An umbrella isn’t the most exciting accessory ever devised, but two women recently equipped one with a few bells and whistles, turning it into a more entertaining 8-bit music machine that reacts to raindrops.
During the Music Hack Day festival in Amsterdam, Alice Zappe and Julia Läger used 12 sensors, two speakers and an arduino microcontroller to give the umbrella sound, which changes with the intensity of the rain.
The umbrella reminds us of the YouTube video “It’s Raining 8-Bit Men.”
Other people have had fun bringing 8-bit nostalgia back into current times, too. The new Nyan Cat soundtrack, for example, pays homage to iconic 8-bit music. And an adorable T-shirt features half pixelated hearts that will light up completely if the person wearing it gets close to another person wearing the same shirt.
But one of the biggest 8-bit projects arrived a few months ago when Google transformed its Maps feature into an 8-bit gamer’s paradise for April Fools’ Day (see gallery below).
Would you use an umbrella that played music? Let us know in the comments below.
1. Google Headquarters
Click here to view this gallery.
Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, walrusmail
More About: Gadgets, hackathon, mashable video, Tech, Weather
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