+ 
= AWESOME
I guess starting an article off with I like Coffee would probably be a bit of an overstatement for someone who runs a site such as mine. But I really do. I’m not one of those fly by night, decaf after 4, latte only, coffee drinkers you may know. No I’m a black as true night, dark as a coal mine, Measures life by the pot-full type of people. Currently today is ranking a low, low half a pot, but trending towards a full pot.
I get excited about coffee in the way that some people lust after cars, and still others fawn over celebrity gossip. And obviously from even a cursory glance about this site i hold technology to the same standard. I guess my world is all about passion. I only have time for so many things in my life and I need to feel a connection to each of them. My wonderful wife & awesome son, Coffee, Technology / shiny objects, video games and Philly Sports teams are tied. So when two of my worlds collide I get even more hyped up than usual. I was poking around the inner depths of the internet today and found this crazy article about Tim’s Coffee Contraption. Found Via a favorite site in my bookmarks, Hack A Day.
Tim Hirzel took an old espresso machine, threw in a micro-controller, read: robot brain, Custom top, temp sensors, just to name a few pieces. Oh yeah and he snaked an old NES controller to seal the deal as the controller for this frankentraption. I don’t even know where to begin on how awesome this is, and I’m not even going to lie, I know next to nothing about robotics or electronnics to the level that he does. But damn is that a sweet finished product or what.
You need to check out the full explanation of his feat on his website. I can’t even begin to do this justice. It reminds me of the internet favorite the Caffeine Machine, on one level. I was a member of the original forum that the Caffeine Machine was posted on, I even think i might have sent a congratulatory email to the builder at the time. The funny thing is that i get emails with links to various other sites all the time with stolen images of that machine , claiming ownership. Silly people the internet knows all.
But Tim’s Machine does the Caffeine Machine one better by bringing life to it. This machine thinks to a certain extent, in fact i think it may have even visited my site. Anyway, Check out his blog for a more detailed discussion on this beast, and throw a congratulatory email his way at the very least. He earned it.