Hasta La Gadget!

What do you have in your basement? Some monsters, or perhaps plenty of junk to be sorted out? Well, Jason Shron of Canada has a far more active imagination and plenty of willpower to turn his basement into a full-sized replica of a passenger car, in particular one from Canada’s Via Rail TurboTrain. Why the Via Rail TurboTrain? Well, this is the train that he would ride when he was just a wee lad, from Toronto all the way to Montreal in order to visit his grandma back then.

You can say that Jason’s efforts have proved to be extremely realistic, and most of the credit would go to stripping out a genuine car that was targeted for the scrap heap. Of course, just as hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and neither would you want to get in the way of a determined person, so too, does Jason possess the kind of determination to up the realism ante by installing an audio system for the spanking new train carriage. So, what do you want to do with your basement remodeling plan again?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sony EyePad Patent Filed, 3D Printed House A Possibility Down The Road,

Whenever I take time to marinate meat or vegetables I am surprised at the flavor that pops in my mouth. Chicken with Italian herbs works well, especially in summer. BBQ on anything gets better with more marinating time. And a balsamic & garlic combo yields nice flavors for grill veggies. There are plenty of recipes out there to help improve the flavor of meats and produce. Yet why is it that we often don’t think about it until an hour before dinner? If you are the chef in the house I am willing to bet you have arrived home some nights, wanting to cook but not having proper time to marinate.  And unfortunately a chef’s ideas are only as good as their execution.

For those that don’t think ahead or those that do, check out the Marinade Express, $299.99 on Amazon.com. The concept revolves around (no pun intended) the fact that meats and veggies intake more flavors when tumbled. Their cell structure opens up and infusions of herbs and spices creep in after being battered around. Simply put your food and spices or herbs into the vacuum sealed container and tumble away. Former day or overnight processes will now take portions of an hour. Plus, anything potentially bad (bacteria, contaminants) literally spin out but food won’t dry out. You will get tender, well flavored food when cooked. The Marinade Express comes with a starter pack of marinade mixtures to give inspiration too. So if you are ready to turn ordinary meats or veg into extraordinary flavors (Marinade) Express them.

[ Spin Your Food to Maximize Flavor copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

So, the advent of 3D printers making its way to the homes of the ordinary Joe is well on its way, but how else will 3D printing change the way the future looks like? Softkill Design has an idea, where this particular team of designers and architects are working together on a plan to construct a 3D printed house. It would be interesting to see just how such a piece of engineering work will pan out in the future, as this is definitely a paradigm shift compared to current construction techniques. Softkill Design claims that they are different from the competition due to the kind of speed that they can achieve from start to finish, touting a 3D printed building being completed from scratch in a matter of just a single day – instead of the normal three weeks turnaround time.

In fact, the single-story Protohouse 2.0 will be printed in a factory, where it will then be moved in parts to the building site via vans, followed by snapping the relevant pieces into place, without having to bolt, screw or weld any single bit of the “house”. Sounds like a dream, and countries that tend to suffer from earthquakes or other natural disasters that destroy homes will definitely find future versions of the Protohouse useful in rebuilding efforts.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sony EyePad Patent Filed, Train Passenger Car Recreated In Man’s Basement,

I’m sure that chess has dozens – if not hundreds – of virtual versions that let people play against each other online. This project by YouTuber FunGowRightNow12 and his fellow students at Northeastern University also offers online multiplayer, but it’s not a videogame. It uses a couple of physical boards along with chess pieces that move on their own.

FunGowRightNow12 and his group-mates made the wireless chess boards for their senior project back in April 2012. The end result of the project is nothing short of magical: you move your chess piece, and the corresponding piece on your opponent’s board does the exact same move and vice versa. It even takes captured pieces out of the board for you. Since the commands are transferred via the Internet, you and your opponents could be anywhere across the globe and you’ll still be able to play with the pieces.

Sadly, FunGowRightNow12 didn’t go into details about the intricacies of their project aside from what he and his group-mates shared on Reddit, but they did post a couple of additional videos. This one shows what’s inside the board:

It looks like there’s a robotic X/Y arm with a retractable magnet on it for moving the pieces around, which is similar to how those Phantom Force computerized chess sets work. The big difference here is that you can play with another human on the other side of the world using this system.

The video below shows how the system handles less straightforward maneuvers such as castling and rescinding illegal moves. In the case of the latter, FunGowRightNow12 and his pals hooked up a computer with a program that determines what the valid moves are at the start of every turn. If it detects an illegal move, the turn will be suspended until the player makes a correct move. Only then will the turn be sent to the other board.

Genius isn’t it?

[via YouTube & Reddit]

Samsung debuted a ridiculous fridge with Evernote that no one needs at CES this year. We can all agree that’s totally silly. Here’s something awesome from Samsung you actually might want—a fridge with a built-in SodaStream. More »