Boris Smus

Business card design is a tricky art. It’s a fairly constrained space, but that’s what design is all about, right? I’m ordering a personal set of moo mini cards. These are small, two sided prints. One side contains an image, and the other contains contact information. On the image side, I’m putting snippets of travel photography. The other side is by default a conventional list of contact information, but moo conveniently allows it to be replaced by a custom image.
read more…

A few projects around the internet use an Android phone to control the LEGO Mindstorms NXT brick. Most involve an ugly hack in which the phone communicates with a computer over WiFi, and the computer (paired to the NXT through bluetooth) submits the command to the brick. These projects typically use Android as a remote control for the NXT robot, and not as part of the robot itself. Here is a missed opportunity: the NXT could be augmented by an impressive list of sensors, GPS and Internet access provided by an Android phone.
read more…

I’ve been working on a couple of researchy projects involving gait recognition and running foot strike analysis. For my proof of concept, I turned to the wiimote, everyone’s favorite physical interaction prototyping input device. Wiimotes are portable and rugged, and thus well suited to high-intensity activities like running. They attach easily to legs with a physio band, although the elastic tension tends to cut off circulation. No big deal, though… it’s For Science!
read more…

Nike+ is a clever little system designed by Apple and Nike to infer the runner’s speed and augment the running experience. The runner places a small chip in his shoe which transmits data to the iPod using a proprietary RF-based protocol. The chip contains a piezoelectric cell which measures how long the foot exerted pressure on the ground. According to Apple’s FAQ, this contact time is directly related to your pace. In this post I provide a snippet of python code for collecting data through Sparkfun’s adapter.
read more…

Ever wanted to join a band? I bet you have! Why? Because collaborative music making is an incredibly enjoyable and rewarding experience. But the barriers to entry are high: not only do you need to have baseline musical skills, you also need considerable managerial talent to find and bring together disorganized musicians. To find partners to jam with, people use craigslist and band matching sites to try to establish relationships with randoms. Why not leverage our social networks for this purpose?
read more…