Hasta La Gadget!

IRemoco’s chopper is controlled by waving around your iPhone

IRemoco is a remote-control toy helicopter that you drive with your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. The $100 kit contains the chopper itself, along with a dongle which plugs into the dock connector of your iDevice and sends your instructions to the helicopter. The project — currently seeking funding on Kickstarter — differs from other IR ‘copters in the way you control it.

While you can opt to use on-screen joysticks to fly the helicopter, it looks like a lot more fun to use motion control. The app (already in the App Store to check out for free) uses the accelerometer or gyroscope inside the iDevice to translate the phone’s movements into helicopter’s movements. Tilt the phone to the side and the ‘copter does the same.

Both the helicopter and the remote have rechargeable batteries (via USB), and the helicopter is gyroscopically stabilized, making it easy to fly. Should you crash it, the motors will cut out, and the rotors are all made of bendy plastic so they should bounce back just fine. Should you manage to snap one anyway, there are replacement blades in the box.

The designers, Andrew Ayres and Tom Sisterson, plan to bring more toys to market if this one takes of (sorry), and they will use the same controller dongle, thus making the new toys cheaper. Even now, if you have more than one helicopter (for instance, if you opt for the $150 two-chopper pack) then you can control them from the same phone, touching on-screen buttons to switch between them.

I’m sold. I’d totally love to take one of these for a spin. And here’s hoping Andrew and Tom’s future plans include a helicopter with a camera that can beam back to the iPad’s screen. Then I could finally find out what’s making my neighbor so happy on her fenced-off roof-terrace that she screams in delight.

iRemoco – remote control helicopter for iPhone, iPod & iPad [Kickstarter. Thanks, Paul!]

See Also:

• Helicam Combines Toy Helicopter and Camera for HD Videos
• King Of The Rocket Men Designs Personal Helicopter
• Nigerian Student Builds Home Made Helicopter

Photovoltaics suffer from gross inefficiency, despite incremental improvements in their power producing capabilities. According to research by a team led by a University of Missouri professor, however, newly developed nantenna-equipped solar sheets can reap more than 90 percent of the sun’s bounty — which is more than double the efficiency of existing solar technologies. Apparently, some “special high-speed electrical circuitry” is the secret sauce behind the solar breakthrough. Of course, the flexible film is currently a flight of fancy and won’t be generating juice for the public anytime soon. The professor and his pals still need capital for commercialization, but they believe a product will be ready within five years. Take your time, guys, it’s not like global warming’s getting worse.

[Image source: Idaho National Laboratory (PDF)]

Mizzou Professor says nantenna solar sheet soaks up 90 percent of the sun’s rays, puts sunscreen to shame originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 07:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  University of Missouri  | Email this | Comments

Poor RIM can't catch a break. Now the PlayBook is being recalled due to OS problems

Oh, RIM, can nothing go right for you? Now, on the back of a lackluster launch, the already crippled PlayBook is having yet more problems. RIM is recalling around 1,000 faulty BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.

Sure, 1,000 may not sound like much, but if I was being mean I might suggest that I’m surprised that RIM has shifted that many. The affected units (check your serial number at Engadget) suffer from a dodgy OS build that prevents them from loading software on boot. Here’s the official line from RIM, as related by the CrackBerry blog:

RIM determined that approximately one thousand BlackBerry PlayBook tablets (16 GB) were shipped with an OS build that may result in the devices being unable to properly load software upon initial set-up.

The majority of the affected devices are still in the distribution channel and haven’t reached customers. RIM is working to replace the affected devices.

In the small number of cases where a customer received a PlayBook that is unable to properly load software upon initial set-up, they can contact RIM for assistance.

It appears that there’s not much to worry about, as most of the problem PlayBooks are still unsold (that’s one advantage of being unpopular, we guess), and RIM has certainly acted smartly and swiftly. However, along with the other launch problems of RIM’s piece of beta hardware, it adds up to yet another headache for the company.

And one last thing: Why on Earth were RIM’s engineers dickering with OS builds when they should be finishing up the email, messaging and contacts apps already?

Official Statement from Research In Motion regarding recall of approximately one thousand BlackBerry PlayBook units [CrackBerry]

See Also:

• DOA: Blackberry PlayBook to Ship Without Mail, Messaging or …
• Could Flash Be Holding Back BlackBerry PlayBook?
• PlayBook Tablet Has a Spotty Day One in San Francisco

A movie projector isn’t as simple as you might think, which makes Friedemann Wachsmuth’s creation all the more impressive. Along with his friend Kalle, he built a fully-functioning Super 8 projector. And as if that wasn’t enought, he did it with Lego.

The projector uses two Lego technic motors (the only non-Lego parts are the lamp, the lens and the film reels) to drive both the projection and the rewind mechanisms (switching between the two is done by disengaging a pin). A projector not only runs the film forwards, but has to hold each frame still for a moment between light and lens so the picture can be projected.

This is done by using a claw (in this case a modified lego piece) to hook the film into the “gate”. The light is then allowed through the film, cut off again and the film is advanced. This happens 24 times a second.

Watch until the end of the clip above, and you’ll see the lens being removed. I love that it is just sat there inside the Lego. I also think that the light source is ingenious: an LED flashlight not only provides a lot of light, it is also cold so if the film does get stuck in the gate, it won’t frazzle and melt as it would in a movie theater projector. Good job, and so much nicer than a video projector, whatever it may be made from.

Lego Technic Super-8 Movie Projector [Peaceman. Thanks Angela!]

See Also:

• Lego Ship in a Bottle on Time-Lapse Video
• Kids Build Bikes and Cars With Life-Sized 'Construction Toy …
• Pocket Projector Packs Wi-Fi for Computer-Free YouTube

What could be more redolent of the morning than alarm clocks and toast? Nothing. Well, perhaps the smell of bacon frying and coffee brewing, but this iPhone alarm clock is in the shape of a toaster, not a percolator or skillet. It’s called the Day Maker, and it pops your iPhone 4 up like a slice of toast when it thinks you’re ready to start the day.

There are slots for charging two iPhones, should you be lucky enough to share a bed with somebody as tasteful as yourself. When the time comes to wake up, the phone jumps up and the alarm sounds. And like all good alarm clocks you can defer the start of the day with snooze, in this case activated by pushing the phone back down.

The concept design is by Michael Kritzer, and is currently being shopped around by product showcase Habitco in the hopes of finding a manufacturer. I’d buy one, if only I had an iPhone 4, and if only I didn’t keep my existing alarm clock — a cracked old iPod Touch — in a real toaster on my nightstand (don’t ask. It’s something to do with midnight bagel cravings).

I’d like to see this as a more generic piece, though, and not just for one model of cellphone. As Apple seems to be updating its physical iPhone designs every two years, the maximum life for this toaster is a little over one year.

Day Maker [Michael Kritzer via Cult of Mac]

See Also:

• Catapult Toaster Makes Toast Of Old Fashioned Rivals
• Twittering Toaster Offers Some Tasty Bites
• Glass-Sided Toaster: Watch it Burn
• Slotless Toaster Is Rather One-Sided
• Darth Toaster: May The (Break) Fast Be With You