GoKawiilis executive editor who has obsessed over headlines and internet speeds since 2011. He previously worked as an advocate for the National Park System.
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Here’s a question almost nobody is asking: how do you get to the Times Square Olive Garden? Well, these beautiful weirdos are answering it — the team that made the Times Square Olive Garden compass. If that’s not clear enough, let me explain. They’re making a compass that points you exclusively in the direction of the Times Square Olive Garden.
I thought this must have been an April Fools’ joke when it came across my TikTok feed. Then I talked to the creators — Jason Goldberg and Steve Nasopoulos, who worked in collab with Glub Glub Labs — and learned it’s, at least, not that kind of joke.
Disclaimer: I can’t say you should buy this, use it, or ever go to Times Square. If you do, be prepared to to dodge sketchy Elmos and naked cowboys.
Okay, obviously, why? And why now? And why not a compass pointing to the, say, Times Square Margaritaville?
Why? Because we were tired of guessing which way to the Times Square Olive Garden. Sure we could have looked at our phones, but in a world where we’re all glued to them, creating a more analogue experience seemed appealing.
We chose Olive Garden because they offer lasagna as a side. Let’s see the M&M store do that!
Our readers love specs. Tell me how it works. What kind of tech are you packing in here to make a compass point to the Olive Garden in Times Square in Manhattan?
For this question we tapped in the great people over at Glub Glub Labs who did all the hard tech bits: We’re using an Arduino Nano microcontroller to manage the inputs and outputs for the compass. The Nano is connected to a GPS unit (SAM-M10Q) which is typically used for drone flight navigation, a gyro sensor to track rotation once the unit locks into a north reference, a stepper motor to turn the dial, and is powered by two batteries that we salvaged from some disposable vapes.
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