Thursday, July 31, 2008
Gadgets
Unlicensed Lego Lamps Give the Thrill of Lego and Eminent Subpoena
11:20PM Mark Wilson | It’s sort of cheating to use one big Lego to build a “Lego” anything, but for this lamp we’ll make an exception. By 25togo from Japan, the Lego Lamp is powered by white LEDs and has snap-off caps to store stuff in the pegs. But maybe the most promising premise is to interlock multiple units and create a gigantic glowing Lego robot, castle or—and I’m just throwing this out there—a mega Lego Lamp. And at that point, the process could repeat itself on an even bigger scale. But at US$15 a lamp, my Vision could get expensive quickly. [25togo via technabob] More »
Gadgets
Treadwall Balances Your Love of Rock Climbing With Your Acrophobia
11:06PM John Mahoney | Yes there are pool treadmills, desk treadmills, and water-resistance treadmills for dogs, but the Treadwall throws the horizontal nature of previous treadmill innovations out the window. For 10-grand, you can climb yourself to death in your own living room without getting higher than 10 feet or so, making the inevitable fall when you fail to keep up with the scrolling handholds all the more manageable. But let’s see how some drunken Jackass wannabees fare in the following video. AU: Wow. I was climbing something very similar to this at the local rock-climbing centre when I was in Cadets back in 1996. Unlike the US to be so out of date… More »
Science
DIY Siberian Astronomy Observatory Cured Alcoholics, Will Get Back Online For Eclipse
10:45PM John Mahoney | DIY builder Mikhail Levchenko’s homemade backyard observatory once made a drunken Russian give up the sauce for good after revealing Saturn’s rings to him one fateful night. Now, the telescope, which has been dormant for years, is getting a push to be restored and brought back online in time for a full solar eclipse which will be viewable from Levchenko’s hometown of Barnaul in Siberia. And, of course, to cure more Russian alkies. More »
Cameras
Security Camera Defeated by Balloon
10:34PM Mark Wilson | Intended as an artistic statement by William Lamson from his collection Intervention, we can’t help but to take note of the helium balloon as a clever, non-destructive way to defeat security cameras. Tethered at the right height and loaded with static electricity, a less honest man might use the technology to sneak into Nordstrom late at night to try on all the high heels. Wait, I meant, err, the gun store. To try out the guns. [William Lamson via MAKE] More »
Weapons
How the Cormorant Submarine-to-Air Plane Works
10:30PM Jesus Diaz | After the START II–the second strategic weapons reduction treaty with the former URSS–was signed, the US Navy had to reconvert many of their Ohio-class nuclear submarines, giving new uses to their missile bays. They talked with Lockheed Martin about it, who came up with the idea of the Cormorant: a Halo-looking plane that launches from a submerged submarine, does its mission stealthily and then returns to the water, where it’s retrieved by a robot. As the video shows, the idea looks out of a sci-fi movie: More »
Toys
Sega Hamster Is as Cute as the Real Thing, and It Doesn’t Poop
9:00PM Jesus Diaz | Continuing with its series of animal robots designed to entertain kids, tenderise adults, and more importantly, don’t poop, Sega is going to start selling their Hamster robot in Japan this August. The 3.5-inch robot is fluffy, does cute cute cute things, and you only need to feed it four batteries. Hamsters everywhere, it’s back to Burger King time for all of you furry things you. [Impress Robot Watch] More »
Games
Sony Shows Latest PS3 Home, Now Recruiting Beta Testers
7:56PM Jesus Diaz | Sony is now recruiting beta testers for PlayStation Home, the virtual world that PS3 users will use to interact with each other–and try to have virtual sex. They will invite 10,000 users from today to August 11, with the beta starting later in the month. The beta will include only a limited number of places, including a Game Venue developed in collaboration with Namco, where you would be able to play Pac-Man, Galaga, and DigDug. All of them look very nice and polished, however: More »
Peripherals
FireWire 1600 and 3200 Approved, Use FW800 Connectors
6:09PM Jesus Diaz | The IEEE has approved the new FireWire 2008 specification, which will include the S1600 and S3200 standards, running at 1.6Gbps and 3.2Gbps each. The new IEEE 1394 flavours will use the same connectors as FireWire 800 and will be fully compatible with the previous standard. [TG Daily] More »
Computers
Intel Sells 500,000 Classmates Made in Portugal to Portugal
5:45PM Jesus Diaz | In its constant battle with the OLPC, Intel is selling half a million Classmate laptops to Portugal at maximum price of US$78 each. An impressive deal… until they tell you they are going to make them in Portugal. I smell Euro-politics everywhere here. Well played, Senhor Intel. [The Register] More »
Home
