You like cats. Even if you’re a “dog person,” or allergic, I still know your little cat-loving secret. And how do I know? Well, since you’re here on TechCrunch it’s apparent that you’re at least mildly interested in the internet, which happens to be infested with cats.
If your cat obsession translates over into real life, as does your ability to hack, then boy do I have a treat for you. It’s called Kitty Twitty, and here’s how it came to be: Mark de Vinck’s wife was absolutely love-struck when she got her new cat, but missed little Chester every time she went to work. Instead of constantly intervening to give her updates, Mark decided to build something that completely removed him from the situation. The result is a little wooden cat toy that sends you a new tweet each time your cat starts to play with it.
Courtesy of Arduino, de Vinck was able to put a switchboard inside a little wooden box that instantly relays messages via Twitter. Of course, the Kitty Twitty is also equipped with a wire and a cat toy at the end of it to make sure little Chester (or whoever) is always interested. Mark says this can get even more in-depth by adding sensors to the food bowl or the kitty bed, and that dog lovers should be able to implement the same idea with something Rover might like.
The full instructions on how to build your own Kitty Twitty are here on MakeProjects, and we’d love to hear if yours turn out as well as Mark’s.