It took 10 months since we showed you the N95 R/C car hack, but now someone's done the inevitable thing and made an iPhone version. The DIY hack is pretty inventive: the iPhone's Wi-Fi link is used to send data to a PC, where some software sends serial data to an Arduino board which then adjusts the original R/C box for the toy car. Convoluted, but neat: the tilt-to-turn feature being priceless. There're some pretty good guidelines at the project page if you're in the mood for some DIY gadget fun, and I'd just like to point out that the iPhone has 3D accelerometers, which might be fun for aircraft... [Project via Hacknmod]

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The Ganzbot is a cardboard robot built with an Arduino Decima that can read incoming Twitter feeds and show emotions as it reads them out loud--like happiness when you tweet you a got date, or soul-crushing depression when she stands you up--based on the mood you tell it to be in. You can build one for yourself on the cheap: [Mozmonkey via MAKE]

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Giz reader Nicholas Buechi created this real liquid display that really doesn't display anything but bubbles. And that's enough, because it is mesmerising enough as it is. The liquid display is driven by an Arduino processor, and the events are triggered by a water keyboard. Sounds crazy, but in action it looks very pretty and soothing:

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What you're looking at here is an actual Wii-like 3-D controller interface that can track objects like your hand in real time. It may look a little shoddy, but what's amazing is that this very functional 3-D interface was built by a hobbyist with parts most DIYers can find in their couch cushions--six resistors, aluminium foil, wire, a cardboard box, and an Arduino microprocessor to crunch the numbers. That's it. It couldn't be more simple. But how'd he pull it off?

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I like this Life Clock. What makes it for me is not the fact that you can do it yourself using Arduino components--the open-source electronics prototyping platform--or that it can tell you the temperature and play Conway's life on its own. No, what makes it all come together is the simple wood design and the use of 60s sci-fi spaceship computer lights. [Make]

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Maurin Donneaud has created this giant walk-on rug computer keyboard, going for stomp-sensitive design rather than touch. It's a home-made affair, with foam separating the conducting-fabric contacts inside until you press down, and is powered by an Arduino board. So, while it won't let you bash out tunes like Tom Hanks in Big it will let you stamp out emails to your pals— all that leaping around would probably be fairly good exercise. At last: a way to keep your fave Giz Editors in good shape. [Hacakaday]

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We've shown you lots of weird and wonderful gizmos that DIY electronics fans have made using the powerful Arduino board, and now there's a new option: the Nano. It's not very much bigger than a stick of gum, and comes with full USB support and almost the same functionality as the bigger Diecimila board: immediately I start to think of the potential uses that makers will put this to. Its diminutive size means it'll fit in more pocketable devices, I suspect. Available in June for US$44.95. [Makezine via Crunchgear]

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The arduino platform has been the basis for a lot of bizarre gadgetry over the years, and the audio ping pong project by Mike McCracken certainly stands up to the best of them. The game is essentially the classic Pong with one major alteration—instead of using your hands and eyes, the game is controlled with audio cues and head movements.

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The Arduino platform has been the basis of some awesome projects in the past, but I have yet to see an application of the technology that is more fun than this Etch-a-Sketch clock. At the beginning of every minute, the device draws out the time in a matter of seconds and then erases it to start the process all over again the next minute. Fan freakin' tastic. [Make]

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