Arduino

Netflix has released a step-by-step guide to making socks that detect when the person wearing them has fallen asleep and pauses the currently playing program to prevent them from losing track of their favorite show.

Arduino is a great platform for those wanting to get into both software and hardware development, but incorporating voice commands into these projects is not without its challenges. MOVI is a standalone speech recognition unit that aims to make this task simple.

What if you were able to have a real adviser sitting on your shoulder when learning a new task that not only offered advice but oversaw and guided your actions as well? The Grasp telespresence robot is designed to do just that.

A new car racing game is bridging the real and the digital worlds. 3DRacers makes use of 3D printing, Arduino-based electronics and smartphone control. Users can design their own cars, 3D print them at home or via 3D Hubs, customize their performance and control them via a mobile app.

Between potting parsley and tending to tomatoes, a vegetable patch requires a fair bit of work and even more know how. The MEG Open Source Greenhouse is designed to tap into the collective knowledge of green-thumbs around the world, with an internet-connected indoor microclimate.

While sat at his desk trying to unwind, designer Frank Cohen was inspired to create a modern version of the Lava Lamp. The result is Waves: a smart Bluetooth speaker that sports rows of programmable LED lights which illuminate customizable diffusion filters up top.

Arduino may be known for revolutionizing open source hardware platforms, but this week it enters the 3D printer market with the small and affordable Materia 101. Produced in partnership with Sharebot, the printer is targeted towards educators, beginners, consumers, and makers.

Not impressed with the much-hyped Apple Watch? A new Kickstarter campaign aims to produce a thumb-sized color display called the TinyScreen that, if all goes well, could offer you the opportunity to make a wearable of your own.

For tinkerers, devices like the Raspberry Pi and Arduino are amazing, but for those without technical knowledge, they can be a terrifying proposition. A new device called Verve 2 aims to bring the functionality of these devices to the masses without the need for programming skills.

Dean Miller has recreated the sound of a lap steel guitar using an electric guitar fitted with four servos controlled by a modified foot pedal array and an Arduino running some custom code. The result is pretty astounding.

Cloud, by New Zealand-based designer Richard Clarkson, is an interactive lamp designed to mimic a thundercloud. It brings the outside inside, providing an audiovisual show that looks and sounds like thunder and lightning ... but thankfully rain isn't included in the package.

Designer Jaap de Maat aims to remind us of our lack of online privacy with his autonomous filing cabinet art project that follows people around.