Hasta La Gadget!

The Pianocade is the embodiment of chiptune music. It’s a synthesizer that looks and works like an arcade controller, down to the analog joystick and token buttons.

But the Pianocade’s gamer theme isn’t just skin deep. It’s open source, hacker-friendly synthesizer board is based on the NES and Game Boy sound hardware, so it makes the monophonic pings and blips out of the box. Here’s a demo of the Pianocade’s features:

And here’s the Pianocade being used by Shaun Hatton aka Megashaun to play live:

Portmanteau Devices is selling one- and two-octave variants of the Pianocade; the former costs about $250 (USD) and the latter is about $350. You can also pre-order just the electronics for about $100.

Portmanteau Devices said that they will try to make the Pianocade also work as a USB game controller out of the box, but that’s not their priority right now. They did say that they might release a firmware update later on if they can’t do it by the time the device is released. Perhaps one of you clever hackers will even do the job for them.

[via Engadget]

Stephen King is one of the most celebrated modern authors in the world. He has a huge number of books, movies, and TV shows to his credit. King is typically thought of as a horror writer, but some of my favorite stories King has ever written don’t necessarily fit the traditional horror genre.

Some of my favorite books from King are The Dark Tower series that follows gunslinger Roland Deschain. This series of books has been optioned for a movie and a TV show tie in, but fans of the franchise will be saddened to hear that things are looking bad for The Dark Tower right now. Warner Bros. has officially passed on developing an adaptation of the book series for the big screen and for TV.

Sadly, Warner Bros. taking a pass comes after Universal Pictures passed on it last year. The curious thing is that the project had a serious names attached to it, with Ron Howard attached to direct at least the first part of the series and set to oversee the entire project. Russell Crowe was also said to be interested in playing the gunslinger. The project would have had a movie trilogy with a limited run TV shows that would tie content between the three movies. I’ll add this project right next to the Halo live-action movie on my list of the best movies that never were.

[via ComingSoon]

Raising kids these days is expensive. Aside from the basics, like food and clothing, there’s also the “extra” expenses like toys. Based on what you’ve probably heard from you friends, kids outgrow toys almost as fast as they outgrow their clothes. So how about a ‘toy’ of sorts that grows with your child? Something like the Weerol.

The Weerol is a modern, re-configurable, customizable, natural, active toy platform that you can disassemble and put back together into something your child would need (or be able to use), according to his or her age.

Constructed from renewable birch laminate and BPA free thermoplastic rubber treads, the Weerol has been designed to convert easily between different configurations while still remaining safe and sturdy.

It’s available in three lively prints, and also comes in a plain version, in case you want to customize, decorate, or paint over it yourself.

Weerol is currently up for funding on Kickstarter, where a minimum pledge of $79(USD) will get you one of your very own Weerol kit.

I’m sure you’ve seen anatomical models of the different human systems when you took biology in high school. There’s the good, old skeletal system and of course, the muscular system.

Maybe Koen Hauser had these lessons in mind when he came up with his recent series, because they’re creative, different, and probably all anatomically correct.

Dubbed the ‘Modische Atlas der Anatomie’ or the ‘Fashionable Atlas of Anatomy’ when translated, the series features digital manipulations that literally strip the skin off of the models to reveal the organs and muscles underneath.

The images exude contrasting elements, with models posing in a relaxed manner while their bones and tendons are revealed in the same image.

Even more impressive is the fact that he came up with this series and published it over a decade ago.

With this series, Koen was able to masterfully and artistically combine both science and art into one neat package.

[via Designboom]

Arcade machines are a part of a generation gone by. With arcade centers closing left and right, a lot of nostalgic gamers have taken to building or buying their own machine for home use. I’m sure many arcade fans would want to preserve the loud and garish old school look of the machines, but if you’re looking for something more subtle check out the Replay Arcade.

The Replay Arcade is a one-off machine made by London-based Tom Goodfellow. According to Tom, the machine is equipped with a JAMMA circuit board (similar to this one) that has 60 games built-in, as well as “arcade industry standard joystick and buttons.” I’m not up to date on arcade standards, but who are we to doubt the words of a Goodfellow? But it’s most outstanding quality is the cabinet’s retro and minimalist design.

Contact Tom via his blog to inquire about the Replay Arcade’s price.

[via Notcot]