Loot: 
Build your own tiny PC and make it do your bidding!
We thought we'd seen everything packed into a mint tin by now: iPod batteries, guitar amps, synthesizers, ham radios, video games -- even, on occasion, actual mints. But this is the first time that we can bring you a general-purpose computer designed to the mint-tin standard.
The ybox2 is a simple network computer system that you can solder together in an afternoon. Based around the multiprocessing Parallax Propeller Chip, the designers of the ybox2 added a built-in Ethernet controller, video output, infrared remote control sensor, full-color status LED, and even a piezo speaker.
For you geeks who've been dying to get your hands on a Propeller microcontroller, the ybox2 makes it easy to experiment -- the built-in program loader lets you upload new code over the network without special cables or tools. If you aren't already familiar with the Propeller, it's a unique multiprocessor programmable in a built-in high-level language called Spin as well as assembly language. Each of its eight cores can access common memory and an array of I/O pins that can be configured to talk to almost anything.
Important Note:
Assembly is definitely required. You'll need a soldering iron, some
solder, wire clippers and some skill. It will take you about two
hours to assemble the kit.
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Hackish Hangman, a Little Game We Wrote
To get a feel for the platform, one of our code monkeys hacked together this little game of hangman using a subset of the Jargon File as the dictionary. Use your laptop as a wireless game controller by telnetting into your ybox.
Get the binary and get the source code, or (on a first-come, first-served basis) connect to our ybox2 over the intertubes with this command: telnet 68.110.242.199 42
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