CrunchGear

CrunchGear

Link to TechCrunch » Gadgets

‘Twas The Night Before Christmas (Revisited)

Posted: 24 Dec 2011 01:54 PM PST

christmas_eve

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not an ultrabook was whirring, not a touchpad nor mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
With hopes they were stuffed with Thunderbolt MacBook Airs.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Galaxy Tabs danced in their heads.
And ma in her 'kerchief, and I with my apps,
Had settled our texting thumbs for a long winter's nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my standing desk to see what was the matter.
To the Nest thermostat I flew like a flash,
I turned up the heat, and to the window I dashed.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Was no task for my PowerShot, even when light is low.
Then, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But an iPhone 4S! At it, everyone leered.

With a little A5 chip, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment: this new iPhone is slick.
More rapid than eagles, web pages they came,
And the camera, and iOS 5, and the Retina Display!

“Now Siri! You listen to what I command!
You are but a humble female in my hand!
The words that I say may give you some trouble,
but don’t go around bursting everyone’s bubble!”

And though it was welcome, the new Nexus was shy,
It took more than a month to finally arrive.
But once it appeared with LTE, it flew,
With a big-ass touchscreen, and ICS, too.

Santa couldn’t compete with the gadgets we owned,
And his new Nissan Leaf was running on low,
But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”

Speaking Of Christmas Miracles… This Guy Can Fly (Almost)

Posted: 24 Dec 2011 01:30 PM PST

Wings

If you could have one superpower, what would it be? Mind control would be my answer (I hope to be an evil genius when I grow up). But it seems the most popular answer to that question is the ability to fly. Jarnos Smeets, a mechanical engineer from the Netherlands, is working really hard to make that a reality.

How, you ask? Well, he’s building real-life wings (just like the wings on a bird). By first combining the accelerometers of the WiiMote and an HTC Wildfire S, he can now measure the arm-speed of his own movements and thus control the outrunner motors on his DIY wings.

Just take a look at this crazy sketch:

As far as hacks go, this one may really fly high (cheesiness is forgiven on Christmas Eve, right?). Of course, there’s still no proof that Smeets’ project will yield the results he wants. In fact, he may be venturing into some dangerous territory.

Either way, we’ll keep you posted on whether or not he can actually take flight. In the meantime, check out these videos of him tapping into the WiiMote and Wildfire S accelerometers, along with a clip of him controlling the outrunners and further explaining just how these wings came to be.



Siri, What Were Your Top 5 Hacks And Mods Of 2011?

Posted: 24 Dec 2011 06:41 AM PST

siri

2011 saw the rise and fall of Siri. What was initially hailed as something just short of the savior of mankind turned out to be a limited voice control system. Apple insists Siri is still a beta product. They say it will get better.

But some out there couldn’t wait for Apple. And so, with a little imagineering, people made Siri do all sorts of unconventional tasks in 2011. These hacks led to her opening beer, playing the piano, and even warning owners about what’s on a specific TV station. Yeah, the official feature set of Siri is a bit underwhelming, but hackers and modders managed to roll out an impressive set of avant-garde use cases to keep owners occupied until Apple rolls out the next Siri revision. Read on for the top 5 Siri hacks and mods of 2011.

Beeri. Siri-controlled beer bot

Using an Arduino, R/C truck and a metal spike, this hack is more about the triumph of man over machine than actually pouring a proper glass of beer. But who cares! It’s awesome. And as one of the very first Siri hacks, beeri occupies a special place in the history books.

Start Your Car With Siri

“Start my car.” It’s just that easy. Developer Brandon Fiquett used an open source Siri Proxy server and coded a PHP script that interacts with the Viper SmartStart system installed in his Acura. Then, with just a quick conversation with Siri, this guy can start and stop his car from afar. Like a boss.

Siri Proxy & ioBridge Home Automation

Using the same Siri Proxy has the previous hack, this mod interacts with an X10 home automation system. “Siri, turn off everything.” “Your house has been powered down. Good bye.” Eat your electronic heart out, HAL 9000.

Play it again, Siri

Never mind the Yamaha marketing nonsense, the video still fun to watch. However, when you dig into the so-called mod, Siri is simply initiating the playback of a specific file. In this case, Siri is telling the iPhone to start playing a Midi file which is streamed using Airplay to the Yamaha piano through an AirPort Express. I think. It could be magic.

Siri Universal Remote

The Siri Universal Remote leans on SiriProxy and an Arduino IR box. But it’s a lot more than that. As the video shows above, when Siri is asked to change the channel, she announces the program currently playing on the station. Think of it as a Pawn Stars/Jersey Shore early warning system.