Open design. Open Source. Open Discussion. Everything about tapMatrix is freely shared under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license. Want to build one of your own? Great! Can you use some or all of this design in your own project? Sure! Can you sell a copy or derivative of this design? No problem (just call it something else). Grab the code from GitHub and learn more on clock.bonsignore.com.
Plug in tapMatrix, and it's a clock, and it just works. No need to upload, download, reload, or perform any such geekery. But it's based on the popular Arduino platform, and the embedded code running tapMatrix is open and freely shared. If you're so inclined, it can be easily customized, improved, or upgraded. Make it a weather station. A stock ticker. A tweet radiator. A pong game. Let the hacking begin!
Some claim that human retina can not resolve a screen resolution greater than 300 pixels per inch. tapMatrix proudly offers pixels over 50 times larger than an iPhone! Its large LED display is colorful, always visible, bright by day, and dim by night. Its touchscreen technology is versatile and intuitive, and works just as well if you're wearing sleeping gloves. Try that with an iPhone! Who needs all those pixels anyway?
The Open Clock Project prototype proved that LED Matrix + Touchscreen + Arduino = COOL. It was a Pitch-your-Prototype finalist at the 2013 Make Hardware Innovation Workshop, a blue ribbon winner at Maker Faire, and was featured on Tested.com.
Learn MoreWe are here. The retail cost of the components needed to build the Open Clock totals nearly $250. That's crazy! tapMatrix needs to retail for $150 or less, so the bill of materials needs to get down to about $50. Is that possible?
Let's find out!If we can figure out how to get the costs down to something reasonable, I'll figure out how to get it made so anyone can own tapMatrix. Then we can turn our attention to making it better!
Make It!