Last year we talked about the EX¹, a 3D printer designed to print circuit boards on a variety of materials, including paper. The EX¹ has great potential, but if all you want is to print is circuit boards on paper, the AgIC may be better for you. It’s a DIY kit that lets you convert ink printers to make them print circuit boards instead.
AgIC’s main component is a silver nanoparticle ink that’s very similar to conductive paint. You’ll have to manually inject the ink into an ink cartridge, but if you’re constantly making circuit boards that added task will be worth it. You’ll also need their special coated paper, and some conductive glue or tape to apply your parts to the board.
Printer makers must be seeing dollar signs right now. Pledge at least $299 (USD) on Kickstarter to get an AgIC DIY kit. Pledge at least $599 and you’ll get a ready-to-use AgIC modded printer.
A lot of people out there really enjoy brewing their own beer. There are plenty of kits out there that make it easy to make your own brew and get drunk without having to trek down to the convenience store. If your preferred drink is wine, the process of making your own drink is a bit more challenging.
A company has turned up with a device they call The Miracle Machine that promises to turn your water into wine at home. This device isn’t performing a real miracle; rather it is using technology and some raw ingredients to speed up the creation of wine. In addition to water, you’ll need grape concentrate, yeast, and a sachet of other ingredients – all of which its maker is happy to sell you for about $10 a month.
The hardware has an array of sensors along with heaters, pumps, and transducers inside a large carafe device. You put in the water and other raw ingredients to make your preferred type of wine. Inside the device is an Arduino controller which syncs with a mobile app to tell you all you need to know about making the wine and keeping an eye on your wine as it ferments.
Its makers say that you can buy kits to make a full bottle of wine with about $2 worth of ingredients, though it’ll take a while for the $499 Miracle Machine to pay for itself. The Miracle Machine will go on sale via a Kickstarter project. If you’re interested in learning when it’s available for pre-order, you can sign up here.
I’ve pinched and slapped some butts in my time, but I’ve never made them glow like this thing. This ‘Slap It’ lamp will have you pinching it or slapping it to turn it on and off. This is clearly for folks who love interacting with butts.
Pinch on, slap off. That sounds like the old Karate Kid thing gone horribly wrong. I knew that Mister Miyagi could not be trusted.
Designed by artist Joseph Begley, this limited edition piece will set you back £700 (~$1165 USD), and can be had in a variety of colors.
If this lamp makes you happy, start saving your money. Pinch those pennies, so you can pinch ‘dat ass. Can a boob version be far behind?
Oh, Japan. It’s been at least a few weeks before you came out with a completely silly gadget that we don’t really need, but we do really want. What we have here is the Pachi Pachi Clappy, which I was ready to order solely on the basis of its name. But for those of you more discriminating buyers, read on…
Apparently, clapping isn’t just used for applause in Japan – it’s something people do before meals and even when praying. But how can you clap when you’ve got your other hand busy holding a cup of Mountain Dew flavored Cheetos? Clearly, you need a gizmo for that, and Pachi Pachi Clappy has you covered. It goes without explanation what it does, but watch this video anyhow:
Say, that sure sounded a lot like the music from Sugar Rush in Wreck it Ralph. While you contemplate that, have some more Pachi Pachi Clappy:
You can get your hand on your very own Pachi Pachi Clappy over at Japan Trend Shop for $27(USD).
High quality microscopes cost thousands of dollars and can be hard to operate and maintain. A group of researchers from Stanford University are close to changing that with a microscope that’s made mostly out of paper and costs less than a dollar to make.
The Foldscope was conceptualized by Jim Cybulski, James Clements and Asst. Prof. Manu Prakash. They were moved to develop the revolutionary microscope because they wanted to speed up the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases in developing countries. In his recent TED presentation, Asst. Prof. Prakash said that right now it can take months for patients in developing countries to get diagnosed and treated partly because microscopes are bulky, hard to maintain and expensive to acquire . So they set out to design a microscope that’s portable, easy to operate and can be mass produced at low costs. It looks like they succeeded.
In their paper, Jim, James and Asst. Prof. Prakash. said that the Foldscope can provide a magnification of up to 2,000X depending on the lens used. All of its components can be packed on a single sheet of card stock, which can also serve as an instruction manual. Foldscope is also resistant to impact and water. It’s so small that you can carry multiple Foldscopes in your pocket. The only part of the microscope that needs electricity is an LED, which can last over 50 hours on a button cell battery. Best of all, it only costs between $0.58 to $0.97 to make. Below is Asst. Prof. Prakash’ TED presentation about the Foldscope:
How amazing is that? A copy of Jim, James and Asst. Prof. Prakash’s paper is available from the Cornell University Library archive. If you want to get your hands on one, head to the Foldscope team’s website and apply to become one of the their 10,000 beta testers.
A couple of years ago Robbie Rane and his friends were making up funny euphemisms for taking a dump. One of his buddies contributed “Toss Boba Fett in the Sarlacc.” The joke got stuck in Robbie’s head like pudding on porcelain, until one day he could bear it no more and decide to take the metaphor literally.
With the help of illustrator Alyssa Scott, Robbie made a set of stickers that will make a toilet bowl look like the Great Pit of Carkoon. Along with Boba Fett – the bounty hunter, not Robbie’s friend’s poop – the set also includes stickers of Han Solo and Chewbacca saving Lando Calrissian.
Robbie sells the Toilet Sarlacc decal set for $25 (USD). I don’t know how much your plumber will charge to install it.
Ryan Gosling is a bit of an icon both on-screen and on the web. He has inspired a bunch of viral images, including a meme (did you know that he doesn’t like cereal?). His following is so strong that there’s even jewelry and a browser extension inspired by him.
If you aren’t tired of staring at his mug yet (especially if you installed that browser extension!), then check out this shirt that’s available at Nylon Shop.
It’s not the most creative design in the world, but it’s one made for Ryan Gosling’s legion of fans since every square inch of the shirt is covered by images of his face. Not that he’s bad looking or anything, but you know what they say about too much of a good thing…
For fans and dudes with girls who are fans of his: the Ryan All Over Me Tee is available online for $55(USD).
ThinkGeek is now selling an officially licensed plush Headcrab Hat. It sits on top of your head and doesn’t cover your face. Because that would just be silly.
The hat has an adjustable baseball cap-style closure at the back and is made of polyester. We think.
Prepare a crowbar and a torch and head to ThinkGeek to order the hat. It costs $30 (USD) and possibly your free will.
Hey there maker. Have you run out of toys to tinker with? Have you refurbished all of the gizmos in your local junk shop? Have you written programs to automate every appliance in your house? Chris Novello has something that should keep you occupied for a long time. It’s called Illucia, and it lets you mess stuff up.
Illucia is a patch bay controller that lets you manipulate software using various electronic devices and even other software. It does this through Open Sound Control (OSC) and an array of jacks that can serve as input or output. Check out the controller’s user guide for more on how it works.
Here’s Chris breaking Super Mario Bros. by using the Illucia and a multitouch music instrument called the Soundplane:
Here Chris controls The Legend of Zelda through Super Mario Bros., manually triggering events in the latter that in turn trigger events in the former:
You can find more of Chris’ demo videos on his Vimeo page. Chris made Illucia fully open source – he posted all of the necessary build information on GitHub – but he also made 19 units by hand, 13 of which have been sold as of this writing. You can buy one from the Illucia website for $495 (USD).
Two men are spending some quality time living in a rather unique home – this 25-foot wooden wheel. Ward Shelley and Alex Schweder are living in this wheel as part of the In Orbit art project at The Boiler gallery in Manhattan.
All of the furniture and accommodations are fixed along its circumference. The guys need to walk in tandem to rotate the giant wheel and get to the things they need to get through the day. The pair are living in the structure right now, 24/7. Their project started on February 28 and ends on March 9, 2014. The structure will remain until April 5, 2014.
It is an interesting idea, but if you live in a house like this, you better get along with your partner. Chances are these guys are going to hate each other by the end of it. Also, I don’t want to know how they go to the bathroom.
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