You can make your own PotatOS with ThinkGeek’s Portal 2 Science Kit, but if you can’t get your hands on an actual potato, the geeky store has another option for you. This officially licensed plush replica of GLaDOS’ tuberous incarnation lights up and plays 10 audio clips from Portal 2.
You’ll power it with three AA batteries, so it might have the energy to lie to you.
Fall to ThinkGeek and order the PotatOS plush for $20 (USD).
In the future, when you and your grandkids are gathered over a hologram of a fireplace and they ask you where you think your home is, dust off your ancient tablet and show them Isaac Moore’s profound cross-stitch.
We may mess with cell towers, but we’ll always come home to our router. You can grab Isaac’s cross-stitch pattern on his blog.
The Eggbot is an art robot that can draw on spherical or ovoid surfaces. Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories originally made the Eggbot to decorate Easter eggs, but because the robot can accommodate any ball or egg-shaped object between 1.25″ to 4.25″ in diameter, you can also use it to decorate Christmas ornaments. Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories is giving away a pack of holiday designs to give Eggbot owners a head start.
The Eggbot Holiday Super Pak includes all of the designs shown in the image above and more. Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories recommends that you use ornaments with a satin finish. They’re easier for Eggbot to grip and their surface contrasts nicely with marker ink. You may not get vivid drawings on transparent or shiny ornaments.
Here’s a short video by YouTuber sean berry showing the Eggbot at work:
We here at Technabob are big fans of Richard “Datamancer” Nagy, the craftsman responsible for high qualitysteampunkcomputersandaccessories. Sadly Datamancer passed away earlier this week. While that may be stunning news to his fans, it’s even more of a loss to his family. As a token of respect and goodwill, eBay user bruteforce1889 is auctioning off a keyboard made and signed by Richard.
Bruteforce1889 will donate all of the proceeds from the auction to Richard’s family.
You can bid for the keyboard on eBay. Rest in peace Richard.
I’m pretty sure that White Tiger’s huge star destroyer will be a sight to behold when it’s finished, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not as polished as this 1:2,256 scale model of the Imperial II star destroyer by model kit builder Cho Jin Hae aka Darth Maul. From what I can tell this seems to be based on a ready to assemble kit, but Cho Jin Hae did the painting and lighting.
While Cho Jin Hae’s model is nowhere near as large as White Tiger’s build, the lighting on it is really well done and makes the ship come alive.
Check out more images of the scale model on Cho Jin Hae’s blog. He also posted a couple of in-progress posts here and here.
If you think the life-sized treasure chest is too big or expensive, check out ThinkGeek’s tiny version. It measures just 4″ wide, 4.5″ tall and 3″ deep. But what it lacks in size it makes up for in fanfare. It lights up and emits a chiptune tone when opened.
These images should give you an idea of how small it is:
Here’s a quick video demo of the chest:
ThinkGeek is selling the Legendary 8-Bit Treasure Chest for $30 (USD).
When the Omni VR treadmill was announced, many anointed it as the perfect companion to the much-awaited Oculus Rift. But a group of students at the Vienna University of Technology may have a better VR treadmill at their hands (and feet). They call it the Cyberith Virtualizer.
Much like the Omni VR, the Virtualizer is an omnidirectional motion sensor. It allows the user to walk or run in any direction, as well as jump, crouch and strafe. However, unlike the Omni VR, the Virtualizer also lets the user play while sitting. Another big difference is that its walking surface is flat, makes no sound and only requires that the user wear socks. The Omni VR on the other hand requires users to wear a custom pair of low friction shoes and it makes a considerable amount of noise when used. The video below shows Cyberith founder Tuncay Cakmak play a modified version of Grand Theft Auto IV using the Virtualizer, a Wiimote and of course an Oculus Rift headset.
I’d still rather have wearable motion sensors if I’m ever going to play a VR game, but I think the Virtualizer has great potential. Hopefully someday all of its electronics can be embedded in a less conspicuous form.
The advent of cheap cameras and free online streaming services means teachers can stream or even pre-record their lessons so students can watch them at their own pace and even in advance. But using conventional blackboards or whiteboards means the teacher is often facing away from the camera. That’s why Prof. Michael Peshkin of Northwestern University made the Lightboard.
The Lightboard is a 4 x 8 ft. pane of architectural glass lit by 8 ft. strips of white LEDs at the top and bottom of the frame. The transparent board lets Prof. Peshkin write and look at the camera at the same time. He uses fluorescent markers and a black background to make his notes and sketches more vivid. He also uses the board to superimpose images from a projector.
When he’s recording his lessons, Prof. Peshkin shoots himself and the board through a mirror to correct the orientation of his notes and sketches.
A couple of weeks ago we checked out 80s Tees’ kick ass Voltron hoodie. It turns out the apparel shop also has something for Transformers fans. This officially licensed Starscream hoodie is based on the treacherous Decepticon’s design in the original Transformers cartoon.
As you can see the hoodie has wings that make it look like a wingsuit. But that doesn’t bother me; what bothers me is the canopy detail on the front of the hoodie. It will make skinny people look even thinner; just look at the dude in the pictures. I guess only robust people are worthy of wearing Starscream.
Practice your screechy voice and order the Starscream hoodie from 80s Tees for just $60 (USD).
Disney’s miraculous touch-sensitive technology isn’t available yet, but Tinkering Techie found a way to discreetly incorporate current tech to his furniture. He made a wooden nightstand and installed three capacitive touch strips underneath its overhanging edges. Then he made a custom circuit so that he could control the nightstand’s lights and a lamp through touch.
The strips are located on the front and side edges of the nighstand. Tapping any of them once turns on an RGB LED nightlight underneath the drawer, while a double tap turns on the lamp on the nightstand. The lights can then be turned off with a single tap. Tinkering Techie also said that he can use the double tap gesture on any 120v device in place of the lamp.
As you’ll see in the video below, Tinkering Techie also installed another RGB LED on the drawer that lights up when the drawer is opened. The touch strips can also be used to adjust the color of the nightlight and drawer LEDs.
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