Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve already seen some innovative ways to make action figures via 3D printing. But ModiBot might be the best and most practical 3D printed action figure yet. Instead of letting you design and print an action figure from scratch or order a 3D printed action figure of an existing character, ModiBot meets you halfway. Its a skeletal action figure with swappable parts and accessories.

The base ModiBot action figure is a stick figure with lots of slots and holes. The idea is to get a bare ModiBot and then mix and match it with 3D printed parts and accessories. Because all of this is stored in digital files waiting to be printed, it’s practically impossible for them to be sold out. Dynamo Development Labs, the company behind ModiBot, won’t have to deal with unsold stock either; they just have to print on demand. This means that it should be easy to replace any missing or broken parts. If you know how to make a 3D model, you can design the parts and accessories yourself. So you’re going to go from this:

To this:

And that’s just the beginning. Again, it’s not just the accessories that are interchangeable; the skeleton’s parts itself can be swapped. For example, there’s a dinosaur ModiBot skeleton, so you can assemble a half-man, half-dino ModiBot.

Pledge at least $15 (USD) on Kickstarter to get a ModiBot kit. When 3D printers become widely available and 3D modeling software becomes dead simple to use, ModiBot will be immortal. People will be making parts on their own and lots of third-party vendors will sell their own ModiBot-compatible goods.

You know what ModiBot is like? LEGO. If you think about it, LEGO’s minifigs are strangely unlike the rest of its toys: minifigs are barely customizable or interchangeable. ModiBot is more LEGO-like than LEGO’s own action figures. So I wouldn’t be surprised if LEGO imitates or buys out ModiBot in the future. I am also surprised that ModiBot hasn’t teamed up with Rob Schrab yet.

[via 3ders]

I wish I could buy this thing. The team at Porcubimmer Motors has created a pretty accurate recreation of The Homer. You might remember it as the car designed by Homer Simpson that brought his brother’s empire crumbling down. It looks great IRL.

This bright green eyesore cost $82,000 to make price tag, but still it is “powerful like a gorilla, but soft and yielding like a Nerf ball.” And that will definitely cost you.

The detail is quite nice – complete with a plastic bubble for your kid. It has fins, giant cup holders, a bowling trophy hood ornament and the horn plays La Cucaracha. Because seriously, whats even the point otherwise?

I’m no sure if there are three horns in the interior — a feature of the original Homer, because “you can never find a horn when you’re angry” — but we’re willing to look the other way, because seriously, look how incredible this thing is. The license plates even read “BORT.” Awesome.

This is a great homage to Homer. You can check out more photos of The Homer here.

[via @SpeedSportLife via Techland via Geekosystem]

So far 3D video hasn’t taken off like high definition did, but that hasn’t stopped entrepreneurs from exploring its potential. But while most 3D-capable gadgets tout their cutting edginess, the inventors of Poppy did the opposite. The gadget, which allows you to shoot and view 3D videos and images using an iPhone or iPod Touch, is a throwback through and through.

If nothing else, I love how it looks. It’s not shiny, streamlined or made of machined aluminum – it’s a freaking plastic box. Even the way it works is low-tech. The Poppy has no moving or electronic parts. It just uses lenses and mirrors to achieve the 3D effect. The only high tech component of course is your iOS device. The Poppy only works with the iPhone 4, 4S and 5 and the 5th generation iPod Touch.

In the end though, the Poppy is up against the same problem that other 3D gadgets have. It promises a see-it-to-believe-it experience that just can’t be demonstrated or previewed. Still, that hasn’t stopped it from blowing through its Kickstarter goal with almost a month left on its fundraiser. Pledge at least $49 (USD) on Kickstarter to get a Poppy as a reward.

Last month we saw a drone that can both drive around and fly. It’s a shame it can’t run on water as well, because as the Ziphius shows, having a drone on water seems like a lot of fun. The Ziphius is an aquatic drone designed to be controlled via an Android or iOS device. It’s a lot like Parrot’s AR.Drone, except it swims. And it looks like a computer mouse. Or a badly designed bike seat.

The Ziphius has two brushless DC motors that let it zip up to 6mph, and can be controlled wirelessly up to about 300ft. away. It can send live video from its 720p front camera to the mobile device that you’re using as the remote control. Because it’s controlled by a mobile device, the drone’s functionality can be increased with a variety of apps. The video below shows an augmented reality racing game, while the basic Ziphius app will have quick sharing functions to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Sadly its battery can’t keep up with the rest of the device, and can only last up to an hour per charge.

Pledge at least $245 (USD) on Kickstarter to get a Ziphius drone as a reward. I think the Ziphius is a lot of fun, but I hope all these fancy drones won’t mislead kids into letting their toys experience the world for them.

[via Gadget Review]

Jim Lee is one of the most famous comic book artist and writers of my generation. From his breakout work with the X-Men books, co-founding Image Comics and now working at DC Comics, Lee is also certainly one of the most important figures in the comic book industry. And for $25,000 (USD), this highly talented big shot will go to your house and paint your wall. Or whichever wall you want.

Lee won’t see a penny of your money though. He’s offering it as a reward for DC Entertainment’s Indiegogo fundraiser, We Can Be Heroes. To celebrate Superman’s 75th anniversary, DC is raising funds to help alleviate hunger in the Horn of Africa. They are offering various rewards, from digital copies of Superman comics to paperbacks signed by their respective writers or artists. There’s even a Superman-themed bedroom set. The biggest reward of course, is the aforementioned Jim Lee mural. That’s like hiring Mark Zuckerberg to write your Computer Science project. Or me to sleep on your bed.

So auction off your old comics and head to Indiegogo to donate. The proceeds will be split between the International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps and Save the Children. As of this writing the fundraiser has raised about $55,000 with only 13 days left. That Jim Lee pledge will go a long way towards fulfilling their goal.

[via Bleeding Cool]