eSleeper combines cats, Arduino and Twitter in an eMac shell (video)

If we had to imagine our dream DIY project chances are it would involve Arduino, Twitter and, of course, cats. How we'd combine those things we're not sure, but we'll admit to being big fans of Samuel Cox's eSleeper, which turns a hollowed-out eMac into a bed for his feline. Inside the shell is an Arduino Ethernet connected to an IR sensor, some LEDs and a sound shield. When the cat breaks the infrared beam it triggers the iconic Mac chime and turns on a series color-shifting LEDs for a little mood lighting. From there the clock starts ticking. When little Fluffy (Captain Whiskers? Matlock? Penny? Greg?) decides she's had enough napping and leaves the white plastic cocoon, tripping the IR sensor again, a random phrase is tweeted, along with the length of the cat's siesta. Check out the video after the break to see the eSleeper in all its adorable DIY glory.

Source:http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/01/esleeper-combines-cats-arduino-and-twitter-in-an-emac-shell-vi/

Twitter + Sports = Stat.us

Automated Insights, the venture-backeddigital media company formerly known as StatSheet, automatically transforms data into content – think interactive applications and things like data-driven news articles, charts and whatnot.
Lately, Automated Insights’s been making waves with its extensive network of sports-related websites. For an example, check out the StatSheet MLB website.
Today, the company is debuting a website in an effort to showcase “all the cool stuff they are doing with Twitter”. Dubbed Stat.us (amusingly, the name @Jack Dorsey gave Twitter before it becameTwitter), the new website aims to allow sports fans to follow just what they are interested in.
The site was born partially out of frustration with Twitter’s limited filtering capabilities, Automated Insights founder Robbie Allen told me. Basically, Stat.us aggregates Twitter accounts for every NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA Basketball and NCAA Football team in the United States, and populates them with live play-by-play updates, score updates, statistics and analysis.
Another cool part of Stat.us is the Twitter Fantasy Tracker, where users can create a Twitter list with the specific accounts from the players on their Fantasy football team. Here’s Allen’s list if you’d like to get a better idea of what Automated Insights is trying to do.
At present, StatSheet’s Twitter network boasts over 250,000 followers, and Allen tells me Automated Insights has gathered over 2 billion relevant statistics in a proprietary database to date.
The statistics for Stat.us are provided by StatSheet’s official stats provider, sports wire service The Sports Network.
Source:http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/30/twitter-sports-stat-us/

Bonfire Comes Back From The Grave, So Get IM-ing On Twitter

When Bonfire went live last month we had high hopes for this tiny startup which planned to bring instant messaging to the Twitter web site, Facebook-chat style.

With this IM presence, now you would know if your Twitter friends were online or not. The horror…
Except, it didn’t work.
Bonfire crashed under the weight of TechCrunch’s readership and we didn’t hear from them again for some time. Well, it happens.
But, boys and girls, Bonfire is back and appears to be working just fine. Unless of course this post kills it again in 3…2..1…
Meanwhile, assuming it works, Bonfire may end up something Twitter would take an interest in – it makes the site itself much stickier, and that means ad dollars for Twitter.
Their plug-in for Chrome and Safari lets you invite friends, but a Twitter user has to follow and be followed by the same person in order to IM them over Bonfire. Direct Messaging remains unaffected.
Check it out and leave your impressions in the comments.
Source: http://eu.techcrunch.com/2011/11/23/bonfire-comes-back-from-grave-so-get-im-ing-on-twitter/