[HH] Arduino board programmed with an audio file

[Tom Metro]

Arduino board programmed with an audio file
http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/30/2671276/arduino-programmed-with-sound

  Programmer Mike Tsao has devised a clever method to program an Arduino
  board using sound. It's called TribeDuino, and it uses the Arduino's
  audio sensors to detect the time elapsed between peaks of sound --
  short periods are interpreted as binary ones and long periods as
  binary zeroes. It's similar to how early modems worked...

The apt analogy here is not to modems, but the way early-80's computers
loaded their programs from a cassette tape. (Perhaps the author isn't
old enough to remember those.)

  ...he wants to "build an Arduino development environment that works
  with minimal hardware" -- he says it would be cool to be able to
  "develop a sketch [program] on a smartphone web browser or
  non-jailbroken tablet, then program the Arduino using just the
  headphone jack."

(Sort of the reverse of what Square does with their credit card reader
that plugs into an iPhone's headphone/microphone jack.)

That actually sounds practical and useful. Given Google's desire to use
Arduino peripherals to extend Android, this seems like a slick way to
create an Arduino programmer that just needs an app. and a headphone cable.

This could even be something adopted by consumer device manufacturers as
an inexpensive way to download firmware updates to devices that
otherwise are not computer or Internet connected. Say a programmable
thermostat. The Manufacturer bundles a cable, and provides an app
download that pulls the latest firmware from the manufacturer's site and
pipes it to the thermostat.

 -Tom