construction

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Blowing Up Bridges Is High Art

11:00AM Matt Buchanan | At least, when you set it to opera music. Actually, even when you hit mute, the delicately synchronised way the bridges collapse as the charges fire is beautiful, like ballet. With explosions. [VDOT via BoingBoing] More »
Games

The Portal Gun Build Process, Documented in 113 Photos

2:40AM Mark Wilson | You’ve already seen the famous fan-made Portal Gun. Now see the entire build process documented in 113 photos (OK, only about 40 of them actually showing the gun in its raw clay form). More »
Gadgets

Okay, Which One Of You Hacked The Queensland Road Signs?

3:23PM Nick Broughall | We know it was one of you. All the pieces of the puzzle fit. I mean, what kind of person would find the idea of hacking into a digital road sign funny, if not a Gizmodian? Not to mention that we sort of mentioned just how easy the entire process was. More »
Toys

USB Construction Site Cordons Off Your Desktop Disasters

12:00PM Jason Chen | Japan’s cute USB miniaturisations never fail to amaze us, as this small USB construction zone serves to prove once again. More »
Design

Measurement Gloves Give Construction Jobs the Finger

1:20AM Mark Wilson | There’s never a ruler around when you need one, but these measurement gloves can conceivably clip to your jacket to always have on the job (you know, like mittens). More »
Gadgets

Hacking Road Signs Is Frightningly Easy and Funny (and Illegal)

1:50AM Mark Wilson | You should never hack a road sign as part of a prank. But what if you know that there really are Zombies ahead? What then?? More »
Design

Crazy Japan Builds Crazy Highways to Drive People Crazy

7:50AM Jesus Diaz | This road smashing into a building and emerging out on the other side is the most “normal” highway in this album of Japanese infrastructures collected by Dark Roasted Blend. More »
Gadgets

SmartBolts Assure Perfect Tightness Every Time

10:10AM Mark Wilson | It’s not hard to under or over-tighten a bolt when you are building a cabinet, let alone installing hardware into the human body. Luckily, some clever engineers came up with the idea of SmartBolts. More »
Science

A Brief History of Unibody Construction

5:30AM Sean Fallon | In light of the news about the updated construction process for the new MacBooks, it is high time you got a brief edumication on the history of unibody construction. It may seem revolutionary, but the method Apple is using derives from the early 20th century monocoque (”single shell”) technique of using an object’s external skin to support structural loads. It has its roots in the airline industry where a price drop in aluminium in the 1920’s made it affordable to meet the demand for stiff, strong, smooth skins that could handle the stress of high altitudes and increasingly powerful aircraft. By the end of WWII, almost all high-performance aircraft were built using monocoque or semi-monocoque technique. More »
Design

Dynamic Tower Skyscraper: Every Floor Self-Rotates, Powered by Wind and Sun

12:30PM Benny Goldman | Italian architect David Fisher is building his first skyscraper, the Dynamic Tower, and it happens to be one of the most ambitious construction plans since the Pyramid of Khufu. Every floor of the 80-story self-powered building rotates according to voice command, and nearly the entire construction of the US$700 million structure is pre-made. I caught up with the architect in New York, and he blew my mind again and again. More »