Monthly Archives December 2007
Blu-Ray Laser Phaser!
Hack a Playstation 3 blu-ray laser and turn the Star Trek Phaser into a Blu-Ray Laser Phaser! link
Laser Tag 2.0
Laser Tag 2.0 is a Graffiti Research Lab project and is written by Theodore Watson and Zachary Lieberman using openFrameworks. It may be used free of charge as long as it is not used for marketing, advertising or promotion.
Some new features:
- 4 main brush modes - each with their own qualities and different brush types.
- You can design your own brushes by making png files.
- If you want to code your own brushes there is a super simple system for that too.
- Built in music player for playing your party jams while Laser Tagging.
- Network connection for sending the laser tag data to flash, Processing, openFrameworks, Max / Msp etc.
- Color! - editable color xml file - add up to fifty brush colors - works with all brushes.
The equipment:
Here is the essential equipment you will need for your Laser Tag system.
1x fast laptop (PC or Mac) that can connect to an external monitor. It helps if the laptop has a dedicated graphics card, so a Macbook Pro would be preferable to a Macbook for this reason (though macbooks seem to run it just fine!).
1x video camera that you can connect to your laptop. Video cameras that have manual controls tend to be a lot better at tracking the laser than ones that automatically adjust the image depending on how bright it is.
1x projector. Anything over 2000 lumens should be good. 1x laser pointer between 5mW and 80mW in power.
Download the software and see the howto here.
Stray cattle rounded up with laser gun
Stray cattle rounded up with laser gun: “The problem of stray cattle roaming in the Diyatalawa Army Camp premises is being overcome with the assistance of the Veterinary Science Faculty of Peradeniya. The camp had been having around 300 to 400 cattle roaming its grounds and destroying plants and fences in the premises. A number of requests had been made by the Camp Commanders to various authorities but without success. Finally Brigadier N.J.Welgama had contacted the Presidential Secretariat for help. The Presidential Secretariat had then contacted the National Livestock Development Board (NLDB) which in turn had contacted the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine for its assistance. Veterinarians who launched ‘Operation Cattle’ around the camp have found that this variety of semi-wild cattle who wander into the camp have special genes and were resistant to disease. According to Dr. Basil Alexander of the Faculty this aspect needs further investigation. Dr. Alexander who took up the challenge using the latest laser gun has now captured around 70 head of cattle and handed them over to the NLDB. Dr.Alexander said these cattle who had withstood the climatic conditions and were resistant to disease need genetic upgrading.”
Good idea. 
Laser restoration of Art at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts
Art of restoration - BostonHerald.com: “MFA conservators mix traditional methods - swabbing and stitching - with state-of-the-art technology, including lasers designed for eye surgery and tattoo removal. Hatchfield uses a 65-pound laser with a gunlike handpiece - costing in the $200,000 range - to clean an eroded and blackened marble basin that lay for 2,000 years in the volcanic ruins of Rome’s ill-fated Pompeii. “Boston is at the forefront of this technology,” she said. “Harvard has a laser, the Gardner Museum just got a laser and we have a laser. They’re very expensive. We’re proceeding slowly because there’s some question whether or not this procedure causes yellowing.””
Laser distracts soccer player
It is reported that a west Ham fan tried to distract Didier Drogba by shining a laser light into his eye. Link
