I have been lurking around the world of PICs and Micro Controllers of late and came across the beautifully minimalist Monome device [LINK]. I don’t know what it is, perhaps Asperger’s or latent autism but there’s something about this thing that I’m drawn to.
What is it? Well from the site it’s described as…
"a reconfigurable grid of backlit keypads which connects to a computer. interaction between the keys and lights is determined by the application running on the computer. there is no hard-wired functionality."
It’s a box of …

Today I bought an Arduino [LINK]

 and "The Black Swan" [LINK]

I am wrapping up Eric Clapton’s Autobiography [LINK], an overall enlightening and good read.

I am now on the lookout for about 100 diffuse (not water clear) RGB LEDs and some 8bit shift register chips.
 
I guess you’d say my interests are fairly random.

I have spent some (very) limited time the last month or so, refreshing my understanding of electronics, particularly ICs (integrated circuits). This, like most things, is handy back pocket information for me in my day job although not particularly relevant.
With numerous flashing LED projects under my belt it’s getting time to move on to something a little more advanced. I would like to build a programmable board of some kind and have it execute some slightly more complicated logic than is feasible with hard-wired ICs.
After a quick Google …

Ever wonder how much your PC costs to run? With PCs becoming more and more powerful, they’re consuming more energy than ever. By looking through your PC’s spec with some back of the napkin calculations you can get a general cost for your PC and maybe turn it off every once in a while.
* USB accessory draws about 5 Watts per unit.
* Typical DVD ROM drive draws about 25 Watts per unit.
* Todays processors can draw up to 140Watts of power but most idle lower than that. …

Two years back I built a gingerbread house from scratch and kitted it out with some miniature LED christmas lights.
I don’t have time to build a new one this year but here’s the video [LINK] to help get you in the spirit
"The tenants have setup their own Christmas tree as can be seen by peering through the stained glass windows, here. I don’t know if I’d do it again, perhaps something smaller the next time.
This was a fun project and a nice break from the cut-throat world …

Building a PC is fairly easy and if you’re like me it’s simply the only way to get what you want. Granted you may have to jump through a few hoops to do so but the result is a more powerful machine for the money than you can buy from the store and you’re friends will think you’re an uber geek with magical powers (well maybe just a geek).
First thing is to order the parts: I bought the following from NewEgg:
* Antec NeoPower NeoHE 550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply – …