This week the folks at Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced that they’re rolling with a new EC2 instance called “G2 instances”, running with no less a technology than NVIDIA GRID. We’ve seen NVIDIA’s GRID system pop up here and there over the past year, having originated all the way back at CES 2012 where […]
Now that he’s conquered the world of tiny LEGO Macintosh and iMac computers, LEGO builder Chris McVeigh (aka Powerpig) has headed further backwards in time to create LEGO kit versions of the Atari 2600 and C64 personal computer.
These awesome little kits accurately capture the spirit of these seminal parts of consumer electronic history. The Atari 2600 kit sells for $42.50(USD). It’s assembled from 130 pieces, and includes two tiny joysticks and three little cartridges. When complete, the console measures about 3.75″ wide x 1″ tall x 2.5″ deep.
The Commodore 64 kit (also $42.50) is a bit less complex, and is made from 82 bricks. But that doesn’t make it any less perfect. I can imagine connecting my 1530 C2N Datasette player and loading up a copy of Attack of Mutant Camels. The C64 is also a bit bigger than the 2600, measuring 5″ wide x 1″ tall x 2.5″ deep when assembled.
Great job, Chris! Keep ‘em coming. I’ll definitely bite when you make me an Atari 800 and an Apple ][.
Last month I talked about Bare Conductive’s Electric Paint Pen, which can be used to make simple or hidden circuits. Thanks to the company’s newest product, you can use the pen to make more complex and fun devices. Bare Conductive’s Touch Board turns anything conductive – including the Electric Paint and your body – into a trigger for its built-in mp3 player or MIDI device.
The simplest way to use the Touch Board is to load an MP3 file to a microSD card and load the card to the board. Then you just connect a conductive material and a Li-Po battery to the board. Now all you need to do is touch the conductive material and the Touch Board will play the MP3 file.
The Touch Board also has a distance sensor, which means you can set it so that you don’t even have to touch your sensor to trigger the Touch Board.
Combine it with the Electric Paint and some creativity and you can make neat stuff like a cardboard boombox, a talking wall, a cookie thief alarm and more. But that’s not all. The Touch Board is also compatible with Arduino Shields, so you can extend its functionality beyond just triggering sounds. Anything that an Arduino Shield can do, you can turn into a distance- or touch-activated action.
Pledge at least £45 (~$72 USD) on Kickstarter to get a Touch Board as a reward. Bare Conductive will even throw in a microSD card and an Electric Paint Pen with your Touch Board unit.
Today Acer has reported that they’re not doing especially well in the PC business, reporting losses and a restructuring plan which includes the resignation of J.T. Wang as CEO. Acer corporate President Jim Wong will take over as CEO, while Wang will remain as chairman until June of 2014. Plans for restructure include a cut […]
Some guys are just super hardcore. Like Rambo hardcore. Able to stitch themselves up on the battlefield hardcore. Take this guy for instance. A man named Tim Cannon is a “biohacker,” and he had himself opened up and inserted a computer chip in his arm -with no doctor helping. I must be a wimp, because there is no way I could do this.
Don’t try this at home kids. Being a walking computer just isn’t worth it. Tim had a large “Circadia” board implanted into his arm. It is even larger than normal due to a special case. The chip is powered by a battery but can also be charged wirelessly.
This chip sends all of Tim’s biometric signals to an Android device. He would have used a doctor, but he says that no certified doctor could preform the operation to implant the device. So he had a “body modification enthusiast” named Steve Haworth do the surgery. Sadly for Tim, Steve isn’t an official medical practitioner, so he wasn’t licensed to use anesthetics. That had to be painful.
Here’s an update from Tim showing off the wireless charging process for his arm-implanted computer:
Have fun monitoring your biometric signals, Tim. My idea of fun is playing video games.
[via Motherboard via Kotaku]
One of last year’s most successful Kickstarter-funded projects was the MaKey MaKey, a device that allowed you to input keyboard commands to a computer using everyday objects. A new USB device called the Verve is similar to the MaKey MaKey, but it’s more versatile. Using a variety of sensors, the Verve lets you trigger mouse and keyboard input using real-world actions or events.
The Verve consists of a central console and seven types of sensors that plug into the console. It also has a companion program that has both Windows and OS X versions. The program is used to map the input from a sensor to a mouse or keyboard key, as well as to set the threshold – i.e. the intensity of the input – to which the mapped key will be triggered. For instance, you can use attach the motion sensor to a sword and make your videogame character attack when you swing the sword. Or you can leave the motion sensor by your cubicle and make your computer show your desktop when someone passes by. Because you’re not hiding anything there.
Pledge at least $99 (USD) on Kickstarter to get a Verve kit as a reward. The kit will come with one of each sensor along with all the cables you need. I’m a bit conflicted with the potential of the Verve. On one hand, the variety of sensors means it encourages a creative and diverse array of input options. On the other hand, the one-to-one correspondence of a sensor to a key makes it quite cumbersome to setup anything beyond a simple command.
The MaKey MaKey is so easy to use because it gave you several inputs just by plugging in one board. The Verve gives you seven sensors, but each sensor can only be mapped to one key. What modern software uses just one key? From what I understand it also does not support key combinations (e.g. ctrl+X). And what if you want to use more than one unit of a particular sensor? It’s amazing how cheap and user-friendly sensors have become, but I’m not sure if the Verve will be a legitimately useful product or a mere curio.
[via DVICE]
Mad Catz recently announced the littlest member of its S.T.R.I.K.E. gaming keyboards. The S.T.R.I.K.E. M is a wireless keyboard designed to be used with mobile devices and the company’s M.O.J.O. Android micro-console. Mad Catz sure loves periods.
The keyboard connects to devices using either NFC or Bluetooth. It has a couple of features that should set it apart from other mobile keyboards. First is the ability to save multiple macro commands, and second is its Optical Finger Navigation (OFN) mouse sensor, i.e. a tiny trackpad. I’m not entirely sure, but I think the trackpad is that tiny patch on the upper right of the keyboard that’s flanked by left- and right-click buttons. Sorry lefties.
Mad Catz didn’t provide the dimensions of the keyboard, but Kotaku has a shot of the keyboard in someone’s hand. Not as helpful as actual measurements – it may have been a gnome holding it in the photo – but it’s better than nothing.
The keyboard also has controls for brightness, volume and media playback. It also has backlighting and a rechargeable internal battery, but no word on how long it will last per charge.
Another detail that Mad Catz failed to mention is the price of the S.T.R.I.K.E. M, although they did say it would be available this holiday season.
Are there really mobile gamers that need or want a keyboard? Mad Catz certainly thinks so. Besides, it could just be gearing up for its Android micro-console, which will eventually be able to stream games from a PC to the TV or monitor that it’s hooked up to. I think the most important question here is how cramped the keys are. The keyboard itself doesn’t seem to be that small, but its odd shape and the strange use of space on its perimeter are what forced the keys to be small. I’m also really interested in seeing how that tiny trackpad holds up in real world use.
Today Michael Dell has completed the acquisition of the company he founded, making Dell a private enterprise. This was expected for some time, and today Dell’s Founder, Chairman, and CEO – as well as Silver Lake Partners – joined together to complete their go-private transaction for real. Terms of this agreement were also shared this […]
Boutique computer maker Origin PC has announced a new laptop aimed at gamers, computer enthusiasts, professional users, and artists that packs a lot of GPU power into a portable chassis. The notebook computer is called the EON17-SLX and it offers the power of a pair of Nvidia GeForce GTX 780M GPUs. The notebook can also […]
A one-off Product (RED) Mac Pro specially created by Apple’s Jony Ive and Marc Newson will go up for charity auction next month, with Sotheby’s expecting the beautiful red anodized desktop to make as much as $60,000. A special edition – of one – benefiting the AIDS charity, the customized Mac Pro takes the standard […]
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