This weekend, team PopSci.com is temporarily relocating to warmer climes down south for the great digital mind-meld that is South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas—the nerdier stepchild of the definitive SXSW music conference happening later this month. We're dusting off our conference caps to soak up anything and everything from keynote speakers including MAKE's Phillip Torrone, Dan Rather and the godfather of Spore, Will Wright, as well as sessions from just about anyone who's anyone in the Internet game. Chances are, if it's going to define the way we use technology and the Web in the next few years, it'll be talked about by someone in Austin this weekend. So obviously, we're pumped. Watch this special category page for our blog updates from the conference. —John Mahoney

This booth demo model is capable of sensing large objects on the floor, and if unable to run them over, picking them up with a smart robotic arm.

We at PopSci have always been big fans of the Roomba, the autonomous home robo-vacuum. Aside from being able to diligently cleaning your dirty, dirty floors without complaint, the Roomba has become become a thing of hacker legend. Enterprising robot fans the world over (including PopSci contributor and MAKE editor Phillip Torrone) have used its standard serial interface to make it do all kinds of tricks, from protecting your home to, well, cockfighting.

Dept.: What You Built
Cost: $750
Time: 120 Hours
Easy | | | | | Hard

How It Works

You bet. But first, a primer: Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT) is a service from Microsoft that uses FM radio waves to send personalized text feeds-including news, stock quotes, weather, movie listings, appointments and instant messages-to SPOT-enabled wristwatches. A number of models are available from Suunto, Swatch, Tissot and others (see spotstop.com for a full list).
I've had a SPOT watch (two, actually, plus one for my wife) since their debut in 2004, and I love it.