Category: Technology

DVD Beer Fridge

Asahi DVD fridge

It’s only a prize! You can’t buy one!!! Of course, that dosen’t mean you can’t build one yourself… Mini fridge ($175, get a nice one), LCD screen ($165, look on eBay for units from Hong Kong, they are pretty nice), DVD player ($50 on up, replace the stock optical drive with a slot loader) and some time. Great thing about most refrigerators is that the doors just have insulation in them. I challenge anyone to build one, send me a photo of the one you build (not one that you can buy, if you can even do that) and I’ll send you something.

DVD Beer Fridge

idea, Japan, mods, beer, DVD

POPMAN POP Video Player

POPMAN POP OEM

I saw this in an issue of Nuts and Volts magazine a few days ago. Its device that will let you play JPGs and MPEG I/II videos from media cards (CF, SM, MS, MD) out to any device that takes PAL.NTSC video and audio in. Perfect if you want to make your own LCD picture frame or want to loop a video clip in a store display or art install. The price of the retail unit is $119 but looks like the OEM board is around $69 (don’t know if that is in a large count or not).

POPMAN POP Video Player, POP Video Player OEM Board
LCD, JPG, MPEG, video, picture frame,

Non-Acoustic Sensors Detect Speech Without Sound


( Image from Flickr.com – ‘Infidelity’)

These would be so darn handy to have.

Just think how eerie it would be, yet also how peaceful – people all around having conversations on their mobile phones, but without uttering a sound.
Thanks to some military research, this social nirvana just might come true. DARPA, the US Department of Defense’s research agency, is working on a project known as Advanced Speech Encoding, aimed at replacing microphones with non-acoustic sensors that detect speech via the speaker’s nerve and muscle activity, rather than sound itself.

Non-acoustic sensors detect speech without sound

(Thank you agent Greg for this handy bit of news)

audio, acoustics, DARPA, microphone

DIY ‘Gameboy’

I love this! Not only will you learn how to make an electronic device but you get to program it and lean how games work. You can download some pre made games too, a maze game, the classic pong, and even a music maker. These should be part of every schools electronics class! At less than $100US each they would be an easy buy for even summer programs. There are even photos of a bunch of Korean grade school kids showing off their Mignons on the site.

The “Mignon Game Kit” is a kitset which enables a minimalist “Gameboy” to be individually designed, programmed and constructed. Workshops and online instructions enable advanced learners to invent and programme their own games. In this way the do-it-yourself console of the “Mignon Game Kit” provides not only the opportunity for basic experiments with micro-electronics for first time users but can also be used as a platform for individual computer games. As opposed to conventional Gameboys the user develops a personal relationship to his device through the processes of self-production and individually determined programming.

migon game kit

DIY, electronics, game, projects, cool