Eclectic junk from the four corners of the ‘Net. And pictures too!
I love simple gadgets that for photography. With a simple a string and a wing nut that fits a tripod thread you can have yourself a quick way to stabilize your camera. By holding the string down with your foot and pulling up on the camera you create a ‘dynamic tension’ that dampens out small movements that can mess up your shots. Give it a try, I’m sure you will like the results
OK, give me about 50 of these, I need to sort the rats nest of wires out that lives behind my computer desk. I like these because you can write on them and you can take them on and off if you need to, unlike the tape or zip tie kinds.
After seeing this link to a clever crystal radio made out of a CD spindle over at Hack-a-day, I looked through some of my old bookmarks to find a few more ‘free radio’ links. The Xtal Set Society is like your one stop shop for parts and kits if your interested in learning about how to build crystal radios. If you didn’t know, a crystal radio is a radio that does not require any power source other than the AM broadcast signal itself to operate. Anyone that likes to tinker should build at least one of these, what’s cooler than something that works for free? Another great site for information is Crystal Radio Resources. I bet you didn’t know you could build a crystal set to receive shortwave radio did ya? Who knows, you might want to cheat a little and build a simple amp for your crystal set just to make it easier to hear over the noise of your computer.
Who the heck wouldn’t want one of these? Clearly the guys at AirHogs have been looking at the Japanese sumo robots that have been using vaccume systems to stick to the playing surface (you lose if your pushed out of the ring). This toy uses a suction device to let you drive around smooth surfaces like windows. I see that this is a prime canadate for some sumo ring sucking acton here in the states!
[via GadgetMadness]
Here is a simple and elegant solution for movement in a virtual world. Walking in the sphere while wearing wireless VR gear provides 360 degree freedom of movement. Just the think if your going to be walking around in Second Life.
[via GadgetMadness ]
The VirtuSphere: full body immersion Virtual reality at last
If your like me you grew up reading amazingly illustrated books like ‘Underground‘ so you have a sense of what is under foot when your walking around in your city. For those that might have missed the insight that those books might have brought you, there is the National Geographic’s version for what is under a New York city street (no, not ill favored mobsters!) The scale of underground construction in that place is stunning. Just knowing that when your in a subway there is a maze of pipes and conduits all around you is awe inspiring.
[via Core77 ]