Boing Boing » Gadgets

Click watches look like light-switches

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 31 May 2012 13:00:12 +0000

Click's latest watches are the "Wall Switches." As the name implies, they look like wide, flat, blank wall-switches, but have a hidden illuminated time-display that lights up when the switch is flicked.

Click Wall Switch Watches

3D printed, pre-assembled robot hand

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 26 May 2012 04:00:21 +0000

Chris writes, "The Anthromod Mk2 hand is a robotic hand where everything, apart from the tendons, are 3D printed. Unlike other printed hands the Mk2 requires minimal assembly, and is also available from the online 3D printers Shapeways. This is an ongoing project and later designs will plan to add greater functionality such as sensing. I'm also planning to start an Indiegogo campaign to help finance the next model."

The underlying hand is printed as a single, assembled piece with all mechanisms in place.

Anthromod (Shapeways) (Thanks, Chris!)

Steampunk bicycle from Roger Wood

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 25 May 2012 23:13:12 +0000

The latest from Roger Wood of Klockwerks: "I was asked to make a kinetic Steampunk sculpture for a show in New York; here it is."

Fox sues Dish over commercial skipping, claims copyright infringement

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:43:05 +0000

Dish Networks, the satellite TV provider, is being sued by Fox over its "AutoHop" feature, which automatically skips commercials. Fox alleges copyright infringement, which is a repeat of the claims over ReplayTV, which was bankrupted in similar lawsuits in the last decade. The networks claimed then that the whole program, including the commercials, were a single copyrighted work, and that by automatically enabling the skipping of certain sections, the device manufacturers were making derivative works. It's a really dumb theory of copyright and it's hard to imagine that it would hold up in court -- and if it did, it would mean that, for example, allowing screen-in-screen, or changing aspect ratios, or even custom color balances or audio mixes were also copyright violations, and that these violations took place when the feature was enabled by the manufacturer (who would therefore be liable) and not when the customer turned them on.

A more likely claim from Fox is breach of contract -- it's easy to believe that Fox put a "no skipping the commercials" line in their deal with Dish (and if they didn't, you can bet they will). Moreover, the DRM used in satellite receivers is controlled by the big rightsholders, and the license agreement for that DRM (much of which is a secret) allows them to demand arbitrary control over features in devices that can decode it.

Here's more from the LA Times and Meg James and Joe Flint:

Fox filed its copyright violation and breach-of-contract suit against Dish on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Dish filed its suit in U.S. District Court in New York.
"The suit asks for a declaratory judgment that the AutoHop feature does not infringe any copyrights that could be claimed by the major networks, and that Dish, while providing the AutoHop feature, remains in compliance with its agreements with the networks," the Englewood, Colo., company said in a statement.
While consumers with digital video recorders can fast-forward through commercials of recorded shows, Dish's AutoHop takes it a step further. The screen goes black when a commercial break appears. A few seconds later, the program returns. The service can't be used on live programming, such as a sporting event, even after it has been recorded.
With more than 14 million subscribers, Dish Network Corp.'s new technology may threaten the networks' ability to continue to charge premiums for their commercial time.

Fox sues Dish over ad-blocking feature; Dish fires back (via /.)

Mondrian PC

Rob Beschizza — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:56:52 +0000

Jeffrey Stephenson made a beautiful Mondrian PC enclosure.

Mondrian is a fanless mini-ITX case design made from wood and hand-cut acrylic tiles. Fresh air is drawn into the case after passing through the exposed heatsink finning. An 80mm CPU fan is mounted under the heatsink and acts as a combo CPU/case fan.

Specific inspirations (including the famous Yves Saint Laurent dress) and a build report at the above link!

Why your camera's GPS won't work in China (maybe)

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 25 May 2012 03:00:54 +0000

If you've got a major-brand camera with a built-in GPS, don't plan on taking any geotagged photos in China. Chinese law prohibits mapmaking without a license, and most of the large camera manufacturers have complied with this regulation by quietly slipping a censorship function into the GPS -- when you take a picture, the camera checks to see if it's presently in China, and if it is, it throws away its GPS data, rather than embedding it in the photo's metadata. On Ogle Earth, Stefan Geens looks at how several different manufacturers handle this weirdness -- how they phrase it in their manuals, and what their cameras do when they run up against this limitation. It's a fascinating look at the interface between consumer electronics, user interface, and the edicts of totalitarian regimes. In some Nikon cameras, for example, the GPS does work, but all its measurements are shifted about 500m to the west (!).

Why does all this matter? Wherever local laws prohibit the sale or use of a personal electronics device able to perform a certain function, manufacturers have traditionally chosen not to sell the offending device in that particular jurisdiction, or — if the market is tempting enough — to sell a crippled model made especially for that jurisdiction.
For example, Nokia chose not to sell the N95 phone in Egypt when the sale of GPS-enabled devices there was illegal before 2009, whereas Apple opted to make and sell a special GPS-less iPhone 3G for that market. Early models of the Chinese iPhone 3GS lacked wifi, while the Chinese iPhone 4/4S has firmware restrictions on its Google Maps app.
The risk to consumers in freer countries is that personal electronics brands might be tempted to simplify their manufacturing processes by building just one device for the global market, catering to the lowest common denominator of freedom — especially if the more restrictive legal jurisdictions contain some of the most attractive markets, such as mainland China.
Still, in the absence of more information from Panasonic, Leica, FujiFilm, Nikon and Samsung, I can’t decisively say whether this is the business logic behind their decision to cripple the GPS in their cameras. And yet uncrippled GPS cameras from Sony and others are freely available for sale in China, for example on Taobao, China’s eBay...

Why do Panasonic, Leica, FujiFilm, Samsung and Nikon censor their GPS cameras? (Thanks, Jeffrey!)

Makies: custom-made, 3D printed action dolls

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 24 May 2012 06:43:58 +0000

My wife Alice quit her job a year ago to found Makies with some friends in London and Helsinki. Makies is a 3D printing startup. The company's mission is to create toys and dolls from "playful" digital environments (games, social systems, stuff like that). Essentially, the idea is that you create digital people, along with their clothes and accessories, and play with them online, and at the press of a button, you can order these things as physical objects that get custom produced by a local supplier and shipped straight to you. The idea is to build a business that inspires makers, hackers and crafters -- for example, the dolls' heads are designed to take an Arduino Lilypad, should you have such a notion.

After a lot of experimentation and design iteration, they've gotten to the point where they can reliably produce and ship 10-inch custom action dolls using suppliers here in London, and they want to alpha test it against the real world, so they're selling 100 of these dolls to see how the whole thing works. There are just a few left now -- Alice didn't want me to blog this until all the people who'd signed up for the mailing list and all the friends and family had had a crack at the inventory. You can also play with the doll creator without buying the actual doll. They've learned a ton in a just a few days, and they're looking for more of your feedback.

Makies

Balloons that look like meat

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 24 May 2012 00:06:38 +0000

These meat-shaped balloons were created as a storefront display by Object Design League, who will sell you a steak or sausage model for $8. DesignBoom has tons more pics and notes on the production:

at the japan premium beef storefront, chicago-based design studio ODL (object design league) have created a meat-themed installation of their 'balloon factory', with balloons that take the form of sausages and steak cuts. the installation was curated by sight unseen as part of the NoHo design district during new york design week.
'balloon factory' was originally designed in 2011 as a performative assembly line (covered by designboom here). the ODL team creates their own balloon formers, which are primed with soap before being dipped into latex. the thin coat of rubber that adheres to the surface becomes the actual balloon. while it is still wet, latex colours can be mixed or the balloon can be hand-painted to achieve various visual effects. once dry the rubber is leached and vulcanized to be strengthened for inflating. in all, each balloon takes about three hours to produce.

meat balloons by ODL (via Neatorama)

Homemade motorcycle improvised out of a Citroen 2CV in the middle of the desert

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 23 May 2012 18:47:27 +0000

This badass chopper was (apparently) hand-built by Emile, a Frenchman whose Citroen car broke down in the middle of the northwestern African desert, and who built himself a motorcycle out of the parts, without any tools. Here's the Imgur gallery, and an accompanying Reddit thread. There's a Hack-A-Day has a rough translation from Chameaudacier's site:

While traveling through the desert somewhere in north west Africa in his Citroen 2CV , [Emile] is stopped, and told not to go any further due to some military conflicts in the area. Not wanting to actually listen to this advice, he decides to loop around, through the desert, to circumvent this roadblock.
After a while of treading off the beaten path, [Emile] manages to snap a swing arm on his vehicle, leaving him stranded. He decided that the best course of action was to disassemble his vehicle and construct a motorcycle from the parts. This feat would be impressive on its own, but remember, he’s still in the desert and un-prepared. If we’re reading this correctly, he managed to drill holes by bending metal and sawing at it, then un-bending it to be flat again.
It takes him twelve days to construct this thing. There are more pictures on the site, you simply have to go look at it. Feel free to translate the labels and post them in the comments.

MOTO page 2 - CHAMEAU D'ACIER - Emile LERAY (via Neatorama)

(Images: Daniel Denis, 2CV Magazine)

USB stapler

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 23 May 2012 05:36:44 +0000

A stapler with a USB hub in it? Why not? USB ALL THE OFFICE SUPPLIES.

Usb hub auto Stapler (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

Judge invalidates Kodak patent

Rob Beschizza — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:16:56 +0000

Kodak's Hail Mary business plan isn't working out. [NYT]

Commodore 64 keytar weilded by rollerskating hacker

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:06:46 +0000

Legendary hardware hacker Jeri Ellsworth (world's most awesome C64 hacker and all round happy mutant), entertained attendees at the Maker Faire with her brilliant Commodore 64 bass keytar, which she played while wearing rollerskates.

Ellsworth noted via Twitter that it uses the SID chip and is based on an FPGA - a re-implementation of the Commodore-64 computer using reconfigurable logic chips. See the video below for an overview of the instrument from Ellsworth.
What’s not obvious from the photo above is that Ellsworth wears a portable amp and rocks the C64 Bass Guitar on roller skates. <3

Jeri Ellsworth & Her Commodore 64 Bass Guitar Thing (via Waxy)

Making a spider-lamp out of 8 cheap Ikea anglepoise knockoffs

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:43:50 +0000

Budapest designer Petra Nikoletti bought eight Ikea Forsa lamps and a salad bowl and had a locksmith precision fit them into a "spider lamp": "I bought 8 Ikea FORSÅ table lamp, and only used the arms and the heads. A custom-made cylinder is holding them and a Blanda Blank Serving Bowl (20 cm, painted black) is hiding the wires. A black hollow shaft is connecting the lamp to the ceiling, the cover at the end is also a Blanda Blank, but the smallest one."

I'm a bit confused about the locksmith part -- is that a translation error, or are locksmiths really an untapped source of high-quality machining and enamelling?

Spider lamp from FORSÅ

Sexy typewriter postcards of yore

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 22 May 2012 00:39:25 +0000

On How to Be a Retronaut, an invigorating, 1910s-1920s gallery of winsome, partially unclothed lasses posed with typewriters. Hummina. 23 and/or skiddoo! They're ganked from marvellous Virtual Antique Typewriter Museum.

Typewriter Erotica c. 1920s (via Making Light)

Alien Pez

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 19 May 2012 01:39:25 +0000

Unsourced net.awesomeness: an Alien Pez dispenser. I'd buy that for (several) dollars.

alien pez (via Wil Wheaton)

Typewriter skull

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 18 May 2012 18:18:50 +0000

Jeremy Mayer, the titan of typewriter-part sculptures, has sacrificed some more old beasts for a good cause, producing this wonderful 9"x12"x15" skull.

Skull I (Thanks, Jeremy)

Crap cellphones

Rob Beschizza — Fri, 18 May 2012 10:10:16 +0000

Sam Biddle rounds up the most appalling, terribly-made cellphones money can buy. Pictured right is the Pantech Jest (as in "surely you").

Why are these awful phones for sale—some for very much money!—when you can buy phones that aren't awful and cost zero dollars? Corporate apathy, manufacturing antipathy, a large populace of people who will literally walk into a store and buy anything, like molecules bouncing around in a void—all possible.

What's interesting is how these handsets live in a crappy "$50 hinterland" between smartphones and reliable, well-made $20 burners. With gadgets, mid-range is low-end.

$22,000 routers "economical"

Rob Beschizza — Fri, 18 May 2012 09:37:48 +0000

Ultra high-end $22,000 routers were bought in huge quantities by the government in West Virginia, many destined for rural offices with minimal IT footprints. [Ars Technica]

London cops want to suck your phone dry in an instant

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:12:00 +0000

The Met, London's police force, is buying "mobile device data extraction" devices that can suck all the data out of your phone "in minutes" -- that's where you've been, who you know, what you've said to them, what websites you visit, and, depending on your apps, what groceries you buy, when you've called for a cab, what your menstrual cycle is, what you eat, your passwords, and so on.

This is the police force that routinely DNA-swabbed suspects and refused to destroy the samples even after they were exonerated, despite being ordered to after a European high court ruling to the effect that this was illegal.

Does anyone know what technology they're buying, and what its limits are? I'd be interested in knowing if, for example, it is effective against the built-in Android mass storage encryption.

"When a suspect is arrested and found with a mobile phone that we suspect may have been used in crime, traditionally we submit it to our digital forensic laboratory for analysis."
Kavanagh said the new system located within the boroughs themselves will enable "trained officers to examine devices and gives immediate access to the data in that handset".
He said: "Our ability to act on forensically-sound, time-critical information, from SMS to images contained on a device quickly gives us an advantage in combating crime, notably in terms of identifying people of interest quickly and progressing cases more efficiently."

Met Police uses 'quick' mobile data extraction system against suspects (via /.)

The Playstation Vita as a cellphone

Rob Beschizza — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:53:46 +0000

Sony's tiny but powerful pocket game console has 3G, but no phone app. Skype to the rescue. [Ars]

Comparing gender in Lego minifig heads

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:02:00 +0000

From the Boing Boing Flickr pool, Maia Weinstock's chart of gender in Lego minifig heads. There's an accompanying blog post, where Weinstock explains:

So many of LEGO’s sets today are made in conjunction with a movie or other Hollywood media brand. It’s a win-win for Hollywood producers and LEGO alike. But how many of those brands star girls or women in the lead role? Star Wars? Toy Story? Pirates of the Caribbean? The Lord of the Rings (available in LEGO this summer)? Hermione Grainger is a major character from the Harry Potter series, and there were a fair number of female minifigs incorporated with those sets, so I’ll give them that one. But still, in almost every franchise that LEGO has partnered with, females are secondary or sidekick characters at best. To be sure, this heavy male slant in children’s programming is a problem with Hollywood as a whole, not just with the famed brick-makers. (For an in-depth look at how girls and women are marginalized, sexualized, and stereotyped in family films, check out these studies by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.) And yet, LEGO could go a long way toward increasing its girl-friendly cred by creating sets and minifigs that mirror movies and shows featuring prominent leading ladies—like Avatar, Dora the Explorer, Spy Kids, and The Hunger Games.

History of gendering in Lego

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 16 May 2012 03:50:54 +0000

On Sociological Images, David Pickett is tracing the history of gendering in Lego toys, from the early efforts to produce girl-sets and boy-sets before 1988, to the full-blown gendering watershed attending the release of the Pirates minifigs, which had definite "girl" and "boy" characters. It all went downhill from there, too. He's got two parts posted, with more to come. It's engrossing stuff.

This pioneering pirate was the first in a long line of token females in otherwise male-dominated action-centric themes. The imbalanced ratio of masculine to feminine minifigs persists today, though it has lessened over time. I have seen several different numbers for this ratio, so I decided to do my own count. I gave TLG the benefit of the doubt and counted as gender neutral any minifigs lacking definitely masculine (facial hair) or feminine (lipstick, eyelashes, cleveage) traits, even when LEGO marketing materials clearly delineate them as male or female.
The following graphs represent masculine minifigs in blue, feminine minifigs in red, and gender neutral minifigs in gray. I have also calculated the masculine to feminine ratio (m/f ratio). Ideally this should be 1, indicating that there are equal number of masculine and feminine figures. This chart shows the aggreagate across all themes for the five key years between 1989 and 1999. The m/f ratio for this data is 3.74 (which is a lot better than the initial 13.5 it starts at in 1989, but not exactly something to celebrate).
The trend to unrepresent feminine figures in the main LEGO product line is mirrored by a tendency to overrepresent them in the “girls only” lines. LEGO released four major “girls only” themes through this time period: Paradisa, Belville, Scala Dolls, and Clikits. Here’s a quick run down of the “girls only” themes:

Part I: Historical Perspective on the LEGO Gender Gap

Part II: Historical Perspective on the LEGO Gender Gap

"Ghosts With Shit Jobs" econopocalypse mockumentary raising money for tour with USB bracelets

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:40:25 +0000

Filmmaker (and comics creator and novelist and games developer) Jim Munroe is raising money to take his outstanding science fiction feature Ghosts With Shit Jobs on tour.

Here's Jim's summary: "In the future, jobs still suck -- but in whole new ways. The economic collapse of the west is complete and North Americans are a cheap labour pool for wealthy Asian and Indian markets. A Chinese documentary show focuses on these unlucky enough to have been born in the slums of Toronto in a special report that translates as 'Ghosts With Shit Jobs'. The lo-fi sci-fi mockumentary feature offers both a commentary on the economic downturn and a model for surviving in it -- it was made for $4000."

He's selling the movie on a USB bracelet in 1080p as a way of raising the dough to tour the flick:

This USB bracelet comes pre-loaded with Ghosts With Shit Jobs in full 1080p resolution with no DRM aftertaste. After you watch the movie, you can use it as a digital security bracelet -- when the Cloud is repossessed in 2025 you'll have a local back-up of 8 gigabytes of your most precious data on your body at all times.

Tour for GHOSTS WITH SHIT JOBS, a Lo-fi Sci-fi Feature (Thanks, Jim!)

Pneumatic ping-pong ball delivery system playfully fires balls into "art environment"

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:00:05 +0000

r0r0 sez, "Ping Pong Ball Suction Construction is a pneumatic delivery system for ping pong balls as part of an art environment that's actually on display in Lille, France."

In Spring/Summer 2012 both guys were invited to create an installation version of Ping Pong Country in Lille’s Gare St. Sauveur. They were a bit tired of doing the same thing for such a long time over and over again, so they asked me to contribute some machinery to the environment in order to make it a bit different in its actual version. I came up with the devilish plan to offer the audience an opportunity for sabotaging the game in a playful way. “Ping Pong Country / Edition Sabotage” was born.
While some people play ping pong (preferably more than two players which then have to run around the table) another visitor can confuse the players via a separate control panel which is part of the sabotage edition: This destructive master mixer lets you switch the music to Heavy Metal (accompanied by disturbing strobe light); you can turn on fans on the ceiling for an additional wind challenge; you can just add some funny train and animal sounds with a supercool children’s toy, or – and now it comes – you can spill plenty of balls onto the ping pong table which you collected beforehand with the “Ping Pong Ball Suction Construction”!

Ping Pong Ball Suction Construction (Thanks, r0r0!)

Wooden compass

Rob Beschizza — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:41:02 +0000

The latest from Joey Roth, designer of minimalist teapots and speakers, is more down to earth: a compass pendant. Made with Shwood in Portland, the frame is laser-cut from maple and rosewood; the compass itself is a Francis Barker model.

Printing out robots with your MakerBot

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 15 May 2012 02:00:04 +0000

Annelise sez, "This is an episode of MakerBot TV which is all about making DIY Robots with MakerBots!"

The MakerBot design team is building a Robot Petting Zoo to bring to this year's Maker Faire. In this video you'll get a behind-the-scenes look at how they conceptualized, designed and created these amazing DIY robots!

MakerBot TV S02E11 - MakerBot A Robot! (Thanks, Annelise!)

Jagged anti-boner ring

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:00:15 +0000

This little feller is a "German Spermatorrhoea Ring," ca 1894. Spermatorrhoea ("involuntary loss of semen") was best fought with this toothy beast, which also doubled as a cure for Onanism ("voluntary discharges from masturbation").

An extremely rare Spermatorrhoea ring fastened with a screw. With provenance from the original German catalogue dating from 1894. Spermatorrhoea means involuntary loss of semen, although the rings were also intended to prevent voluntary discharges from masturbation or Onanism (Originating from Onan who originally "spilt his seed on the ground" Genesis 38:7-9). The ring was placed at the base of the penis and fasted with a screw such that any engorgement of the organ would meet with the teeth of the ring and arrest the process.

German Spermatorrhoea Ring (screw catch) (via JWZ)

Canon shifts to robots for camera production

Xeni Jardin — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:18:01 +0000

Reuters: Man tries out a Canon EOS-1D X at a Tokyo showroom.

Camera maker Canon is evolving toward "fully automating" production, to reduce costs. Japan, where the Canon plants in question are located, is a leading nation in robotics development.

"The move toward machine-only production will likely be completed in the next few years, perhaps as soon as 2015," according to a company official quoted in the AP.

But do not fear being made obsolete, earthlings.

"Human beings are needed to come up with innovations on how to use robots," another Canon spokesperson told AP. "Going to a no-man operation at that level is still the world of science fiction."

Read the full article.

(via @tokyoreporter)

Salvaged lighting fixtures

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:19:17 +0000

I wandered into a temporary showroom for Trainspotters in London this weekend; they're a retailer specializing in salvaged industrial lighting, with a lot of crazy, chunk ex-Soviet numbers. Looks like you have to buy direct from them by phone, and the prices weren't low, but I'm still cleaning drool out of my shirt from my brief visit. Lovely stuff.

Welcome to Trainspotters, specialist dealers in reclaimed industrial lighting, decorative salvage and interiors. We are based in Stroud, Gloucestershire, where we hold a large stock of industrial and period lighting, salvaged vintage fixtures and 20thC reclamation, from the UK and the former Eastern Bloc. We specialise in sourcing large runs and quantities of retro lighting, making us an unparalleled resource for larger scale commercial projects such as pubs, bars, clubs, shops, restaurants and public spaces. This website is our catalogue and we aim to get all new stock online as soon as it comes into us – we hope you enjoy browsing the site.

Industrial Lighting & Salvage Specialists

Kodak set us up the bomb: kept a nuclear reactor in the basement

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:00:24 +0000

As Kodak stumbles through its bankruptcy, all sorts of weird facts are surfacing, like the news that the company had its own nuclear reactor, producing weapons-grade isotopes. It was installed for neutron imaging experiments in 1974, and while the feds were duly notified, it doesn't look like there was ever a public announcement -- nor was there any notice given to the local firefighters who'd have turned up if anything ever went wrong. If only I'd known about this when writing Makers (which concerns itself with hedge fundies who buy up and strip down Kodak and Duracell), think of the subplots I could have written!

From the Democrat and Chronicle piece by Steve Orr:

Company spokesman Christopher Veronda said he could find no record that Kodak ever made a public announcement of the facility. He also wasn’t sure whether the company had ever notified local police, fire or hazardous-materials officials.
Current city of Rochester officials, whose personnel might have been summoned to Building 82 had an untoward incident occurred, said they were in the dark. Monroe County officials did not provide comment despite several requests.
The Democrat and Chronicle learned of the facility when an employee happened to mention it to a reporter a few months ago.
The recent silence was by design. Detailed information about nuclear power plants and other entities with radioactive material has been restricted since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Did you know? Kodak Park had a nuclear reactor

(Image: Nuclear Regulatory Commission)