Simply put, LEDs are the future. As the technology matures, it’s now being embraced in a way unlike ever before. The diodes last longer and draw less power than other light sources. And, technical benefits aside, LEDs can also be implemented into unconventional forms much more easily than incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. Get ready for some crazy lighting designs. More »
Even jointed lamps that pivot at all angles can be hard to direct, when you need the light to be just so. A lamp whose entire body is the light itself—and bendy, no less—is exactly the kind of thing to read by… or work by… or by which to do just about any activity requiring good light that won’t hurt your eyes. More »
We’ve seen a variety of hacks and mods based on the Etch-a-Sketch, but none of them messed with the way it makes images. That’s exactly what Christopher Monaco did. He built his own take on the drawing toy, but instead of aluminum powder he used LEDs.
Because Monaco built his toy from scratch, the project is quite complicated. He used a variety of electronics from Sparkfun and Digikey, including an ATmega328P microcontroller, four 8×8 LED matrices and a MintyBoost kit. Then he designed the logic and the drivers for the board and the matrices, wrote custom software and made his own enclosure. Here’s the product of his efforts:
The funny thing is that the toy is more technically advanced, yet functionally worse than the original. But as with most hacks and mods, half the fun is in building it. Plus Monaco can always improve on his model, maybe make a larger one with different colored LEDs and so on, and before you know it he’ll have an LED version of Photoshop.
[via Instructables via MAKE]
Every year, the world’s hacker population descends upon Las Vegas to trade notes, sit in on informational talks and compete in friendly contests — all in the name of Defcon. But this time out, it’s the conference’s ever-evolving smart badges that’ve caught our eye, owing mostly to what lurks beneath. Designed by Ryan Clarke — the mastermind behind the gathering’s Mystery Box challenge — these hackable IDs, issued according to status (Press, Human, Goons, vendors, etc), come embedded with an LED, a multi-core processor, IR transmitter and accompanying hieroglyphic graphic. But that’s not all that makes these high-tech tags so special. Turns out, each one contains a game, buried within its open source software, that’s encoded with several cryptographic, linguistic and mathematical layers.
Shying away from hardware-focused hacks of the past, Clarke built this year’s scavenger hunt-like game to be more inclusive of attendee skills, as it’ll force conference-goers interested in cracking its code to break down social barriers and collaborate with other highly-specialized nerds. What’s the end game, you ask? Well, according to Clarke, the puzzle is a continuation of last year’s secret agent story (played out by a real-life actor) involving “a [mysterious] society of computer elites.” It’s not the sort of payoff we’d be after — something greener and covered with a certain Ben Franklin’s face would suffice — but it sounds intriguing enough. Click on the source below to read more about the makings of this geek sport. And may the pastiest neckbeard win!
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Software
Defcon 20 badges meld hieroglyphs, circuitry and cryptography for hacker scavenger hunt originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 12:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Those of you looking for more clues as to what the new iPhone will look like when it’s revealed later this year will be glad to see another set of cases full of clues popping up today. What we’re seeing here, courtesy of Mobile Fun UK’s secret sources, is a set of iPhone 5 (or whatever the New iPhone will be called) case images that point toward many of the elements we’ve been seeing the past few weeks. If these cases are correct, we’ll again have the same width device that’s taller and has a headphone jack at the bottom rather than the top – and the display will be 4-inches, too.
This device will likely work with the rumored 19-pin dock port at its bottom that up until now has been a much more massive 30-pin port. This device will have volume buttons and a screen lock up on the left, a camera with a single LED flash on the back, and it’ll have a very similar aesthetic overall compared to the iPhone 4/4S.
The cases we’re seeing here have kickstands, they’ve got hardcore backs and sides, and they’re certainly very nice looking in and of themselves. They do show a larger space for computing – that’s what’s important here. The display for the next-generation iPhone will almost certainly be larger than the one we’ve been working with on every iPhone since the device line’s inception, otherwise we’ve got a very, very similar device to the current generation.
For more information on that dock connector, be sure to check out the column Chris Davies whipped up yesterday entitled “Relax, Apple’s new dock connector is a good thing” and check the most recent iPhone posts in the timeline below to get an idea of what we might be seeing later this year!
New iPhone 5 cases appear in UK with 4-inch display is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Your wallet is on diet? Don’t worry Toshiba has for you’re the perfect 40” TV with the 40S5! Announced at just 85,000 Yen the 40S5 comes with a 40” LED Backlight panel offering a nice 5,100,000 dynamic contrast, REGZA Engine, USB HDD Recording, a 10Wx2ch speaker setting, a Digital TV Tuner but unfortunately no DLNA Support or 3D.
If you weren’t aware of this, you can make your iPhone’s LED flash work as a notification light, so that you never miss any notifications (Settings-> General-> Accessibility-> LED Flash for Alerts). There’s one problem though. Since the flash is located on the back of the device, it’s easily missed if your iPhone isn’t properly placed.
The FLASHr seeks to improve this thanks to its glowing frame. Thanks to the design, the iPhone’s LED flash will illuminate several sides of the case, making it next to impossible to miss the notification light. The case is made out of three layers, with an extra part that reflects the LED flash onto the glow frame. Each layer is available in 5 colors, allowing for 125 possible color combinations.
The FLASHr case was launched as a Kickstarter crowndfunded project, and you’ll have to pledge at least $35(USD) to get yours.
[via TechCrunch]
There are already a number of ways to add lighting to LEGO kits, but none of them are particularly elegant, and the ones I’m aware of require wires and a large battery pack to light up your LEGO creations. But if this idea ever comes to fruition, we could have the coolest looking light-up LEGO sets ever.
Designed by LEGO Cuusoo contributor Samuq, the LEGO Induction Lamp would be a set of special LED LEGO bricks which illuminate through wireless inductive power. The bricks would lock onto a special baseplate with the induction circuitry built in. Each brick would then have a set of two coils – one for receiving power from the baseplate, and a second for passing along power to the next brick in the stack.
The basic bricks would come in a simple 1×1 configuration, but there’s no reason why larger variants with more LEDs couldn’t be made. They also could come in other colors besides white. Samuq admits that his concept design needs refinement from an electrical engineer, but the general idea is brilliant. I’m hopeful that LEGO considers this idea for implementation, and if you want to help make that dream become a reality, head on over to Cuusoo and show your support by casting a vote for these cool light-up LEGO bricks.
LG announced the global roll-out of its premium IPS7 series monitors, launching first in the Asian markets of Korea and China, including Hong Kong. The IPS7 series features LG’s own CINEMA SCREEN Design, with an almost invisible bezel for an unobstructed entertainment experience and a sophisticated, modern appearance. The IPS7 series also delivers lifelike color consistency and representa-tion across a wider viewing angle, thanks to LG’s own IPS technology. The addition of Mobile …
Behold the all mighty 84LM9600 from LG, a new 84” 4K TV! With a 3140×2610 resolution (52,5ppi) this TV is by far the biggest 4K TV available yet in Asia!
Supporting LG’s SmartTV you will be able to enjoy all your contents on this gorgeous screen and even watch 3D Movies with it (In Full HD).
The 84LM9600 will be available shortly in Korea at around 22,000 USD!
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