Making Things Talk

What Hacker News says

1. harrisonjacksonDec 2018
   One of the best electives I took in my CSE program was Art in Code. We covered Processing and Arduino and the only required textbook was Making Things Talk. https://www.amazon.com/Making-Things-Talk-Practical-Connecti...

   These tools were designed to be accessible to non-programmers and had our entire cross-disciplinary class making games, interacting with hardware, and getting inspired to find new ways to interact with computers. I wish this class had been required by every first-year CSE student.

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2. vitovitoDec 2012
   Most of the projects in this vein are defunct, including the Tux Droid, the original Furby, the original Teddy Ruxpin, and the Nabaztag rabbit.

   I always felt the story of Felix Gallo's "Poppet" project at Data General was interesting: http://metatalk.metafilter.com/13606/#384503

   An original Teddy Ruxpin doll would probably have been the easiest to hack, replacing the cassette tape with a stereo audio input and generating the pulses necessary to animate him at your discretion: http://www.illiop.org/workings.html

   The Nabaztag rabbit has been resurrected a few times, it looks like you can buy a new "Karotz" model for US$130, needing only a plush exterior: http://store.karotz.com/product/22/karotz

   You could stuff another sort of mechanical toy, like a RoboSapien RC robot, into a stuffed animal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_WJ23Zg1Rg

   There's also a new startup named ToyTalk, which seems to be doing something in this vein: http://www.toytalk.com/

   You might find it easier to start making something that's not quite as complicated as an animatronic toy. Soft electronics projects and startups have been around for years, with shirts that hug you back and pillows that light up:

   Pillow Talk: http://www.joannamontgomery.co.uk/littleriot/?q=node/11

   Chatter Pillow: http://sternlab.org/2006/11/chatter-pillow/

   For making one yourself, books on soft electronics might be useful.

   Making Things Talk: http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596510510.do

   Fashioning Technology: http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596514372.do

   Instead of regular Arduinos, you can use sewable electronics specifically designed for this, like the Lilypad, which you can get at SparkFun, in their e-textiles category: https://www.sparkfun.com/categories/204

   Adafruit also has their own line, just launched, called FLORA: http://www.adafruit.com/category/92

   There are lots of "robots lite" projects you could wrap in fuzzy fabric, too, like this animatronic head: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jeffkessler/tj-an-animat...

   It really just depends on how complicated you want to get with it. Depending on your experience, it might be best to start small, working through the projects in those books.

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3. Jun8May 2010
   Their server seems to be swamped. There's nothing like a unresponsive server to sober you up from a whimsical book purchase on a FRiday.

   I was trying to buy:

   * Making Things Talk (great into to networking with low-level HW)

   * The Best of Instructables (excellent selection of mostly simple projects, includes IKEA hacking)

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4. evgenJan 2010
   The Make:Electronics book is probably not what you will want, it is more of an intro to electronics text. If your primary interest is the arduino and you are relatively comfortable with a soldering iron and circuit diagram then the book you are probably looking for is "Making Things Talk" (also from ORA.)
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5. urfe42Aug 2009
   I just finished a project using these exact same parts! After looking at the high prices on the XBee chips I got a few of these same transmitters and receivers from Sparkfun to build a remote control for one of my robots. The chips have a lot of quirks but are not very hard to figure out despite some comments to the contrary on Sparkfun. If you are interested in Arduino I would highly recommend Tom Igoe's book Making Things Talk. The book is filled with a ton of wireless projects and walks you through the Arduino basics. If you are in L.A. and interested in Arduino I recommend checking out the occasional Arduino classes offered at Machine Project (www.machineproject.com).
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6. raamdevJan 2009
   The book "Making Things Talk" (O'Reilly) is a great way to start:

   http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596510510/

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