Wii Remote Reloaded
Many people know the Wii remote (or Wiimote for short) from playing with the Wii console: A little, white stick with buttons you have to shake and twist. But besides this obvious use, the Wiimote is a very interesting and inexpensive piece of hardware which contains an infrared camera capable of following up to three points, three movement sensors and a Bluetooth transmitter. The perfect toy for some serious homebrewing.
Virtual Whiteboard
Many meeting rooms are equipped with video beamers these days, however, using them for boring slide presentations only is a complete waste. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could project your computer screen and use a lightpen to click, zoom, move things around or write directly on the projected screen?
The Wiimote may act as an infrared camera. Pointed at the projected screen, it can trace up to three pens emitting infrared light and send the information to the computer via Bluetooth. If you don’t have a video beamer, you could also use a large LCD display instead.
Input Device
The wii remote can also be used as an interesting input device. Although it does pair with any Bluetooth-capable computer, you need a driver in order to send and receive data.