OMG, when did it become December?

Well, not a big deal, I guess I've been busy with repots again. I think I'm developing some kind of addiction to the electrical circuits experiments and laboratory exercises. Combined with the need to turn my mac into touch-screen monster today I even stayed an extra one hour in the lab to make my infrared pen.
I love the soldering iron. Not only can you attach wires to one another, but you can also burn holes and model plastic. When I come to think about it, most of the things you'll ever need to assemble are metal and/or plastic so this is the ultimate tool you'll ever need.
As for the pen, it's pretty simple and straightforward tool - a battery, a switch and an infrared LED on the top. You can't really see it lit since is infrared, but when looked at through a camera it seems to emit some pinky-purplelish light, so I guess it's working just fine.
So what do I need a light for if I can't even see it? Well, it turns out the Nintendo Wii Remote (the Wiimote) has an integrated camera for infrared light and can detect multiple LEDs emitting it. On top of this it is a Bluetooth device so you can connect it to your computer and with the proper software you can turn any screen into multitouch-screen.

This is me writing something on my "touch-screen" mac. The accuracy isn't that good yet but my screen is pretty small and on something bigger it should work better. Next thing I think I'll buy some cheap second hand projector and play some RTS on my desk :)

This video explains exactly how the magic is done.


Alex