Friday, January 12, 2007

I want these toys...


I must admit that I love gadgets - just because they are gadgets.....If it wasn't because my wife probably will complain I'd go and buy these gadget instantly :-)

The USB Missile launcher at the Gadgets.dk.
Hey a guy needs to defend himself at the office... And imagine the possibilities if this could be accessed through a coding interface.... The build-server encounters an error during the unit-testing (without which no build is ever really complete), quickly identifies the method failing, using custom attributes on that method identifies the developer responsible, looks up his desk-coordinates in the office, connects to a vo-ip service and calls his phone (to get him to his desk) and finally launches a full batch of missiles towards him :-) Wouldn't it just be wonderfully geeky way to avoid all those annoying bugs??? (can anybody notice that I've started getting less coding and more project management task in my current job? The hair I have left is starting to get a little pointy)

Another treat at the Gadgets store is this Dr.Evil USB hub. Isn't it cool? In order for it to operate you'll need to turn the key, flip the switches and if you open the glass and press the button it'll make an incredible sound (perhaps this should in fact be used in conjunction with the missile launcher?)

The only thing that bothers me is that it's merely a USB-hub....After I've shaved myself bald, gotten a monocle and a white cat and I feel like doing a bit of world domination, the maximum thing I'll achieve from this is to turn on a USB powered Fan. Again - I wish for a coding interface....Imagine connecting this thing to the build-server! Forget about continuous Integration - You'll have everybody sitting on pins just waiting to make a new build because it'll feel so cool :-)

So if anybody enjoys reading this post and feels like getting me a present, here's some good ideas.

1 comment:

Allan Thræn said...

Okay, I finally bought the Missile Launcher. In spite of it having very short firing range (2 meters) and that it comes with extremely poor (!!!) software it's actually quite cool and geeky.
Luckily I found some nice chaps online that have reverse engineered it and made a C# library to access it with, so it didn't take me long to make an internal missile web page, where my coworkers are currently fighting for control of this little toy (which quite cleverly has been placed in a position where I can't be hit).
Get the C# library here:
http://code.google.com/p/usb-missile-launcher/