Similarly to the Arduino Mega ADK board, the Electric Sheep board will connect to your Android device using the Open Accessory protocol and that gives you access to the phone’s functions. You can use the board to tie the phone to just about anything electronic or mechanical you can dream up, then control it from your phone. The board has an ATMEGA2560-16AU microcontroller on it and a pre-loaded Mega 2560 bootloader. It has an onboard USB host header for connecting your Android gadgets, and can control devices without having to write any Java code – when used in concert with HandBag for Android.

The Electric Sheep board is available now for $79.95 (USD) over at SparkFun.

Silent used an ATMega microcontroller to move the magnetic heads on the drives at the right frequency, thereby producing the music. You decide which version is better:

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Actually, it doesn’t matter which is better. Both are great. It’s just that this four-floppy orchestra is trumps them both.

[via Silent's Projects via Make:]

By connecting a pair of 3.5-inch and 5.25-inch floppies to a PIC18f14k50 microcontroller, and then interfacing that with MIDI over USB, the modder was able to program the drives to crank out four-tone polyphony.

So crank up the volume, sit back for the next 3 minutes and enjoy a brief musical interlude…

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[YouTube via The Awesomer]

I am sure the pros that train to fire weapons like that could keep up, but not I. A geek named Michael Ciuffo has whipped up a really cool and accurate ammo counter for an automatic weapon that looks like something that you would see in a video game.

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The counter uses a microcontroller and an accelerometer to tell when bullets are fired. When the accelerometer senses recoil greater than 22.5g it counts as a round fired. It also uses software to keep after firing vibrations from counting as a round fired. The thing is accurate enough that it counts the rounds fired from the automatic weapon in the video better than the people firing and filming were able to do.

Ciuffo says he’ll be taking orders for these thing if you’re interested in having one made, just drop him a message over on YouTube for more info.

[via Kotaku]

The Humane Reader is designed to provide computer technology to homes or schools without internet access or the budget for traditional PCs or Macs. The 8-bit computer can turn any television into an e-Book/Wikipedia reader. As a matter of fact, its makers say you could store 5,000 books or more on a single 2GB SD card (included in the $20 cost). The creators of the Humane Reader state their value proposition simply: “The Humane Reader can provide a virtual library to any developing world school or individual with electrical power for less than the cost of a single textbook.”

Based on the Atmega328p microcontroller (there are actually three of them in there), the open source Humane Reader can be loaded up with educational content via USB, and it can display output on any video display with composite input. Basic control can be achieved through buttons on the face of the device, but a keyboard can be connected with an optional USB or PS/2 port. As an added bonus, its creators are hoping the computing platform will become an easily extensible and hackable general platform for developing low-cost applications and systems.

Sure, the television and keyboard will add a little bit to the cost of this system, but it’s still a pretty amazing feat to pull this off for just $20 bucks. In fact, they estimate that in quantities of 10,000 or more, they could get the cost down to under $15 per system.

You can find out more about the Humane Reader here.

[via Make:]

The Brain Machine Kit comes from the mind of Mitch Altman, the same guy responsible for the deliciously devious TV-B-Gone remote control.

Just slip on the Brain Machine’s meditation glasses and headphones, close your eyelids, tune in, turn on and drop out. A hacked version of Adafruit’s Mini-POV microcontroller kit pulses the Brain Machine’s LEDs and sound generators to sync your noggin up with beta, alpha, theta, and delta brainwaves.

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As the device and your brain get on the same page, you be lulled into a trance-like state. (or maybe an acid-trip-like state, depending on how you feel about these things). Ready to take a trip? The Brain Machine Kit is now available from the MakerSHED for $34.99.