Google’s AnyPixel is a web friendly way for anyone to make unusual displays. Via FastCoDesign:
To make programming any array of physical switches as easy as displaying something on a web page, Google is releasing a new open-source software and hardware library, called AnyPixel.js. It’s a tool anyone can use to combine any number of individual “pixels” into a larger display, which can then be controlled by a web page.
Wanting to come up with an eye-catching example of what AnyPixel.js can be used for, Google decided to use the new software to create a display for the lobby of its NYC office. It purchased about 6,000 light-up arcade buttons and wired them all together, using AnyPixel.js as a controller. Since each arcade button has a color-changing LED inside it, each “pixel” is capable of displaying any color, but because they’re also buttons, the finished display works like a touch screen—allowing you to tap on any pixel to interact with it.
Sure, the finished display is decidedly low-res (with only 5,880 pixels, Google’s arcade button display has less fidelity than your Apple Watch’s screen). But it’s big and messy and mesmerizing and fun. It recaptures a little bit of the analog charm that more primitive displays (like flipboards) evoke, while giving them 21st-century digital oomph.