Update: save the script below as an application and place it in your iTunes scripts directory. Assign a keyboard shortcut to the genius script's menu item (in your keyboard system preference pane) and you can trigger the script from the DarwiinRemote application. Ultra geekness with a genius :-)
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and that's why I slapped together a less than elegant Applescript 'solution' to activate the Genius function on the currently playing track through an Applescript so I can try and activate it from my Wiimote (Genius needs direct, one-button access in order to be truly great). The problem is that Apple does not support GUI scripting very well in iTunes, with the result that you have to activate the iTunes window so that we can use a 'click' applescript command to activate the button. Here's the script:

-- initialise
global iTunesHidden
global frontApp

-- restore previous application
if frontApp is not "iTunes" then
tell application frontApp
activate
end tell
end if

Wonderful... Now I need to figure out how to integrate this into the iTunes script menu (which requires me to most likely remove half of the code in this masterpiece).

Yesterday we did a small half-a-day project to modify 2 Ikea lamps into a speaker set for the bedroom using 2 old speaker components from our old Philips widescreen TV. I used the amplifier of a broken set of pc speakers to power the speakers. It not the kind of thing for audiophiles, but we're satisfied with the result.

We have moved to Porta Genova (yay!) recently and we need the occasional break. While packing I ran into this broken cat robot and on my quest to weight reduction decided that the cat's days were numbered... time to take out the cat's internals to see what sensor goodness it has to offer.

Today's harvest? A touch sensor, a microphone, a mini speaker, 2 LEDs, a DC motor and the logic board with a microcontroller. One day these will come in handy.

We have temporarily disabled commenting on the blog due to the insane amount of comment spammers. Note to comment spammers: 'we don't want you here, or anywhere else on this planet.' We'll be back with you shortly after a brief period of silence on this blog.

So for all Mac users out there with a Belkin wireless router (and possibly other routers with similar configurations) and an 'error -8' after trying to start an iChat videoconference, this one's worth a try. Note that the problem persisted with iChat after the upgrade from Tiger to Leopard.

One day everything ZeroConf and UPnP will work in beautiful harmony and the use of internet-based services around the home will be a bliss, both in terms of ease-of-use and in terms of security (about the same as hoping for world peace...) I hope the above suggestion is at least useful to someone out there.

I bought this Helms portable mini speaker at the airport in Singapore. It's about the same diameter as the Hama bluetooth headphones, but I probably will not use it for the wireless speaker due to the weak sound quality. I have been looking for the Altec Lansing Orbit-mp3 speaker in Asia, but had no luck finding it. The quest continues...

This is the first time we've seen an NFC implementation out in the wild. Unfortunately we did not have an NFC-equipped phone to test it.

We're in Singapore now but tonight we will fly to Trivandrum, India. Woooo!

This has been siting on our desk for a while, but finally the time has come to roll up our sleeves and get it over with. We want to build a wireless bluetooth speaker that we can use throughout the house and that allows us to skip tracks and adjust the volume in a playful way. It is beyond me that no major or obscure electronics brand has taken it upon them to at least build a wireless speaker that controls music playback when there are various wireless headphones on the market that already do this. This is the one and only feature that makes a wireless speaker useful. So please build a low-cost, small and portable speaker with this feature, then we'll take care of the playful part... This was our personal motto for a while, but after almost 3 years of waiting we have given up.

Today we completed the first phase of this project, soldering wires to the the contact points for the tact switches on the pcb of the headphones. Bit of a suspense thriller given the size of the connections, but we managed. Now we can start to focus on the fun part, the interaction with the playback control using tilt switches, IR sensors and capacitive sensors. We have not really figured out which one it will be in the end, but we have some ideas. For the speaker part we have our eyes on the new Altec Lansing Orbit-MP3 speaker, which seems to provide the perfect solution.

Yasmina went to the Apple store in Torino today and it's here now, on our desk... A week late, but that does get you the family pack. The box is extremely pleasing to look at (never thought a box could do that did you?) and the booklet is pretty nice as well (albeit in Italian). Going to have a quick look through the list of issues people have been encountering and then we'll do an archive and install on the G5.

[update] A couple of issues, but now happily purring on both the G5 and the iBook. We did end up with a kernel panic on the G5 after logging into Robert's personal User account (we were stubborn and went for the 'Upgrade' option instead of 'Archive and Install'), but were able to log into the admin account and after removing the login items file for Robert's personal account all was well.

Why is it that Alitalia does not offer me a proper facility to work when my flight gets cancelled and I have to wait at Malpensa airport for the rest of the day until the next flight. I even specifically asked for it, I need power for my laptop. Instead I get a voucher for lunch (I can pay for that myself thank you) and I'm told that there'll be plenty of power sockets in the waiting areas at the gate. I'm typing this since I managed to find one, but that was after I walked halfway across the airport (the other one I saw was taken by a teenage girl charging her phone).

If you are looking at this website using Internet Explorer... I'm sorry, we have not found the time to fix some of the #%@&!(* CSS issues, so use another browser or squint a little bit while reading.

The image above was created using the excellent python-based Nodebox application for Os X in combination with the Core Image library by Tom De Smedt, providing us with direct access to all the Core Image goodness under the hood of Os X.

There is also an alternative called Earmitts, but their brand seems less appealing. And Ear Mitts would not be Ear Mitts if they did not follow the latest hype surrounding Swarovski Crystals and consumer goods so they made it one of the options. (On a side-note, does anyone feel that the active-crystals web-site does a good job at communicating the exclusivity of the products?)

The man had bought the shirt in Malaysia, he spoke basic bahasa Indonesia, and I was the second person in Milan that morning that had asked him about his shirt. They are Swiss Germans and were heading back home that day after spending time in Italy.

I love seeing older generations actively traveling; this couple seemed to be in their late 60s-early 70s and although they seemed active and healthy and independent, I wonder if in some ways they had needs still unfulfilled in today's travel context. Interesting subject to explore further. I hope when I'm their age, I'll still be traveling around like them.

In the meantime, I'll be digging up old posts on the elderly on the Putting People First blog.

Yesterday we were invited to the University of Rome by Lorenzo Imbesi to do a little talk on Interaction Design and Prototyping. Massimo Banzi facilitated the Interactive Object 1.0 Arduino workshop for students of the faculty of Architecture as part of the Roma Design Più event (Rome Design week). I tried to provide the students with some insights on how tools like Arduino and a better understanding of electronics can help us during the design process.

Not ruby, but me and my laptop on the train to work. My daily trip from Milano to Monza takes 17 minutes. I like to devote these 17 minutes to 'discovery time' and set myself the challenge to create something within that timespace. Tuesday's task was: play around with OpenGL rendering in Processing while a 14 year-old boy is asking you why the white logo on the back of the laptop lights up (I did not plan the latter).

Click and drag you mouse around in the above Processing sketch to see Tuesday's 17-minute creation.