Hasta La Gadget!

Watches are, for the most part, a redundant technology. We have digital timekeepers in front of our faces pretty much all the time. And yet, the watch still persists—because of tradition, an appreciation for fashion and design, or straight up novelty. So why do you have a watch on your wrist (if you have one at all)? Image Credit: Uniform Wares More »

It’s early morning. You’re running around, grabbing your stuff and throwing everything in your bag, and just as you’re about to leave, you double back inside to grab your iPhone from the kitchen table – only it’s not there. So you waste another ten minutes or so trying to find your phone before finally rushing out of your apartment. Sound familiar?

Well, here’s one solution for you: the MagSkin magnetic skin for your iPhone. It’s a thin decorative skin that “magnetizes” your iPhone so you can just stick it on your fridge when you’re not using it. That way, it’s always going to be there for you to just grab when you need to go.

The MagSkin is actually a Kickstarter project by Daniel Weyer in a bid to de-clutter his counter from all the wires and devices he and his wife had. If you have a couple of smartphones and music players, then the MagSkin can probably work on them, too, so you can stick everything onto your refrigerator.

The fact that they’re available in a wide range of colors, some shade shifting and thermo-sensitive, doesn’t hurt on the stylish end either.

A minimum pledge of $12(USD) will get you one of your very own MagSkins over on Kickstarter. Aside from that, you’ll also be getting two MagDocks, which are magnetic backings that will convert any surface into a docking area for the MagSkin-wearing device.

A lot of conceptual furniture designs only exist in a computer, and the rendered images we see are meant to make them look real. But it’s just the opposite with Bomi Park’s wireframe creations. They look like they only exist as pixels, but they are actual, physical metal grids. More »

Like most gamers that grew up in the 80s, I’m a big fan of Super Mario Bros. This is one of the most iconic games from my youth, right up there along with Pac-Man. In tribute to Mario, an artist named Chris Carlson has created a truly epic piece of 3D chalk artwork.

It’s amazing to me that the image he draws is made with plain old chalk, yet looks completely three-dimensional. Carlson and his friend shot a time-lapse video to give you an idea how he creates the 3D art. It’s very impressive how he pulls it off starting with a flat perspective grid used to draw all the blocks for the pixel art Mario. He also uses a large metal ruler and copious amounts of chalk.

You need to watch the video for yourself to see how he pulls it off.  The video even has the familiar Super Mario theme song in the background, ensuring that it will be stuck in your head all day. I wonder how long it took Chris to create the image – it’s hard to tell since it’s a time-lapse video.

[via Neatorama]

Tired of the year wait (or more) in between new silicon architecture offerings from Chipzilla and AMD? Well, if some Wolfpack researchers have anything to say about it, we’ll measure that wait in months thanks to a new CPU core design tool that automates part of the process. Creating a new CPU core is, on a high level, a two step procedure. First, the architectural specification is created, which sets the core’s dimensions and arranges its components. That requires some heavy intellectual lifting, and involves teams of engineers to complete. Previously, similar manpower was needed for the second step, where the architecture spec is translated into an implementation design that can be fabricated in a factory. No longer. The aforementioned NC State boffins have come up with a tool that allows engineers to input their architecture specification, and it generates an implementation design that’s used to draw up manufacturing blueprints. The result? Considerable time and manpower savings in creating newly designed CPU cores, which means that all those leaked roadmaps we’re so fond of could be in serious need of revision sometime soon.

Researchers partially automate CPU core design, aim to fast track new PC processor production originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 07:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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