• Created IRC account
• Made profile page
• Created my blog

We got the watch that we are going use in our project, and plan to start working on the logic.

Our main priority right now is figuring out the workings of the watch we got. By thursday we plan on writing some simple test code to test the watch connection with the computer, basically making it beep when we want using computer input.

We are having trouble getting all the software set up on the laptop and making it communicate with the watch. We hit a wall so we started to write the code for the alarm clock portion.

We ran into a lot of problems this weekend trying to write an application for the watch. The biggest issue was a permission error we were getting, but after trying some of the things suggested in class we finally are getting somewhere.

So the after finally being able to start coding, our watch decided to malfunction. The alarm emitted no sound when it was supposed to go off. Huge problem given that we are making a alarm clock… but afterburn helped us out and gave us a replacement watch that works. We figured out the back has to be screwed on pretty snug for the alarm to produce sound because there is a connection made between the watch module and the back plate. After all the setbacks we have been able to write a bunch of changes to the logic functions, altering the alarm function of the watch to do what we need it to do. Tomorrow we are going to send out emails to professors from the psych department to try and talk with someone who has studied sleep patterns.

Over the weekend we were able to make some more progress with the alarm. The window is now user definable and the display shows the set window time. We are going to look into the data recording function to see how we can integrate that into the basic stop watch functions. A lot of the work we still need to do requires the heart rate monitor which we are still waiting on. We still need to contact someone in the psych department.

We implemented one way of finding the REM heartbeat level, by calculating the average heart rate before the window. We are going to run some tests after we get the heartbeat sensor in class tomorrow. The next feature we want to add is the ability to play the users itunes when the alarm goes off. Right now we are unable to do that because the watch is unable to receive the simulated heartbeat from the computer and send commands to the computer. We are hoping that this is just a problem for the receiver in the computer and that once we use the actual heart rate monitor, it will be able to do both receive a signal from the heart rate monitor and send commands to the computer.

Over the weekend we have been trying to collect heart rate data over the course of one night to prove that our average function will work. The first night failed to record any data, and the second night we only got half a nights worth of data before it stopped recording. The problem is that if the heart rate monitor looses contact with your skin it will stop recording. We are going to try taping it to the subject tonight and see if that helps keep the connection.

Last night we made a last ditch effort to make the alarm trigger itunes. After 6 straight hours of staring at code making changes we were able to establish a connection with the computer when the alarm goes off, but were unable to get it to trigger itunes. We were able to determine the function that needed to be modified, but the function definition doesn't exist anywhere in the code. So we are dropping that unless tonight we can come up with some sort of miracle. We are putting the finishing touches on our presentation tonight, then tomorrow its showtime.