Jnx is an augmented, tactile interface for stress relief, in the form of a plush doll. The core idea of Jnx is based around the concept of squeezing something, much like stress busters, which is emulated by squeezing the dolls throat.

The look and feel of Jnx is inspired by sack puppets and voodoo dolls to add a mystical aura to the interaction. The interface emulates a voodoo doll like behavior by allowing the user to strangle it or twist it arms and legs. The doll responds to the users actions in the form of audio playback.

An Arduino Duemilanove with an ATMega328 microcontroller is used to power the project. A zipper on the front provides easy access to switch the unit on/off, change a 9V battery and adjust the volume on the Adafruit Wave Shield, which is used to playback audio loops.

The audio loops are triggered when force is applied to the flex sensors in the arms and legs, and a force sensitive resistor in the neck.

An Arduino sound project, Diver is an instrument inspired by Analog Sequencers and Theremins. It allows creating a four-note looped melody which can be manipulated in real-time with knobs that can assign upto 5 octaves for each note. Each knob lights up to indicate it’s position in the loop. The top of Diver houses a sensor which can be used to control the tempo of the loop in real-time. Use Diver in live performances or at home to produce awesome loops, melodies and special effects.

Tweetlite is a visual commentary on our relationship with online social networks. It is an ambient light that represents a pixel – the smallest unit of visual digital information. This is represented in the form of a minimalist, 4″ white, plexiglass, cube that reads messages from a Twitter feed and displays them in Morse code. Each message is displayed in a different color and makes for a great mood light. It has USB and power connectivity and comes with a program that is used to enter Twitter credentials to enable the data feed visualization.

It needs to be connected to a computer with an Internet connection, via USB. The patterns and colors can be customized. Needless to say, it can be of great use to someone who can read, interpret or even want to learn Morse code.

It is powered by an Arduino Duemilanove and Python to read tweets from Twitter and send it to the Arduino as serial data. The python code is based on this example.