Hasta La Gadget!

It’s time to put your Ben Heck hat on. A company called Photon Gaming is raising funds for Darkmatter, an open source DIY kit for converting an Xbox 360 console into a laptop. Photon Gaming even claims one variant of their kit will allow you to convert an Xbox One into a laptop. I wonder if early adopters will be willing to risk losing an Xbox One for that.

The kit is available in various models depending on how much you want to pay, from just the electronics to a finished and ready to use Darkmatter Xbox 360 laptop.

Head to Kickstarter to support the world’s first open-source, hacker-friendly, 3D printed, laser-cut, honey glazed, butter side up DIY Xbox 360 laptop kit. If you pledge at least $499 (USD), you’ll qualify to get the full kit; all you’ll need is an Xbox 360 and a few hours to put the two together. But if you have more money than tinkering skills, pledge at least $999 and you’ll get a full Xbox 360 laptop as a reward.

America has a major and passionate obsession with bacon. It is something that has reached absurd proportions when you can buy bacon wallets, bacon ties, and bacon shoes. It has become bacon-paloosa out there! Now you can indulge in your pork product passion in a more useful way by making your own bacon with The Original Baconkit.

The original Nintendo Entertainment System’s controller lends itself so well to geeky reinterpretations thanks to its simple, rectangular form. And now, here’s another cool use for the iconic controller – a night light.

This nifty night light was put together by DIYer lonesoulsurfer, and is basically an old NES controller outlined with LEDs, and set into a clear resin shell.

The circuit is triggered by tilting the controller, and tilting it multiple times can switch it into a blink mode too. And if you’re wondering how you change the batteries in this thing, you don’t. It’s powered by a solar panel.

It’s pretty nifty, and you can check out the full build instructions to make your own over on Instructables. Since the whole thing is cast in resin, I don’t see a reason why you couldn’t do this with other game controller either.

This scarf will never go out of style for one reason: because it adapts to match your outfit, whatever pattern or color you’re wearing. I think the concept behind this fashionable piece is pretty self-explanatory. The scarf is embedded with LED lights all over that changes color automatically based on what it’s wearer currently has on.

You can’t buy this scarf anywhere, although you can make one of your own. The tutorial is posted online on Adafruit Learning System, which explains that the scarf uses “the Flora color sensor and 12 color-changing LED pixels diffused by a ruffly knit scarf.” Check it out in action below:

How’s that for convertible and interactive fashion?

[via Softpedia]

There are few things as satisfying – and dangerous – as burning through stuff with a laser. Drake Anthony AKA Styropyro is a young man who enjoys making DIY lasers out of things, and he recently completed a 3000mW laser made from the diode of an old DLP projector that can blow out a beam so hot that it burns paper, plastic, and electric tape in seconds.

Considering the most powerful handheld laser you can buy clocks in at 1,400mW, Anthony’s laser is pretty powerful. He has an entire YouTube channel dedicated to his potentially-damaging efforts, although this light-saber-esque laser is probably his most impressive feat yet.

Considering he makes is enclosures and the electronics himself and he’s still in his teens, it looks like Styropyro has a long career ahead of him training his laser cannons on enemy attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.

via Giz