Eclectic junk from the four corners of the ‘Net. And pictures too!
A few months ago I blogged about a 4x4x4 LED cube project by Chris Lamont and company. Now after much hard work on their part they are close to announcing their latest insane creation, the 8x8x8 RGB LED cube. These things look great! I can hardly wait for the kits, even a 4x4x4 single color verson would be be ass kicking cool on your office desk. Make sure you see the videos. Quite hypnotic.
[via MAKE]
This is like the holy grail of after hours computer techs, Do you have any idea how hard it is to diagnose Wi–fi reception problems? You have to do trial and error equipment placements for ever. The same setup in one place is totally worthless in another. It wold be darn cool to be able to pull this out of your kit and show the customer what the local environment is like.
Wi-Spy is the world’s smallest 2.4 GHz spectrum analyzer, and has been designed specifically for troubleshooting and analyzing Wi-Fi networks. It shows the signal strength for all Wi-Fi networks as well as Bluetooth, 2.4 GHz cordless phones, microwaves, Zigbee, and all other 2.4 GHz transmitters. At a glance you can see what Wi-Fi channels are quiet and what channels you should avoid if possible. This makes it easy to pick a quiet channel for your access point instead of picking your favorite number between 1 and 11.
I can’t tell you how happy I am to see this toy once again, even if it is a simulator. Growing up in the heyday of the Apollo space program, any toy that gave you your very own CM (Command Module) to recover from the carpet sea was instant gold. I don’t know what I miss more, the Vertibird or the safety orange reminder of the space race. Who would have known that a toy that just flew in a big circle and hooked things off the floor would be so much fun. If your like me, you played with it on a carpeted floor. I think the instructions said that you should never use it on anything but a smooth non-carpeted floor because the drive shaft will get gummed up with fluff and will ground your Vertibird until your Dad comes home and takes the tweezers to it. That is unless you did it yourself and as a result gained and intimate working knowledge of how flex shafts worked. 🙂
I suppose that is you could build the power transmission in the base you could build your own. Everything was cable controlled. The direction of the Virtibird was done by applying a twist to the long support arm that pitched the nose either up or down. I’m not too sure how the power was varied, that might have been done with a potentiometer in the control unit. Might be worth it, it did take a bit of skill to pick things up, especially if you had an oscillating fan in the room to simulate gusting winds. If you would like to know more about building your very own Vertibird, take a look at the build your own project page. Or if your lucky you might be able to find one that has been retired by a science museum.
[via MAKE]
I like anthropomorphic computer equipment, it makes it feel better when you have to bash it about to make it work… Just kidding! These cable are just the thing to liven up your work space, heck if you have these your going to want to plug and un-plug your iPod again and again. I like the color codes on them too, very handy.
[via core77]
Looks like a lot of fun but would be quite hard to play. You would find out who the leader of your game was real fast.
Two characters occupy two parallel worlds. The roles of each player change depending on the level. They can only affect objects in their own world but they depend on each other to complete each level. For exemple, one level has one player attempting to navigate a maze to reach the level’s exit portal, while the other player has to fight off enemies. In many ways this mechanic is the puzzle equivalent of a three-legged race, in that players must worry about events in their world while accommodating the goals of their counterpart. Direct competition will get both players nowhere, as both must reach the exit to complete the level.
[via we make money not art]
I could have used this on my last trip. An 80GB USB 2.0 drive enclosure encased in a nice aluminium and rubber body. Reminds me of the much imitated bummper on Fluke meters.