He called his invention iPotti and it’s made to tell you when someone is in the room and when it vacant. He designed the system using a Make interface board from MakingThings.com, a couple of ambient light sensors, and then a Mac app to monitor the throne room’s status. The heart of the thing is a Atmel Sam7 Arm microcontroller that is stuck on the Make board.

That interface board has Ethernet, USB, port and other headers for connectivity. The program puts a little logo in the Mac desktop that glows red if the bathroom is vacant or green if it’s filled. The catch is that the things only work by sensing light. If someone leaves the light on when they leave, you get a false filled reading. The next update should use a motion sensor and add a methane detector so you know if someone dropped a stinky load and you need to wait before going in.

[via StuffAndyMakes]

The Fuzebox is a complete 8-bit gaming platform in a box that’s not much bigger than a pack of cigarettes.

Based on the open source Uzebox project, the Fuzebox is a ready-to-go kit from the folks over at Adafruit. The DIY 8-bit console is capable of cranking out 256 colors at a 240×224 resolution. The system has full video and audio capabilities on board, and can output to any monitor with an RCA or S-Video jack. You can play games with a standard NES or SNES controller.

Coding for Fuzebox/Uzebox requires knowledge of the C programming language. Just write your games on any computer, and transfer them via a USB-to-Serial cable to move them to the Fuzebox. There’s also a handy emulator available for you to test your programs before you move ‘em to your Fuzebox.

Curious to see what it can do? Here are a couple of demo videos running on an early prototype of the Uzebox platform:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The basic Fuzebox kit (just the circuit board and parts) will run you $70 (USD), while a complete starter kit with a controller, power adapter and a custom enclosure for $100. You can get your hands on the kit along with schematics, programming instructions and some sample code over at Adafruit. A number of game examples and demos can be found on the Uzebox forums.