Hasta La Gadget!

You have to be prepared for disasters – whether it is a hurricane, a tornado, a zombie apocalypse, whatever. The end result could be that you could be without power. Forget food and water and blankets. You need to be ready to be able to play some classic Nintendo while you wait to be rescued.

Redditor robotairz has you covered. He has created a portable set-up that you can build yourself. This shock-proof yellow Pelican 1300 case is loaded with an SNES console, controllers, and games. It has everything two players need to keep themselves entertained for hours while civilization crumbles around them. It runs on batteries and even has a built in charger and LCD screen.

It cost about $425 to build, but being able to play Donkey Kong Country is priceless.

[via Nerd Approved]

I’ve had problems with computers and video game systems overheating over the years, so I’m all for good cooling systems. And while some computer modders have solved the problem by adding more cooling fans and heat sinks, I think this build might just be a bit more than most of us need.

What you’re looking at here is the Wind Tunnel Computer. It was built by Mike Schropp over at Total Geekdom, and it’s nothing short of awesome, if you ask me. Those giant ducts you see on the left and right are air intakes and outputs for the 6-foot-wide system, which is mounted in a contraction chamber in the middle designed to take full advantage of the increased air speed as it flows through.

The beefy Intel Ivy Bridge 3770k powered system is overclocked to a whopping 4.5GHz, along with overclocked Radeon 7970 GPUs running on Sapphire Dual-X cards. But it doesn’t just run fast, look cool and stay cool – Mike built it for a good cause. It’s connected to the World Community Grid project, and its CPU and GPUs spend their days and night crunching numbers to help cancer researchers find a cure. And thanks to the massive throughput of the system, it’s able to push through about 20x the workload of an average 4-core system. While that’s all awesome, I do wish Mike had actually built a small wind test chamber inside of it for other science experiments. Maybe for version 2.0.

He built the system using large MDF wood panels for the vent sections, and there’s a big box fan installed in one end of it to generate the wind. Mike assembled the main computer section using custom-cut Lexan so you can see through to it, and aluminum pieces to finish the look. It’s even got a control panel on the front with LED temperature gauges and key switches for turning the fans on and off.

Using a wind-speed tester, Mike was able to determine that the inlet takes in air at about 0.6MPH, and the exhaust port pushes out air at 1.4MPH. However, it’s the center contraction section where the computer is that really benefits from the design, where the wind reaches 12MPH – or 9MPH with the computer in place. He actually was able to push wind speeds as high as 26-30MPH with the fan set on a higher setting. He even used smoke testing to ensure optimal airflow over the components.

Check out the complete build log, along with many more photos over on Total Geekdom.

How awesome is it that we live in a world with huge functional NES controllers? And those are just the ones we know about! Then there’s this one made by Baron Julius von Brunk, which is a bit geekier because it’s almost entirely made from LEGO.

The Baron connected the bricky buttons and the d-pad to small push buttons, which are in turn connected the circuit board of a NES controller. He built spring-loaded modules using Technic pieces to prevent the big LEGO buttons from getting stuck on the small push buttons.

The Baron likes to play his NES games on the PC, so also he connected his LEGO controller to a USB converter.

Head to Baron Julius’ blog for more details on his epic hack.

[via Nowhereelse]

Look up in the sky! It’s a bird… It’s a plane… It’s the geekiest R/C plane ever! You will believe a man can fly. This awesome Superman R/C plane makes if feel like Metropolis and makes observers do a double-take, wherever it flies.

Are they filming the new Superman movie with super cheap effects? Nah. Apparently a couple of guys were biking down the Pacific Coast Highway when all the sudden they see Superman fly by. WTF? Well, after some investigation, they caught up with the owner and shot some footage so that we all can see the awesomeness of this R/C plane.

Presumably, it’s one of these, just painted and caped up to look like the Man of Steel. I wish I had one, but I would just crash it on the first flight.

[via Obvious Winner]

I’ve already swapped out the buttons on one of my Xbox 360 controllerswith some bullet buttons, and they look cool. But now I’m really jealous because somebody is now selling a bullet button mod that actually lights up. Sweet.

DeadEye Modz takes actual 9mm brass bullet casings, drills out the centers, and mounts colored LEDs inside of them so you know which button is which by color, not just by touch like with other bullet mods. The installation process is pretty straightforward, but unlike other button mods, you’ll need basic soldering skills to attach the LEDs and resistors to the board to provide power. Instructions are provided, so if you’re reasonably handy, it shouldn’t be a big deal.

There’s also a matching, light-up Xbox Guide button – made from a shotgun shell – and available in a variety of LED colors of your choice.

A full set of LED bullet buttons is $20.99(USD) over on Etsy. The shotgun shell guide button sells for $12.99. And if you’ve got lots of money to burn and don’t feel like modding your own controller, you can always go for this fully-pimped-out customized controller for $259.99: