Hasta La Gadget!

3D printers are amazing. You can create all kinds of cool things with a 3D printer. Anything you can imagine. If you wanted to make a 3D skull that was also a Slinky, you can do that. In fact, someone has made it already.

Shapeways contributor Ryan Kittleson created this skull – cleverly titled the Mortal Coil – and it doubles as a springy toy. Check out the video he made to show off how cool it is. And creepy. It looks like a fun little toy.

If you are a fan of skulls and Slinkies, you’ll want to get your own amazing stretchy skull and impress your friends. It’s available for $49.99 to $69.99(USD) over at Shapeways, depending on the material you choose.

Just don’t try and make it walk down stairs, alone or in pairs.

[via Crackajack via Nerd Approved]

Here’s a question I’m not sure I want to know the answer for: if Skittles and M&M’s came in individual packets for each flavor, would I combine them and eat them like how I do now (in a pile shoved into my mouth) or would I keep the flavors separate and enjoy them on their own? They might be better on their own.

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I think you know by now why it’s important to brush your teeth regularly. Those two minutes each morning and night might just save you from a future of missing teeth and dentures. But now there’s a new toothbrush of sorts in the market that promises to cut your brushing time down to six seconds per session. I’m not kidding.

It’s called the Blizzident and it’s a 3D-printed toothbrush that’s customized for your specific dental configuration. It costs $299(USD) to get one made, because it’s custom nature means that you can’t just pick one up at a store. You’ll have to get a dentist to make a 3D impression of your teeth, which is scanned into a 3D file and sent off to Blizzident.

They will then get to work on your custom toothbrush. The Blizzident has soft bristles all over, so instead of moving the brush, you just have to bite and chew for six seconds to get a deep clean around every tooth in your mouth – as well as your tongue. It’s recommended that users get a their Blizzident replaced annually. After the initial brush, it’ll cost $159 for replacements.

You can get more information about the Blizzident on their website.

[via C|NET]

A few years back, I posted a tiny papercraft model of the Nintendo DS Lite that was a big hit. A bit later, I found some teensy paper models of other gadgets and video game consoles. Paper. Isn’t that cute? Today’s geeks skip all the glue, X-Acto nicks and tape mess and go right for 3D printing instead.

Thanks to Dave Nunez, you can print out your own Atari 2600 and NES consoles. The models are just big enough to fit in the palm of your hand. The buttons and switches aren’t perfectly to scale, they’ve been exaggerated a bit to capture the spirit of the original consoles – in miniature.

You can grab the digital files for the tiny Atari 2600 and NES over at Thingiverse. I figure while you wait for the 3D printer to output your models, you’ll figure out a way to cram a tiny computer inside of these so they’re actually playable.

[via it8bit]

Most of us don’t have a 3D printer. But if you do – or use a service like Shapeways – and you want to build your own robot, check this out. You can build a humanoid robot head like MAKI, an “emotive robot” using 3D printed parts plus some third-party tech.

MAKI was designed by HelloRobo, with the goal of providing a fairly inexpensive platform so researchers or home users can work on developing interactive robot software without having to design their own models from scratch. So what kind of money are we talking here? Well, $30(USD) gets you the files to print MAKI parts. Since users decide what their MAKI will be used for, they only need to buy the components they need for their purposes. Therefore, it should be relatively inexpensive compared making your robot the old fashioned way. That said, starting at $585, you can purchase all of the electronic and mechanical parts necessary, minus the 3D printed components to build a complete MAKI robot. Though if you want a fully-assembled MAKI with all of its parts, they are offering a limited run for $3200.

A fully-assembled MAKI is a six servo robot capable of moving its head and eyes, and has speakers and a microphone built in. It has a webcam built into its head, and is capable of vision processing, when used with the appropriate software. It can also interface with other devices using ZigBee wireless communications.

MAKI can be printed on printers with a build envelope of at least 150mm x 150mm x 140mm. If you are interested, the MAKI Kickstarter has 18 days left and some of the stretch goals include adding arms to the MAKI design using HelloRobo’s AX-12 grippers, or introducing smartphone/Raspberry Pi integration. If that sounds good, head on over to Kickstarter and check it all out.

[via Gizmodo]