DIY Magic Mirror Makes Disney’s Look Positively Low Tech

This is for those of you who got a shiver when the magic mirror spoke to the witch in Snow White… or rather, it’s the sort of thing that’ll give your kids a shiver in this electronic age. A guy called Al has hooked up an old PC, an LCD screen, an Arduino board and a slew of sensors to give his daughters their very own interactive digital magic mirror.

It’s got selectable Princess, Halloween and Pirate modes, touch panel control and web connectivity (he’s clearly hoping the girls’ll be in finance: one touch panel reports on how his stocks are doing… badly it seems). Awesomeness all ’round.

There’s an Instructable so you can try to follow in his footsteps, though since it’s sophisticated stuff I wouldn’t let your kids know what you’re up to until you’re well on the road to making it all work. That way you’ll avoid treading the yellow brick road to disappointment city if it all goes horribly wrong. [Instructables via Makezine]