Here’s a cool blog I came across on our new wagg.it site.
It’s a custom application that will send email containing current external IP address to a specified email address automatically at set intervals.

Why do you need this?

I used to work as a network administrator at a company and had issues with DDNS (dynamic DNS) addresses where the domain name can change.
We used to use free DDNS services such as no-ip.com but this tool will allow you to bypass that and simply check your email to access your server. (Therefore keeping it even more secure…)

This can be great tool for embedded TCP/IP applications too.

What was that IP address again? How many times did you wish you had the IP of your crashing router on your home network to do a quick reset. I used to have a Linksys that would crash at least once a month at the most inopportune times and I designed this application to send me my network’s external IP address everyday or what ever intervals I wanted. Many ISPs with broadband give you a dynamic IP address and this helps you know that you are up and running and what the IP address is. It also is a nice monitor sending hourly emails for testing flaky connections. I have grown used to being able to view my external IP from my system tray and at the request of others with the same problems I created IP in Your Email application (don’t send me emails on the name).

via wagg.it

Yes, that was sarcastic if you caught the $18,000. Anyways, this is a great scientific
breakthrough yet expensive as f*&k. If you get one, take a video and send it to
max@zedomax.com!

The dream of a violin that can play itself has tantalized inventors for over a century. Now, modern technology has made the dream a reality - and without the use of digitally sampled sounds!

Piano accompaniment can be derived from any midi source, but using Pianomation to play genuine accoustic accompaniment provides today’s ultimate listening experience in automatic music

via randomgoodstuff

The MIT Team is using DraganFlyer helicopters, Gentoo Linux, Gumstix, and Vicon Motion Capture Systems and has sponsorship from Boeing.

Creating a robot that can manage to fly around a room on its own without hitting a wall is a mean feat to pull off, but that’s exactly what a team of professors at MIT have managed to do. Their multiple-UAV test platform is capable of complex tasks like following moving ground-based objects with little or no direct control from a human — yup, unfortunately that geek dream of a cockpit will no longer be required if these guys get their way. The current test setup is made up of $700 four-rotorblade helicopters, monitored by networked computers, which could theoretically allow a single person — or even a bored student with an internet connection — to control several UAVs at a time. Current flying drone systems require a team of trained personnel to keep a single UAV airborne and on target, so this endeavor is certainly a step up in software terms. How well the test system will transition from tracking radio controlled cars in a lab to lets say, a stolen car going at 125MPH, remains to be seen.

Read - Videos of the UAV in action
Read - The Boston Globe

via thehobbyguy via

Check out this automatic quarterback from Hammacher Schlemmer!
A powerful football passer that throws a perfect spiral every time, our automatic quarterback sends a soft polyurethane foam football up to 30 yards, and adjusts between lateral passes and long, high bombs. Children can set the timer for running deep, or a friend can launch a pass with the manual trigger.

All I can say is WOW!

Not the kind you’re used to. This door has many slats with infrared sensors on their tips. When you walk up to it, the slats slide out of the way, conforming to your body. We’ve written about this, but here’s a video of it in action.

via gizmodo