in an uproar
French accessories company HOON has teamed up with audio company The Perfect Unison for a line of python skin skinned headphones. The cans are made of nine layers of birch wood, lined with goat skin, and finally covered in the skin of a mighty snake for the ultimate, luxurious audiophile experience. The ear pieces are made of hand-varnished carbon fibers, presumably because the beaks of dodo birds were unavailable. These high-tech, beastly beauties will run you €1,160.00 (roughly $1,650) should you choose to make them yours.[Via ChipChick]
Sony PSP hacked for use as PC status monitor
No money for a secondary display? No use for that worn-down PSP? There's hope for the future, friend. Hacker avi has discovered that Sony's handheld makes for a wonderful status monitor, providing a clean look at your PC's CPU usage, memory allocation and system temperature levels. All you'll need is a bit of training in Python, Lua for the PSP and a sister willing to stop watching UMD movies long enough for you to give this a go.
15 Minutes of Fame: Mage(ic) with numbers
15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about at 15minutesoffame (AT) wowinsider (DOT) com. Mages come in two general flavors: the kind who love to blow things up willy-nilly, and the kind who love to blow things up based on a precise mathematical model delineating optimal throughput and efficiency. Lhivera of US Aggramar-A is the second kind. His love of theorycrafting landed him in hot water with Blizzard recently, after he posted speculative analyses of Mage performance based on leaked Wrath of the Lich King alpha information. Blizzard didn't like the discussion appearing on their forums, and Lhivera ended up perma-banned from posting there again.But Lhivera is alive and well and still crunching numbers, both in game and over at the Elitist Jerks forums, where he's made a new home among fellow theorycrafters. 15 Minutes of Fame spent a few days in e-mails with Lhivera to bring you a closer look at the numbers behind magecrafting. This week, we talk with Lhivera about Blizzard's ban-hammer and the appeal of theorycrafting; be sure to tune in for Part II of our interview, next week.
GDocsUploader puts Google Docs API to use
TUAW reader Vinod tipped us off to GDocsUploader, a small application for drag-and-drop uploading of Office documents to Google Docs. It's a wrapper around a Python implementation of the Google Documents List Data API. The API, which is limited primarily to uploading and searching, has been around for a while now, but we haven't seen too many Mac applications make use of it. This app is simple, open source and duly small. A notable drawback of GDocsUploader is its use of AppleScript keychain scripting, which is notoriously slow and not altogether reliable (might I suggest something more usable?). It also gets a little sketchy with reporting transfer results, but that could possibly be an issue on the Google side. Overall, once you get through the first round of Keychain-doesn't-like-AppleScript (or was it vice-versa?) problems, it's a great little drop-point for getting Google its docs. Grab it at Google Code. Thanks, Vinod!
A dynamic screensaver, DIY style
Glenn Franxman at HackerMojo just put up a Python script that makes pictures pulled from MetroPulse into a screensaver. It's a mere 17 lines of code (which you can easily modify without knowing Python) that run as a cron job, downloading the images into the directory that you specify for the "Choose Folder..." screensaver. It's a simple, fun way to keep your screensaver interesting using a minimum of tools. There have been similar applications for services like Flickr, such as FlickrSavr or the screensaver that comes with 1001, but the simplicity of just updating the pictures in the screensaver folder is appealing. And a screensaver seems like a perfect application for my previous ideas involving mdfind and sips. By using the simple method Glenn applies in his Python script, and making a few modifications to the "Spotlight Gallery" Perl script, you could make your screen display the last 20 or so images added to your own system. That could truly be a practical use for the idea, depending, of course, on where the most recent images on your system come from. Yes, my mind just went there.
Copy as HTML plug-in, amongst others, for VoodooPad
As I am finally wrapping my head around just how useful Gus Mueller's VoodooPad can actually be, I'm getting more interested in tinkering with how it can be extended and made to do my bidding. Dubbed as a "garden for your thoughts," VodooPad is a great place to jot down ideas, lists and notes with a wiki-like document format that makes it dead-simple to link one page to another. Out of the box VoodooPad comes with a lot of great features, but Gus also maintains a VoodooPad plug-ins page with a number of add-ons for making VoodooPad do everything from adding some handy keyboard shortcuts to more complex abilities like rendering math in your documents and allowing plug-in authors to use Python for writing VoodooPad plug-ins.At the top of my list, however, is the HTML Tools plug-in which allows you to preview the current VoodooPad page as rendered HTML, Textile or Markdown, as well as copy the text you've written as HTML (with styling attributes and all) or Simple HTML with just the plain markup. It's a handy plug-in for anyone who, like me, prefers to compose blog posts (or of course websites) in desktop software in order to take advantage of all the power Mac OS X has to offer, then simply copy and paste the blog post as HTML into their blogging engine or CMS. This Simple HTML feature needs a little work, however, as it isn't creating entirely proper HTML just yet. Lists, for example, are created simply with <br> tags instead of actual <ul> and <li> tags, but it could do the trick for those who aren't exactly trying to pass every HTML validation test available across the web.The VoodooPad plug-ins are provided for free, though some of them are still PowerPC-only. Demos of the $29.95 VoodooPad are of course available, with a $49.95 VoodoPad Pro version that offers a few key features for power users, as well as a free VoodooPad Lite version for those who don't need quite as much.
Have PSP? Will trade for python
This is quite possibly the strangest tip we've ever received on PSP Fanboy. A Brooklyn native is looking to purchase a PSP. In exchange, he's offering his 4-foot long python. The snake is "very friendly" and even "comes w/ tank." What a steal! He's even willing to take a broken system! To take advantage of this lucrative deal and get your very own snake, click here.[Thanks, TJ!]
Platypus: create Mac applications from Ruby, Perl, shell scripts, etc.
MacResearch has posted a nice two part tutorial on using Platypus, a neat utility that allows you to "create native, flawlessly integrated Mac OS X applications from interpreted scripts." This include shell scripts, Perl, Ruby, Python, etc. With Platypus you can turn command-line only tools into full fledged, free-standing Mac applications that support drag and drop and even basic graphical feedback. Obviously this isn't going to make for a full GUI application, but it will allow you easily to create self-contained OS X applications that you can double-click to run. Especially for those in the science fields, and even for beginning (Ruby) script programmers like myself, Platypus makes it possible to get basic (and even not so basic) Mac app up and running very quickly.Platypus is a free download from Sveinbjorn Thordarson, and donations are requested.[Via MacResearch]Update: fixed headline
Halo + Monty Python = Teh Awesome
Halo is awesome. We know that. Monty Python is also awesome. Put them together and you get some of the awesomest awesome to ever awesome. Thus, we present to you this YouTube video found by VideoGamesBlogger. It's Monty Python's "How Not to Be Seen" as performed within Halo: Combat Evolved. Rather than spoil the fun, we'd suggest you click play and enjoy. For those unfamiliar with the source material, we have also included the original skit after the break. As an added bonus, we dug up another old favorite as well.
Get cover art from the iTunes Store without using iTunes
Who says you need to use iTunes 7 to get that sweet, sweet high res album art for the iTunes Store? Jesper Nøhr spent a little time looking at tcpdumps and headers and came up with a Perl script that will download album art for a given artist and album (there is even an online demo). It has been adapted to Python and PHP already. What language is next? I think an Applescript version would be very cool, though I don't know if AppleScript has the necessary functionality.
Windows app cracks iTMS v6 DRM
JHymn users might remember that iTunes 6 broke the DRM-stripping tool, and it seems that Apple's done a good job of keeping FairPlay locked down - until someone cooked up QTFairUse6 for Windows. Yes, it's a Windows app, but it can apparently strip purchases from iTMS version 6.0.4 and above of their constraining DRM. QTFairUse6 isn't pretty either - it's a python script that involves some tinkering, but this might be good news to those who believe that if you love something, you should set it free.[via Engadget]
Download BitTorrent podcasts in iTunes with iTorrent
A lot of people are clamoring for Apple to build support for BitTorrent into iTunes. Setting aside the greater implications and the major industry bridges Apple would burn if they were to do this, a man by the name of Michael Hobbs has developed a solution that might suffice for some of you who just gotta have your podcast torrents subscribed in iTunes.While it might not be pretty, iTorrent (is anyone else getting sick of the 'i' prefix?) is essentially a set of Python scripts for Windows or Mac OS X that will allow you to add those BitTorrent podcasts into iTunes and update them with the rest of your podcasts. Unfortunately, it isn't a simple drag, drop and double-click, so check out Michael's site for installation and running instructions for both Windows and Mac OS X.[via digg]
You got your Python in my Cocoa
Jonathan 'The Wolf' Rentzch has an article about using PyObjC to bridge the gap between Python and Objective C to create applications that can use the best of both programming languages. While Python may not be the hottest programming language around (Ruby seems to be getting lots of press as of late), it is a tried and true alternative to Cocoa, and some say it is the easiest language to get started with.The article includes directions for installing PyObjC as well as 3 Quicktime movies demonstrating certain activities. Rentzch has also posted a companion piece on his blog.
