DIY instant messenger online contact signalizer picture frame thingy - says the creator

This nifty little gadget was created in an effort to make it possible to see who was online from across the room, or just in passing. So he took some pictures of the few people who he truly cared when they were online, put some LED lights behind them, and then did a lot of more technical stuff to make the lights light up when that person was online.

It apparently works with Skype or other IM services. From what I can see from the picture there is a battery pack, a controller board of some sort, and then Plexiglas for the Picture/LED combos.

The gentleman was kind enough to put the instructions, parts list, and all that jazz up over at his website. The board might be the hardest part to recreate as it's not a remanufactured board, so you'll actually have to do some soldering and all that jazz including a PIC18f2220 chip with some RS232 coms and LEDs go on the other pins, anyways, it's at his site.

[VolunteerLabRat via DVICE]