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There was a point of time last week where I wanted to get some coffee but I didn't want to be disappointed when I got there and there was not a drop left. wouldn't it be great if i could just check a website and see if there was coffee or not?

I thought about it and decided that i could easily make a computer to do that. There was a problem though, I don't think people around the office would really want a somewhat large desktop computer in the break room cluttering up the area, so I needed something small.

after searching for single board computers, I found them all to be a little too expensive for what I wanted to do. I remembered back a few months when i wanted this new handheld device that was completely community designed, ran linux, and was quite powerful, the Pandora. I also remembered that most of the development was done on beagleboards. For around $150 I got a relatively powerful computer packed into a 3"x3" form factor.

So the idea rolled around in my head for a little bit longer and I decided to give it ago, difficulty wise I think it will be pretty low. As soon as i get my beagleboard (it is on backorder now) I'll have to get a linux install on it, make sure v4l modules are installed, then compile mplayer/ffmpeg.

here is hoping I get it soon.