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We've seen it aid surgery, help make smarter robots, and even do some gaming stuff, but honestly, what good is a controller if it can't fuel your crazy techno dance parties? Vimeo user Matt "Namethemachine" Davis posted a video showing a new hack for the peripheral, using its camera-based motion detection, combined with Ableton Live, DMX protocol, and more clever hackery to create a one-man electro-laser light show. It's easy to see this getting a bit out of control real fast in a room packed with overexcited club goers, but if you're looking to recreate the communal experience for you and your cat in your one bedroom apartment, this may be just the ticket. Create Digital Music Vimeo

We're not professional musicians by a long shot, but when we do get a chance to break away from the relentless torrent of cellphones and tablets, nothing quite hits the spot like a little music appreciation. Of course, when done Engadget-style this usually means a gadget of some sort -- and we'd be lying if we didn't say that Novation's newest didn't whet our appetites for some after-hours beatmatching. Twitch is essentially a full-figured DJ controller, but instead of some sort of round jog wheel (which the current reviewer has always found to be extremely counter-intuitive) the company added a touch strip, which can be used for everything from finding the beat to zooming in and out of the waveform display (after watching the video, it's hard to believe we've been beatmatching without pinch-to-zoom for this long). This bad boy also boasts a full compliment of controls for Serato, Traktor NI, and Ableton Live. You're probably interested in ...