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USB Menorah
Fiver-rah writes "There's USB Christmas trees; lame acrylic things with LED lights that are powered by your computer. It's an amusing idea, but it doesn't really take advantage of being attached to a computer. Enter the USB Menorah. It can correctly calculate the dates of Hannukah for at least the next few thousand years (or any historical date back to 2 B.C.E.). As well as 'lighting' the candles based on when the sunsets (I set the default geography for San Francisco/Berkeley, but you can enter any latitude/longitude and (assuming you don't live too close to the arctic
circle) it will be correct to within a few minutes. Furthermore, the shamas (candle you use to light the other candles) can blink out any morse-code message you want--it'll convert the words to morse code for you! And you can even put it into Kwanzaa mode! Each candle can take three different colors (Red, Green & Yellow),
allowing you to do some animation. Software is a GPL command line program for Mac OS X. Basically only the USB communication stuff needs to be ported for other OS's. Delcom
(the manufacturer of the USB interface chip) supplies drivers for
Windows, and a few people have written Linux drivers, so it wouldn't be
too hard for a motivated individual."
+5 Confusing
i saw a usb powered toothbrush at some obscure japanes page, are there anything YOU cant power with usb?
*resistance is futile, or fuzzy, i dunno*
The lamest USB gadget you can think of :
...
1) USB machine gun
2) USB umbrella
3) USB Inflatable doll
4) USB stapler
help me out here...
My FireWire Christmas tree beats the crap out of that!
Though perhaps "FireWire" isn't such a good word to use in the context of combustible wood...
The coolest voice ever.
Now I just feel silly... and slow. I must need more coffee. Or maybe a USB Menorah.
"...The mice will see you now..."
While basically gimmics, stuff like this USB powered menorah and the USB toothbrush may be looked back on historically as the dawning of the pervasive computing age..
Next thing will be to make them interface via wireless ethernet.
Oy...and for this I sent you to MIT?
I hope the people buying this tree realize that they have to keep an old computer working for a few thousand years and pass that computer to their children and so on and so forth. It would be a shame to not take advantage of its ability to calculate a thousands years into the future.
It would be really cool though if it could masquerade as something else when it's not christmas (holidays whatever). Both me and some of my friends are usually too lazy to take away decorations after christmas and you usually end with some smartass comments during summer.
why pay? USB devices rarely work under Linux.
Well, LEDs on a menorah could very well suffice, depending on the circumstances.
I mean, the lighting of the candles might be awkward, but it certainly can be done. Judaism is not really so much of a methodical religion as much as it is a spiritual one.
Of course, what do I know? I'm a very bad Jew.
Let's see, I believe it says:
A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.
A dreidel with Bluetooth?
Think anyone's going to pay retail for that?
for their UPS kept their menorah lit for 8 full nights after the Syrian army cut the power!
Thus thou shalt celebrate for 8 days, lighting one LED each night.
Vonal Declosion
about 2300 years ago if I remember correctly.
Jeez, how old are you?
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
All this religious stuff, and here Chris Kringle is getting oppressed! I want my USB RUDOLPH
This is my sig.
---
USB Menorah (Y/M/N) Y
Why not?
As opposed to the non-combustible variety?
Ever tried to burn wet wood?
The coolest voice ever.
That's the nerdiest thing I've ever heard about. Seriously. And I've used /. for almost six years.
I actually have one, made by D-Link. The hardware works fine, but the accompanying software is crap.