Technabob

Hoth Cave Cake: Cut the Cake, Then Cut off a Wampa’s Arm

Technabob — Fri, 25 May 2012 20:00:59 +0000

One of my favorite scenes from The Empire Strikes Back is when Luke gets captured by the Wampa and is hanging upside-down from the ceiling of his icy cave. He then uses the Force to pull his lightsaber towards his hand, then slices himself down from the ceiling and proceeds to slash off one of the furry creature’s arms. Here’s that scene, recreated in CAKE form. What’s not to like?

The Planet Hoth Wampa Cake was created by Jill from Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons to celebrate her son’s 6th birthday. I sure hope that he knows what a wampa is at his age, so he can fully appreciate its awesomeness. The cake perfectly captures the Wampa’s ice cave, replacing the frozen bits with cookie frosting and white chocolate. The walls of the lair are made primarily from pretzel rods and graham crackers, with a cake forming the floor. Yum, I like sweet and salty together.

While Luke, his lightsaber and the wampa are just off-the-shelf action figures, it still looks great – though I would have liked to chomp on a bit of wampa arm if given the opportunity.

[via Geeks are Sexy]

Junkyard Robot PC Case Mod Dares You to Ask if It Can Play Crysis

Lambert Varias — Fri, 25 May 2012 19:00:55 +0000

Believe it or not, this sculpture of a robot actually houses a working computer in its body. While this doesn’t dethrone the weirdest or the prettiest case mods that I’ve seen, the man who made it says he finished the whole thing in just 2 days. I can’t even finish a bag of Lays in 2 days.

The case was made by bit-tech forum member WEHR-WOLF. He doesn’t have a name for his mod, nor did he talk about the specs or how exactly he went about making it or if he really is a werewolf. He only said that he made it from “parts of machines and tools” with a little help from “a liter of vodka.” Lucky bastard. A little help from vodka gives me vomit and regret, not a robot with a gatling gun for an arm.

Cover your PC’s eyes and head to bit-tech forums for more pictures.

[via Damn Geeky via Reddit]

Facebook Camera App Release Seems Puzzling

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 25 May 2012 19:00:01 +0000

I would imagine the people at Facebook weren’t happy when users of the social network began uploading huge amounts of photos using Instagram. Eventually, they gave in and bought Instagram outright for $1 billion to turn a competitor into an asset. You’d think with that purchase, they wouldn’t compete with themselves. You’d be wrong.

Facebook isn’t the type of company content to be outdone by other people’s apps, so the company launched a new app called Facebook Camera for the iOS platform. The new app promises to make using Facebook photos faster and easier. When the user launches the app, they will see the photos from the people on their friends list.

The app lets people swipe to see more of any album or an individual photo to enlarge it. It also allows you to share your own photos by uploading multiple images at one time rather than having to upload individual images. It also has basic tools for editing pictures and adding filters. It’s not as full featured as Instagram, but I still vote we call this app Facegram.

It’s just puzzling that Facebook would release this app so soon after buying Instagram. Perhaps this app was already in development long before the purchase was announced. If you want to check it out, you can grab Facebook Camera over on the App Store for free.

Major Networks Sue Dish Network for Killing Commercials Automatically

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:00:58 +0000

Not too long ago Dish Network announced that it had a new, and very also feature, called Auto Hop on its Hopper DVRs. This cool feature would go in after recording your favorite primetime television programs and delete all the commercials so you could watch without having to be bothered to fast-forward. TV executives don’t care how convenient it is to have a feature like Auto Hop come in and delete all those commercials none of us really want to watch.

I said at the time I would totally switch to Dish to get that feature, but I figured the future would be short-lived because television studios would sue. As expected, the Studios are now suing Dish over the feature. Fox, CBS, and NBC have all individually sued Dish Network for deleting their commercials. The only major network not suing Dish at this time is ABC.

Additionally, Dish Network has filed suit against all four major television studios seeking a declaration judgment by the courts of whether or not the feature is legal. I hope the courts say it’s legal, I would love to see this feature on all DVRs. Television studios need to understand that the vast majority of us no longer watch commercials and they’ll have to be more creative with their revenue streams. It’s not like there isn’t plenty of product placement and blatant advertising during the shows themselves these days anyway.

[via Hollywood Reporter]

iPhone Idostand Swings Both Ways – Landscape and Portrait That Is

Range — Fri, 25 May 2012 17:00:40 +0000

The perfect iPhone stand is hard to find, especially since there are so many choices out there and not all of them are that versatile. That’s why industrial designer Allan Ospina developed the Idostand, which is basically a case that doubles as a stand, working in both portrait or landscape position.

The Idostand has two rotating arms that allow for the optimal positioning of your iPhone. There are no additional parts, and the case/stand has a hinged system that allow the arms to snap into place whenever they’re not in use. The case is minimal but does protect your phone as well. Hopefully, it won’t have some of the antenna interference issues that other metal cases have had, or the final design will be made out of another material.

The Idostand will soon be raising funds over on Kickstarter, so keep your eyes peeled if you’re interested in getting one.

[via designboom]

Medicine Jet Injector Less Painful, More Awesome than Needles

Lambert Varias — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:00:11 +0000

If Ian Hunter and his team at MIT have their way, the serial killers and torturers of the future will have one less tool to brandish and freak out their victims. Hunter and his colleagues have engineered a jet-injection system that can administer drugs with less pain and more accuracy compared to syringes and hypodermic needles. Hunter also engineered a formidable mustache.

The prototype injector uses an electromagnetic actuator to propel fluids at up to the speed of sound. I know that that actually sounds like more pain, but actually the injector’s nozzle is only about as wide as a mosquito’s proboscis, and mosquito bites are far lower in the pain scale compared to needle injections.

Another advantage of this device is that the velocity of the delivery of a drug can be adjusted by controlling the current applied to the actuator. Meaning it can ~~be turned into a weapon~~ be adjusted depending on a patient’s skin.

Head to MIT News to inject more data into your brain.

[via DVICE]

Marvel Should Steal This Avengers Helicarrier Blu-Ray Case Concept

Conner Flynn — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:00:32 +0000

Avengers is a massive box office hit, having already grossed over a billion dollars worldwide. People really love superhero flicks – so much so that some people are already thinking ahead to the Blu-Ray release. And for a hit movie like this, you know they are going to have a special collector’s edition.

Amazon.com already has a placeholder for a Limited Edition Collector’s Blu-ray Set which is rumoured to be a 6-10 disc set. Sadly it won’t be nearly as cool as this concept from Dave Delisle.

This is NOT official concept art for a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Avengers set, but this is everything we would want from such a set. Dave’s concept envisions a giant 26″ long model of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s flying Helicarrier, with storage for not just the current Avengers flick, but extra disc trays for future releases. In fact, Dave says the Helicarrier could hold somewhere between 30 and 50 discs when fully outfitted.

Each engine/wing would even snap off to provide access to a subset of the discs. If only this were the set that we were getting. Oh well, we can dream. Anyway, I’m sure this would cost a fortune. Still, I know that I would be willing to pay.

[via Geeks Are Sexy]

FYLM Foldable Speaker: Ultimate Portability

Range — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:00:50 +0000

Speakers come in all shapes, sizes and colors, but this is one of the first that I’ve seen that completely folds down flat, making it extremely portable, especially if that’s the kind of thing you need to share your tunes. FYLM is the perfect size to fit in a bag or notebook and it won’t take up much space.

FYLM unfolds and attaches to itself using a magnetic latch. It uses a film speaker that’s less than 0.25mm thick, allowing it to be a lot less cumbersome than other portable speakers. It’s supposed to deliver full and rich directional sound, but that claim needs to be tested. The FYLM speaker needs no battery, as it’s powered by your music device’s 3.5mm audio jack – which means it’s unlikely to be very loud.

It will come in several different colors, each with matching cables. It was created by the Design Affairs Studio. No price nor availability has yet been set as the product is still under development.

[via Looks Feels Works]

Star Trek Voyager Cake Piloted by Captain Cakeway

Conner Flynn — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:00:29 +0000

Check out this amazing Star Trek Voyager cake. Voyager is my favorite Trek series, though it’s not as bad as Enterprise was. Even so, I really dig this cake. I mean I’d like to dig into it. With a fork.

It was made by JB Cada and Stephanie Santos of Regali Kitchen (who also made that awesome Game of Thrones cake.) Voyager actually lights up and is edible except for the illuminated part. The rest is completely edible, including the crew. A woman named Maya commissioned for her husband on their 11th wedding anniversary. It beats a cake from the replicator any day.

This delicious treat is dark chocolate with light caramel frosting. I’m sure it was enjoyed on their special day. Happy anniversary Maya and Barry. Live long and prosper.

[via Geeks Are Sexy]

PressurePen Stylus Adds Pressure Sensitivity to iPad, Android Tablets

Technabob — Thu, 24 May 2012 22:00:25 +0000

I’ve longed for a stylus that was actually good for drawing on my iPad, but after many purchases, I’m still not satisfied. What I really want is something that has a fairly fine tip, but can also produce pressure data. What I really want is to be able to use my iPad as a Wacom tablet – with a screen. The PressurePen may not be the most elegant looking stylus out there, but it does offer the pressure sensitivity part, so my curiosity is piqued for sure.

Created by web developer/hardware tinkerer Charles Mangin, the PressurePen uses an audio signal to communicate how hard you’re pressing on the stylus while you draw. Rather than use an audible signal though, it sends data through the iPad’s audio jack to let it know the pressure level, passing at least 1000 levels of pressure information to the tablet. This means that it’s the first tethered stylus I’ve seen. Now that isn’t necessarily a bad thing – you’ll never lose your pen, so long as it’s plugged in.

The chunky looking PressurePen looks more like a fat marker than a skinny technical pen, but I actually think that’s a good idea, since drawing with pens which are too skinny doesn’t feel right either. Trust me, I’ve tried with the iPen – a horribly disappointing device. While the Jaja and Jot Touch pens also promise pressure sensitivity, the Jaja could have issues with audio interference because of the way it works. On the other hand, the Jot Touch uses Bluetooth, so expect it to burn battery for both stylus and iPad. I also HATE the goofy see through plastic tip on both of them. On the other hand, the more simple design of the PressurePen should get the job done, without the battery or interference issues, and it has a chiseled stylus tip that looks pretty usable.

Charles plans on making the PressurePen compatible with Android tablets as well, and will be making both the software and hardware Open Source, so you’ll be able to create your own, or make improvements.

The PressurePen is selling for just $60 (USD) fully assembled, and $30 in kit form (though you have to print your own 3D shell.) If you’re interested in one, head on over to PressurePen’s Kickstarter page and pledge in the next few days. They’re nearing their $10,000 fundraising goal, but need some more orders to push it across the finish line by May 31st.

LED Matrix Glasses: That Hack Cray

Lambert Varias — Thu, 24 May 2012 21:00:19 +0000

Someone call Kanye West. I know he’s a very busy man but he has to know that Garrett Mace has made the best pair of shutter shades of all time. Mace’s LED Matrix glasses have flashing lights just like Yeezy on Graduation.

Mace wowed crowds at the Maker Faire with his dope glasses, sick rhymes and tycoon showers. Perhaps the last two were exaggerated but these glasses really are cool. The 20 x 6 matrix of LEDs are “driven by SPI from an integrated Arduino-compatible” board mounted on the right temple and powered by a Lithium-polymer battery mounted on the left temple. Charging and code downloading are done via USB. Swag is attained by wearing the glasses.

You can see more pictures of the shades on Mace’s Lytro profile. Mace said he’s planning to sell a kit of the glasses on his website once he’s polished the device; he seems to be having trouble with the hinges. He also said that if he can’t find a low cost solution he might turn to Kickstarter. It would be funny if Mr. West backed and filled up the fundraiser on his own.

[via Hack A Day & Reddit via MAKE]

Commodore 64 Guitar Has a Faster CPU than the NES Guitar

Conner Flynn — Thu, 24 May 2012 20:00:27 +0000

I love a good mod. The crazier the better. This one is crazy and all kinds of retro awesome. Some of you might know Jeri Ellsworth. She works for Valve and helped them start their hardware R&D department. Now she has yet another cool thing under her belt. She created this amazing Commodore 64 bass guitar/keytar.

She created it for last weekend’s Maker Faire. Apparently, it wasn’t a very difficult mod. She just went out and bought the cheapest bass guitar that she could find, took the neck off and the bottom part where the strings are attached and mounted them on a C64.

Okay it was a little harder than that. She set up a sensor on each string, which detect the sounds, then reproduce sampled notes through the original Commodore sound chip. The keyboard also produces additional synthesized sounds. Even though she thinks it could sound better, I think it sounds pretty great. This is definitely one of the cooler guitar mods we’ve seen in awhile – at least since the NES guitar.

[via Laughing Squid via Geeks Are Sexy]

Bethesda’s Office Gets Life-Size Alduin’s Wall from Skyrim

Conner Flynn — Thu, 24 May 2012 19:00:19 +0000

Bethesda did an amazing job with Skyrim, so no one could blame them for celebrating a little and decorating their offices. They have done just that, but maybe not in the way you expect. Bethesda had this full-scale Alduin’s Wall just lying around after it was used for E3, PAX, and the Skyrim launch party. So, instead of letting this gigantic wall art go to waste somewhere, or ending up on eBay, they have chosen to proudly display it in their office.

I think it sounds cool enough to work for a video game company like Bethesda and it just got cooler. It’s like having a part of the game with you all day. And it looks amazing. This 25′ x 8.5′ wide recreation of Alduin’s Wall has been dedicated to the late Adam Adamowicz, an insanely talented game artist who designed the wall in Skyrim, and worked on Fallout 3 among other things.

Just look at that huge slab. Now that is art my friends. Awesome video game geek art. You can find more pics of this awesome thing over on Flickr.

[Bethesda Blog via Geekosystem]

Quirky Ions Magnetic LED Lamp: Light Where You Need It

Lambert Varias — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:00:14 +0000

The problem with repairing stuff is that I don’t how to do it. But if there’s one thing I do know about repairing, it’s that whatever it is you’re working on is bound to be dimly lit. That’s why the world needs something like Ions, which are tiny magnetic LED lights. The world also needs stuff to not break, but I guess that’s beyond the scope of current technology.

Currently a mere concept, the geniuses behind Ions dream that their invention will have a magnetic base, a pivoting hinge and possibly a dimming function.

You can help make Ions a real product by going to ~~Kickstarter~~ Quirky and answering a short survey regarding its development.

[via Fancy]

Gooma Case Marine Keeps Smartphones Nice and Dry

Range — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:00:10 +0000

In most situations, if you drop your phone into water, there’s a good chance that it’s toast. Granted, there are ways to save it, if it wasn’t underwater for too long. The Gooma Case Marine is a soft polyurethane skin that stretches over your phone that’s designed to protect it from water.

The condom-like Case Marine is only 0.25mm thick and has a JIS rating of IPX8, which means that it’s waterproof to nearly 33 feet. That’s pretty amazing for something so thin. Naturally, you’ll need to peel it off in order to use the dock connector or headphone jack. The current version works with iPhone 4/4S and Samsung Galaxy II phones, but an iPad version is in the works as well.

The premium version of the Gooma Case Marine sells for as little as $38 if you happen to live in Japan, but if you must have one, you can find it at the Japan Trend Shop for the rather ridiculous price of $71(USD) – plus shipping.

[DigInfo via DVice]

Slinky on a Treadmill Cannot Be Stopped

Shane McGlaun — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:00:39 +0000

Back when I was growing up, Slinkies were actually made from metal. I got up to more than a little mischief with my Slinky, after discovering if you threw that spring at your little brother just right, it would wrap around his head and get stuck. I was my own superhero wielding a Slinky and lassoing the bad guys. It was also cool that the Slinky could walk down the stairs should ever need to escape the fiendish clutches of little bro.

Most of the Slinkies I see today aren’t the same. Being made from plastic, they don’t seem to walk down stairs as well. A geek with a real metal Slinky and an old ragged out treadmill decided to play with a simple, yet epic idea. He started the treadmill to rolling at an angle, and let the Slinky start walking and videoed the result.

Naturally, video ended up on YouTube with all the Slinky walking action. A few times the slinky appeared ready to jump off out of exhaustion, but the little metal guy kept on walking, and never gave up. Check out the video for yourself, and prepare to be mesmerized for the next 3+ minutes.

[via JWZ via BoingBoing]

Transformers 3 Extra Awarded $18.5 Million after On-Set Injury

Shane McGlaun — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:00:22 +0000

Back in September of 2010, when the Michael Bay helmed Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie was filming, a 26-year-old woman who was hired as an extra was severely injured during a scene. The woman’s name is Gabriela Cedillo, and she was injured when a cable snapped that was towing a stunt vehicle that had no one inside. I remember when this first came to light, I didn’t realize the extent of this woman’s injuries.

The snapped cable ripped through the woman’s vehicle and struck her in the head. The cable moved with enough speed and force to remove about one-third of her skull and a part of her brain. The woman’s legal team alleged that the cable broke due to poor welding process. Apparently, the scene had failed to be filmed the day before, and the legal team alleges the production company was more interested in filming the scene that ensuring the extras were safe.

The injured woman now needs 24-hour a day care, has suffered from hallucinations, memory loss, and has significant cognitive difficulty. She has also apparently lost some of the mobility on the left side of her body, though she can still walk. The court awarded her $18.5 million and part of the award be set aside for monthly disbursements so that she has care for the remainder of her life. Given the fact that the film grossed over $1.1 BILLION, they can probably afford it.

[via The Miami Herald]

Avengers USB Flash Drives: Hulk Don’t Smash My Data!

Range — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:00:45 +0000

Love the Avengers? Then you’ll love these officially licensed Avengers USB flash drives, from InfoThink. Instead of portraying the actual Avengers, the USB drives are in the form of a symbolic part of your favorite Marvel hero.

You have the choice between the Hulk’s fist, Captain America’s shield, Iron Man’s helmet and Thor’s hammer. Personally, the Iron Man USB flash drive (which looks very familiar) looks the most appealing, but no one is stopping you from choosing the Hulk if you prefer a green fist sticking out of your computer. They also just announced a War Machine USB drive, which also looks pretty sweet.

Each of these USB flash drives has 8GB of storage, and they sell for $30 each. 4GB versions are also available for $20. They’re currently listed on Yahoo and eBay, but they’ll probably be available through more retailers soon.

[via HiConsumption]

Mechwarrior Cat Playhouse is Meow-velous

Conner Flynn — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:00:51 +0000

If cats ever wanted to lay waste to dogs they could do so. Yes, the war between cats and dogs is as old as the animals themselves, but it could come to an end tomorrow if our feline overlords so wished it. The proof is in the image below.

Cats don’t have little fingers and a thumb, so they can’t build weapons of war. But all it takes is one human sympathetic to their cause to build them their first mech. After that things will happen swiftly. Beagles will be beaten, collies will be cauliflower, pitbulls will be pitted, pelted and pummeled.

Yes, this war may finally have a victor and it will not be pretty. It will usher in a new age of feline domination. After the dogs are gone, they will take over the cat food factories. Once their food is secured, it will be our turn. You should have given fluffy more love… Lasers and string will not help you.

[via Obvious Winner]

Mad Max Motorcycle Built from Car that Broke Down in the Desert

Conner Flynn — Wed, 23 May 2012 22:00:16 +0000

For most of us, if our car broke down in the desert, we would have no choice but to just walk or pray for rescue. Most of are not so technically inclined to take our cars and build something else out of the parts. Well, Emile Leray is far more resourceful. When his Citroën 2CV car broke down in the middle of the Sahara Desert, he supposedly converted the car into a Mad Max style motorcycle.

The desert he was in was somewhere in northwest Africa. He got stopped and was told to go any further due to some military conflicts in the area. He decided to go around, through the desert. It wasn’t long before he snapped a swing arm on his vehicle, leaving him stranded. He did what any manly man would do. He disassembled his vehicle and created a motorcycle from the parts.

This guy is officially the real world MacGyver. Unless this is some kind of a hoax, he did this totally un-prepared. It seems like he managed to drill holes by bending metal and sawing at it, then un-bending it to be flat again, which makes sense. It took him twelve days to construct this vehicle. Sure, it sounds fishy, but like Fox and Mulder, I want to believe.

[via Reddit via Hack A Day]