These "Audio Cubes" sport IR sensors on their faces to detect distance and communicate with their neighbors. They also have USB ports, rechargeable batteries, and audio in/out ports. Although cool, the price tag isn't cheap, so we here at Make know that someone could hack their own version together pretty easily.
They do look cool, but in certain respects seem like a solution looking for a problem. The best things are the configurable colours and the proximity sensors. They would make a fantastic mini light show for any laptop set, but you'd need at least 16 to make a splash, and these things cost a lot! Please someone make a cheapo version!
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They do look cool, but in certain respects seem like a solution looking for a problem. The best things are the configurable colours and the proximity sensors. They would make a fantastic mini light show for any laptop set, but you'd need at least 16 to make a splash, and these things cost a lot! Please someone make a cheapo version!
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google "tangible interface" for some background info. tangibles will become increasingly important in the future to interact with computers.
for people interested, the cubes come with max/msp patches of the included software so you can adapt it for your own needs.
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