Hacked Gadgets Forum

June 27, 2007

USB Controlled Traffic Light Status Indicator

at 5:00 am. Filed under Computer Hacks, Cool Gadgets, Electronic Hacks

Imagitronics from Japan shared his latest creation with us in the Hacked Gadgets forum. It’s a USB Controlled Traffic Light Status Indicator which he built to show the number of running applications at a glance.

“I retrofitted this generic “Blinking Traffic Light” with a USB module and wrote a simple Mac application to monitor my computer usage and reflect the results in by changing the stoplight.

This project was born out of the frustration after being constantly interrupted by people who could not tell that I was already busy. The alpha version of the software detects the number of running applications on the computer using Cocoa’s NSDistributedNotificationCenter and updates the light based on a user-defined threshold.”

USB Controlled Traffic Light Status Indicator


 


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8 Responses to “USB Controlled Traffic Light Status Indicator”

  1. shawn Says:

    Wow, am I the only one disappointed by this picture? As tech-centric as Japan is, I pictured offices surrounded by cool gadgets and electronic clear/frost glass. Brown paneling? Are you sure that office is in Japan and not the Peter Brady’s basement? I am bummed out for the rest of the day…

  2. Michael Garrett Says:

    That is a good idea… I wish I had the know how to build one because I think I might be beginning to spend TOO much time on the PC, with dozen of apps open at once

  3. Tim Says:

    shawn,

    Sorry to disappoint you but I actually live on Okinawa, a very small island about half-way between mainland Japan and Taiwan.

    Check the link:
    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=naha+japan&ie=UTF8&ll=31.578535,132.319336&spn=16.843098,29.882812&z=5&iwloc=addr&om=1

    Okinawa is a very traditional island. The electronics and computers available here are probably worse than what you would find in the states right now. Although I do have 100mb fiber directly to my home. So that’s something.

    By the way, to avoid confusion - I’m not Japanese, but I’ve been working on this island for the last couple of years.

    Thanks,
    Tim

  4. Mr. Maigo Says:

    Cute. Makes me want to wire up my bed so I can take a nap with out being disturbed

  5. aib Says:

    I’ve actually had a similar idea; to put LEDs of varying colors outside my door and a rotary switch just inside. In any case, red would stand for “Do Not Disturb”, orange “knock before entering” and green “come on in”.

  6. Hacked Gadgets - DIY Tech Blog » Blog Archive » Hacked Gadgets June Comment Contest Winner Says:

    […] Sorry for the delay in selecting and announcing the winner of the comment contest. The winner of the ThinkGeek gift certificate is Mr. Maigo, comment #4 on the USB Controlled Traffic Light Status Indicator article. Congratulation on winning Mr. Maigo and thanks to all who participated. “ThinkGeek started as an idea. A simple idea to create and sell stuff that would appeal to the thousands of people out there who were on the front line and in the trenches as the Internet was forged. From programmers, engineers, students, lovers of open source, to the masses that helped create the behind-the-scenes Internet culture. ThinkGeek started as a way to serve a market that was passionate about technology.” Below is an example of a cool geek item that you could get with the gift certificate. What would you get with $50 to spend? […]

  7. April Says:

    hi! I am a student and I am now working with my project. And i like to make a traffic light that has a sensor, can you help how to make it. Please email me the procedure, and its schematic diagram. Hoping for your help! Thanks!

  8. Alan Parekh Says:

    Hi April,

    Click on some of the links in the article for more information.

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