France or Hilton

March 11, 2009 3:22 PM

The piece is attached via a network cable to the internet. The needle indicates results.
posted by Fiasco da Gama (15 comments total)

Neat!
posted by turgid dahlia at 3:23 PM on March 11

Please tell me there's a webcam trained on that meter.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:31 PM on March 11

I wish it was attached to a drum like an old seismograph, so we could finally calculate the half-life of meaningless celebutantes. Is it 10 years? 50? 15 minutes?
posted by jenkinsEar at 3:36 PM on March 11

Looks like it's circa 2007, but wouldn't it be so meta to hit it with The MetaFilter Effect [see item 2.].
posted by netbros at 3:37 PM on March 11

That's hot.
posted by Joe Beese at 3:38 PM on March 11

And all the other Parises (Parisi?) are ignored. Old-timey settlers were awful fond of Paris, so much so that there are THREE in Ohio (Paris, New Paris, and Saint Paris). St. Paris is not named after an actual saint, but was modified from Paris to differentiate it from the other two Parisis towns.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:49 PM on March 11

Wow [======================||====] Meh
posted by blue_beetle at 3:49 PM on March 11 [2 favorites]

This is brilliant. Anyone recognize the board he's using? It's really familiar...
posted by heathkit at 3:55 PM on March 11

What about the Hilton in Paris, France?

Jimmy Fallon: Uh, I-I-I hear the Paris Hilton is very beautiful.

Paris Hilton: I'm glad that you've heard that.

Jimmy Fallon: Uh.. do they allow double-occupancy at the Paris Hilton?

Paris Hilton: No.

Jimmy Fallon: Is the Paris Hilton roomy?

Paris Hilton: It might be for you.. but.. most people find it very comfortable.

Jimmy Fallon: Well, I-I-I-I'm a VIP, alright? I might need to go in the back entrance.

Paris Hilton: It doesn't matter who you are - it's not going to happen.

Jimmy Fallon: Okay, now, uh.. I throw a lot of events. Uh, do they have a ballroom there?

Paris Hilton: We do.

Jimmy Fallon: Great! I'd love to have my balls held by the Paris Hilton. It sounds awesome! I'd actually like to, uh.. I'd like to check in to the Paris Hilton.

Paris Hilton: I don't think you can.

Jimmy Fallon: Really? Because.. really.. I'd only be able to stay there, like, a minute - minute and a half, or something.. two minutes, tops. I mean --

Paris Hilton: Good luck.
posted by tractorfeed at 3:55 PM on March 11 [3 favorites]

This is brilliant. Anyone recognize the board he's using? It's really familiar...

It's an Arduino.
posted by signalnine at 4:25 PM on March 11 [1 favorite]

Neat, but how does one break into the art world?

I built the exact same device a couple of years ago, although I cheated by using an old laptop instead of making the whole thing embedded. The analog outputs from an Atmega16 interface nicely with a 5v analog voltmeter.

I don't recognize that particular board, but it could easily be this one found at sparkfun. It is overkill for a project like this, but for the price it beats building your own from scratch.

If you want to get into this stuff, and are not an electronics genius, get yourself an Arduino board. You can download your programs into it and have it run stand alone, or run it connected to your computer as an interface to real world stuff like relays, dials, leds, motors, etc. If you add the ethernet shield and an analog voltmeter you could replicate this project in an afternoon for less than $100.

BTW, I love sparkfun, their customer support really knows their shit, and will give you advice on your crazy projects beyond what you would expect.
posted by dirty lies at 4:32 PM on March 11 [8 favorites]

Dirty lies, if I could, I would replace my post with your comment. I haven't picked up a soldering iron in anger since about 1995, but looking at that, I just might.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 4:42 PM on March 11

I second the Arduino and SparkFun recommendations and also the indication that that thing is NOT an Arduino.

You don't even really need a soldering iron to do what he's got there. 90% of the work was making it wall-pluggable, which if you are playing around you don't need.
posted by DU at 4:48 PM on March 11

Classic. Love it.
posted by jonmrich at 5:25 PM on March 11

There are some other really crafty things on his site. The Command Center is a a series of dials, registering a number of elements and the year, in regards to war(s). Sparse on details, so here's a bit more (mostly in the video). Information Visualization liked it.

Card Catalog is more basic - one card per song on his iPod (7,390 total).

The Art Ticker is a visual representation of popular artists, cross-referencing the number of socialite parties they've attended and how many pictures they're in at those parties (as logged by Fame Game), next to the number of pages found online referencing them, via google.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:30 PM on March 11 [2 favorites]