The amazing hacks of an amazing researcher

Maybe you remember from way back sometime in 2005 this crazy nerd running around with his "poor man's steadycam", a concoction of some metal pipes, weight, bolt and nuts, as featured on Hak5? (Wow, I just realized I had accidentally unsubscribed to Hak5, now I've got some ten great episodes to watch, yay!)


You don't? Well, turns out this same nutty nerd has really made it big with his Wii remote hacks on TED.com among other places.

So, of course I spent all last night checking out his amazing projects, the projector-based tracking is not bad either. Johnny Chung Lee is now a researcher of interface design and stuff at Carnegie Mellon Universityfor Microsoft Applied Sciences, and a productive one to add. Much more productive than the researchers I remember from Chalmers University, maybe they could inherit some these people's urgency to create amazing prototypes? I dunno. Anyway, not all that many of the "small people" have the opportunity to turn up several times in the limelight and I will continue to be amazed by and admire this guy - go Johnny Lee!

(Update: I am so gonna make these whiteboards myself)

Just another gadget - now I want a Wii Fit

Ok, despite what people may think with all my gadgets, dance mat and stuff, I have actually stopped believing in gadgets for happiness. I don't have an iPhone, I don't have a Wii, PS3 or Xbox 360, I'm just happy with what I have - a couple of computers, dance mat and my old PS2 (cue sarcastic giggle...) .


Anyway, today I discovered the Wii Fit, and the balance plate (think bathroom scales) associated with it. Actually I did so somewhat reluctantly, I mean, stepping up and down on a pad, trying desperately to fight that overweight, how fun can it be? Well, I was wrong, Wii Fit is actually probably the most varied, fun and advanced Wii game I've seen so far. Maybe not so much something you bring out at the party, but combining the "Mii" account management with actual exercise activity tracking creates what would seem a great everyday challenge, and the different exercize tasks also seem pretty interesting and varied.

Considering how persistent I can be sitting on my ass playing just another level in Burnout Revenge, if I am challenged to gather exercize minutes (and Wii Points which can be cashed in for emulator games online?!) and unlock more silly games and tasks, I think I could struggle quite hard.

What turned out one of the most fun games in my opinion definitely was the slalom balance game. Silly, hard, fun, lean forward to speed up, lean left and right to turn, and fight the rest of the family for the positions in the highscore list. Man, I have to get myself one of these sometime... Can anyone who has one tell me if they remain fun? Read more about it here, and check out the video below for what cool undocumented things you can do with a wiimote: