So our grand scheme of modifying a Nabaztag to direct shipping traffic into Durban Harbour whilst playing the theme tune to The Poseidon Adventure may have died with the company that made it. However, thankfully their new adoptive parents have let Violet release a third generation bunny – called Karotz. And it’s arrived! Unlike your inferior real-life wet-nosed furry version, this bunneh is WiFi connected with it’s own TCP/IP stack, RFID reader & web operating software… giving you full control of the voice prompts, audio output, swivelling ears & glowing belly. Rad.

Goodbye weekend. Hello Nabazmob API.

Sitting on the workbench this week is a Powerbook G4. Even though it’s a few years old now, it remains a fingernail-bustingly complicated piece of kit. Designed by the finest intellectual muscle-monkeys at Cupertino & most probably assembled by a 12 year old somewhere in the Shaanxi Province it’s a pretty good benchmark of what’s technologically possible when we come together as a species & combine our radness.

Now, if something were to go awry with this shining plinth to circuits & electricity (Computers? Go wrong? No?), you’d think you would need a PHD in Particle Physics & unlimited access to the CERN laborotories in order to rectify things. Fear not amigos, we’re here to tell you about the mind-numbingly simple guides over at iFixit which cater for just about every technology malfunction it’s possible to experience in the average human lifetime… with the possible exception of programming your parent’s VCR. No-one understands that shit.

One of the biggest names in synthesizer production finally comes to iPad… and what an entrance too! For a limited time only, you can get the incredible Animoog for only $1 from the App Store. A large fireworks display choreographed to music with doves flapping in slow motion, Japanese kids drifting Nissan GT-R’s & jumping through hoops of fire wouldn’t have gone amiss either… but we’re just happy to get our grubby little paws on it. Expect our next never-to-be-released-for-live-performance-only track to feature many weird sounds created on this beast. We need to do some RTFM first mind you….

Although being made somewhat obsolete by the current wave of iPad audio applications, we still use a Jazzmutant Lemur. It’s customizability & no-nonsense OSC editor is still waaaay more powerful than anything we’ve been able to find on the App Store. Until we actually bite the bullet & pay the annual developer .sdk fees, we’ll stick to making our own Lemur templates. Here’s our last live revision – LiveControl12.6.jzml - right click “save as” to download the file or click to view the source. You’ll need JazzEditor to run the script & Daemon to setup the midi channels properly.

The chaps in the office built our own Nixie Clock from parts ordered online. We’re trying to make a wrist-watch out of smaller parts, but need to clear several major hurdles, including how to run enough power for the actual watch without being attached to an inconvenient extension cord (ie: run it off batteries) …and the very complicated circuit board scemantics. Come back in 2015 for an update.