[sf-lug] controlling external electronics? for a little science project

[jim]

   at the LUGradio show there was a guy 
with the TVbegone gizmo (turns any 
television off, that's all it does, but 
it does it perfectly, kind of a Unix 
philosophy for electronic gizmos. 
   he's got other stuff, though this is 
his big hit. 
   i plan to check him out. he's friendly 
and might be an interesting field trip 
for the two of you. 

cornfield electronics is on 1800 market 
street in SF. 

http://www.tvbgone.com/cfe_main.php 


On Tue, 2008-05-13 at 20:07 -0700, Matt Price wrote:
> hi folks,
> 
> my 9-year-old has an idea for an invention..
> 
> maybe she's not the first one to have invented it exactly, but i'd like
> to encourage her.  she wants a reverse alarm clock, that does the
> following:
> -turn out her light at bed time
> - play from a selection of boring speeches after lights out, to lull her
> to sleep
> - wake her in the morning with a less boring speech.
> 
> now, it strikes me that most of this could be done pretty easily with a
> simple python script on her xo-1.  but to turn the light out she needs
> to open a circuit external to the computer.  now i imagine even this is
> pretty easy to do; that there exist generic usb connected electronics
> kits, that let you perform arbitrary simple actions (like flipping a
> switch) with signals from the computer.  but if this is so i have no
> idea how to do it.  anyone know anything about this sort of thing?  
> 
> as usual i appreciate al the help...
> 
> matt
> 
> 
>