Ever wanted to get a perfect score in Rock Band without really trying?  Mark Single and the folks over at Pure Pwnage wanted to do the same for one of their episodes and wound up using my Light Sequencer from the Animated Holiday Lights Coding4Fun article I wrote to sequence the hardest song in Rock Band, Green Grass and High Tides.  Using the sequencer, a Phidget Interface Kit and some specially modded guitars, they succeeded in getting a 5 star rating at 99% accuracy to achieve the payoff for the sketch.

Check out the original episode, and the "behind the scenes" documentary on how they did it.  Great work, guys!

I've done the unthinkable and have decided to try out Twitter.  You can "follow" me at http://www.twitter.com/BrianPeek .  Let the grand experiment begin...

I have posted the slide deck and sample code used during my Introduction to Microsoft Robotics Studio with Lego NXT session given at the Tech Valley Code Camp on April 19, 2008.  Thanks to all who attended my session and the camp.  Looking forward to the next one...

Steve Hobley recently sent me a link to his amazingly awesome project, a "laser harp" implemented using a Wiimote and my Wiimote library.  The video is below.  Fantastic project!

Where have I been?

Sadly, nowhere good.

My father passed away extremely unexpectedly on March 4, 2008 and life has been hectic and chaotic ever since.  I'm finally back into some sort of routine, so it's time to update here and explain what's going on outside of the unpleasantness.

First off, I've been contracted to co-author a book for O'Reilly (tentatively) titled Coding4Fun with Dan Fernandez from Microsoft.  The book will be a compendium of 10 (give or take) projects that, as the title suggests, combine fun and coding.  I'll update as we go through the process.

Secondly, I'll be presenting a session titled Introduction to Microsoft Robotics Studio with Lego NXT at the Tech Valley Code Camp this Saturday, April 19th.  If you're in the area, as always, stop by.  It should be a fun and informative day.

And finally, I will be back to work on some Wiimote goodness soon.  I was right in the middle of Guitar Hero controller support when the above occurred.  I have not made it back into the project since, but know that work will be continuing.