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Oxygen Tank Lamp Is Sure to Make Loved Ones Smile
Posted by Mark Wilson at 2:15 AM on November 20, 2008
I can't speak for everyone here, but most of us have 3, 4 or 5 industrial-sized oxygen tanks just rolling around, taking up precious space in our homes. Well here's a tip that'll put Martha Stewart's upcoming book Oxygen Tank Decorating Made Easy straight to the bottom of the charts. Just stick a lampshade on the thing, run some wiring through the base and presto—you have a cute lamp. If, of course, you already used up all of your oxygen tanks during our Halloween decorating extravaganza special from last month, this lamp is still available for an undisclosed price. [Yab Design via Nerd Approved]
Mods don't get much simpler and more useful than this: It's an alarm clock that whisks open some window blinds when the alarm goes off, so the sun can tempt you out of bed. There's a microcontroller to handle detecting the alarm signal and to drive a servo wired into the blinds, and some switches to override the alarm and open or close the blinds on command. Check the video of it in action.
I'd thought that the 7800mAh battery for the MSI Wind was absurd, but one netbook fan got his hands on a $US62 12000mAh battery for his Asus Eee. The result, pictured here, adds over half a pound to the machine's weight and an uncomfortable incline to typing on the system. But it should offer 8-10 hours of battery life, too. Here's the more obnoxious closed shot:
Ever since we started putting high-powered engines into jets, there has been a long line of skilled but misguided lunatics eager to rip them out to use in their stupid and dangerous contraptions. Simply put, we are fascinated by speed—whether it is the latest military super aircraft or a flaming toilet blazing down the road at 110kph. A jet engine attached to anything is sure-fire entertainment—as the following ten gadgets will demonstrate.
Brad Fitzpatrick has hacked his HTC G1 Android smartphone to use it as a secure remote which can open his home's garage door as he gets close to it. Using Wi-Fi, the mobile phone automatically fires up an HTTP request to his home server as soon as it's near enough, which triggers the opening as well as other functions in the house.
An intrepid modder was given a sad, water-damaged MacBook and turned it into his own little Mac Pro Mini with a little know-how and a $US40 Mac Pro case knockoff. His MacBook's motherboard worked, but LCD, HDD, battery, memory, keyboard, and DVD drive were all busted. After replacing the HDD and memory, he set out to stuff his cheap-o case with the corpse of his MacBook.
Acidmods just can't get enough of hacking up our console controllers, and now the company has replaced the Wiimote's A button with a clicking trackball (a la Blackberry Pearl). The result is an easier way to scroll through webpages and certain menu systems, as you can see in this video:
We post about Batman on Gizmodo because, much like Iron Man, he's the sort of comic book hero who epitomises a gadget freak. Seriously, he's a guy who's poured his life, savings and genius into developing toys that allow him to fight alongside Superman, let alone take a phone call without his mobile connection dropping.
