Hasta La Gadget!

We talked about the controversial practice of 3D printing guns in the past, only the gun wasn’t entirely 3D-printed in that case, it was only a component for an AR-15 rifle. Now, a company called Defense Distributed has now test fired the world’s first fully 3D-printed gun. The weapon in question is a single shot pistol.

The only components of the pistol not 3D printed are the firing pin and the bullet itself. The firing pin used in the weapon is a small nail.

The gun was test fired using a “remote triggering system” consisting of a long piece of string. It fired a .380 caliber pistol cartridge successfully – one time. The second test firing reportedly resulted in a misfire. The people behind the 3D printed pistol project also test fired the weapon using a larger 5.7 x 28 rifle cartridge. The weapon exploded when the larger caliber rifle cartridge was used. Check out the video below to see the gun in action.

[via Forbes]

If Thor’s Mjolnir hammer wasn’t bad enough on its own, the heavyweight hammer is also capable of summoning lightning from the heavens. Caleb over at Hack A Day thought about this and decided he needed his own electrified Thor’s hammer.

Instead of standing in the middle of a field during a lightning storm, Caleb decided to go with something a bit safer. With the help of builder Staci Elaan, Caleb’s Mjolnir is outfitted with a working, battery-powered Tesla coil. Despite outputting 80,000 volts, the Tesla coil is actually quite safe – just zapping subjects with a tiny, tickly sensation, and not the full force of Thor’s mighty hammer. And since it’s a Tesla coil, it can even light up fluorescent bulbs placed near it.

That was fun, though I do wish the lightning bolts it emits would be a bit bigger. I guess you’d need a larger, plug-in Tesla coil – and Thor would probably have to wear a Faraday suit.

Check out more details on the build over on Hack A Day.

Lava lamp? Pfff. YouTuber bfayer made a life-a-lamp. His calls his invention the Liquid Lifebar. It reflects to the amount of health or mana of his character in Terraria in real time. If he has a lot of health, the lamp’s water level is high and it glows a healthy green. But if he gets hit, the water level drops and the color gets warmer. When it turns red, he’s dead.

Bfayer made a time-lapse video of his build process. You can see the Liquid Lifebar spring to life at about 3:50 in:

Check the video’s description on YouTube to see the complete parts list. It would be awesome if bfayer could make it work in reverse as well, i.e. the Liquid Lifebar dictates the amount of his character’s health or mana.

[via Tested]

Some of you may have heard of Philips’ Ambilight, a technology that’s only present in some of the company’s high end TVs. Ambilight projects ambient lighting that matches the colors and brightness of what’s being displayed on screen. Lightpack does the same thing and then some. Plus, it can be installed on any TV or monitor.

Lightpack consists of a small central device that you attach at the back of your TV. The box connects the 10 small LED strips that provide the lighting to a desktop computer where you’ll install Prismatik, the software that controls the LEDs. Prismatik analyzes the images being output from your PC or Mac to your display and instructs the LEDs to light up accordingly.

Keep in mind that Lightpack isn’t capable of analysing data coming across an HDMI cable to add ambient light to TVs without a computer. Its makers are working on another project to do that, but it’s not likely to make it to market any time soon due to HDMI/HDCP licensing issues, Phlips exisiting Ambilight patents, and high production costs.

Prismatik also has many advanced features. For example, you can turn the LEDs into mood lighting even when your TV is off. Because Lightpack is built on open source hardware and software, if you know how to program you’ll be able to extend its functionality, like using the LEDs for Skype notifications or for indicating the temperature. Watch the video for more:

Pledge at least $80 (USD) on Kickstarter to get a Lightpack unit as a reward. Note that the current unit only works with displays that have a diagonal length between 10″ to 50″. If you have a larger TV you might need to get two Lightpacks.

Artist TJ Wilferd aka Unicron9 loves making custom action figures. Last year he boldly went and took Star Trek where the franchise hasn’t gone before – to the world of Transformers. He made an action figure that he calls Autobot E, a robot whose vehicle mode is the Starship Enterprise.

*cue transforming sound effect*

To take his creation to the next level, Wilferd even wrote a brief origin story for Autobot E. Capt. Picard and his crew were taking out the remnants of the Borg when they pick up a strange metal relic from one of the Borg’s ships. The relic then proceeds to take over the Enterprise and upgrades the ship. Eventually it directs the crew to Cybertron, which was being attacked by the Borg. A beatdown ensues and the adult Power Rangers win the day. I would love to see an animated short of that.

Warp to Wilfer’s deviantART page for more images (and the full story) of Autobot E.

[via io9]