iPod Glove

The Idea

Background Information

These images and information are taken from Maushammer's Apple iPod Remote Control Protocol site.

We've also relied on a previous ITP project, iChair.

Sensor Testing

Wiring and Soldering

Initially, we removed the green (data) and yellow (ground) wires from the remote and connected them to Arduino. Soon we realized that we couldn't send information to the remote - it's a one-way deal.

So the next step was to cut the wires and solder connections to them.

Hatti, Seamstress in Residence, Soldering Goddess

Problems in the Land of Solder

In Hatti's words: "This whole week has involved soldering and resoldering. Turns out, hacking into commercial devices are terribly tricky. At first, we tried just hot glue-ing straight into the remote because there is some type of film on the surface connectors that repells the solder. That is to say, once you have completed the (perfect) solder, it pops right off of the surface. Using only the hot glue worked…THE DAY OF. Overnight, however, the glue, I’m assuming, had seeped under the wires, thus disrupting the continuity and disabling the switch."
"It seemed as though I was trapped in a cycle of 1. solder for 8 hours, 2.have the ipod working 3.leave it overnight, 4.next day = not working... Finally, it occured to me to use fabric duct tape to cover the first solder (using an exacto knife to slide it perfectly over the boundaries of the two connectors) and then solder the second, and then immediately secure the positions with hot glue."

Goodbye Arduino, Hello PIC

After days of trying to send serial data to the ipod via Arduino with no success, Tom suggested we try to use the PIC chip instead. At this point, Hatti spent most of her time soldering and resoldering and sewing the FSRs and the remote, and I threw myself into the world of PIC.

The Next Phase

Still no luck using the PIC chip, so we've order a female connector for the iPod from Sparkfun so we can see what serial data the iPod spits out. Should be here around the 15th....just after finals are done. Perfect.

Animation Assignment

It's Christmas Time...all the time!!!

Mr. Turkey goes into Starbucks and sees that it's already Christmas time. He thought November was his month! But, if Starbucks brings out the red cups, it must be Christmas time - who is he to argue?

He purchases a Gingerbread Latte for $4.73 and heads home, determined to get into the holiday spirit. On the way home, Mr. Turkey runs into his friend Ms. Witch and tells her that it's Christmas time -- Starbucks say so! The two of them return to Mr. Turkey's house and prepare themselves for the holidays.

The next day, Ms. Witch goes to Starbucks and gets her Peppermint Mocha with red sprinkles. On her way to work, she runs in to the Statue of Liberty. Lady Liberty is shocked at Ms. Witch's new appearance and inquires what prompted this drastic change. Ms. Witch explains that it's Christmas - haven't you seen the red cups at Starbucks?

So Lady Liberty makes her holiday preparations. The next day, she goes to Starbucks to get her Eggnog Latte and sees the Easter Bunny on the way. She explains to the Easter Bunny that it's Christmas already - duh! The Easter Bunny, not wanting to be a Scrooge, rushes home to hang the mistletoe and ready herself for holiday festivities.

The Easter Bunny --> leprechaun --> dead presidents --> Martin Luther King, Jr.

Soon, all the holiday figures are wearing red and green all year long. Christmas has officially taken over, all thanks to Starbucks.

Morning x4

For our video assignment, Mandy, Tamara, Susan, and I continued Mandy and Susan's audio assignment, "Morning in New York."

In Week One, we planned our attack: we would film each of us waking up and getting ready for the day in our own apartments. Then later, then we would all meet on the subway.

As with many ITP projects, we were over-ambitious in the beginning. Once we actually began filming during Week Two, we scaled back and decided not to go uptown to my apartment or to midtown to Mandy's apartment. We filmed my waking up scenes in Susan's apartment, and Tamara's neighbor let us use her apartment to film Mandy's scenes. The shoot took most of one Saturday, but we also goofed off some, too. We also eliminated our original plan for all four of us to meet on the subway, as we were unable to find a 5th person to act as camera-person that afternoon.

Week Three - we edit. I had no idea that capturing our footage (and logging it) would take so long. One of the best things about our group, however, was that all of us took turns doing every part of the work. So even though it took longer, we each got a variety of experiences in the process. I must confess that I missed part of the editing meeting. Literally 10 minutes before we were supposed to meet, I fried my computer with the damn Arduino. I met with my group anyway for the first part, but then I was having a break-down and had to go deal with my fried computer. So Mandy, Susan, and Tamara finished without me (thanks ladies --- you were soooo good to me that night).

View the web-friendly version on Susan's blog. She claims that I should be able to save a copy of it and post on my blog, but it seems as though I have to have QuickTime Pro to accomplish such a task.

Down with Movable Type

So finally Google has fixed Beta Blogger to allow you to post your blog on your own site. Yay. Now I can get rid of MT.