isobar NOWLAB
isobar South Africa hosted 9 NOWLAB events and hackathons with the first being in December 2014. They were the best part of my job. This is a collection of my favourite events.
Happy hack. The GIF gun.
The Gif Gun was the winning project at isobar South Africa's first NOWLAB hackathon in December 2014. It consists of a Raspberry Pi, USB power supply, HD projector and a mouse housed in a modified toy gun chassis. The Gif Gun lets you project animated gifs onto any surface by simply aiming it and pulling the trigger. A crosshair is constantly projected while the unit is powered up to aid with aiming.
Maker Library Librarians for a day. Image Fucker.
We were invited by The Maker Library Network to be the librarians for a day. Our goal was to play with no end goal in mind. We took images uploaded with the #instanowlab hashtag, converted them into audio signals and ran them through various analog machines. The output from the machines was then captured and re encoded to form new images. These images were automatically printed and saved to be reuploaded.
Microsoft Open Data Hack. FATI
I should write a blurb here, but I need to walk the dog. The thing was called FATI and it helped you Find Access To Internet. Data’s expensive.
Off Grid Living. WATTSDOG
We created a smart plug system called WATTSDOG to incentivise people to help alleviate the strain on South Africa's power grid. We created a working prototype of the smart plug that could be controlled over the internet. We also mapped an ecosystem that demonstrated how WATTSDOG could help communities feel invested and accountable for power savings in their homes.
Hack for Love. OohSB
My team and I created a USB app called OOH SB that let your computer feel some love. Upon insertion of the USB drive, a pop-up instructed you to repeatedly insert and remove the USB drive from their computer and see what would come next. As you f*cked your computer with a USB drive, an animation played that increased in intensity and climaxed with a colourful kaleidoscopic animation.
