I don’t have any pics but my first car in the eighties I augmented with a console around the shifter through to the front seats. I had toggle switches wired up to “enable” gauges so that I could measure if my atomic batteries were to charge and if turbines were up to speed. (Bonus geek points if you know the reference.) As a child I also watched Speed Racer and the special functions on the Mach 5’s steering wheel were features I wanted in a car.
Other than that, again no pics, but I built my model rocket launch controller in 1981 to enable control for three rockets (or a cluster of three engines in a single rocket) so that I could launch my full stack Space Shuttle, adapted to have powered boosters in addition to the engine.
These users thanked the author thomcat00 for the post (total 3):
^^^
Do you remember the little sound synthesiser you could buy for your car that allowed you to make laser gun, rocket and blasting sounds so you could imagine you were shooting other cars off the road in a sci fi type way?
My mate was an electronics wiz and somehow wired it up to an amp, stereo, external speaker behind the front grille and a sequence of labelled push buttons on the dash. Fabulous!! Hadn't thought of this for years until thomcat00's above post.
These users thanked the author Soporsche for the post (total 2):
Stif wrote: ↑Wed Aug 03, 2022 4:18 pm
but that in itself isn't too nerdy. You see, I'd rather just use an app for this, but whilst there seems to be a decent one available for iOS, I couldn't find anything for Android...so I figured I'd just build my own
Oh, you know how to create your own mobile OS apps? Think you could manage something like I’ve described below? I admit, I t’s a little different from tracking watches.
You know, I have an idea to carry my “modification” a bit further. It would be a hardware/OS app combo. The hardware would be a small Bluetooth enabled mini joystick (I know they exist in the perfect size….because I bought one at Radio Shack) with a little button on the top that can fit in a drink holder of a car. The app would access a phone’s camera and connect to the joystick. Mount the phone in a phone holder on the dash, open the app, and then a crosshair shows up on the phone screen! Aim with the joystick then destroy your enemies! The basic app comes with machine guns, but the weapons system can be upgraded in app - missiles, oil, flame thrower, whatever.
Drew
“Ricky, I'm going to miss you. Apparently you're the only one in Casablanca with less scruples than I.” ~ Capt. Renault
ha! I bet I could get the phone talking to the joystick at least But doubt Google or Apple would let me publish an app that was meant to be played while driving!
I reckon the easier next steps though would be to wire up a system to spill oil or spikes behind the car though - I bet building an actual ejector seat wouldn't be too much effort, just an old airbag, some loosened nuts and a switch!
- Grant
"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently, that which should not be done at all."
Developer of mobile watch app WristCheck:
Find it on Google Play and the App Store
Stif wrote: ↑Thu Aug 04, 2022 12:49 pm
ha! I bet I could get the phone talking to the joystick at least But doubt Google or Apple would let me publish an app that was meant to be played while driving!
I reckon the easier next steps though would be to wire up a system to spill oil or spikes behind the car though - I bet building an actual ejector seat wouldn't be too much effort, just an old airbag, some loosened nuts and a switch!
Yeah, I imagine that would be a challenge. A guy can dream though.
These users thanked the author jkbarnes for the post:
Stif wrote: ↑Thu Aug 04, 2022 12:49 pm
ha! I bet I could get the phone talking to the joystick at least But doubt Google or Apple would let me publish an app that was meant to be played while driving!
I reckon the easier next steps though would be to wire up a system to spill oil or spikes behind the car though - I bet building an actual ejector seat wouldn't be too much effort, just an old airbag, some loosened nuts and a switch!
Shear bolts might be the order of the day
These users thanked the author rkovars for the post (total 2):
"The cure for anything is salt water - tears, sweat and the sea." Isak Dinesen Current CW = C65 Trident GMT, C65 Dartmouth, C60 Trident Ombré LE, C65 Super Compressor, C63 Ukraine LE Pre-order = C63 Forum LE, Momentum Sea Quartz 30
Stif wrote: ↑Wed Aug 03, 2022 4:18 pm
Been questioning whether to post in this thread (for fear that it sets some expectations and means I might actually have to finish something I start...) but in the vein of openness and nerdiness:
I've been keeping a spreadsheet and a wee graph of the watches I've been wearing this year, because (spoiler alert) stats are interesting:
Screenshot 2022-08-03 at 16.02.17.png
but that in itself isn't too nerdy. You see, I'd rather just use an app for this, but whilst there seems to be a decent one available for iOS, I couldn't find anything for Android...so I figured I'd just build my own (although as a bonus it's actually cross platform, so should work just as well on both!)
Screenshot_20220803-155852.png
It's a long way from finished (and as hinted at above, might never be ) but I'm having fun with it! It's far enough along that it lets you store a collection and a wishlist, but planning to add the ability to track what you're wearing and pull out some graphs by month/year. The beauty is that once you start collecting data, then you've got loads of options of what you can then do with it (track expenditure, profit/loss, cost per wear, most/least worn watches, favourites etc)
Nerd, you say? OK, I didn’t build my own, but I do record my daily wear in the OnMyWrist app, then extract the data and chart my annual usage….
These users thanked the author 0uatiOW for the post (total 2):
There were a few posts around the new year of similar charts which is what made me want to do the same - annoyingly there's no Android equivalent of OnMyWrist that I can find!
- Grant
"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently, that which should not be done at all."
Developer of mobile watch app WristCheck:
Find it on Google Play and the App Store
Unfortunately, the OnMyWrist app leaves out us that change up during the day. You can only enter one watch per day (at least when I last looked at it). I contacted the developer about it and he said it was something he was looking into but didn't have any timeframes.
"The cure for anything is salt water - tears, sweat and the sea." Isak Dinesen Current CW = C65 Trident GMT, C65 Dartmouth, C60 Trident Ombré LE, C65 Super Compressor, C63 Ukraine LE Pre-order = C63 Forum LE, Momentum Sea Quartz 30
Apart from a watch collection I couldn’t find any signs of nerdiness in my life. No other collections, no interesting tech, no hats. I can’t code and I don’t roast my own coffee beans.....
.... so I’ve just signed up to OnMyWrist to gather statistics to tell my friends about...
These users thanked the author missF for the post:
rkovars wrote: ↑Tue Aug 09, 2022 4:03 pm
Unfortunately, the OnMyWrist app leaves out us that change up during the day. You can only enter one watch per day (at least when I last looked at it). I contacted the developer about it and he said it was something he was looking into but didn't have any timeframes.
The good news is that mine should cover that no bother... the bad news is it'll probably never see the light of day
(So far its at the point where you can add, but not yet edit, watch info to a collection, wishlist or 'sold' list. Working on building out the metadata associated with watches now...once that's done it'll really just be a case of making it draw pretty graphs... So give me another 3 months...)
- Grant
"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently, that which should not be done at all."
Developer of mobile watch app WristCheck:
Find it on Google Play and the App Store
Stif wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 10:03 am
(So far its at the point where you can add, but not yet edit, watch info to a collection, wishlist or 'sold' list. Working on building out the metadata associated with watches now...once that's done it'll really just be a case of making it draw pretty graphs... So give me another 3 months...)
Do we need a column for shoe colour??
These users thanked the author missF for the post:
Stif wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 10:03 am
(So far its at the point where you can add, but not yet edit, watch info to a collection, wishlist or 'sold' list. Working on building out the metadata associated with watches now...once that's done it'll really just be a case of making it draw pretty graphs... So give me another 3 months...)
Do we need a column for shoe colour??
Only as long as you can add two pairs each day. Some of us wear a different pair for work. And what about slippers?
Iain’s Law: Any discussion on the Christopher Ward forum, irrespective of the thread title or subject matter, will eventually lead to someone mentioning the Bel Canto if the thread continues for long enough.
