Darco writes –

In my previous post, I elaborated on how I reverse engineered the low level protocol the GE Color Effects G-35 strings used. It seems to have been quite popular, and several people have taken that information to hack their own G-35 strings to do cool and amazing things. But what about me? What am I doing with my strings?

Well, it’s a bit late in the year to start putting together some sort of advanced choreographed light show, so I’m staying somewhat simple for now. No music, just a few different algorithmic patterns. And here’s the kicker: I want to be able to control them with the web browser my phone too. Sounds like a job for… the ybox2. Behold, the networked christmas light controller in an altoids tin!

The YBox2 is a DIY networked set-top box. Connect it to your TV and you can design customized content to be delivered direct from the Internet. This project is great for people who want a new platform to experiment with. The video and Internet cores are ready to go and easy to work with. We have some example widgets that demonstrate the YBox2’s capability, and the whole project is open source so you can start hacking your own. If you’ve ever been curious about the Parallax Propeller chip, the YBox2 is a perky little platform with tons of accessories.

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