February 2007 - Brian Peek's Blog

I have been selected to speak at Code Camp NYC II.  I will be presenting an "Introduction to Microsoft Robotics Studio with Lego Mindstorms NXT" at 3:45pm on Saturday, March 3rd.  If that doesn't pique your interest, there will be plenty of other topics, one of which is bound to hold your interest.  If you're in the area, as always, stop by and heckle!

Register for the event here. 

More videos of The King are up on his dedicated page and below.  This time he sings two Elvis Presley classics and "Take On Me" by a-ha.  Enjoy!

Well, if you're reading this, it means that my upgrade to CS2.1 didn't go as horrifically bad as I had anticipated.  That said, if anyone notices any anomalies with the site (a shift+refresh should fix most of the graphical issues (I hope)), please contact me and let me know!  Comments on the new skin welcome as well.  Thanks go to my buddy Joey for the new graphics.  Check out his site for some excellent photography.

I have been sent a second video of The King, this time singing Holiday by Green Day.  I have also created a dedicated page for The King and will be updating it as more videos are created.  Enjoy! 

Update 2/13/07: After reading this post, check out and bookmark this page for a list of all videos to date!

Today, someone sent me a video of what is undoubtedly one of the coolest things I have ever seen.  If you are a regular reader, I'm sure you recall my Animated Christmas Lights article at Coding4Fun and accompanying video.  Today, I received a video of someone using my software and Phidget boards to animate something other than lights.  If you've ever been to a Chuck E. Cheese, you may recall one of the animated characters known as "The King" (photo from http://sp-com.tripod.com/):

I have been told that The King shown in the video below was broken and left for dead.  After being salvaged from a dumpster, he was carefully repaired and restored, and once again animated and set to music using my Light Sequencer application normally used for Christmas lights!  I distinctly remember The King at my local store many, many moons ago, so this is especially spiffy for me.  Take a look at the video below.  I can only hope we see a few more sequences from my new anonymous friend starring The King...