Hasta La Gadget!

Make your clothes stand out with these LED-equipped and 3D printed buttons. Electronics shop Adafruit shared this project last January to help keep folks visible in snowy winter nights, but unless it’s always bright and sunny where you are then you’ll still find a use for these buttons.

Aside from the 3D printed button cases, the main components of this device are the GEMMA electronic board and the Flora NeoPixel RGB LEDs. Watch the video to find out how to put them together.

As always you can find instructions and links to all components on Adafruit’s website. I’m sure you can make the electronics fit in other 3D printed cases, like a replica of Iron Man’s arc reactor.

Image by Noe & Pedro Ruiz

[via Adafruit via Gadgetify]

Bacman member Bungle made this polished, compact and portable Nintendo 64 mod. As far as portable N64 mods go, this is one of the cleanest ones I’ve ever seen. It’s not that pretty – it reminds me of the Sega Genesis controller – but it looks comfortable to hold, which was Bungle’s goal with this mod.

The main reason why this handheld looks so clean is its case, which Bungle made through a process called vacuum forming. Bungle also made the buttons and the d-pad. The portable has a 3.5″ screen and internal batteries that provide up to 4 hours and 15 minutes of play time. You can skip to around 1:10 in Bungle’s demo video below to see him play a game on the portable.

Make a portable browser and head to Bungle’s thread on Bacman for more on the mod. You can also read his build log on Bacman. Bungle said he’s going to make more units of this mod to sell. If you’re interested, register on Bacman and send Bungle a private message.

[via Hack A Day]

Bethesda has released replicas of some of the Vault Boy Bobbleheads that you can collect in Fallout 3. Fortunately you won’t have to look far and wide for the figurines. Unfortunately they won’t increase your stats. You’ll just have to find another way to be better at Energy Weapons.

Each figurine stands 5″ tall including the base and is made of PVC.

Count your bottle caps and head to ThinkGeek or the official Bethesda store to get the figurines. They cost $15 (USD) each or $80 for all seven.

[via Gamefreaks]

Wearable technology is just about to take off, but we can already take a peek at what’s coming after smartwatches and the like. A team of engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University have made health monitors in the form of stick-on electronic patches.

The development of the patch was led by professors John A. Rogers and Yonggang Huang. Prof. Rogers was already working on electronics that can be applied directly onto human skin like a temporary tattoo, i.e. no patch base needed. But he went ahead with the patch platform because it allows for the use of commercially available – and therefore cheap and abundant – components, as opposed to the tattoo-like electronics that needed custom capacitors, batteries and other parts.

One of the crucial aspect of the engineers’ patch is the origami-like arrangement of the wires connecting the components, which allows for the patch to be bent without damaging the chips.

The engineers believe that stick-on electronics will make it easier to gather patient data. They also think it will lead to more accurate fitness trackers, and even health monitoring devices that can detect clues about the wearer’s condition even before he or she feels sick. Stick a browser to your face and head to the University of Illinois’ News page for more on this amazing invention.

[via Fast Co. Design]

Professional sculptor Hector A. Arce mashed up Game of Thrones with SoulCalibur in this grisly stattuete. He calls it Throne of Souls, and it shows the fighting game villain sitting on a throne that’s “made up of the souls and swords of his fallen enemies.” Take that Aegon.

I was going to post about this Mario Bros. sculpture but when I got to Minty Fresh I got sidetracked by the other items for sale. Steve Minty is the Fangamer of geeky visual art. Or maybe Fangamer is the Minty Fresh of geeky apparel. I could have picked an item from Minty Fresh’s virtual shelves at random and it would have been worth sharing.  For now though I just had to highlight Hector’s masterpiece. The statuette is 12″ high and 10″ wide and is made of ceramic clay.

Wield your browser and head to Minty Fresh, where you can buy the statuette for $450 (USD). Hector priced it at $300 on his shop, but it’s not yet available there.